‘hail The Incarnate Deity’

SERMON OUTLINE:

• Jesus is superior to the prophets in his nature (vs 1-2a).

• Jesus is superior to the prophets in his relationship (vs 2).

• Jesus is superior to the prophets in his work (vs 3).

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

• The man in the photo is Roger Lancelyn Green.

• What do you mean who?

• Without him our reading literature would be very much poorer.

• Ok, I don’t expect you to know who he was,

• Let me tell you, he was a good friend of C.S. Lewis.

• In fact, it wasn’t C.S. Lewis who came up with the title;

• ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ to describe his seven books.

• It was his friend and fellow author, Roger Lancelyn Green,

• Who coined the title in a letter he wrote to Lewis in 1951.

• We owe even more thanks to Roger;

• Because he also prompted C.S. Lewis to write more books after

• ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.’

• Lewis was content with that first book;

• Until Green challenged him with a question;

• The question he asked Lewis was:

• “What was that lamppost doing in Narnia in the first place?”

• Rather than tell his friend he did not know or to stop overthinking it,

• Lewis began writing ‘The Magician’s Nephew’ to answer that question.

• And the rest as they say is history!

Now in the book, ‘The Last Battle’, the last of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’:

• We read these words:

• (C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle, Book 7 of the Chronicles of Narnia.)

“It seems then,” said Tirian, … “that the Stable seen from within and the Stable seen from without are two different places.” “Yes,” said Lord Digory. “Its inside is bigger than its outside.” “Yes,” said Queen Lucy. “In our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

• TRANSITION: isn’t that a great line:

• “A Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

• That is the theme of our studies this morning,

• As we borrow the line from Wesley’s hymn: ‘Hail the incarnate Deity’

• And use the first three verses from the book of Hebrews for our reflections.

The letter to the Hebrews exalts & promotes the person and the work of Jesus Christ:

• Again and again the book of Hebrews will present Jesus as unique,

• As superior to anyone or anything else.

ill:

• In 2009 we studied the book of Hebrews on a Sunday Evening;

• As part of our ‘Word & Worship’ series.

• The series was called, ‘Jesus in the book of Hebrews’

• As we studied this book week by week we noted it’s themes,

• The book of Hebrews compares and contrasts Jesus;

• To key historical people and events from the Old Testament.

• Through these comparisons, we see His superiority.

• He is greater than angels, greater than the Torah, greater than Moses,

• greater than the Promised Land, greater than priests, greater than Melchizedek,

• greater than sacrifices, and greater than the covenant.

• All of those people or items mentioned were important,

• But Jesus is more important!

Ill:

• Leonardo da Vinci once took a friend to view,

• And also to criticize his masterpiece of the "Last Supper,"

• His friend starred at the picture and said to Leonardo da Vinci;

• "The most striking thing in the picture is the cup!"

• The artist is said to have taken his brush and wiped out the cup, saying;

• "Nothing in my painting shall attract more attention than the face of my Master!"

• TRANSITION: The book of Hebrews shows to us,

• The supremacy of Jesus and no-one or nothing can ever eclipse him.

Jesus is superior to the prophets in his nature (vs 1-2a).

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

In the Old Testament God spoke in a variety of different ways:

• Sometimes he spoke through dreams

• (e.g. story of Joseph & his technicoloured coat)

• Sometimes he spoke through visions

• (e.g. Ezekiel - remember the song, “Them bones, them bnes, the dry bones”)

• Sometimes he spoke through prophets

• (e.g. Moses, Elijah & Jeremiah)

The thing to note is God spoke, God wants to communicates to us.

• If we are to understand anything about God,

• He must reveal Himself to us.

• We are in need of revelation.

• Humans do not have this kind of knowledge within themselves.

Ill:

• As I was preparing for this talk I Googled the question;