Scripture tonight will be read
from Hebrews. I'll give you a moment to get your Bibles out. We'll
be reading from Hebrews 12, verse 18 through 24. I'll give you
a moment to get those opened up. Hebrews 12, 18 through 24. For ye are not come unto the
mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor
unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest. And the sound of
a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice that they heard,
entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more.
For they could not endure that which was commanded, and if so
much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust
through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight
that Moses said, I exceedingly fear the quake. But ye are come
unto the Mount Sion and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels.
to the General Assembly and the Church of the Firstborn, which
are written in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to
the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator
of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh
better things than that of Abel. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
as this world continues to circle and disarray, we also continue
to pray to you and look to you for strength, answers, calmness,
and wisdom. We are reaching our humanly limit,
Lord, and we need your intervention to change our course and to set
us firmly on a new and miraculous path. Keep our eyes open to that
path, oh Lord, and give us the strength to stay on it, and keep
our ears open to hear it, For only your word is what we need.
We ask this in your name, amen. And now our message from Pastor
Clark. Thank you, Mark. Let's turn now
to the book of Hebrews that Mark has read. And I want to talk
to you from this allegory that the Apostle Paul gives in the
12th chapter. Law and grace. Most important
for you and me is that we grow in grace. Not that grace grows
because it doesn't. It's always massive and huge
and flowing toward the unworthy sinner. But we're to grow in
grace. It's important for you to know
the message of God's free and sovereign grace. It's a very
foundation of the gospel that we are saved by grace, that it's
not by works. Many of you have been raised
in churches where you've been taught what I call the legalistic
gospel. You're saved by keeping the commandments,
by being a good person, you're saved by baptism, you're saved
through being a Catholic or Methodist or a Baptist, Presbyterian, whatever,
whatever. Legalism. The truth is that God's
grace is totally unmerited. That God has saved you and blessed
you, but there was no cause in you that caused God to come to
you and do for you what he did. It's unmerited favor. Kind of
blows your mind, doesn't it? The Apostle Paul, throughout
his writings, confronted the legalists who had infiltrated
the churches, for instance, the Galatian churches. Paul said,
I marvel that you're so soon removed from Christ unto another
gospel. There's not another gospel. He
said in the second and third chapters of Galatian, I am absolutely
astonished having you having begun in the spirit are you now
made perfect by the law or through law keeping are you saved by
being good keeping the 10 commandments also in the book of Galatians
he asked them this question What really matters? And then he makes
a very strong statement. Circumcision doesn't matter.
You see, the Judaizers had come into the churches in the New
Testament and said, you have to be circumcised, keep the law
of Moses, and be a member of our church in order to be saved. Paul said, circumcision doesn't
matter. Uncircumcision doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter whether you're circumcised or uncircumcised,
it just doesn't matter. Here's what really matters, that
we're saved by grace and grace alone. It puts us in debt to the grace
of God. We're debtors, the Apostle said
in the Roman letter. We minister and serve our God
out of wonder and amazement that he could love us. The old Puritan
wrote that hymn that I love so much. Oh, what a wonder that
Jesus found me out in the darkness, so light could I see. He put
his great arm under and wonder of wonders, he saved even me. The apostle in the Galatians
letter said, we do not frustrate the grace of God by adding something
to God's grace. It's sovereign. It's an act of
God. And it's without a cause on our
part. Our goodness did not move God
to give us life. Now, I want us to look at what
Paul is doing here. I believe the Apostle Paul wrote
the book of Hebrews and what he's saying here in this allegory
in the 12th chapter. He's dealing with this thing
of law and grace and here's what he says. For you're not come
unto the mount that might be touched, that burned with fire,
nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of
a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated,
that the words should not be spoken unto them any more. For they could not endure that
which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart. So terrible was the sight that
Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quite." Those of you who
claim the message of law works plus grace, you need to hear
what the Apostle is saying here. He says to us who are believers,
salvation is by grace alone. You are not come to the mount
that might be touched, that's the physical mountain, you haven't
come to Mount Sinai. God does not take you as a believer
to Mount Sinai or an unbeliever and tell you you must keep the
Ten Commandments inside and out in order to go to heaven. You have not come to that. The
apostle said, and he said this, that the experience of the Israelites
coming to Mount Sinai and the giving of the law was a most
fearful thing. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a holy God and for Him to demand that you
be perfect inside and out. And that's what the law says.
In order for you to be accepted by God, you have to be perfect
inside and outside, absolutely spotless. I don't know anyone
like that. Paul said, you haven't come to
that, to the mount that might be touched and that burned with
fire, nor under blackness and darkness and tempest. Think about
what a fearful thing it was when God gave his law there at Sinai.
And the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, which voice
they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken
to them anymore. I ask those of you who are watching
today and you think that you can be saved or you've been taught
that by law keeping, don't you hear what the law says? What
a scary thing it is to be under law. For God to demand that you
be perfect inside and out. He said, it was so strenuous
that the Israelites asked that the word should not be spoken
anymore. In other words, stop, stop. Have you ever heard a preacher
preaching law works for salvation? And in your heart, it was so
scary because you knew you were a law breaker. Those of you out
there who are looking at the 10 commandments, many of you
haven't even memorized the 10 commandments, much less kept
them. Have you ever been hearing law
works preached where you wanted to just stand up and say, stop,
stop. I mean, it was finding you so
guilty. That's what happened at Sinai.
For they could not endure that which was commanded. They could
not, verse 20 says, they could not endure that which was commanded.
And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it was to be stoned
or thrust through with a dart. Think about that. unapproachable,
this God who's giving his law on Mount Sinai. You can't approach
God through the law, he will kill you. You will surely be
damned to try to get acceptance through law works. Salvation
is not by works of righteousness which you can do, you can't do. So They had the mount fenced
off. You remember over in the book
of Exodus, they fenced the mountain off where the people could not
touch the mount because God is holy and God's come down and
God's giving his unalterable law. If so much of a beast touched
that mountain, it was killed. It had to die. And verse 21 says,
so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear
and quake. That's what the law does for
me. It makes me fear and quake because I know I'm a lawbreaker.
I'm not a law keeper. I was born with a nature that's
prone to wander, a nature that's sinful, a nature that continually
sins against God in word and deed. So, what the apostle says,
you don't want to be under law. And then he begins to tell us
what it means to be under grace. He says in verse 22, but you
are come to Mount Zion. Mount Zion was the place where
the king dwelt. It was a beautiful place. The
palace was there. It was a place of joy and beauty. He said, those of you who are
believers in Christ, who know the message of grace, who've
come to see that salvation is by grace, you've come to Mount
Zion. You've come unto the King of
kings and Lord of lords, unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem. How awesome is that? Often people
say to me, tell me about heaven. I can't, all I know is Jesus
is there, it's wonderful, it's a holy place, we'll be without
sickness, sorrow, death, all tears will be wiped from our
eyes. That's not true under law. Law is a scary thing. You're
come to the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company
of angels. You know, one thing I know about
heaven, it's going to be filled with angelic beings and they're
all happy. and they all with one accord
do one thing, they praise God. The Revelation says that heaven
is filled with cherubims and seraphims and angelic beings,
and they're singing. The end of the story is this.
When we all get to heaven, we'll sing and shout the Jubilee. We'll
sing of God's grace and God's mercy. We will join with the
angels in the Bible, and the Revelation says that they're
innumerable. Think about that. 10,000 times
10,000 and thousands of angelic beings singing the praises of
God. And we get a little excited about
that and join the angelic beings in singing the praise to our
God. And you've come to the General
Assembly and Church of the Firstborn. You're part of God's church.
How awesome that is. That's the church I want to be
a part of. That's the church I want to be a member of. which
are written in heaven. In other words, these people's
names are written in heaven. People who are a part of the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember in Matthew 16, Jesus
said, upon this rock, I'll build my church. You know, most churches
today don't preach Christ as Lord and Savior. They don't preach
this grace message. They don't. It's a work mentality. It's not his church. His church,
in His church, He has the supremacy. He is all, all eyes are upon
Him. And when we get to heaven, He's
going to be sitting there on the throne with five wounds,
and we're going to give Him all the glory. The message of the
gospel is the message of His glory. It gives Him all the praise,
all the glory, and all the honor. Our names are written in heaven.
I love that too. I love to read those passages
where we're told that we were chosen before the foundation
of the world, that God wrote our names down in the Lamb's
Book of Life before he ever created the heavens and the earth, and
from eternity our names have been there, and in time he calls
us to himself and regenerates and borns us again. Somebody
said, you know that next thing that the apostle says there in
verse 23, and you're come to God the judge of all. Well, that's
a scary thing someone said to me once. You've come to the judge
of all, not if it's your daddy. I thought I'd hear an amen out
of that, but I only have a few of you guys here. Not if it's
your father, who is the judge, who's accepted his only son's
death and life, resurrection, as the atoning factor in your
sins. So you've come to God the judge
of all. I actually fear no judgment. I have no fear of standing before
God. Reverence, yes, but not fear. I do not approach God in fear
and trembling. You see, because Jesus paid it
all. He satisfied God in my stead,
room and place. And I know clearly there's no
condemnation for me. You know, if you're not guilty,
you don't have much fear going before a judge. I'm not guilty. I have the imputed righteousness
of Jesus Christ. So I don't have fear of approaching
this judge. And not only that, but you have
come to the spirits of just men made perfect. Think about that.
Just men made perfect. We're all going to be perfect
there. His church, the members of this church, Here in Hebrews,
they are perfect people, made perfect through the blood of
Jesus Christ. Well, it even gets better. So
you're not come to Mount Sinai and all of the darkness and blackness
and the blowing of trumpets. The scripture says that it was
so horrible at Sinai that Moses, the man of God who led Israel
out of Egyptian bondage, he himself did fear and quake, Moses. Here's who we're come to, verse
24. You've come to Jesus, the mediator
of the new covenant. Oh, the mediator. You've come
to the mediator of the new covenant. Every day, you as a believer
in your nature, it's so sinful. You need a lawyer, a good one,
because you're guilty. You need a mediator, someone
to mediate for you. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
who speaks on your behalf, the new covenant. And to the blood
of sprinkling, there's nothing more powerful than the blood
of Christ. There's power, power, wonder-working power in the blood
of Christ that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Hallelujah. You know, Cain killed his brother
Abel. And the Bible says that the blood
of Cain cried out from the ground. You know what it cried out for?
Vengeance, wrath, retribution. Well, the blood of Jesus Christ
cries out better things. The blood of Christ cries out
on your behalf, forgiveness, righteousness, no condemnation,
no judgment. That's the power of the blood
of Christ. Law or grace. I hope that you and this church
We stick to the message that salvation is by grace alone. We don't add, we don't subtract.
I'm not out to scare the hell out of anybody. I'm out to preach
the good news, the glad tidings that salvation is something God
does and he does it in a powerful way. We're not under law, we're
under grace. I pray that God will bless you
and that you will grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus
Christ.