Christ: The Final Word

Listen to this excellent sermon Christ: The Final Word by Timothy Keller, Hebrews 1 and 2 Or find Christ the Final Word on Podcast, Gospel in Life by Timothy Keller,  iTunes

Here's a portion of his conclusion: 

"But notice it says, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” This term more careful attention is really much stronger than I ever thought before I studied it for us this week. The word attention literally means obsession. The word more careful is another very strong word. More and careful are trying to get across a word that actually means to be furiously obsessed.

This is telling us anyone who hears the gospel and says, “Okay, now I’m a Christian. I believe that,” has just begun to become what God can make you. You have to become furiously obsessed with the original message. You don’t move on and say, “Well, I got the gospel, the gospel about Jesus Christ dying for my sins. That’s fine; now I want to go move on.”

You’re going to drift. That’s not rebel. It means you’re going to drift unless you take that message and obsess on the grace, obsess on the gospel. You have to work it into your life, because there’s an imperviousness about your insides. You have to work it in and work it in and work it in. That’s the first thing we learn….

Obsess on what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. Pay close attention to it. Obsess on God’s grace. Obsess on his love. Do you know what that does? It changes you on the inside. It shows you you’re not saved by leading a good life, which will either lead to pride or despair. It will either superficially change you, or it will break you.

But the glory of God in the face of Jesus, the glory of God as you read the Scripture, coming into contact with a heart that is melted by the sense of God’s grace because of what he did on the cross for you, will mean the glory of God really changes you. Obsess on the grace of God until you become what you know you should be, the person you know you can be through him."

Hebrews 1:1-2, "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…."