James Richards

Details

Sunday Morning Service

Jeremy Richards

Copalis Community Church

18 January 2026

Bible References

• Hebrews 1:1-2
• 2 Peter 1:19

Audio MP3 PDF

In the book of Philippians, we're going to be in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews, and with a lot of trepidation, approach, approach this book. I am so full and satisfied in my reading of it. I wish that I understood more. I wish that I could, you know, bring of the vibrancy out of it that I feel in my heart.

And I hope that at least some of it will come through. But we're going to going to start the book of Hebrews. Hebrews is the book which depicts the life and ministry of Jesus Christ most fully out of every, any book of the New Testament. It talks about his ministry, explains that you and I are dependent for legal righteousness upon one individual, the man Jesus Christ. Hebrews teaches us why that is possible.

So we're going to begin to look at that in Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. If you'll go with me, we're going to start here.

So we're going to try the first verse and a half here. It says in the Epistle to Hebrews, God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. So here we see that in the course of history there have been two ways in which God has spoken. These are different ways. They are not the same.

They are not necessarily in contradiction to each other. They are working together for the same purpose, but they are different. They are different the things I'm going to look at today. They are different in age. They are different in the age in which they were exercised.

They are also different in the person who exercised them. They are different in purpose. They have different the ways in which God spoke, namely by the prophets and then by His Son. They have different purposes and they have different power. They have different power.

These are the things that we're going to look at, the ways in which God speaks. You know, there's a lot of things that are vying for our attention that are crying out for us to trust them. I am in one of the jobs recently that I am. I have been in conversation with a lady who calls herself an atheist. And I asked her, you know, who Jesus was?

Does she know who Jesus is? And she really didn't know much about Jesus at all. She has a background. She is astonishingly particular in her honesty, in her integrity. And it's interesting that she does not believe in Jesus Christ.

But what formed her moral fiber was a group of authors that she read when she was a young woman who all believed In Jesus. It's an interesting thing, but individuals. She came to me the other day and she said, you know, I met an Indian, Indian guy from India. And he said, you know, there are many pathways to righteousness. And there is a part of us in our society that is that we are being told there's many paths to God.

And in my heart, I believe there's only two. There's only two. One actually reaches God, and that is the message of the Son. The message of works which hopefully should lead us to the Son never reaches. That is where an individual works according to their own hands and hopes that that work will outweigh the bad that they have done.

They are going to stand before a judge and their thought is that, yes, I was this kind of person, yes, I was guilty of the crimes, yes, I did those things of which I am accused. But my hope is that when I stand before the judge, the judge will be somewhat lenient with me. And because I did some good things also, I hope that he or she will allow me into heaven. That's their thought. That's not a very good thought to approach a judge on earth with everyone tracking with me.

That's not the defense a lawyer is going to bring in your case to the courtroom. Well, just as this is not a good idea on earth, as you head to Montesino to stand to tell the judge, look, I just bought McDonald's food for the last cars behind me, you know, I'm sure that I can't get out of jail. That's not a good defense.

It's also much more so not a good defense. In heaven. There is a form of righteousness that comes through the Son that legally stands up to the scrutiny of the Father. And here we're going to see that there's two. Two things that both are part of the same goal.

God spoke in various times, in various ways to the fathers by the prophets, number one. But he has in these last days spoken by his Son. In any time God speaks, it is and should be indication for us to pay attention, that if he is speaking to us, we need to be listening. When God speaks from heaven, you and I might be listening to, you know, whatever our ear pods have going on, our radio is communicating us. But it's a good idea to shut that off and listen.

When God speaks to you, it's not the commercial that you don't care about, that you heard a thousand times that you just want to gloss over and say, I don't care. When God speaks to you, you want to Listen. It's important to listen. He spoke in various ways through the prophets and at various times. But this is indicating.

The book of Hebrews is of the opinion that even though God has spoke at various times in various ways in the last days, he's spoken by His Son. If there ever was a time to pay attention to the voice of God and it's in the ministry and life of Jesus Christ, Hebrews is going to start off telling us who the Son is. It's very important. There are a lot of views on who Jesus is. Some people will say he was a great teacher, he was a great moral leader, he was this and that.

But these views of Jesus are absolutely not acceptable in the light of reason or of the Gospel. We need to know who the Son is. We need to know what kind of ministry he has and accomplished for us if we are to listen to the Son. He is not necessarily.

Speaking in the same way that you would listen to a commercial something, right? He speaks in different ways and we need to be aware of how he speaks so that we can take advantage of that message that he has for us. But we're going to look and compare. These two ways in which God speaks are different. They're different.

And they're different in a couple ways. The first, they're different in time. We have in our culture and in the culture of almost the entire world that there is a system of measuring time. That system is called, used to be called BC and ad, right? And we measure time that way.

Before that time clock took place. Every culture was measured their time according to their king or dynasty, right? In the third year of this king or in the 500th year of this dynasty of China or whichever. But now we measure all time according to the reign of Jesus Christ. It is actually literally ad anno Dominio in the year of his reign, that all time is measured by the life of Jesus.

Before we have bc, before Christ, this was the period in which the Old Testament was written, leading up to the ministry of Christ. But now time is measured by the reign of Jesus Christ, that he has become the King of kings and Lord of lords. And. And even our time is based on his rulership.

He spoke to us in various times. He spoke to us in various people. See that in second Peter it says in 1:19. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place. And until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your heart, knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.

For prophecy never came by the will of man. But holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. This ways in which God spoke was different in people. He has in the last days spoken by His Son. But in the old time he spoke by holy men who were moved by the Holy Spirit.

These were individuals who were at times kings, priests, prophets, sometimes they were shepherds or other occupations. But God, through His Holy Spirit, moved in their life to speak the Scriptures to us. We have. The Bible is written over a span, I can't remember, of thousands of years, beginning first of all with the books of Moses. These were the books that Moses wrote Genesis through the end of Deuteronomy.

And then we have the history of the Bible written in Judges and Samuel and Kings and Chronicles. And then we have the poetical books, and finally the Judges. And these individuals, all from different backgrounds and perspectives, spoke a unifying message because the Holy Spirit was the one initiating the content of their messages. An astonishing look that there is no other book that so selflessly puts forth God's purposes over your own. In every other book that you'll read, you'll see the author attempt to glorify themselves in some way.

But in the books of the Bible, we do not see that. We see the same purpose, the same Spirit written through the lives of many different kinds of Jewish men, that is the prophets. But in the last days he's spoken to us by His Son. He has made His Son as the unique author of his voice to his people. That you and I are brought not to study necessarily the lives of all these people, but to pay attention to the words of His Son, Jesus Christ.

I'm going to go to.

I think, Matthew.

Let me go to John first.

In John chapter one, we're introduced to the life of Jesus in view of the prophets before him.

It says in chapter one, verse 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of him and cried out, saying, this was he of whom I said, of him who comes. He who comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before Me.

And of his fullness we have received. And grace for grace for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. We see that this ministry of people began ultimately with the ministry of Abel. Jesus, when he's talking to the religious leaders, says, upon you shall all the blood of all the Prophet, come from righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you killed between the altar and the high place. That these individuals were all set up as prophets to speak to the nation of Israel.

But in the last days the God has sent forth his Son. One more thing. In Matthew, John the Baptist ends up being that last prophet in this long line of Old Testament prophets. A little bit of a longer scripture but in chapter 11 it says now it came to pass when Jesus finished commanding his 12 disciples that he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. And.

And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to him, are you the coming one or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said to them, go and tell John the things which you hear and see. The blind see and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who is not offended because of me. As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John.

What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind. But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments. Indeed those who wear soft clothing are in kings houses.

But what did you go out to see? A prophet. Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger before your face shall who will prepare your way before you?

Assuredly I say to you, among those who are born of woman, there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist. But he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. God spoke in various ways in various times to the prophets, John the Baptist being the last and the greatest. But this says but that those who hear the ministry of the Son, those who take part in the words of the Son are greater than those who have the words of the greatest prophet, John the Baptist. Everyone tracking to me it is important to look at the ministry and the words of the Son.

The people this comes through is different. But. But the power is also different. Back in. Back in Hebrews.

Let's go to the purpose, the purpose of this change of voices in Hebrews Chapter one. Is there a different purpose? Obadiah, I mentioned this a little bit this morning. But says God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers and by the prophets, has in the last days spoken by his Son. There is a difference in the purpose of God speaking through the prophets than in speaking through Jesus Christ.

One of the ways we see that is in Galatians.

It says in chapter 3, verse 9, 19. What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now the Mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have come, would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.

Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under the tutor. In times past, God spoke through the prophets to bring us under the law so that we would be condemned by the law in the hope that when Jesus come, we might escape to him as one who is already guilty. The message is different. The Old Testament is came to condemn people.

Jesus came to set free those who were already come, who were already slaves, already condemned. The message of the old versus the new is different. But also the power of the Old versus the new is different. When we think of go to Hebrews, but we think of the, you know, the thunderings and the. And the roarings of Moses on the.

On that mountain, right? The law coming down and scorching the top of the mountain, where underneath those who had just been given the law of God were entertaining themselves by breaking God's law. The fire was going to scorch the top of that mountain. It thundered in verse 18 of chapter 12. We're going to see that there's a difference in the power of these two ministries.

The Old Testament versus the New Testament. The Old is described in this way. It says, for you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, to blackness and darkness and tempest, and to the sound of the trumpet, the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged at the Word should not be spoken to them anymore. You and I have been around some situations in which something feels strange or we hear a weird noise and it just kind of sets us on edge. What was that?

It was scary to us. We were terrified or our hair stood up. We hear this thunder and darkness, this lightning and terror terrified the people around them. I remember seeing a rocket go off in Los Angeles and it shot across the sky as they shot it from some base in California. And it went across the sky as the sun was going down.

It looked like the sky was being ripped in two. And I'm just like, you know, Jesus, I'm ready. I'm getting myself ready. You know, we've all been there. And these kind of things that happened, right?

This terrifying physical events. It says, for they could not endure what was commanded, and if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow. And terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. That was the old one, that physically terrifying one. But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly in the church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

You and I at the end of time have come under the ministry of Jesus Christ. It is a such better quality. It is so much more powerful. And you may have your sensations tingled by the physical things around. But when Jesus comes back in his glory, it will put all other things to a shame.

It says in verse 25, see that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But now he is promising once more I will shake not only the earth, but also heaven. So just to finish off, we're going to go back to Hebrews. So we see here in the book of Hebrews that there were in times past ways in which God spoke through the prophets that had a purpose.

But now, in these last times, he's given you and I the opportunity to hear the voice of the Son of God speaking. We have the opportunity to look into his spiritual ministry on earth, which he accomplished 2000 years ago. My encouragement to you, it would be that which was also given to Samuel the prophet. You remember he was sleeping, right? He was a young.

A young child or a young boy. And yet when he was laying down to sleep, he heard a voice speaking to him. And that voice called out his name. Samuel. Samuel, right.

And he didn't know he had not heard the voice of the Lord before. And so he thought it was Eli speaking. And so he went to Eli. Eli said, you know, look, I'm old and I'm fat and I'm trying to sleep. Go back to bed, right?

And Samuel heard this thing in his voice again. And he said, did you call me? And he said, no, I didn't call you. Finally, he recognized, Levi, recognized that this is the voice of the Lord. And this was the first time that Samuel had heard God's voice.

And my hope would be that if you were laying down on your bed and you heard your name called, that you would pay attention, right? That you would wake up, that it's worthwhile to lose a few minutes of sleep to hear the voice of God. That that knock on your door is important to answer, that you shouldn't tell him no, you know, go away. I'm in bed. I have my children in bed with me.

The doors are locked, you know, everything shut up for the night. The stove is banked. Go away. Some other. Come back some other day.

I hope you would be of the kind of character that says, you know, it's important when God speaks to hear what he has to say. And so in a lead up to the book of Hebrews, all of those ways in which God has spoken in times past are important. But this current period we live in, it is important to hear the message of the Son that you and I are condemned already through the message delivered to the people, prophets in the past. But now we need to have and hear the voice of the Son who brings us out of that condemnation and leads us into spiritual victory through that legal work which he accomplished on the cross. And so my goal, first of all, I hope, is that there is somewhat in your heart a desire to know about the ministry of Jesus.

I hope so. I hope you want to know that Christ speaks a message that is absolutely contradictory to every other spiritual individual who has ever lived. They all preach man's works, everyone. You don't have to tell anybody. I already know.

But Jesus speaks differently, and I hope there's a hunger in you. I want to hear the voice of the sons of God, because he who hears his voice will come out of their graves and live. So I hope that Hebrews interests you because it is a book. But second, I want to say that I hope you're asking currently, this week for Jesus to speak to you. There is no spiritual hierarchy in the Christian church except Christ, reigning and ruling over every individual.

Individually, there's no priest. Instead, there's no pope, there's no priest here. You are directly responsible to one high priest. And I hope that you're calling out to him. This starts in a simple way.

It's a. It's a very simple prayer. It says, jesus, I'm willing to hear you. I'm willing to hear the voice of the Son of God. I'm willing to open my spiritual ears to understand what he might be saying to me.

The one. Some of the ways we do that. I believe, first of all, it starts with priority, that you as a person have the intellectual, the spiritual ability to make yourself open to Jesus Christ. We do that in prayer. It doesn't have to be a complicated prayer.

It doesn't have to be a FORMATTED prayer. It doesn't have to be a long prayer. But I hope that this week, in some way, that you will say to me, not to me, excuse me, say to the Lord Jesus, would you speak to me? That's it. Just something small.

Lord, here I am. I'm willing to hear you. And I pray that as he impresses his nature on you, as he demonstrates you that he's of a gentle spirit, that he has a kind spirit, that he does not load things on us, he gives us the opportunity to take our load upon him. That you would be willing to say, okay, Lord, I will follow you. That's my hope.

And Hebrews is going to be a book that demonstrates the integrity, the beauty, the amazing character of Jesus's ministry. But I hope you're also experiencing it as we walk through the book of Hebrews together. So we're going to close there. And if anyone ever at any point, wanted a help in this journey of walking with Christ from an individual who has walked with him for a number of years, there be always people to labor with you to encourage you in that direction. And so I pray that you take advantage of that.

So let's go ahead and pray. And I hope your heart is in a right spot set saying, I want to hear from the Son. I've had enough of the condemnation. I've had enough of that. I want to hear from the Son.

Amen. Let's pray.