Let us turn to God's Word in
that second portion of Holy Scripture that we read, Hebrews chapter
12, and reading again verses 26,
27, and 28. These verses form our text this
morning, Hebrews 12, 26, 27, and 28, whose voice then shook
the earth But now he hath promised, saying,
Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, yet once more,
signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of
things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken
may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and God with fear. In the whole passage that we
read from verse 18 through to the end we have of course this
remarkable contrast between the two covenants, between the law
its associations with Mount Sinai and the Gospel which is spoken
of in terms of Mount Zion. Back in verse 18, the Apostle
says, You are not come unto the mount which might be touched,
and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness and darkness and
tempest. And then at verse 22 he says,
But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company
of angels, and so forth. In this passage then he is making
this contrast between that covenant which we know as the law given
at Mount Sinai, and that New Covenant, which is revealed to
us in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we take
these words at the end of the chapter, verses 26 through to
28 for our text, I want to divide what I'm going to say under three
headings, three significant words that we find in the verses. We
read of a removing in verse 27 the removing of those
things that are shaken and then secondly we have a remaining
again in verse 27 those things which cannot be shaken may remain
and then thirdly I receiving, in verse 28, therefore we receiving
a kingdom which cannot be moved. That's the division that I want
to follow as a basic outline this morning, a removing, a remaining,
and a receiving. First of all then the removing,
and that's what we have spoken of really in verse 26 through
to the beginning of verse 27 whose voice then shook the earth
but now he has promised saying yet once more I shake not the
earth only but also heaven and this word yet once more signifies
the removing of those things that are shaken the removing Now, as I say, in
the whole context here we have to recognize that the contrast
is being drawn between the old covenant given at Mount Sinai
and the new covenant associated with Mount Zion. Now, we know
at the giving of the Lord of Gods there was a great display
of power. There was a great shaking, as
it were, in the earth when God came, descended upon Mount Sinai,
and spoke those 10 words, the 10 commandments. And the record
is there for us in Exodus chapter 20, but previous to that in the
19th chapter we see something of the setting of the scene. There, in Exodus 19.18, Mount
Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon
it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace,
and the whole mount quaked greatly. There was a great shaking then,
as the Lord God Himself appears to speak those words. The Psalmist
says, Psalm 68, the earth shook, The heavens also dropped at the
presence of God. Even Sinai itself was moved at
the presence of God, the God of Israel. It was God who came,
it was God who spoke. And here, of course, in verse
19 we see how that voice of God was as a sound of a trumpet. the sound of a trumpet, the voice
of words, which voice I that heard entreated that the word
should not be spoken to them any more." Remember how after
God had given those Ten Commandments and spoken the words to the whole
of the people of Israel, they desired at the end of Exodus
chapter 20 that God would speak no more, that Moses should go
into the mount and Moses should be a mediator for them, he should
be receiving those words from God himself. Or when God speaks,
when God speaks so, men are made to quake, how they are filled
with great dread and fear. Again, the psalmist says, the
voice of thy thunder was in the heaven, the lightnings lightened
the world, the earth trembled and shook. All of this as God
comes. And as we read at the beginning
of Exodus chapter 20, God spoke all these words. The terrors of the law of God.
And Paul reminds us of those things when he writes in his
various epistles. Remember the language that we
find there in the third of the Romans, where he speaks of how
God's Word is that that will silence all peoples. There in Romans chapter 3, and
verses 19 and 20. He speaks of what the great purpose
of the law is, is to convince the sinner, is to shut the mouth
of the sinner. We know that what things however
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped. and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin." What a ministry is that that we have
then in the holy law of God. The law worketh righteousness. It is that ministration of condemnation. It is that ministration of death. These are the things that we
read in the other portion, back in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Again
there, a contrast is being drawn between the ministry of the law
on the one hand and the ministry of the gospel on the other. And
it says quite clearly there in that third chapter of 2 Corinthians
that the law is nothing more than that ministration of condemnation. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. It's administration of death.
Paul can say in Romans 7, I was alive without the law once but
the commandment came and sin revived and I died. Well, he
kills the sinner to all hope or confidence he might ever have
in himself. And here then we see how that
law in the giving of it is associated with the great quaking and the
trembling even there at Mount Sinai. But look at the language
that we find in this 26th verse, whose voice, that's the voice
of God, then shook the earth. But now we have promise saying
yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven."
Oh, there's another visitation being spoken of here. At the
beginning of verse 26, clearly he is referring to events that
took place all those centuries previously on Mount Sinai, when
God's voice shook the earth. But now we have the promise of
another. God says, yet once more I shake not the earth only, but
also heaven. Now what is being spoken of here?
The references to the Gospel. And we can establish that when
we go back to the promise of God. He refers there to that
promise, and we have the promise in that book of the prophet Haggai. In Haggai chapter 2, and there
at verses 6 and 7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
yet once more it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens
and the earth, and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake
all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I
will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hosts." Now,
Haggai's ministry is associated with the days of Ezra, the return
from the exile, the rebuilding of the temple of the Lord. And
that is the house that is being spoken of there at the end of
that 7th verse, I will fill this house, that temple that was being
rebuilt, I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of
hosts. And how will God fill that house
with glory when the desire of all nations comes?" And the desire
of all nations is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
He's coming. That is one of the names that
is given to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. As I said, Haggai ministering,
God's prophets, together with the Prophet Zechariah in those
days, that period of the return and the rebuilding of the Temple
of the Lord. And they were told there in Ezra's
account, the historic account, in Ezra chapter 3, and at the
end of the chapter there were those ancient men, there were
those old men, and they see the foundation of that new temple
being built, but they're in tears. Why? It was nothing, they felt. was nothing compared with the
glories that belonged to Solomon's temple, that temple that had
been destroyed by the Babylonians. And there they are, they're laying
the foundations. Oh yes, it's a mingled reaction. There are those rejoicing, but
the ancient men, the old men. What is this new temple compared
with the glories that belonged to Solomon's temple? Do you see
the significance of those words that the Prophet speaks? at the
end of that seventh verse, when the desire of all nations comes,
God says He's going to fill that temple with glory. And what was
the glory of that temple? It was the ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ. All we're told in the Gospels
how Christ taught daily in the temple. The ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ as He exercises it there in that temple that
had been rebuilt in the days of Israel. It had been expanded
somewhat under King Herod. It was probably more glorious
than it was initially. But the real glory of that temple
was the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, we're told
in the Gospel, He taught the people in the temple and preached
the Gospel. All that was His teaching. It
was the proclamation of the Gospel. And that's what's being spoken
of here in our text in verse 26. His voice then shook the
earth when he came in the law, but now he hath promised, saying,
Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And that is the coming of the
Gospel. Oh, we know how at the coming
of the Gospel there was the shaking of heaven and of earth. You think
of those events associated with the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ,
what remarkable angelic activity. We read of those things in the
opening chapters of Luke's Gospel, how the angel comes and appears
to Zacharias, who was to be the father of John the Baptist and
John that one who is sent to prepare the way before the coming
of the day of the Lord. There is much angelic activity
at that time. Why Gabriel is also sent to Mary
who is the one who is chosen to be the mother of Him that
was to be born. The mother of the promised Messiah. And then now the angel also comes
to Joseph. Of course, he was betrothed to
Mary and she's with child. But he's not to put her away.
Or the angel assures Joseph that she is with child of the Holy
Ghost. And His name is to be called
Jesus. for he shall save his people from their sins." Oh,
there at the actual birth of that child we read of the shepherds,
and how the angels appear unto the shepherds, the multitude
of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Peace on earth,
good will towards men. There was a shaking in the heavens
at the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, although Men upon earth
seem to take little account of these events. But not just at
the birth. Not just at the birth. When the
Lord Jesus comes forward to begin His earthly ministry, when He
goes to John at the River Jordan and He's baptized, again we're
told how the heavens were open. All this is shaking in the heavens.
And it's not now the ministry of the angels. No, it's the great
triune Jehovah. Even there as the Son now incarnates,
veiled in human flesh, comes forth from those waters of baptism,
how the voice of the Father is uttered from heaven, this is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And then, how the
Spirit himself descends from heaven, and descends in the form
of a dove and lights upon the Lord Jesus, or the Father giveth
not the Spirit by measure unto him." There were great stirrings
in the heavens there at the baptizing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet once more I shake not the
earth only, says God, but also heaven And again, when he comes to the
end, when Christ dies there upon the cross, is there not again
such activity in the heavens? It was high noon, the sixth hour,
and we're told from the sixth hour there was darkness over
all the land until the ninth hour. When the sun should have
been at its very zenith, there was a darkness. The heavens shrouded
in blackness. And then the Lord Jesus, uttering
that great lament, that awful cry, feeling so derelict in his
soul, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Oh, there is spiritual significance
there. in all of these events that are
recorded for us in the Gospel. And that's what we're being reminded
of here. "...whose voice then shook the
earth at the giving of the law. But
now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shall not the
earth only, but also heaven and this word. Yet once more signifies
the removing of those things that are shaken as of things
that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. We read then of those things
that may be shaken, and the reference here is to the whole of the Mosaic
economy, those things that he has been speaking of previously.
from verse 18. These things are to be removed.
Dr. John Owen in his great commentary
on this book of the Hebrews says that the conclusion of the whole
argument of the Epistle is that all the ancient institutions
of worship are removed. and they are taken away. They are things that can be shaken. And it's not only here in chapter
12. As Owen said, it's the whole argument of the book. There's to be a removing of all
those things. Now, it didn't happen immediately. We know upon the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ there was that dividing of the veil in the temple
the veil that stood between the holy place and the holy of holies
signifying that the way was now opened up. But then when we read subsequently
and we come to the the resurrection of Christ and that period of
40 days as he shows himself to his disciples and then he is
taken up from them, he ascends into heaven. Then we have the
ministry of the apostles recorded throughout the book of the Acts.
We see that they were still attending the temple. They were still,
while Paul certainly on his missionary journeys was going into the synagogue,
and ministering there, there was a gradual taking away, removing
of all these things. And of course subsequently we
know how historically it was in the year 70 that the Roman
legionaries laid siege to Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. But
it was something that occurred by degrees. But it is a fact
that these things were taken away. They were things that can
be shaken. They were things that were to
be removed. And if we go back to chapter
8, there at the end of that chapter we read, He set a new covenant,
in that He set a new covenant, He hath made the first old. Now
that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. There was the removal then of
that old covenant. It was taken out of the way.
And those who are brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
are those who are delivered from that law. They're no more under
the law. They're not under law, but they're under grace. And
this is why we say that with the believer, the gospel is his
rule of conduct, because the gospel is more glorious. We read
those words in 2nd Corinthians 3 and verse 11, if that which
is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is
glorious. And what is it that remaineth?
It's the gospel. And in the gospel there are precepts
as well as promises. This is the position that we
take. It's stated quite plainly in our articles, Article 16,
the believer is not under law, but under gospel. Again, look
at the language of the Apostle at the end of Galatians, that
remarkable Galatian epistle. There at the end of chapter 6
he says, In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything,
nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk
according to this law, or this rule, peace be on them, and mercy,
and on the Israel of God." Well, this is God's true Israel here,
this is God's spiritual Israel. There is a removing, you see,
of all that pertain to the Old Testament. The Old Testament
God could say to ethnic Israel, you only have I known of all
the families of the earth. No favor, no privilege they were,
but that's all removed, that's all gone. There is then first of all a
removing. But then in the second place,
we see here that there is something that remains. This word, we read in verse 27,
yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that
are shaken as of things that are made, that those things which
cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Now the word that we have in
verse 28, we receiving a kingdom which
cannot be moved, that word moved is really exactly the same word
as we have in the previous verses, 26 and 27, where it is translated
shook, or shake, or shaken. The Old Covenant is that that
is shaken and removed out of the way, but here is something
that cannot be moved or shaken, it is something that remains.
And what is it that remains? It is the new covenant. It is
the new covenant. It is that covenant that God
had made with David. All who were saved in the Old
Testament, of course, were saved by the grace of God. Those who
were the true spiritual Israel of God in the Old Testament,
they understood the significance of all the ceremonial laws. We
were reminded of it yesterday. All those Levitical sacrifices,
they all pointed to Him who was to come and make that one sacrifice
for sins forever. Not all the blood of beasts on
Jewish altar slain could give the guilty conscience peace or
wash away the stain, but Christ the heavenly Lamb. And those
who were the true spiritual Israel, the true people of God, they
had a spiritual understanding. They saw how all of these were
wondrous types and figures of that that was to come in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And David amongst them, David
the man after God's own heart. And what does David say? He is
made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure.
And this is all my salvation and all my desire. But David
a remarkable character of course because he is himself a type
of the Lord Jesus. Is there not a sense in which
when David utters those words at the end of his life, he speaks
as it were the mouthpiece of Christ? Or it is with Christ
that God has made an everlasting covenant? In Isaiah 55 we read
of those sure mercies of David, and there, in that 55th chapter
of Isaiah, it's clear that it is Christ that he's being spoken
of. Incline your ear, come unto me
and hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have
given him for a witness to the people, a leader and a commander
to the people." It is the Lord Jesus who is that one who is
the witness, the leader, the commander, and that covenant
with him God speaks of in terms of the sure mercies of David,
a covenant ordered in all things and sure. Oh, we see all the persons of the
Godhead in that covenant. What does the Father say? My
counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Or that covenant
can never be moved, it stands forever, stands for time, stands
for eternity. He says, I am the Lord, I change
not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. That's the true spiritual people
of God, spoken of there as Jacob who became Israel. Or they can
never perish. God's purpose is unshakable. It is the great purpose of the
Father from before the foundation of the world when He made choice
of that people and committed them into the hands of His Son
to be their Saviour. And don't we see the Lord Jesus
Christ as that One who has His part to play in the outworking
of the covenant? Why the Father sends Him in the
fullness of the time? that was purposed from all eternity
at very precise moment in time when he was to be born so it
came to pass and what does the Lord say my meat is to do the
will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Oh he has
a work to accomplish and how he accomplishes that work how
He is under the Lord, how He honors the Lord and magnifies
the Lord, how He is obedient, in life He is obedient unto death. And so when we come to that great
high priestly prayer in John 17, I have glorified thee on
the earth, He says. I have finished the work that
thou gavest me to do. And then He utters those words,
of course, ultimately upon the cross, it is finished. He bows
the head. He gives up the ghost. He makes
his soul an offering for sin. He dies. He dies a real death. The separation of body and soul. And what has he accomplished?
Well, we have it in the prophecy of Daniel. There in Daniel 9.24,
he has finished the transgression. He has made an end of sin. He
has made reconciliation for iniquity. He has brought in everlasting
righteousness. All He has made, that one offering,
by one offering, it says, He hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified, them that were set apart. He is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believer. Here is the purpose
of the Father then and that purpose in the Eternal Covenant which
we see as the New Covenant because it's revealed to us here in the
New Testament God's purpose must be accomplished and the Lord
Jesus Christ has come and done all the Father's will and finished
the work that He gave Him to do but then that work must be
accomplished also in the soul of sinners. And there is the
blessed work of God the Holy Spirit. Oh, God's grace is never
abortive. Never abortive. Shall I bring
to the birth, he says, and not cause to bring forth? Shall I
cause to bring forth and shut up the womb, saith the Lord?
And the implication in all those questions is that's an impossibility.
He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the
day of Jesus Christ." Oh, this, friends, is the gospel that remains. We receiving a kingdom which
cannot be moved. It is that old law that has gone,
moved out of the way. that those things which cannot
be shaken, cannot be removed, may remain. And then finally here there must
be a blessed receiving of these things. What does it say in verse 28?
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved cannot
be shaken let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear when we read in verse 27 of the
removing of those things that are shaken as of things that
are made I said it historically in the context has
to do with the removal of the Lord of God. The old covenant
is gone and the new covenant of grace has now been revealed
with the coming of Christ and the accomplishment of his work. But can we not also say that
there is a personal application of those words the removing of
those things that are shaken as of things that are made all
that that is nothing more than an outward show, an external
religion a form of godliness all that has to be removed we
read of some having a form of godliness but they know nothing
of the power thereof. And again, we saw it really in
the passage that we read in 2 Corinthians. And there in chapter 3 verse
6 Paul says, "...who also hath made us able ministers of the
New Testament, or the New Covenant, not of the letter, but of the
Spirit, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."
The letter must be removed as it were. There's no life there.
There's no salvation there. We cannot of ourselves make ourselves
Christian men and women. we can do nothing for ourselves,
nothing to help ourselves and we have to learn the sad truth
that we are those who are utterly undone that in us and in our
flesh there dwelleth no good thing now the apostle Paul had
to learn that lesson very painful lesson to a man who was a pharisee
being brought to the end of religious self. In a sense I think we have
a graphic description of the destruction of all that sort
of religion in the language that we find in the book of the prophet
Ezekiel. And there in Ezekiel 13 verse
10 following he speaks of the false the prophets, the false teachers.
Because, even because I have seduced my people, saying, Peace,
and there was no peace, and one built up a wall, and though others
daubed it with untempered mortar, say unto them which daub it with
untempered mortar, that it shall fall, and there shall be an overflowing
shower, and ye, O great hailstone, shall fall, and a stormy wind
shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is fallen,
shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing? Where would
ye have daubed it? Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury, and
there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great
hailstones in my fury to consume it. So will I break down the
wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring
it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall
be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the
midst thereof, and ye shall know that I am the LORD." Oh, there's
the destruction, you see, of all that a man does in his own
strength, all his own efforts. made nothing that he might know
that there is but one who is truly the Lord God himself there
must be a removing you see and there must be a removing before
ever there can be a receiving there must be the destruction
of self and any religion of our own manufacture
When you think of the ministry of the prophets, how we see with
Jeremiah there was a certain negative aspect to that man's
ministry. People don't like to hear negative
things. They say we've got to be positive.
But we can only be truly positive when we do justice to that that
is negative. And look at what it says there
at the beginning of Jeremiah. as he is commissioned. Verse
9, The Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth, says Jeremiah.
And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the
kingdoms to root out, to pull down and to destroy, to throw
down, to build and to plant. Now, there must first be the
negative, and there's four negatives there. He has to root out, pull
down, destroy, and throw down. Four negatives, two positives
to build and to plant. Surely there is an emphasis upon
that negative aspect of his ministry. And so too, when we come here
to the passage before us to die. the removing of those things
that are shaken as of things that are made. Only he that made
the world can make a Christian, says Joseph Hart, and yet men
think they can make themselves Christians by their decisions
and their commitments. It's just a matter of accepting
as if they have it within their power. No, the Lord God must
come and the Lord must work, and what does the Lord do first
of all? There's that negative aspect, the spiritual. All Christ
speaks of Him when He has come, He will reprove or convince the
world. That is the elect world will
convince the world of sin, of righteousness, of judgment. Of
sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because
I go to the Father and you see me no more. Of judgment. because the prince of this world
is judged that work of conviction in the
soul but then that's not the end of the matter there is a
negative but there's also a positive and there in that 16th chapter
of John's gospel the Lord Jesus goes on to speak of that other
part of the Spirit's ministry. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit
of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak. And he will show you things to come. He shall glorify mine,
for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto your blessed
work of the Spirit when he comes to reveal to us the things of
Christ? Or the Lord says, concerning
him, he proceedeth from the Father, he says, and he shall testify
of me. Or does the Son have a work to
accomplish? Yes, He does, and He has accomplished
it. But the Spirit who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,
He also has a work to accomplish. And you know that work of the
Spirit can never be aborted in any sense, as I said. He which
hath begun the good work will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ. Oh, wherefore we receiving a
kingdom which cannot be moved. We have to receive it. We have
to receive it. That religion which saves the
soul says J.C. Philpott, is not made but received. We cannot make ourselves Christians. We have to receive it. What does
John the Baptist say? A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven. The Lord Jesus, except a man
be born again. You know the language there at
the beginning of John chapter 3. Except a man be born again.
The margin says except a man be born from above. He receives
it from heaven. He cannot see the kingdom of
God. He must be born again. He must
be born again. Now that doesn't mean that we
have to be passive. That doesn't mean we have to
be passive. We have to cry, and call, and
seek, and beseech, and wait upon the Lord. Wherefore we receiving
a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we
may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, for
our God is a consuming fire. Oh, this God with whom we have
to do Let us hold fast Christ. It says there in verse 28 in
the margin. Let us have Christ. Let us hold
Christ fast. There is our only hope. Our only
hope is in the covenant of Christ. No hope in the covenant of works.
That's what has been shaken and moved out of the way. and how
we're to hold fast to this grace. Again, in that portion that we
read in that third chapter of 2nd Corinthians. The ministration of death written
and engraved in stones was glorious so that the children of Israel
could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory
of his countenance which glory was to be done away, how shall
not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the
ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the
ministration of righteousness exceed in glory, or the glory
of the grace of our God in the gospel. By grace are ye saved
through faith, And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works. Lest any man should boast, for
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them."
This is not antinomian teaching. This is not saying that the child
of God is without any law, without any precinct. No, the child of
God is delivered from all the condemnation of that first covenant,
all the terrors of Sinai are gone, but the glories of the
gospel remain. And it is here that we must place
all our hope, all our trust, all our confidence, all that
covenant. It's been sealed, and sealed
in the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the
contrast then that the Apostle is drawing here at the end of
this twelfth chapter, in this whole portion that we read from
verse 18, but in particular these words at the conclusion of the
chapter, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised,
saying yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also
heaven. And this word yet once more signifieth
the removing of those things that are shaken as of things
that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, for our God is
a consuming fire. Amen. Let us conclude our worship
this morning as we sing the hymn 101, tune abridged, 86. Does conscience lay a guilty
charge, and Moses much condemned, and bring in bills exceeding
large? Let Jesus answer them. He paid thy ransom with his hand,
and every score did quit. that Moses never can demand two
payments of one debt, the hymn 101.