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WEEKLY
Volume 3 Number 14
31 August 2008
God
Has Spoken to Us by His Son
(Message delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the Sunday
Worship, at 2 pm, Aug 31, 08)
Text: Hebrews 1:1-4
God created
human beings with a concept of worship, so we see many different
religions with all kinds of “gods”. Some tribes worship their god of the
mountain, god of the river, or god of the sun, etc. Some religions
worship an honorable human being. Some groups worship a living creature
like a bird, a cow, a pig, a snake, etc. In brief, they “worshipped
and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever”
(Rom 1:25). Many also worship the Creator but according to their own
ideas or to the words of men passed down to them. They do not know the
truth about the Creator, whom they are worshipping nor how to worship
according to His will. Many do not believe nor worship God, and regard
themselves as atheists, but actually they are “gods” themselves. Many
only desire to earn much more money nowadays. To them, time is money and
is for making money and for enjoying life, so they have no time for God
and His Word. Their god is “materialism” and “pleasures”.
How can we
know the truth about God, the Creator, where we come from, where we
shall go, and how to worship according to His will? God has revealed
Himself, His will, His love and power through His creation in Nature,
through His written Word, the Holy Scriptures, and through His only
begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
God
Spoke to Men
It is
amazing that God, the holy Creator and Maker, because of His great love,
has humbled Himself to communicate with sinful and rebellious human
beings, His creatures! Many may argue, “I do not see God at all nor hear
His voice at all. Where is He? What does He speak?”
God
Spoke to Men through His Creation in Nature
God did
manifest Himself to men through Nature, but sadly many ignore His
message and even deny Him through their evolutionism, but they can never
excuse themselves, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the
firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night
unto night sheweth knowledge” (Ps 19:1-2) and “Because that which
may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto
them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his
eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Rom
1:19-20). Dear friends, when we look at God’s creation in Nature, the
universe, and even our human body with its living organs, systems and
the tiny structures of DNA, we must acknowledge that our Maker is so
wise, loving and powerful.
God
Spoke to Men by His Prophets
“God,
who at sundry times
(by or in many parts, many
portions) and in divers manners (in many ways) spake in
time past unto the fathers by the prophets” (Heb 1:1). Men
cannot know and understand God perfectly through Nature, so because of
His love, God has spoken to men by His prophets. The Holy Scripture
starts with God (Gen 1:1; John 1:1; Heb 1:1) and it is the very Word of
God spoken to men by His prophets. Because of God’s love, His Word was
recorded and has been perfectly preserved for mankind until today,
“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21)
and “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a
furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD,
thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever” (Ps 12:6-7).
God chose His people Israel to speak to them and through them to speak
to all mankind. Thank God for the translation of His Word to many
languages nowadays. No book has been translated into so many languages
like the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures contain the Old Testament
(39 books) and the New Testament (27 books), which were written in
Hebrew and Aramaic (OT) and in Greek (NT), by over 40 authors who lived
at different periods of time within 1,600 years, but it wonderfully
tells about the same theme, “God’s Love and Salvation for Mankind
through His Son Jesus Christ.” Why? Because it is God, the Divine
Author, who inspired and moved the hearts of his holy men to write
exactly what He wanted them to write. In the past God spoke to His
prophets by many ways, “And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a
prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a
vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so,
who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth,
even apparently, and not in dark speeches” (Num 12:6-8). God also
spoke unto His prophets in many parts or portions (39 books of the OT)
to reveal His truth and His salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ to men,
bit by bit and step by step. Christ is referred to as the seed of a
woman (Gen 3:15) and then the Lamb of God (Gen 3:21, 4:4, John 1:29; Rev
13:8), the seed of Abraham (Gen 12:3), the Great Prophet (Deut 18:15,19;
Acts 3:22-23), the Priest and King (Ps 110:4; Heb 7:2), the Messiah (Isa
61:1-2; Luke 18:21), His birth through a virgin in Bethlehem (Isa 7:14;
Matt 1:23; Micah 5:2; Matt 2:1), His suffering, death and burial (Isa
53, Matt 26-27), His resurrection (Ps 16:10; Matt 28; Mark 16; Luke 24),
and so forth. Do you and I see the Lord Jesus Christ when we read the
OT? May God open our spiritual eyes so that we may see Christ in all the
Holy Scriptures, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he
expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself”
(Luke 24:27).
God
Has Spoken to Men by His Son
“Hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds”
(Heb 1:2). Men still cannot
know God perfectly and enjoy His salvation through God’s written Word.
Because of love, God sent His only begotten Son to this world to
manifest Himself perfectly to men and to fulfil His plan of salvation
for them through His Son’s death and resurrection, “But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us…Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised
again for our justification” (Rom 5:8; 4:25). Our Lord Jesus Christ
is the very God and the very Living Word of God spoken to men, “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God…No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in
the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:1, 18). The
Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of God’s written Word in the OT,
“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you,
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were
written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms,
concerning me” (Luke 24:44). As Christ is the living Word of God, He
cannot contradict God’s Word written by His holy men, the prophets and
apostles (OT and NT).
God is
still speaking to men, to you and me through His written Word and
through His living Word today, but do we pay close attention to His
Word? Sadly, many ignore God’s Word or doubt it, question it and
criticise it! No matter what men may say and doubt, let us look at the
Lord Jesus Christ and listen to God’s living Word speaking to us:
God’s
Love for Us Is True and Great:
We may be in our troubles and trials of life and Satan and our sinful
nature may cause us to doubt God’s love. Let us look at the Lord Jesus,
who has manifested God’s great love for us when He humbled Himself to
become a man and was willing to be crucified for our sins and in our
stead!
God’s
Judgment Is Sure:
The death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross reveals not only God’s
love but also God’s righteous judgment. Sin is always serious. If God
could have ignored sins, Jesus would not have come to die for mankind’s
sins. The holy and righteous God had to condemn and deal with sin. If
Jesus Christ did not suffer the death penalty for our sins, we must be
condemned to Hell due to our sins. Let us look at the Lord Jesus Christ
and His humble and shameful death on the Cross so that we may humble
ourselves and receive His death for our sins with much appreciation, and
then by His grace and strength we have to stop living in sins as sin is
always serious and God’s judgment is sure.
God
Wants Us to Be Like Christ:
God not only wants to save us but also to transform us to His Son’s
image, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren” (Rom 8:29). Our Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect
Example and Pattern for us to follow (John 13:15; 1 Peter 2:21). It
means God wants us to be humble and obedient like Christ (Phil 2:5-8),
to be holy and pure like Christ (1 John 3:3), to have His same purpose
and motives to do God’s will, to serve God, to glorify Him and to save
sinners (John 6:38; 17:4; Matt 9:13), to live by God’s Word and defeat
Satan’s temptations by God’s Word (Matt 4:1-11) and so forth. When many
others may doubt and question God’s Word, God still speaks to us through
His Son, who has never doubted God’s written Word (OT), saying, “For
verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle
shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt
5:18). When many others may compromise God’s Word for the sake of “love
and unity” regardless of God’s biblical separation, let us follow our
Lord Jesus, who does not say all are His brethren but only those who do
God’s will “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in
heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matt 12:
50). When many others may justify their telling “white lies” or telling
lies in time of war or in special situations, our Lord Jesus says,
“But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is
more than these cometh of evil” (Matt 5:37). When other “Christians”
still smoke or watch worldly movies and say that the Holy Scripture does
not forbid them to do that, let us look at the Lord Jesus, who has never
done and will never do such things. Then, whatever we think, say, read,
write, and do or wherever we go, let us look at our Lord Jesus Christ,
the living Word of God and remember His written Word, the Holy
Scriptures, and then just follow Him and God’s Word, “And whatsoever
ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him” (Col 3:17).
Conclusion
God is
still speaking to mankind including you and me today through His
creation, through His written Word, the Holy Scriptures, and through His
living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. May God help us look at our Lord
Jesus Christ and keep His Word always until we will be like Him when He
comes. Amen.
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