The Mediation of Christ: The God who speaks – Ps Mitchell Thomson

Listening To What God Has To Say

Just this morning, by the power of your Word, as we look at the God who speaks—and so, Lord God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer, in whom we trust. And all of the Lord’s people said, “Amen.”

Okay, so I remember, uh, when I was a child—I remember the very first birthday celebration that I went to. Anyone remember their first ever birthday that they went to? Nope, just me? Okay, cool.

So, I remember the very first time I ever got to go to a birthday. I think I was four or five—yes, it took a long time to make friends for me. And so I got invited to this birthday, and my dad said to me right up front, he said, “Son, there is a big surprise coming for you at the end of this birthday party, and so don’t eat too many chips.” Okay, it’s the wisdom of a father. Okay, my dad said, “Do not eat too many chips, because there is a surprise coming at the end of the party.”

My dad had spoken—my father had spoken—but I didn’t like what my father had to say. And so, what do children do when they don’t like what their dad says? Oh, we go to Mom, right? “Mom, can I have some chips?” “What did your dad say?” Ah, got me. Okay, right. And so then we walk into the party, and I think, “I’m just going to find anyone in this room who will tell me what I want to hear,” right?

So I went to a friend of mine, and I went to his mom, and I said, “Thabo’s mom, can I have some chips, please?” She said, “What did your father say?” I said, “Okay, you got me.” So I went and found my Malume. I said, “Can I have some chips, please, Malume?” He said, “What did your father say?” And I was like, “Okay, you’ve got me, too.”

And so eventually I went and found a child who was younger than me, and I said, “Can I have some chips, please?” And they said, “Of course you can have some chips.” And so this child finally told me what I wanted to hear. I finally had permission to go and eat some chips—and boy, did I.

I ate more chips than any child of that size ever should eat. And after about ten minutes, I felt sick. Yeah, you guys know how that goes, right? And I—my stomach hurt, I was feeling nauseous—and then the surprise came that my dad had told me about.

You know what the surprise was? It was cake. And cake is so much better than chips, isn’t it? So much better. But I was sick already. But my parents didn’t know that I’d been eating chips, and so my mom, very excited to give me the surprise, walked up to me with a slice of cake and said, “Here, my boy—eat.” I couldn’t say no, ’cause she doesn’t know I’ve been eating chips—I’ll get in trouble. And so I took two bites of the cake.

And do you know what happened? I threw up everywhere—created a big mess for my friend’s mom to clean up. And my parents saw what I had thrown up, and now they knew that I’d eaten chips, even though they asked me not to.

And as I was preparing this message for us this morning, this story came to mind, because if we’re honest with ourselves, brothers and sisters, isn’t this the way that we relate to God—when God speaks to us?

God has spoken clearly. Yes, there’s some mystery in the Scriptures of God—there’s some mystery in the things that Jesus said—but most of what God has said is very clear, and very beautiful, and very wonderful. But a lot of the time, it’s not quite what we want to hear, is it?
And so what do we do? We go and try and find other voices that will tell us what we want to hear. We say, “God, you telling me that I’m a sinner doesn’t sit well with me. God, you telling me that I cannot save myself—I don’t like that. God, you telling me that I have been saved by you into a holy life—I don’t want to live a holy life. I’m going to go find someone who can tell me that I can do whatever I want,” right?

Or we find ourselves entering into a season of suffering—we find ourselves entering into a season where it feels like everything is difficult, and all we want is for it to end. And we come into the beauty of the Scriptures, and the Scriptures reassure us: no weapon formed against you shall prosper. The Scriptures reassure us that the Shepherd is with us in the valley of the shadow of death, and therefore we shall fear no evil. We are told that our Lord will never leave us or forsake us. There is so much comfort for us in the Scriptures.

But what we really want is for the suffering to end. And so we go and try and find a prophet—we go and try and speak to our ancestors—we try and find someone who will tell us how to make the suffering end. Because the truth is, sometimes, if we’re honest with ourselves, we don’t like what God has to say.

So we find men of God who call themselves prophets, who tell us exactly what we want to hear, who make us feel really good about ourselves, who promise us wealth, who promise us prosperity, who promise us a good, comfortable life—at the expense of our souls.

You see, the truth is, church, that God has some hard things to say to us—and God has some hard things for us to hear. But I want to tell you that even the hard things that God has to say lead us into life. But even the good things that a prophet on earth has to say may lead us to death.

And I’m so thankful and so grateful that we don’t have to trust men on earth, that we don’t have to trust our ancestors to lead us into salvation or to speak to us in a way to comfort or encourage us, because God has spoken—and God continues to speak. Amen.

Letter To The Hebrews

And so, as we jump into the book of Hebrews this morning—before we get into our passage, it’s important to know a little bit about the Hebrews, right? The people who this letter was written to. And so we know that this is a group of Christians who were saved, and they came to know Jesus. But as time went by, we know that life got really hard for Christians when this letter was written. Christians were being persecuted for their faith. Christians were being tortured and killed for their faith. It became very difficult to call yourself a Christian in public.

And so what we started to see is that some Christians started to hide their faith—pretend that they weren’t Christians, right? We saw some people turn back to the Judaism that they were saved out of. They started to go back to their cultural traditions. They started to go back to the way that they were raised in their family, because being a Christian was just a little bit too hard. And we saw some Christians abandoning their faith altogether and putting their faith in gods that could not save or satisfy.

And so, when the writer of Hebrews writes this letter to these people, his message is beautiful, and it is simple. His message is this: Christ is better. We see it over and over and over again in the book of Hebrews—Jesus is greater, Jesus is better. Jesus is better than anything that anyone on earth can offer us. Jesus is better than any comfort that the earth can offer us. Jesus is greater than even our worst sufferings, which means that if we have Jesus in the midst of a time when we are suffering, we still have everything we need.

Paul says to these people in the book of Hebrews, “Don’t give up. Don’t lose faith, because Jesus Christ is worth it. Jesus Christ is better.”

God Spoke

And so he starts the book out in this beautiful way: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers.” (Hebrews 1:1)

Now, I want to stop there, because we can read the Bible sometimes and miss how wonderful what we’re hearing really is. Do you guys understand what you’re reading here? God speaks to humans. God! I don’t think you get it. No one has said “amen” yet, guys.

The God who created the universe—the God who, by his very words, spoke and everything we see around us was created—the God who cradles the universe in his hands—the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the King reigning over all things—the God who made all things, the most powerful being in existence from now into eternity—this God speaks to humans.

And he has spoken to humans at many times and in many ways. We don’t worship a Father who is silent. We don’t worship a God who created us and then left and said, “Cool, you guys will figure it out.” No—we worship a God who speaks to us.

I don’t want to miss how glorious and how beautiful and how unbelievable it is that the God who created the world—the Holy One—speaks to humans. We read in the book of Psalms, “What is man that God would be mindful of us?” But it’s even greater than that, because he’s not just mindful of us. He doesn’t just think about us—he speaks to us.

And I know that there are many of us here in this room today who are facing situations that are making us feel like we can’t hear God. I know that there are some of us in this room today who are facing the struggles that poverty brings along with it, who are facing the struggles that pain brings along with it. Maybe you’ve lost a loved one here today. Maybe you’re sick here today. Maybe you’re just a human that lives on earth—and it gets really hard sometimes.

And as a result, you feel like God has stopped speaking. It feels like God is silent. It feels like God has left or forgotten you. And I want to just reassure you that it is normal to feel that way. We read all the way throughout the book of the Psalms: “God, why have you forsaken me? How long will my soul be downcast?” Habakkuk says, “How long will you forget us?” (Habakkuk 1:2)

When times of suffering come, when times of pain come, when the brokenness and the sinfulness of the world start to lead us into seasons of suffering, it’s very normal for us to feel like we can’t hear God. But I want to ask you this morning: are you listening to your feelings, or are you listening to God? Are your feelings speaking to you more loudly than the Word of God is speaking to you?

Because I want to just reassure you this morning that if you’re holding this book in your hands, or if you have it open on your phone, God is speaking. As long as the Bible continues to exist on earth—and I promise you, it will exist until Jesus returns and we don’t need it anymore—God will be speaking.

That as long as this book is next to your bed, as long as this book is in your car, as long as this book is on your dining room table, as long as this book is on your phone, as long as you have this book with you—wherever you are—the God of the universe is speaking. That as long as you can open up these pages and read these words, the God of the universe is speaking.

So the question is not, “Is God speaking?” The question is, “Are we listening?” Because he has spoken at many times and in many ways.

God Speaking In The Old Testament

And so, in the Old Testament, we see that God spoke at many times and in many ways. At the beginning, in the book of Genesis—how does it start? “In the beginning…” And then what does it say? “And God said…” (Genesis 1:3)

God started speaking from the beginning. And what happens when God speaks? Universes are created. We worship a God who didn’t have to lift up his arm to create the entire universe—he just opened his mouth, and it existed.

In the beginning, God said. He spoke with Adam and Eve. He allowed them to live in the garden, and he gave them instruction on how to best find joy in the garden.

And then Adam and Eve sinned, and they fell short of the glory of God, and they brought sin and brokenness and rebellion into the world—and God speaks to them. Just think about that. They’ve just sinned against him. They broke the only rule that he gave them. Satan tempted them and said, “You can be God—you can be like God.” And they tried to take God’s place.

I don’t know about you guys, but if I was God, I would not be speaking to them.

If I was God, we would be starting again, right? And I think you guys are probably the same. But our God shows grace to even the first sinners who brought sin into the world—and he speaks—which means that God doesn’t just speak to the holy and the righteous, but God speaks to sinners as well.

And not only does he pronounce the judgment that they deserved for their sin, but he also gives them hope. And he says that one day the Seed will come, and he will crush the head of the serpent. So even from the first sin, God speaks hope into the world. God shows that there is a plan for the redemption of sin.

From the very beginning, we see that God spoke to Noah—in a time where things were incredibly evil—and he said, “I’m going to judge the world, but you can build a boat, and whoever comes onto that boat with you will be saved.” He speaks to Abraham, and he promises him that he will have sons as many as the stars in the sky and the sands of the shore, right? And he says, “Through your line will every nation be blessed.”

He speaks to Jacob. He speaks to Moses. He spoke to his people through the judges. He spoke to David, and he said to David that a Savior would come through the line of David, bringing salvation, and that this Savior would be the King who would reign for all eternity, and that his kingdom would last forever.

He spoke to his people through the prophets. He told Micah that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem. He told Zechariah that a Savior would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. He told Zechariah that the Savior would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. He told Zechariah that the Savior would die a violent death.

He told Isaiah that the Savior would be born of a virgin, and that this Savior would suffer and take the sin of the world unto himself, and that by his wounds we would be healed. He told Isaiah that he would be raised from the dead to claim victory over evil and sin and death.
He told Hosea that the Savior would defeat death. He told Daniel that the Savior would then ascend into heaven, to the right-hand side of the Father, to rule over an everlasting kingdom where everything would be restored into the perfect creation that God intended it to be.

Not only has God spoken to his people, but he’s told us his plan all along.

And yet, when Jesus arrives and is born in Bethlehem to a virgin, rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, and dies a violent death—no one believed it. God was speaking, and his words came true, and yet the hardness of the human heart still blocked us from seeing the truth in what God was saying.

Why We Need Jesus

And if we’re sitting here today and you think, “Okay, Mitchell, but I’m not like those guys. I always believe in God. I always believe in his Word,” I want to ask you then: when was the last time that you felt anxious? Because if you felt anxious recently, it’s because you were doubting the Word of God.

When last did you gossip about someone? Oh, very recently over here—sounds like some apologies need to… Because you only gossip about other people when you doubt that they are your brothers and sisters in Christ. You only gossip about other people when you’re not believing the Word of God.

When last did you lust? When last did you lie? When last did you become so angry with someone that you wanted something bad to happen to them?

Every single person in this room is a sinner—amen? There we go, that’s the biggest one we’ve gotten today. And every single person in this room doubts the Word of God.

And we see throughout the Old Testament that they also didn’t like what the prophets had to say. The prophets didn’t just tell the people that a Savior was coming—they also told the people why a Savior was needed. They didn’t just say, “Your Savior’s coming,” because then people would be like, “Oh, cool—what’s he coming for?” The prophets were very clear with God’s people that they were sinners in need of salvation.

The prophet Isaiah even told his people that even your good works are like filthy rags. Even the good things that you do before God are like filthy rags that cannot save you. We read over and over again the prophets calling out the sin and the selfishness and the greed of God’s people—calling them out for putting their faith in the idols of this world rather than putting their faith in the everlasting God, for breaking the law that God had given them for their joy.

They told the people, without any compromise, “You are sinners, and you are destined for death unless you put your hope in God.”
And did the people like it very much? Not really. Yeah—Habakkuk was stoned to death in Jerusalem by his own people. Jeremiah was stoned to death by his own people. Ezekiel was killed for rebuking the people for worshiping idols. Zechariah was killed in the temple.

I’m going to say that again, because I feel like you didn’t get it: they killed him in God’s temple. They killed one of God’s prophets in God’s house.

Amos was tortured and killed by the priest of Bethel, and tradition tells us that Isaiah was cut in half by King Manasseh.
The truth is, sinners who are not saved by grace hate the truth. Sinners who are not saved by grace hate the truth, because the truth about us, church—brothers and sisters—is that we are sinners.

And you might be sitting here today thinking, “Okay, yeah, but my sin’s not that bad. I’ve never killed anyone. I’ve never stolen.” But what we hear in the Old Testament is that if you break even one law—if you sin even one time—you are guilty before God and deserving of the penalty of death.

And I promise you—I don’t know everyone in this room—but you’ve sinned more than once, okay? I don’t need to know you very well to say you’ve probably sinned more than once today. Amen?

Jesus Is The Word Of God

And so God has spoken all the way throughout the Old Testament through the prophets. He’s spoken all the way throughout the Old Testament through the law. And even in the four hundred years of silence between Malachi and Matthew, they still had Scripture—and so God was still speaking.

But what we read in this verse is so beautiful, because what we get to see in Jesus is that Jesus doesn’t just come to speak the words of God. Church, Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus didn’t just come to speak the words of God—Jesus is the Word of God.

Anyone like puzzles? Yeah? Yeah. Okay—I don’t like puzzles either, so you’re not alone. Anyone ever done a puzzle before? That’s probably—yeah, we’ve all done puzzles. Okay, this would not have worked if none of you had ever done puzzles.

So, in 2010, when they rebuilt the FNB Stadium for the Soccer World Cup, my friends bought their son a puzzle of the FNB Stadium for his birthday, and it was his favorite toy. He played with this puzzle every day. He would make it, he would break it, he would make it—it was like the one toy that he played with, and he loved this puzzle.

And in 2012, we had the privilege of going and watching Chiefs versus Pirates—Mandla wasn’t there because he doesn’t support either of those teams—and we got to go to the FNB Stadium for the first time with our little friend. Now, he’d been making this puzzle every day for two years. Can you imagine what it must have been like for him to now see the real thing?

Every day he was making this puzzle, wondering what the actual stadium felt like. What does it smell like? What is it like to see actual games played on that field? What’s it like to hear the sounds of the crowd as they cheer the teams on? What’s it like to celebrate a goal being scored?
You see, a puzzle can only give you a picture, but it can’t give you the full experience. And so this little boy gets to the stadium, and he screamed as soon as we came up and he saw it. He was like, “Oh my gosh, it’s so big—it’s the real thing!”

And he never played with that puzzle again, because he got to experience the real thing. He didn’t need the puzzle anymore, because he’d been to the stadium.

When Jesus Christ left his throne behind to come to earth—when God himself, in the form of his own Son, took on flesh and was born in Bethlehem—when he came and he was born in that manger, we get to experience and see the real thing. We don’t need the puzzle anymore.

You see, what God did and how God communicated to the people of old is they got little puzzle pieces. Each prophet gave them a small piece, and it helped them see kind of what it was going to be like. But in Jesus, they got the real thing. Because Jesus didn’t just come to speak the words of God—Jesus is the Word of God. He is the very Word of God, and he is God himself.

If you want to know what’s really interesting about Jesus—every other prophet that we read throughout Scripture, what do they say before they talk on behalf of God? Someone said it—say it louder: “Thus says the Lord,” right?

Do you know who never said, “Thus says the Lord”? Okay, this is easy—Jesus. You know that Jesus never said, “Thus says the Lord”? Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

So if my wife were to come up to you and tell you a message from me, she would say, “Hey, Mitch says, ‘You look great today,’” right? She would say, “Mitch says, ‘Don’t eat too many chips—there’s cake coming later,’” right?

But if I came up to you and I said, “Mitchell says…” you would be like, “What are you doing? You’re right in front of me—I know who you are.” Jesus doesn’t need to say, “Thus says the Lord,” because he is the Lord. Jesus doesn’t need to say, “God says this,” because he just speaks—and God is saying it.

Jesus Is God

Jesus Christ is not just the Son of God; he is the Son of God who is equal with God the Father. Jesus is God, taken on flesh, come to earth. And when Jesus speaks, God speaks.
But not only when Jesus speaks does God speak—we see God in Jesus. “In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed as the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” (Hebrews 1:2)
Jesus was there at the beginning with God. Why? Because he is God.

The book of John says that nothing was made that was not made through Jesus—which means Jesus could not have been made, because how could Jesus have been made through himself? He is eternal. Jesus is God.

And listen to this: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” (Hebrews 1:3) Now, these are really big English words, and it can be really confusing. What the author of Hebrews is saying here is that if you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen God.

Many of us spend our lives saying, “I wonder what God is like. I wonder—I wonder what God is like. I wonder what it would be like to be friends with God. How would God respond in this situation? How would God speak in this situation?” And all you need to do to know what God would be like is look at Jesus.

Because Jesus is the imprint of the nature of God here on earth. You want to know what God’s like? Look at Jesus.

So what do we know about Jesus? We know that he was compassionate to the poor. In fact, we see him spending quite a lot of his time—if not most of his time—with the poor. And so, if Jesus is compassionate to the poor, what does that mean about God? God is compassionate to the poor.

We read that Jesus is compassionate to the sick. We read that Jesus spent most of his time not with the rich and powerful people, but he spent most of his time with the lowly and humble people. We read that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. So what does that mean God wants to do? God wants to seek and save the lost. We see that Jesus is passionate about God’s glory and his holiness.

In Jesus, we get to see what God is like. And in Jesus, God has spoken.

Jesus Is The Final Word Of God

But I want you guys to hear this: God has spoken finally in Jesus. Not only is Jesus the Word of God—he is the final Word of God.
There is nothing else that needs to be said. There are no other words that you need to hear. There are no other proclamations that need to be spoken over us, because Jesus is the final and perfect Word of God. Jesus is the final and perfect prophet—God himself come to earth to reveal the will of God, and not just reveal the will of God, but achieve the will of God on our behalf.

So what has God said in Jesus?

Jesus was the Lamb of God, slaughtered and killed for our sin. His blood was shed on the cross so that all who believe might be purified. “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. And after making purification for sins…” (Hebrews 1:3)

Jesus made purification for our sin.
On the cross, Jesus, our ultimate prophet, showed us that sin leads to death. Church, it’s impossible to say that you know Jesus, but not acknowledge the full weight of your sin. It’s impossible to call yourself a Christian and look at the cross at every church that you visit, and hear about the cross, and not understand the weight of your own sin.

It was our sin that put Jesus on that cross. It was because of our sin that Jesus had to die—because of our lying, because of our selfishness, because of our pride.

Our sin put Jesus on the cross.

Because of our sin, Jesus was whipped.
Because of our sin, Jesus was tortured.
Because of our sin, Jesus was mocked.
Because of our sin, Jesus had nails driven through his hands and through his feet.
Because of our sin, Jesus was hung up on the cross, where he died a slow and painful death.
Because of our sin—the book of Isaiah tells us—Jesus was beaten, and we couldn’t even recognize him.

Church, your sin is that bad. My sin is that bad.

On the cross, Jesus, our ultimate prophet, showed us that sin must be punished. God is just—amen? And God is a good judge—amen? And can a good judge allow sin to go unpunished? Because then he’s not a good judge, is he?
Jesus shows us and tells us that sin must be punished. But on the cross, Jesus, our ultimate prophet, shows us that our sin—and the penalty for our sin—can be paid for by him.

Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, who was completely sinless and completely perfect—who had no sin in him whatsoever, who perfectly lived for the will of God, who perfectly loved others, who perfectly lived for his neighbors, who did everything he did to the glory of God and never fell short of the glory of God—him who was tempted but never fell into sin—that is the one who went to the cross.

The only innocent person who has ever lived is the one who died for sin. And he did it so that we could be purified.

Every whip that Jesus felt on his back was meant for yours.
Every blow that Jesus felt on his body was meant for yours.
Every drop of blood that Jesus bled on the cross was supposed to be yours.
The cross that Jesus was hung up on was supposed to be yours.
And the final breath that Jesus breathed on that cross was supposed to be yours.

When God turned his face away from Jesus because he had become the sin of the world, it should have been us that his face was turning away from. But Jesus Christ—the Word of God, the final Word of God—chose willingly to go to the cross so that he could die, so that we would not have to.

Jesus chose to go to the cross and take the beating on our behalf. He chose to take the penalty on our behalf.
And you know what it means that he rose again? It means that the sacrifice was accepted. The fact that Jesus walked out of that tomb means that God looked at the sacrifice that Jesus made and said, “The price has been paid.” That sin has been taken to the grave with Jesus—and Jesus is the one who left, and our sin stayed behind. That sin, shame, death, and evil are dead in the grave.

And our God has risen to the right-hand side of the Father, where he will reign for all eternity. And all who put their faith in Jesus this morning are purified of your sins—not because of your work, but because of his; not because you are good, but because he is good.

And when you are purified by the blood of Jesus, you are no longer a sinner, but you are now a saint. You are no longer far away, but you have been brought near. You are no longer an orphan, but you are a son and a daughter.

If your faith is in Jesus this morning—it is finished.

Because in Jesus, God has spoken, and he is done speaking. There is nothing more that needs to be said, because Jesus has done it all.

Respond To Jesus

But that leaves us with a choice here this morning.

That choice is: are we going to listen to Jesus? Are we going to look at him on that cross and come to him and say, “I lay everything down. I can’t save myself. Religion can’t save me. My ancestors can’t save me. Trying harder can’t save me. Working harder can’t save me. No amount of money can save me. Jesus, you’re all that can save me.”

Are you willing to make that proclamation this morning? Because the prophet—the ultimate, beautiful, glorious prophet, Jesus—has said to you, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)