Untitled Sermon (5)

Jesus: The Final Authority

Bible Passage: Hebrews 1:1–4

Summary: This passage emphasizes that God has communicated in various ways throughout history, but now speaks through His Son, who not only reveals God’s nature and intentions but also holds all authority in heaven and earth, marking a definitive shift in divine communication and relationship with humanity.

Application: This sermon can empower Christians to recognize Jesus as the ultimate authority in their lives amidst a world filled with competing voices. It encourages believers to anchor their decisions and values in His teachings and character, providing clarity and direction.

Teaching: The teaching focuses on the unparalleled authority of Jesus as the final word from God, highlighting how His supremacy compels us to respond to His call and trust in His promises fully, in contrast to the temporary messages of this world.

How this passage could point to Christ: In the narrative of Scripture, Jesus is portrayed as the fulfillment of God’s promises and the ultimate authority who overcomes sin and death, integrating the entire biblical framework around His redemptive work, which defines the believer’s relationship with God and each other.

Big Idea: Recognizing Jesus as the final authority transforms how we respond to life's challenges and decisions, urging us to align our lives with His will and purpose.

Recommended Study: In preparing your sermon, examine the Greek term 'panta' (all things), focusing on its implications for Jesus’ authority over creation and the church. Utilize Logos to access concordances and commentaries that discuss the contrast between Jesus and the prophets, exploring how this affects the understanding of prophetic authority in contemporary contexts.

1. Proclamation in the Past

Hebrews 1:1

Perhaps consider how God has revealed Himself through various means across different times, but now makes the ultimate revelation through Jesus Christ. This momentous shift demands that we weigh Jesus' words and actions with utmost importance, recognizing His supreme authority. Maybe with this understanding, we can emphasize to our congregation the importance of listening to Jesus above all other voices, anchoring our faith and life decisions firmly on His teachings.

2. Present Revelation through Jesus

Hebrews 1:2

You could discuss how God speaking through His Son signifies a new and ultimate revelation. Jesus embodies God's message, eclipsing all former revelations as the direct and final word. Maybe this compels us to see Jesus as the central figure in our faith journey, guiding how we view the world and make decisions. We can suggest that by understanding Jesus as the culmination of God's message, we are encouraged to trust His guidance fully in our lives today.

3. Preeminence of the Son

Hebrews 1:3–4

Consider exploring how these verses highlight the supremacy and authority of Jesus over all creation and spiritual realms, given His role in creation and redemption. His exalted position at God's right hand affirms that He is the final authority. Maybe you can impress upon the congregation the assurance and hope that come from acknowledging Jesus as the ultimate ruler and sustainer of life, urging believers to submit to His governance in every aspect of their lives.

Jesus: The Final Authority

Intro/Story

Tension

If Jesus holds all authority in heaven and on earth, why do we spend so much energy trying to control our own lives instead of surrendering to Him?”

Context

We’re beginning our Study of the book of Hebrews tonight. So you can go ahead and open there. But there’s some things that we need to know about this book before we jump in. 

Hebrews was written primarily to Jewish Christians who were facing persecution for their faith with the intent of addressing their dwindling and apathetic faith, and to encourage them to remain faithful amidst the persecution. They needed some reassurance to continue in the faith to stand firm through the trials and to not give up.

I think we can look at the whole book of Hebrews and summarize the main theme that the author was trying to get across in three simple words “just be faithful“

Now, The author is completely anonymous. There are many suggested authors, such as Paul, or Barnabas, or Philip or Steven, or even Mary the mother of Jesus or Priscilla. The only potential author we can realistically rule out is Paul because we have enough of Paul’s letters to know that Hebrews is not written in Paul’s style.

The original title of Hebrews is actually “To the Hebrews” - so we can conclude from this that Jewish Christians were the intended audience. 

The suggested date it was written is between 40 and 95 A.D. That’s a pretty big spread, but if we look at Hebrews 10:1-3, it seems to imply that sacrifices were still being offered by priests, which means that the temple was likely still standing, which puts the date before 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed.

It was either during a period of persecution around AD 50 or the extreme persecution and suffering christians faced at the hands of Nero in the mid 60’s

Hebrews also has a ton of Old Testament references, and more than any other New Testament book it clearly links Old Testament laws to Jesus crucifixion.

Scripture

Hebrews is all about showing us the Superiority of Jesus as our ultimate High Priest. And as I said, there’s a lot of Old Testament references. This is on purpose to show that Jesus fulfilled the covenant and laws of the Old Testament, and He is so much greater.

Verse 1 begins: In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,

God speaks! But are we listening?

In the past, meaning the Old Testament, God spoke to His people through Prophets. God’s people heard a message from another human being, someone that was appointed by God to be his spokesmen. And throughout history, there were many prophets, Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Jonah, and so on. These people would get a message from God, and deliver that message as God instructed. 

And in verse 2 we learn that Jesus is now God’s spokesman. But not only that, the rest of this passage goes on to show us that Jesus is God’s final and ultimate spokesman.

It’s kind of like when you sibling tells you something that your parents said. A couple weeks ago, I sent my youngest daughter Grace to go upstairs and tell her older sister that we were leaving. And I heard the response all the way downstairs. She yelled back “Go Away!”

I then had to go myself and tell here, “Hey, were leaving, let’s go!”

Its easy in our human minds with our limitations, it’s easy for us to disregard the message from a sibling. It’s easy to dismiss instructions from someone who doesn’t actually have the authority to instruct you. 

See, God’s people constantly turned their backs on God. They would have seasons of being faithful, but then they’d fall away. And this happened over and over again. 

The people would disregard the messages from the prophets because they thought they knew better, or they didn’t care and wanted to go their own way. 

BUT… Verse 2 might be one of the biggest buts in scripture. 

BUT, what happens when you hear directly from the source?

2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,

Today, we get our instructions directly from the source. And just like my kids do, It’s easier to obey when we get direction from someone with authority over us. 

When the text says that God has spoken to us by his Son, it doesn’t simply mean the Holy Spirit, or the words that Jesus spoke, it means His entire life and being. God speaks to us through the life of Jesus. We get a picture of who God is by looking at Jesus. By studying Jesus life, who He is, what He’s said and done, we develop a personal relationship with God through Jesus.

And the rest of chapter 1 gives us the reason why Jesus has ultimate authority. 

In the OT God has various spokesMEN, But today, because of Jesus life, death and resurrection, He God’s final, unrivaled, incomparable, transcendent supreme spokesMAN.

But so what? God spoke through prophets, and God speaks through Jesus. What’s the difference, it’s still God speaking right? Jesus not only is the ultimate victor. Jesus life is the final nail in the coffin of sin and death. 

2 But in these last days he [God] has spoken to us by his Son [Jesus], whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

What does it mean that Jesus is heir of all things?

When we think of an “heir”, we often think of material things or power as an inheritance, or a rightful transference of property. But this is so much more than that. This is again looking backwards to the Old Testament. Jesus as the appointed heir is referring to the fact the God’s chosen people failed to meet God’s covenant responsibilities. God had promised to his people - land, blessings and representing God to the nations, but it remained unfulfilled because of disobedience. So instead of the Israelites receiving God’s promised land and blessings, God appoints Jesus to be the rightful heir. 

Jesus as heir represents the fulfillment of what Israel was meant to be. He becomes the true heir through whom the covenant promises move forward.

The author continues to brag here about Jesus Cosmic Authority, saying that it was through Jesus that God created the universe. 

So verse 2 reveals that Jesus is God’s final spokesman, 

Jesus literally is God’s final word.  and he has the final authority.

Verse 3 then continues to reveal Jesus Divine identity. 

Jesus actively radiates the glory of who God is. Just like light and heat radiate from the sun. 

Something that radiates cannot exist apart from its source, Jesus’ glory flows from and reflects the Father’s glory. He is not a separate entity claiming divine status, but the very manifestation of God’s being made visible and accessible to humanity.

Jesus is the exact representation of Gods being. This section is really driving home the relationship between Jesus the son, and God the Father. 

Like a stamp that duplicates an original image perfectly, Jesus is the “imprint” or “expression” of God’s divine nature.

And not only is he the very manifestation of the glory of God and the perfect representation of who God is, He also continues to sustain ALL things. Not just some things. ALL things. 

Jesus continues to preserve the world that He created. If Jesus ceased to sustain and preserve all things. We would cease to exist. The world would cease to exist. His very existence upholds creation. The power to create is the same as the power to preserve, to control, and destroy. 

So God speaks to us through Jesus, and Jesus has the final authority because He is an exact representation of God’s nature, but How does he actively sustain all things?

Through His powerful word. 

Jesus doesn’t just speak things into existence and then step back—His continuous presence and power actively hold everything together. His word is His life operating throughout creation. His word is his very life and being. 

Jesus sustains life simply by being. 

And His sustaining power 

After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

You see, A priest in the OT could purify for sins, but he could not sit down—the work was never finished. The high priest had no chair in the most holy place because his work was never done; he had to repeat the work over and over. But Jesus is different.

The same Jesus who sustains all things by His very being—who holds the universe together—also accomplished what no earthly priest could: He offered himself as a sacrifice that “saves completely those who come to God through him,” not bulls and goats and rams. His work of purification wasn’t temporary or incomplete.

The universe doesn’t fall apart because Jesus is actively holding it together. But your life—your sin, your guilt, your broken relationship with God—also doesn’t fall apart because that same sustaining power addressed it completely. When Jesus died on the cross, he declared “It is finished”—the debt of sin is paid in full.

The image of Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father indicates His active power and authority alongside the Father. This image supports our final point tonight, that 

Jesus is above all.

And to make sure there is no confusion, the author eliminates any notion of angels being above or even equal to the Son. 

So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

The author introduces angels not to engage in abstract comparison, but because they were mediators of the law—

Galatians 3:19 says “the law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.”

so Jesus’ superiority over angels demonstrates that the era of the law has passed and readers should not return to the law for forgiveness of sins.

Jesus is greater because he accomplished what no angel could: our salvation through his sacrifice and exaltation.

We marvel, not that Christ performed miracles, but rather that he performed so few. He who could have stormed the citadels of men with mighty battalions of angels let men spit on him and crucify him.

Oswald Chambers (Lecturer and Missionary)

——assurance and hope that come from acknowledging Jesus as the ultimate ruler and sustainer of life, urging believers to submit to His governance in every aspect of their lives. — —

3 reasons Jesus is the final authority

1. Jesus is God’s Final Spokesman — Heb. 1:1-2a

2. Jesus Is the Final Word — Heb. 1:2b–3

3. Jesus Is Above All — Heb. 1:4

Application