All right, if you can turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 1, again I'm going to reread verses 1, 2, and 3 before we get started. Again reading out of the NASB, "God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days, has spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world.

And he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." Let's pray. Christ the loving Father, we thank you so much for this morning.

We pray, Father God, that what you've intended in the book of Hebrews, Lord, that you would allow it to bear fruit in our hearts as we listen, as we study, as we dig. Help us, Lord God, that the more we know, the more we will apply in our lives.

So bless this morning, we know, Father God, that no matter how well I exposit this text, I pray, Father God, that without your Holy Spirit's conviction, it's just man's words. And so we pray, Father, that you would illuminate us, cause us to see your heart and your mind, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Most of you probably will not remember this commercial, but those of you who do, see if you can finish this phrase. When E.F. Hutton speaks, everyone... Yeah, you have to be a certain age to remember this commercial. This was back in the late 70s and early 80s. There was a commercial from a brokerage, E.F.

Hutton Brokerage, and basically the commercial says, "When E.F. Hutton speaks, everyone listens." So if you're of certain age, I mean, that commercial was very popular, right? That was a catchphrase. When E.F. Hutton... It was so popular that it started being used in different circles, like, "When someone speaks, everyone listens," right?

And the reason why the commercial was popular, basically it was about this brokerage, and when E.F. Hutton speaks, the information that he's giving out is so valuable that everyone stops what they're doing, and they lean over to hear, so they maybe get some stock tips or what's going on in the economy.

Who you listen to is probably dictating what you value and where you're headed. And that's why in Psalm chapter 1, it begins by saying, "Blessed is the man who does not listen to the counsel of the wicked." Because if you are listening, if you're leaning your ear toward the counsel of the wicked, that's the advice that you're getting.

Those are the things that you value, and those are the things that you will eventually end up pursuing. So the question this morning is, who do you listen to? Now, I know this morning that you're listening to me in the sermon, but there's a difference between hearing the sermon and listening to the sermon.

You know the distinction. Someone who is listening is somebody who is attentive to and be eager to hear the advice, and then they'll apply it. Where you're leaning over, you're not just casually hearing the words that are coming out of someone's mouth, but you're leaning, saying, "Oh, what is this?

These are valuable things." I thought about people in my life that I listen to. Obviously, the elders and the leaders and the pastors in the church, we spend a lot of time and we throw ideas and we kind of share our thoughts and theology. And so whatever happens in that meeting, they tend to have my ear.

I would say the person that I probably listen to more than anybody else is probably my wife. And the reason why, obviously, she's my wife, but she never nags. She's not a nagger. So she rarely says anything negative, at least not to me. And so every once in a while, she might say something.

She said, "Did you...you know, you and you said that?" And you could tell she's kind of reluctant to say because she doesn't want me to respond negatively. She has my ear because it's very rare that she says something. So if she says something, I know she has a lot of thought, and it was very important to her.

So she has a tendency, whatever she says, I tend to listen to her more than anybody else. The author of the book of Hebrews is beginning this letter by basically saying, "Listen." Remember last week I told you that the author is basically going down the list saying, "Jesus is better than the angels.

Jesus is better than Moses." And he's going down the list of important beings and people in the life of Israel and say, "Jesus is above all of that." And that's basically the theme of the whole book of Hebrews. But even before he gets to the angels, he begins by saying, "Jesus is better than the prophets." And the reason why he begins the letter by saying that is to get them to listen.

Because you're listening to partial information, scattered information, progressive information from the book, from prophets of the Old Testament. But the clear communication is coming through Jesus. So basically what he begins by saying is, "Listen to Jesus." There's five things that I want to highlight in this text, why he's trying to motivate them.

So in the end, the end conclusion of everything he says in these three verses is, you need to listen to him. You might be listening to the scribes. You might be listening to your neighbors. Maybe those who are persecuting you. Maybe the rabbis in your synagogue. And so many people have your ear.

And maybe some of them in their life is saying, "Why are you making your life so hard? All you have to do is just embrace some of Christianity and embrace some of your old life and you can enjoy God and enjoy the world at the same time. Why are you making it so hard saying it's Jesus or nothing?" So again, the author of the book of Hebrews is basically saying, "Those voices you need to drown out because the one who has authority over your life is speaking." So he begins the letter by saying, "Listen to Jesus." So every one of these points is the reason why they need to listen to Jesus.

Number one, Jesus is greater than the prophets because he is the son and not just the messenger. He said, "Long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions, many ways in these last days has spoken to us in his son." The prophets were simply messengers. But now Jesus, God is speaking directly through his son.

It says in comparison to what Jesus is saying versus what the prophets were saying. He says, "They spoke in many portions and in many ways." When it says in many portions, basically what he means by that is when God communicated through the prophets, he gave it progressively in bits and pieces.

So we have pictures of the gospel in the Old Testament. We have pictures of his suffering. We have pictures and types of Jesus' resurrection and death and suffering and atonement. But it came in bits and pieces. You don't have the clear and complete presence of the gospel in one prophet.

It's progressive in the span of hundreds and maybe even thousands of years of God revealing himself. He says it came in bits and pieces. But now in Jesus, he's putting it all together. So why would you listen solely to the prophets? Again not to say that any of that was wrong, but it came progressively in bits and pieces.

Not only did it come in bits and pieces, it says it came in many ways. Some spoke clearly. Some of them was illustrated. Some prophets were told to be naked on one side for a while and then go naked the other side for a while just to show them that God was angry with them.

Some of the Old Testament is written in poetry. Some of it written in narrative. Some of it in prophecy. But they all came in many different forms. And the reason why he was doing that was everything that he was doing was dropping hints. And all of it collectively pointed to Christ.

So let me give you an example how to best understand the Old Testament and the New Testament. Like what we know of the kingdom and God from the Old Testament and New Testament. Now some of you, all of us, at some point, like I mean if you're married or if you're dating, like let's say as a guy if you have interest in somebody you start dropping hints.

Or some of you girls do that with the guys, you drop hints. I remember when I had interest in Esther, there were little things that I did that I would not do for anybody else. It would be raining outside and I would make sure that she's not wet. And this is before I've ever had any kind of conversation with her.

And there would be a crowd of people standing at the door and I happened to be the only one with an umbrella and I would come and I would get her and get her to the car. And I would come back and then I would take other people but she was the first one that I took.

Now obviously that was, I was hoping that she would notice that. She didn't notice it. But I was dropping little hints. I was in charge of a ministry and she was in charge of the sisters ministry and I remember, I forget if it was their birthday or whatever it was and I got her a little bunny eraser.

Anyway there's a story behind that. I remember I gave it to her, she's so dense. She didn't get any of it, she didn't pick up any of it. But I was dropping hints and then finally when I heard that she was moving to the east coast to go to pharmacy school, I thought I need to make this clear.

And so when it was time for me to make it clear, basically I took all the things that I've done and said okay, now that was kind of a set up for me so that when I came and told her that she would have some idea, that she was expecting me to come and clarify.

When the time came for me to talk to her, I was dropping hints for a year and a half, at least in my mind. She caught none of it. So by the time I was trying to clarify, she was shocked. Like where did this come from? And I remember thinking like, how did you not know?

The reason why I share that is because in the Old Testament, God was dropping hints. In every way, if you were paying attention to what God was doing in the Old Testament, in bits and pieces, in many forms, you look at that and say, now we look back and it is clearly God was speaking about the coming of Christ and His suffering and our salvation.

But in the Old Testament, it was coming in different forms, in many pieces, progressively throughout time. But when Christ came, He basically DTR'd with us. As a son, He came and He made it clear. You know what happened in Leviticus? That was me. Remember Israel wandering in the desert and then they are entering into the promised land?

That's all talking about salvation going into eternity. And He begins to explain through clear words, everything that God was doing in the Old Testament in dropping hints that He's coming. And what was all that for? For anticipation, as a set up, as a foundation for Jesus to come and say, now let me make this clear.

So He begins the letter by saying the prophets were telling you in bits and pieces, in many different forms, but now Jesus comes as the Son. And so in other words, what's the point that He's trying to make? Listen to Him. It wouldn't make sense that you would go from this clear teaching of Christ and going back to illustrations and stories and hints.

So when it says, the author says that He comes as the Son, there's two things that he mentions. One, because He is the Son, He's able to speak clearly. In Matthew 13, 16, 17 it says, "But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears because they hear.

For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desire to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. Even as the prophets were dropping hints and God was giving them progressive revelation, what is this?

You're saying that the Messiah is going to come and suffer and He's going to save us? Who is this? When is this going to happen? And they long to hear it, but they never heard it. He's talking about Himself. They wanted to hear the clear message. They desired it.

But because He was the Son, He was able to make it clear. 1 Corinthians 2, 11-12, "For who among men knows the thoughts of man except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God." Think about how often people want to hear from God.

What is the Lord's will? What does God want from my family? Does He want me to do this or do that? And yet never spend any minute studying the clear words of Christ. They want to know the will of God. They want to have a relationship with God. They want to know His thoughts and His purpose in my life.

They want to understand if God loves them or not. And yet the clear teaching of God's word from His own mouth is written in the scripture and yet they never pay attention to what it has to say. No wonder, no wonder your view of God is so ambiguous. No wonder God seems so distant and far.

It's almost kind of like you're in a room and you have friends and you never talk to that person and you're always wondering. You know I have no idea what they're thinking. I wonder what they're thinking. I wonder what they're thinking. It's so hard to know what they're thinking.

Well why don't you ask? Why don't you go out and have lunch? Why don't you sit there and just ask? What are you thinking? Have a conversation with that person. So much of our ambiguity and our fuzziness about what we know of God is simply because we're not going to the source.

So first and foremost He says the prophets came in many different portions in many ways but Jesus comes as His son so He speaks clearly. Secondly, He speaks with authority because He speaks as His son. All this time He said you've been listening to a messenger. Now the person who is the source of the message has come.

Matthew 7, 28-29 when Jesus had finished these words the crowds were amazed at His teaching for He was teaching them as one having authority not as their scribes. Jesus wasn't simply conveying a message. I heard this and now you need to know this. He said He's the son. He comes with authority.

He's not simply saying I'm conveying to you what I heard. That's why He's able to say in Matthew 5, 27-28 you have heard it said that it was said you shall not commit adultery. Now that's the Bible He's quoting. You said He said you have heard it said that you shall not commit adultery but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Now if anybody else said this that would be blasphemy. Not because what He said was wrong but because He said you have heard it said you've read the Bible and the Bible said this but I say to you there's only one person in this universe that can say this and get away with it.

Nobody, no pastor, no scribe, not even an angel of God can come and say the Bible says this but I say to you. Nobody can say that. The only person that can say that is the one who said this. He comes with authority. He said I say to you.

In other words He's clarifying what His Father said. He says it again in Matthew 5 33-34 again you have heard it said that in the ancients were told you should not make false vows but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord but I say to you make no oath at all either by heaven for it is the throne of God.

In other words enough of your vows. He says not to not only that you should make false vows but even when you do make vows you don't keep it. I mean that's the experience that God had with the nation of Israel. Who can say this but God Himself? So He comes with authority and over and over again Matthew 5 38-39 you have heard it said and I for an eye, tooth for a tooth but I say to you do not resist an evil person.

No wonder the scribes had such a hard time with this because only God Himself would have authority to say these words and that's exactly who Jesus was. He was God Himself. So the end conclusion of the first point is you've been hearing through the ambassadors now the president has come.

You've been hearing through, you've been hearing through secretaries, through the generals and these were all very important people but now the president has come. Hear it from the horse's mouth. If there was any ambiguity, any question about God's intent now Jesus is making it clear. Secondly Jesus is greater than the prophets because Jesus' words were final.

He says in the last days. Everything that was happening through the prophets were progressively leading up to this point but when Jesus comes there's nothing beyond Him. It's finished. That's why He says the last days. So last days is not talking about a few days in the past but the last period of redemptive history.

Everything that God intended and was preparing for was leading up to the last days, the coming of Christ, His death and resurrection and now the period of the church we're all living in the last days. That's why the scripture says in 2 Peter 1 3, His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.

There's nothing more for us to wait for. Everything that God intended for our salvation, forgiveness of sins, for our resurrection has been given. There's nothing more for us to wait for. So Jesus is greater than the prophets because His words are final. Thirdly Jesus is greater than the prophets because He is not simply a mediator but the source itself.

Hebrews 1 2, Whom He appointed heir of all things through whom also He made the world. He is God Himself, the heir of all things, the creator. It says He is the radiance of His glory and exact representation of His nature. You know what's a great illustration of the Trinity and oftentimes when you hear people like illustrate the Trinity, there's no exact illustration because when you try to say this is what it's like, you end up becoming either a modalist or tritheist.

You get it wrong on either end. Now if you don't know those terms, don't worry about it. But I do encourage you to know it at some point. Basically modalism is one God presented in three different ways. Just like I'm a father, I'm a pastor, I'm a son, I'm a husband, and so one person but have different functions in different arenas of life.

That's called modalism. But the Bible doesn't present Jesus as just one God just kind of showing three different ways of who He is. And then if you're not careful, you go to the other end, tritheism. Tritheism basically is you have Father who is distinct by Himself and you have the Son who is distinct by Himself and then you have the Trinity or the Holy Spirit by Himself.

But it's kind of like in my family, you have all Kims but you have the Father, right? You have the Mother and then you have one of my children, right? But we're all Kims. So in the same way, you have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all three are distinct and they're all Gods but there are three distinct and that's called tritheism.

Other ones are not biblical. That's not how it's presented. The Bible says that there's only one God in essence but three distinct. One times one times one equals one. That's the formula for Trinity. It's not one plus one plus one equals three, right? So if that's gone over your head, you know, take some time, right?

Because this is the first thing I really struggled with as a young Christian because I could not understand Trinity and I thought maybe it was because I'm biblically illiterate and if I learned more that I would somehow get it. And so I would go and ask my professors, my Bible study leaders and I was so intent on finding this out because this is a God that I've given my life to follow and I can't explain Him.

And so I was stuck on this for years to the point where my Bible study leader basically told me to knock it off because every Bible study eventually led to I don't get this. I've asked you, obviously you know the Bible way more than I do and I've asked all of my professors and they have PhDs in this and even then I was like maybe I'm just dumb.

I just don't get it, right? And then I began to study the scriptures from verse to verse to verse and I started realizing, oh, it does teach this. Even though I can't explain it, it teaches the Trinity. And so the conclusion that I came to was if you believe the Bible is authoritative and is from God, whether I understand it or not, it's true.

But if I don't believe it, just because I don't understand it doesn't mean that it's not authoritative, right? Now all of that is to set up for this. Jesus, and I thought this was one of the best illustrations because it says Jesus is the radiance of God's glory, exact representation of his nature.

So Jesus is not a part of God. Jesus is not just a figure of God or an image of God. He says he is the radiance of his glory. When God reveals himself, what do you see? Jesus. That's what it means. He is the radiance of God's glory. So those are not two separate things.

You understand? When he says he's the exact representation of his nature, he's not talking about an image of George Washington or somebody on a coin where his image was imprinted on him, but the very person is completely different. That's not what he means by that. It says his very nature is exactly represented in Christ.

So in other words, just the very words that he uses here is referring to the Trinity. And I think this is the best illustration. When we look at the sun, what are we seeing? The rays, right? That's coming from the sun. We see the light coming from the sun, right?

So basically we are seeing the sun, but we are seeing the radiance coming from the sun. So if you've seen the rays from the sun, you've seen the sun. But here's the distinction. They say that it takes about eight minutes for that light to travel to here. Eight minutes.

So when we gaze at the sun, what we are looking at is the sun eight minutes ago. Because it took eight minutes for that to come into our sight. That's how far the sun is. So when we see the sun, we are looking at the sun, but it's distinctly different because it's eight minutes after the rays were given.

Now if you're confused a little bit, you kind of get it, and you're still a bit confused, then you got the Trinity. Because when we look at the radiance of God's glory, we are looking at the Father, but it's distinct. It is not exact at that time. And that's how the Bible represents God.

It may not be a perfect illustration, but I thought that captures more than any other illustration that I found. Jesus himself is the exact radiance, or radiance of his glory. So when we see Jesus, he says we see him. And that's what Jesus says in John chapter 14, 8-10.

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know me, Philip? Who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?'" Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, and the words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does his works.

Now the point of all of this is to listen. This is God himself speaking. Now if you're in the market of trying to find out where you want to invest your money, and you have let's say a chunk of money, and you want to make sure that you pick the right stock, who would you listen to?

Back in the 70s, it was E.F. Hutton. Who would you listen to? I hear stories about people paying hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars just to have dinner with Warren Buffet. He's one of the most famous investors of our lifetime. Become a billionaire just from picking the right stocks over 30, 40 years.

People are willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars just to hear his advice. What stocks do you want me to choose, and what do you see coming? Because if you can do even half of what he did in his life, you would be a billionaire. So if you're a basketball player, if Michael Jordan speaks, you listen.

If you're trying to set up a social media, when Mark Zuckerberg speaks, you listen. Whatever it is that's valuable to you, you listen intentively because their advice is going to change the direction. It's going to help you get to where you want to go. So you get online, and if you're in business, you pay money.

Have to have consultants who are experts in these fields to get you to where you want to go. But when it comes to your life, who else do you listen to? You don't listen to Warren Buffet about your marriage. You don't go to Michael Jordan about raising children. You don't go to a business expert to ask about computer failures.

You go to the right source. So when it comes to your life, who else would you listen to than the author of life himself, the creator? So again, the point of the third point is listen. Fourthly, Jesus is greater than the prophets because he's the sustainer of all things.

In other words, we ought to listen to him because he's the one who sustains. He upholds all things by the word of his power. The world does not run on its own. Because we experience things in repetition. I go to sleep, I wake up, I eat, go to the bathroom, take a shower, and so everything that we do, we do in repetition for a long period of time.

So anything that we do in repetition, we have a tendency to take for granted. We're like that even with relationships. Whenever it's new, it's new and exciting. And when people have been in our life for a long period of time, we just assume they're going to be there until they're gone.

And all of a sudden, you realize how important they were. And you begin to realize what a huge role they played in your life. But anything that is done in repetition, we tend to take for granted. The scripture says we are here because of him. He sustains us. You breathing, you coming week after week after week, you've been a Christian whether for a few months or for many years, it's because of his grace.

But when he says that he upholds all things, he's not simply talking about maintaining so make sure everything just keeps going and doesn't burn and crash. He sustains, like a pilot sustains an airplane going into his direction. It's not stagnant. There's a clear goal of our life. And Jesus Christ is directing that.

And that's what the Bible means when he says he sustains us. He upholds all things. Everything that God is intending for this, for the world and where it's headed in the book of Revelation, Jesus is sustaining all of that. That's why when the scripture talks about we can't lose our salvation is because if you've been saved by the sovereign hands of Christ, he is sustaining us and he is making sure that we get to the end.

So the very reason why you and I year after year, despite some of our many failures, that we're able to be at church and listen to his word and we're not far gone is because Christ is making sure that we're getting to our destination. There's a reason why we're on the airplane and the pilot comes on and he says, "Put on your seatbelt because we see turbulence coming." We don't sit in our chairs like, "Wow, I don't feel it." I don't trust him.

And you just unbuckle your seatbelt and you're just walking around, right? You don't know what's coming. If you've been on an airplane long enough, you know when the pilot says, "We see turbulence coming," right? 10 out of 10 times, there's some turbulence. Now, the degree of turbulence may be different, right?

I don't know about you, but I've been on airplanes where I was thrown out of my seat and almost hit the top of... Not the top of the airplane, but you know where the baggage thing was? It was that bad. We were flying from Beijing to Urumqi and they said, "Hey, turbulence is coming." So we're just like, "Oh, it's going to be a little bit shaky." Well we thought the plane cracked because we were on the very back of the plane and they hit the turbulence and maybe people in the middle didn't feel it as much, but we were at the very tail end.

And when that thing snapped, anybody who didn't have their seatbelt on, we were almost flown out of our seats. So now whenever I'm on an airplane, when the pilot says, "We have a little turbulence coming. Please we advise you to keep your seatbelts on and don't go to the restroom right now.

And flight attendants, please have your seats and buckle up." I put that seatbelt on and I tighten it just in case, right? So the scripture says that he upholds all things. He's upholding not just kind of on autopilot and let it be and let it get to our destination.

He says God is the one who's piloting us to our destination. So in other words, what is he saying? Listen. His words have consequences when he's warning us. And so the warning that we hear in the book of Hebrews is you're going to drift if you're not anchored. You're going to drift into danger if you don't pay attention.

If you neglect such a great salvation, how shall you escape this judgment? If you just allow yourself to continue to go down this path. He says he's the one who upholds all things. In other words, listen, pay very careful attention. Fifth and finally, Jesus is greater than the prophets because he is the fulfillment of what God has spoken.

Not only is he the one who sustains, he's the destination itself. The whole purpose of all of this is to bring us and to be reconciled to himself. Hebrews 1.3, when he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Jesus himself fulfilled what God desired, the salvation of mankind.

First Peter 1.10-11, as to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the suffering of Christ and the glories to follow.

He said Christ was going to come and they were eagerly waiting. He's going to suffer, but his suffering is going to lead to glory. And that's what they were waiting for. For Christ to come and redeem us from our sins and to bring us to glory. Everything that we experience here is temporary.

Especially those of you who are young. You know, when you get older, our concern is losing what we have. At this point in my life, you know, and again, not that that was ever a pursuit of my life, but even if it was, even if my wildest dreams came true, I became an NBA superstar, I created the next big technology, and I became the richest man on earth.

Even if your wildest dreams came true, it's temporary. You hold onto it for a short period and then at some point you have to let it go. It's temporary. So when you get older, I think the temptation that older people have is losing what they have. But when you're young, the temptation is that you're not going to have what you potentially can get.

So if you commit your life too early, if you sacrifice and you do these things and you don't come cornered, if you don't do these things, I may not be able to become a millionaire. I may not be able to be successful. So the temptation is not what you have, but what you may lose if you make certain decisions.

But in the end, even if your wildest dreams came true, every human being who has lived on this earth, no matter how successful they are, all they are now are names on paper. They're in the grave like everybody else. They're no more richer than the poorest person that died at some point in history.

Whether you died of natural causes, whether you died young with disease and horrible life, the end is the same. Jesus Christ came to deliver us from that fate. He's the end. He's our goal. And he says Jesus Christ came to fulfill that. All human history, God's intent and his love and his grace and his mercy is fulfilled in Christ.

In other words, what is he saying? Listen. Who are you listening to? Whose advice do you covet? Who do you lean toward when they speak? If it isn't first and foremost the words of Christ, you're probably already drifting. If you're casually listening to the words of Christ and intentively listening to the advice of the world, you probably have already been drifting.

When we're young, I noticed in being a father, the easiest time, physically it's hard, but when the children are young, it's easy because they listen to you. Even the most rambunctious of kids, they listen to you. I remember when my kids were young, they would fight with each other and then they would say, "Oh, it's not this, no, it's that, that." Then I walk into the room, "Daddy, is this true?" And I said, "Yes." End of the fight.

And he said, "So that's the truth." And then puberty hits. And all of a sudden, they start testing you. You said this, but my friends said, "Your friend's just like you. He's not any more than you. Why is truth coming from your friends all of a sudden?" And so they go through that stage where they're testing the world.

So you're no longer the source of truth when they get to that age. And that's part of growing. And so when they're teenagers, their advice oftentimes is coming from their peers. It's more important what their peers think than what the parents think. And they go through that stage. And then you get older and you learn from that.

It's like, "My peers, they're dummies. This guy didn't know Jack." Then you see how some of their friends made some foolish choices in the direction that they went, and then you realize, "Maybe they're not the people I should be paying attention to." And then you get to the next stage where you listen to your own passions.

It's like, "Well, this is what I want. This is what I desire. I'm going to do this." And you get determined, and you begin to listen to yourself. And that's when pride comes in. And if you're successful, it gets harder because you think you know. But that's also a stage.

And it's a very dangerous stage because you begin to just follow whatever passions, whatever your flesh leads you. And that's exactly what the scripture says. Do not trust your heart. It is very, very, very deceptive. You can like one thing one day and hate it the next day. If you live long enough, you know that.

Even your appetite changes as you grow up. What you think is good and bad changes as you mature. To have your whole trajectory based upon your passions is not simply a mistake. It's dangerous. But if we want to live, there's only one person that will give us what we need to live.

And that's the author of life. So the point of all of this is to prepare us for what he's about to say. He's about to go into this eight, nine chapters of Christology. And he begins by saying, "Listen." You know what's interesting about the book of Hebrews? There is no introduction.

In every one of the letters in the New Testament, it says to the church of Colossae, to Philemon, to whoever, and it'll say, "Apostle Paul or James." And it will give an introduction. It says, "I'm thankful for you. I'm praying for you." But there's two letters in the New Testament where it jumps right into the point.

The book of Galatians. He says, "I, Paul, an apostle, write this to you." And then he jumps in, "I'm surprised that you're so easily turning to a different gospel." And then he jumps in because he's so concerned about these Judaizers who are corrupting the church. And anybody who preaches a different gospel other than what I preach to you, let it be anathema.

And he says it twice. And that's at the very beginning of the letter because there's a sense of urgency because they're drifting from the true gospel. And we know that that was a very intense letter because he was very concerned. And the other letter that doesn't have an introduction is this letter because the author is so concerned.

Not of the false gospel, of people just drifting. And we don't normally think of drifting as dangerous unless you've experienced drifting. But you know where drifting leads to because that drifting never leads to God. It always leads us to danger. And that's why the author of this letter begins by saying, "Pay attention to the Son.

Listen to what I have to say because the consequence is life and death." So I pray that as we take time to dig into the book of Hebrews that we would open our ears and pay attention as the author intends. Let's pray.