God is Not Silent!

This morning we begin a new series from the book of Hebrews. This morning’s Scripture lesson is taken from Hebrews 1:1-4

Hebrews 1:1–4 ESV

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

The book of Hebrews is a sermon in letter form sent to persecuted Jewish Christians, probably in the city of Rome. The opening words of this sermon tell us what this sermon is about—hearing God’s voice. We always need to hear God’s voice, but the time we need to hear it the most is when we are hurting.

When We are Hurting, We Need to Hear God’s Voice

Have you ever noticed that it is during the times we are hurting the most that it is most difficult to hear God’s voice? When our spouse is critically ill. When we are struggling in a job that is sucking the life out of us. When we long for a friend or a spouse and face loneliness day after day. When we are facing persecution for our faith. It is times like these we desperately need to hear the voice of God, but all too often He seems silent.

The original church that this written sermon was sent to was facing growing persecution. The congregations were made up of primarily Jewish Christians and gentiles who had formally been associated with the synagogues of Rome. These early Roman Christians had paid a heavy price for their faith in Christ. They were “exposed to public reproach and persecution, ...imprisoned, …and...had their property plundered.” (Heb 10:32-34) Now, in the mid-60’s A.D., the blood persecutions of Nero loomed on the horizon.

We don’t know the name of the author of Hebrews, but I believe the best candidate is Paul’s associate Apollos. What we do know from the book of Hebrews is that a group of Christians from Italy (Heb 13:24) had informed the author of the plight of these Christians. In response, the author of Hebrews wrote a sermon and sent it in letter form to these discouraged Christians. His opening message to these Christians was...

God is Not Silent!

This is also a message that we need to hear, because we all feel at times God is silent. Because of their importance, let me read those first two verse again.

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

God has not been, nor is He presently silent!

There are two phases to God’s speaking to humanity.

The First, was by the Prophets

By prophets, the author of Hebrews means any of the Old Testament writers. There writes come to us, not just in the prophet books, but in “various ways” over a long period of time. You should find this encouraging, God has been speaking to His people for a long time. He wants to communicate to us!

I realize the Old Testament is hard to understand, but it was never intended to be God’s final Word—as we will be learning from the book of Hebrews it was intentionally given in an incomplete form to point us to and make us eager to hear God’s Final Word to us—Jesus Christ.

The Second, is by His Son Jesus

Did you notice I moved from the past tense to the present tense. Let me read those two verses again so you will see why.

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

These are still the last days! Therefore God is still speaking to us through His Son!

I realize that the books of the New Testament were written 2000 years ago, but Christ by the Holy Spirit is taking those words and speaking them afresh to each and every one of us! Not only that, Christ as the fulfillment or goal of the Old Testament, becomes the interpretive framework by which the Old Testament becomes a fresh word to us! The author of Hebrews quotes the Old Testament more than any other New Testament author. He will make the Old Testament come alive for us!

But if all this is true, you may be asking, “Why do I have such a hard time hearing God’s voice?” This is the very question the book of Hebrew was written to answer. Let me give you a brief overview of the answers the author of Hebrew gives.

Why We Have Difficulty Hearing God’s Voice

There are three reasons the book of Hebrew gives for our difficulty in hearing God’s Voice.

We Don’t Accept Jesus as God’s Final, Authoritative Voice

The first reason the book of Hebrews gives us for why we don’t hear God’s voice is we reject the superiority of Christ’s voice. The better part of the book of Hebrews is devoted to showing the superiority of Christ over angels, Moses, Joshua and the Levitical priesthood. All these voices were authoritative, but all of them were incomplete. As we will be learning, all of these voices from Israel’s past were but types and shadows pointing to Christ. Jesus is God final, definitive Word.

I believe, we struggle with accepting Jesus as the final, authoritative voice of God even more than those first century Jewish-Christians. We have so many contradictory voices competing to be heard today, that many are doubting that there is any authoritative voice. You see great confusion in the church today because people are doubting the voice of God found in Scripture. Some doubt the existence of Adam and Eve. Some doubt that homosexuality is sinful. Some doubt that Jesus is the only way of salvation. All of these ideas come not from Christ, but from the world. Whose voice will you listen to?

If we are going to hear God’s voice, we need confidence that Jesus is God’s final and authoritative voice. This is what the book of Hebrews will give us.

We Don’t Diligently Listen to and Obey God’s Voice

The second reason the book of Hebrews gives us for why we don’t hear God voice is because we are not diligently listening. God’s voice is found in the words of the Old and New Testaments, but we often read our bibles like some read the headlines of an newspaper. We are in a hurry for sound bit answers. Social media like Twitter and Facebook has only made the situation worse.

Although the original recipients of this sermon did not have as many distractions as we do, we will discover that they are again and again challenged to listen diligently and obey God’s voice found in Scripture. At one point the author of Hebrews rebukes them saying...

Hebrews 5:11–12 ESV

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,

Doesn’t this sound like the church today?

We Don’t Accept What God’s Voice Says

The third and final reason the book of Hebrews gives us for our not hearing God’s voice is that we don’t accept what God says about our situation. The Jewish Christians to whom this letter was originally written were suffering persecution and great personal loss for their profession of faith in Christ. As we will be learning, God’s Word in both the Old and New Testaments says a lot about suffering as a believer, however the answers God’s Word provides are not the answers we want to hear, consequently we stop listening to God.

Let me illustrate it this way: If someone is giving you answers you don’t like to hear and you plug your ears with your fingers, what do you hear? You hear silence! The apostle Paul characterizes the spirit of the Last Days this way:

2 Timothy 4:3 ESV

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

Again, doesn’t this sounds like the church today?

Conclusion: Hang On!

The consequences of not hearing God’s voice through Christ could not be more serious. Throughout the book of Hebrews we will find warnings about falling away from the faith. As the persecution increased in Rome, more and more people were falling away from their faith in Christ. We have all seen people in the church do the same thing. These people grew up in the church, perhaps they were even leaders, but suddenly they abandon the faith. Perhaps there is someone here today that is on the edge, they are about to give up on Christ. If this is you, I say with the author of Hebrews, hang on! Your going to learn from this book just what you need to hear—the message that you can count on Jesus Christ as God’s final Word! Let us pray.

Lord God, we so desperately need to hear your voice to us today. So many in the church today have rejected Christ as your final, authoritative voice. They do not apply themselves diligently to the hearing and obeying of your Word, but rather seek out those who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear. Bless this series taken from the book of Hebrews that we may persevere in our faith and not fall away into apostasy. Amen.