Let's begin our service, opening
our Bibles to Galatians chapter 4. Galatians, the fourth chapter. Lord willing, this Wednesday
evening, we will have our regular service. One of my very favorite
services of all year. I look forward to this service
all year. The day before Thanksgiving, we can come together and worship
our Lord and observe the Lord's table before we have our feast
at our table. And the Lord willing, I've begun
looking at a message. I'm going to, Lord willing, bring
a message on giving thanks Wednesday evening. Also, this week on Tuesday,
I'm going to be preaching the funeral of Carla Bryant. Some of you may remember her
as Carla Griffith. She and her husband, Mitch, attend the congregation
there at Todd's Road. Her uncle died this past week,
and Carla and her sister are his only living relatives, and
they have asked me to preach the funeral, so that will be
Tuesday, and I covet your prayers for that service. All right,
Galatians chapter 4, we're going to begin our reading in verse
19. My little children, of whom I
travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire
to be present with you now and to change my voice For I stand
in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be
under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that
Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a
free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after
the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things
are an allegory? For these are the two covenants,
the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is
Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth
to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her and her
children. But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the
mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou
barren, that bearest not. Break forth and cry, thou that
travailest not. For the desolate hath many more
children than she which hath a husband. Now we brethren, as
Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then, he that
was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit,
even so it is now. Nevertheless, what sayeth the
scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not the children of the
bondwoman, but of the free. You cannot be a son by works. The only way we can be a son,
a daughter, is by grace. And that is a pretty good commentary
on what I hope to preach on from the book of Hebrews here in just
a few minutes. All right, let's stand together
as Mike leads us in singing our call to worship. There's not a sparrow nor a worm
that's found in God. He raises monarchs to their thrones,
And sinks them if he please. If light of ten the course I
run, If sea provides those rays, And tis His hand that hides my
sun, If darkness cloud my days. When He reveals the Book of Life,
O may I read among the chosen of His love,
the followers of the Lamb. Thank you. Be seated. Turn to page 205. 205. Glorious thought, free from
the law, Oh, happy condition. Jesus hath bled and there is
remission, Cursed by the low and dead by the full, Grace hath
redeemed us once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Now are we free, there's no condemnation. Jesus provides the perfect salvation. Come unto me, oh, hear His sweet
call. Come and He saves us once for
all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Children of God, O glorious calling,
surely His grace will keep us from falling. Passing from death
to life that is full, Blessed salvation once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Christ has redeemed us once for
all. I'll turn over a few pages to
209, Grace Greater Than Our Sins. Marvelous grace of our loving
Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, Yonder on
Calvary's mount outpoured, There where the blood of God's Lamb
was spilled, Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that will pardon
and cleanse within God's grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that is greater than all my sin. Sin and despair like the sea
wakes cold. Grace that is greater, yes, grace
untold, points to the refuge, the mighty cross. God's grace, grace that will
pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all
our sin. Dark is the stain that we cannot
hide. What can avail? wash it away. Look, there is flowing a crimson
tide, whiter than snow you may be today. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse
within. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that is greater Marvelous, infinite, matchless
praise Freely bestowed on all who believe You that are longing
to see His face Will you this moment His grace receive? Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace
that will pardon and cleanse within, God's grace, grace that is greater
than all our sins. If you would please open your
Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12. The pastor has asked that we read
a portion of Hebrews chapter 12 beginning at verse 18. For you 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
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 that sight that Moses said, by exceedingly
fear and quake, that year come unto Mount Zion, and unto the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and 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 go into reading
there. Let's bow in prayer, please. Our great God and holy, heavenly
Father, Thank you for bringing each one of us here to this place
this morning to teach us out of your scriptures. Father, we
pray that you uphold our pastor for this task, opening your word
to us and preaching us, preaching to us the gospel. So thankful
that you've given us this place. Father, we thank you for taking
away the first covenant and providing a better one. providing a substitute,
a savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you continue to reveal more of Him to us. We're
thankful that you showed us that the law was there to show us
what we could not attain, to kind of be a schoolmaster, to
point us to Christ, the one who did satisfy your love fully.
Father, we're thankful for your His perfect work to satisfy your
law, blood that was shed to atone for sin. I ask that you continue to cause us to worship
our Lord and Savior for that awesome work that was done. Cause
us each day to know that salvation is of the Lord. To not look to
ourselves as we go about our daily activities, but cause us
to Look to the strength to get through the day. We ask that
you be with those that aren't here today, those that are going
through difficult times, struggles. Father, you know each one's trials
and each one's pain and heartache. For you sent them. Comfort your
people by your grace. Father, we pray for this worship
service that you cause us to raise up the work in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let him and his work be exalted
in this time. As we go forth in this place,
cause us to be good examples in our jobs, in our homes, people
that have been set apart. Cause us to go about in your
strength, not in our own, but to lean on you wholly. Pray that
for the forgiveness of our sins, for Christ's blood. These things
we ask and pray in Christ's name. Amen. I need Thee, precious Jesus,
and I hope to see Thee soon, encircled by the rainbow and
seated on Thy throne. I need thee, precious Jesus,
for I am full of sin. My soul is dark and guilty, my
heart is dead within. I need the cleansing fountain
where I can always flee. The blood of Christ, most precious,
the sinner's Most precious, the sinner's perfect
plea. I need Thee, precious Jesus,
for I am very poor. I have no earthly score. I need the love of Jesus to cheer
me on my way. Guide my doubting footsteps to
be my strength and stay a blood of Christ most precious. A sinner's perfect plea. That brings back a lot of memories. If you're old enough to have
had a record player and had Frank Sweeney's album, I couldn't tell
you how many times I heard that song go through the house off
that album. That's a wonderful song. Thank you, Mike. All right,
if you would, open your Bibles again to Hebrews chapter 12,
passage that Wayne just read for us. I titled the message
this morning, By Grace, Not Law. Our text this morning speaks
of two mountains. Sinai and Zion. These two mountains
represent law and grace. Sinai represents the law. That's
what we read there in the book of Galatians. Sinai was the place
where God gave the law to Moses. Zion throughout scripture represents
God's grace. Zion is the place where God dwells
with his people in peace, mercy, and grace. And the writer here
in this passage very clearly is telling us It's by grace,
not law. It's by grace. Well, what's the
it? It is by grace, not by law. What's
the it? The it is everything spiritual. We cannot come to
God through the law. We cannot come to God through
our obedience to the law. If we try that, we're going to
be killed. I'll show you that in just a
moment. Sinners come to God and are accepted by grace. Now, which
way would you rather come? By law or grace? See, it's by
grace. It, the way to come to God is by grace, not by law.
Then believers have a rule of life. Believers have something
that guides the way that we conduct ourselves. And we're seeing in
a moment, it's grace, not law. The law is not the believer's
rule of life. If you believe Christ, I've got
good news for you. You've got no relationship with
the law whatsoever, none. The law is done with you and
you are done with the law because Christ has fulfilled every requirement
to the law for you. And if you look to the law to
find out how to live, to find out your rule of conduct, you're
going to fail every time because the law does us no good because
we can't keep it. But if you look to grace, you'll
see how to properly conduct yourself with the right attitude. See,
that's something the law can never give you, the right attitude.
But if you look to grace, now you'll know how to conduct yourself
with the right attitude. See, it, our rule of life, is
grace, not law. And then we're to encourage and
help one another. It is by grace. How are we going
to encourage and help one another? It's by grace, not by law. Our
text begins this morning with the word So what we're about
to study is closely connected. This is kind of a conclusion
to what we studied last week. We looked last week at our brethren
who have weak hands, feeble knees. We don't help our brethren stay
in the race. We don't help them stay on the
proper course by beating them with the law. Beating somebody
with the law never works. I mean, and the last thing that
you should want to do when you see a feeble brother, He's about
to quit the race. He's so weak, it looks like he
can't go on. The last thing he needs is to be beaten with the
law. He don't need to be whipped. He needs to be helped. He needs
to be comforted and strengthened. Well, that's not going to happen
by beating him by the law. The more you show him of the
law, the more discouraged he's going to get. If you show him
the law, he's going to quit the race every time. Oh, but if we
look to Christ and look to His grace, we'll find the strength
to keep running our race all the way to the finish, no matter
how hard the course is. It's by grace, not by law, in
every aspect. So let's look at these two mountains
and let's see, which one would you rather use to approach God?
Number one is Sinai. Sinai represents the law. Verse
18 of Hebrews chapter 12. For you're not come unto the
mount that might be touched and that burned with fire, nor into
blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 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 any more. For they could
not endure. Here's why they said, don't let
this word be speaking to us any more. For they could not endure
that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it should be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses, even Moses who talked
with God face to face, Moses said, I exceedingly fear and
quake." Now, here's the first thing. If you want to come to
Mount Sinai, you want to come to God by the law. You want to
try to earn your righteousness by you keeping the law. If you
want to please God, make God happy with you by keeping the
law. If you want the law to be your rule of life, if you come
to that mountain, the law, this is what you're going to find,
several things. The first thing you're going to find if you come
to the law is death. Now the writer says this mountain
could be touched. You could walk up and touch Mount Sinai if you
want to. Just like you can touch the law. Have at it. If you want
to touch the law, if you want to keep the law, you can try
that. But if you do, you're going to
be killed. You're going to die every time. God commanded that
if even an animal touched Mount Sinai, it'd be killed. The only
thing sinners like you and me can find if we come to the law,
the only thing the law can show us is death. See, all the law
can do is kill the guilty sinner. And you and I are guilty of breaking
God's law, so we cannot come to God through the law. The law
can't forgive, can't forget, and can't overlook sin. The law
demands that guilty sinners, like you and me, be put to eternal
death, because we've broken the law. We cannot keep it. Now,
you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? This is what the law says. If
you come to the law, the law is going to demand your death.
because you're a sinner. Number two, if you come to the
law, you're going to find fire. And that fire represents God's
judgment. I can't imagine this sight as
God gave the law. Mount Sinai burned with fire,
the fire of God's wrath. And that just, I mean, in the
very giving of the law, the law threatens punishment to all who
break it. As the law was being given, the
fire of God's wrath already burned. Even as the law was being given,
the people broke it. The only thing the law can announce
to sinners like you and me is judgment. The fire of God's wrath. God is angry with the wicked.
He's angry with those who break his law. And you come to the
law, all you're going to have is judgment. The law is incapable
of showing a sinner mercy or grace or forgiveness. The only
thing it can give is judgment and wrath. Now you that desire
to be under the law, do you not hear the law? Thirdly, if you
come to the law, all you're going to find is darkness, blackness. When the law was being given,
that Mount Sinai was covered with blackness. And that's a
good picture of the law. The law gives lots and lots and
lots and lots of commandments. God's law is not ten commandments.
It's page after page after page in God's word. of the law. It
gives lots of commandments. And you go read that law. I mean
read it in its entirety. Study it closely. You know what
you'll never see in the law? The law never gives you any light
to tell you how to keep those commandments. All it says is
do. Either do this or do not do this. It doesn't give you any light
to show you how to keep any of those commandments. The law tells
you what God commands. The law describes God in His
holiness, His perfection, His justice. But the law doesn't
give you any light to see the way to God. The law tells you
something about God's justice, doesn't it? His holiness, what
He demands. But it doesn't give you any light
to see the way to go to God. The law doesn't give you any
light to see Christ. The law doesn't shed any light
on mercy. that can shed no light on forgiveness because the law
knows nothing about it. Just darkness. Now you desire
to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? Fourthly,
if you come to the law, you're going to find a tempest, a strong
storm. When the law was being given,
that mountain was covered with a tempest, a whirlwind all around
it. And that's the law. All the law
can do is give us a storm of commandments that just come from
every which way, and then it gives you the storm of judgment.
See, you and I can't keep the law for even one second, but
even if we could, it wouldn't matter. Even if we could, it
wouldn't take away this tempest. See, even, nobody's done this,
but suppose for a moment that as you sit here right now this
morning, suppose you had kept the law perfectly every second
of your life right up until this very moment. If you had done
that, it wouldn't matter. It wouldn't take away this tempest.
The law would still require more. It would still require continued
perfection from you. It would still hang God's judgment
over your head because it requires perfection until the day you
die. From the moment you're conceived
to the day you die. All it can give you is this storm.
The law can never give you peace. I mean, what if you had kept
the law perfectly right up to now? Would you have any peace?
Because you know you got to keep keeping it. I mean, you know,
you got to continue. And if you even think a sinful
thought, it's all ruined. Well, you wouldn't have any peace,
would you? No, the law can't give you any peace. All it can
give you is a storm of more and more and more and more commandments
to obey. So you and I cannot make our
peace with God. We need peace with God. We've
declared war upon God, but we can't make our peace with God
by coming to God through our obedience to the law. because
we're totally depraved. I mean, not only are we imperfect,
not only we're just not perfect, we are totally depraved and God
can't accept anything but perfect obedience. It's got to be perfect
to be accepted. And all we can produce is perfect
disobedience. Are you the desire to be under
the law? Do you not hear the law? Fifthly, if you would come
to the law, you're going to find the voice of a trumpet. And when
the law was being given, the scripture describes what the
people heard as the sound of a trumpet. And I don't think
that was a sound of a musical instrument. It's the voice of
God thundering from heaven. It's a voice that could be heard
by all the people. And when this voice speaks, this
is the voice of God now. Men fear. Men fear. This is God announcing his intention. to come to this earth in judgment.
We read in the book of Revelation about that last trump. When the
last trump sounds, I don't think that's going to be the sound
of a musical instrument either. I think that's going to be the shout
of God, the shout of our Lord Jesus Christ announcing His return
to come judge the earth with righteousness. And men are going
to be so afraid, they're going to pray for the rocks of this
mountain, the mountain of Zion, to fall on them and hide them
from the wrath of the Lamb who's come in judgment. You who desire
to be under the law, do you not hear the law? Sixthly, if you
come to the law, if you want to come to God through the law,
you know what you're going to find? You're going to find words
that no son of Adam wants to hear. When the law was being
given, the people who heard God's voice, who heard His words, You
know what they said? I don't want to hear this anymore.
They told Moses, Moses, don't let God speak to us. No, Moses,
you go to God and let God speak to you. And you come back and
tell us what God said. Don't let God speak to us anymore.
We can't bear to hear God's words of the law. We can't bear to
hear God speak and tell us His requirements anymore. We can't
bear it. You know why? Because when I hear God Almighty
speak, When I hear him speak of his law and what it is he
requires of me, there's nothing but bad news because I can't
keep it. That's why they said, I want
to hear this thing more for they could not endure that which was
commanded. They couldn't do it. The law
never speaks of what I need. I need mercy. I need grace. I
need forgiveness. I need life. The law doesn't
speak of any of those things. The law only speaks of punishment
and death. That's all it speaks of. Now
you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
It's not a mystery to me. It's just an indication of a
dead nature that we're all born with. But you think about this.
There's so many people who want their preacher to give them law. Preach the law. Give me rules
and regulations to live by. And they think, now preacher,
don't give me all the law. Just give me, you know, your
two or three favorite ones, the ones you think I can keep, you
know, or the ones I think I can keep. That's what I want you
to tell me. This is why I want to ask those
people. You desire to be under the law. You think about the
first people who ever heard the law given. You know what they
said? They said, don't talk to me about that anymore. Don't
say anymore. They say, I can't keep it. I can't bear to hear
any more about God's judgment. Then what makes us think we want
to hear anything about the law? I mean, has man gotten better
that we think, no, well, they could keep the law, but I can?
No, sir, man has not gotten any better whatsoever. Oh, you who
desire to hear what the law really says, do you? Seventh, if you
want to come to God by the law, you know what you're going to
find? You're going to come to the law to find the playbook.
How to get to God. You know what you're going to
find? Fear. Fear. Utter terror. When God
spoke and gave the law, the people were full of fear. And even Moses
shook in his boots. I mean, Moses talked directly
with God. Remember how he came down from
the mountain, his face shone. The glory, they had to put a
veil over it because he'd been in the presence of God. The reflected
glory of God was coming off his face. Moses spoke with God. And when God gave the law, Moses
said, I am exceedingly afraid. He was quaking, shaking in his
boots. Even Moses. You know why? You read the law. You'll never read these words.
Fear not. Never. You'll never hear in the
law, don't be afraid. It is I. Fear not. Those words
are not in the law. The law tells you fear. The law
tells you better fear. Because if you break even one
of my, if you even think about breaking one of my commandments,
I'm going to put you to death. So you better fear. That's what
the law says. Now the only reason that somebody
would want to come to the law is they don't truly hear what
the law says. They don't think that they're
dead. Somehow they think they can keep the law. They think
they've got ability that they don't have. Sinners like you
and me cannot come to God through the law. We cannot use the law
as a rule of life because we can't keep it. I'm not saying
there's a problem with the law. Buddy, if you could keep the
law, the law would be a good rule of life for you, wouldn't it? But
you can't keep it. So we can't use it as a rule
of life. We can't use the law to keep
one another in the straight and narrow. You know, we can't use
the law to keep one another acting right and keep us, you know,
Because sin's going to bust it. Just like that man we looked
at in the Bible study this morning. They bound him with chains and
he just plucked them off. We can't use the law to chain
one another, try to keep us on the straight and narrow. Sin
is in our heart and it's going to break out every time. It'll never work. Well, that's
depressing, isn't it? But it's true. Well, thankfully,
the gospel's good news, so you know we're not going to end there.
Thankfully, a believer has nothing to do with the law. You know,
I told you earlier, the believer's got nothing to do with the law.
The law is done with you and you're done with the law if Christ
kept it for you. We don't realize what good news
that is. The believer has nothing to do
with the law. You're not under law. You're
under grace. Now let's look at Mount Zion,
which represents God's grace. You come to Mount Zion and you'll
find Everything is the exact opposite of what it was there
at Mount Sinai. In the law, we find death. But
in grace, we find life. Look at verse 22. But you are
come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God. You're come to the city of the
living God. If you come to grace, you know
what you're going to find? You come this mountain of God's
grace. It's a mountain. You reckon it's
going to run out? You reckon you're going to out-sin it? You
reckon there's not enough there for you? No, this is a mountain of God's
grace. You come to the mountain of grace. You know what you're
going to find? Life. Life in Christ Jesus. And that
life will be eternal life because it's not dependent on anything
we do. There are no requirements for
you to keep here. This life is dependent on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Who Christ is, and what Christ
has done. And that's why this life is eternal.
It's rich, free, abundant, eternal life. That's what you find in
grace. Second, in the law, we find fire
and judgment. In grace, we find forgiveness
because justice is satisfied. The fire of God's wrath has already
burned itself out on Christ, our substitute. And fire can't
burn the same place twice. The fire of God's wrath that
fell against the sin of his people has already gone out and exhausted
itself upon Christ, our sacrifice, because the sin that fueled the
fire has been put away by the blood of Christ. So there's no
wrath left. There's no fire left for God's people. That's why
Isaiah could prophesy that God is going to give his people beauty
for ashes. Because in Christ, we already
had the beauty of holiness. There's no fear of judgment.
There's no fear of the fire of God's judgment ever falling again.
It already burned itself out on Christ our substitute. So
you come to grace, you're going to find forgiveness. It's not
forgiveness because God's going to ignore your sin. It's still
there, but he's going to ignore it. No, you're going to find
forgiveness because justice is satisfied. Christ took away the
sin that made God angry. All right, thirdly, in the law,
remember, we find darkness. But in Christ, we have light.
In Christ we have light to see. And you know what we see? If
you see, if you have light, if God's given you light, I can
tell you what you see. You see Christ. You see hope. He's my
life. He's my righteousness. He's my
salvation. He's my forgiveness. He's my
wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification and redemption.
If you have light to see, you see Christ is all. In Christ we have light to see.
The law has already been satisfied by the obedience of Christ, so
I don't have to try to recreate the wheel and obey it myself.
No, in Christ I already obeyed it. I obeyed it in Him. See,
I can't be saved by my obedience to the law, but I'm plumb saved
in Christ, who kept the law for me. And if God's given me light,
I see that. In Christ I have light to see.
The answer to Job's age-old question. How can God be just and justify
a sinner like me? Can anybody bring a clean thing
out of unclean? In Christ I have light to see
how God can save a sinner like me and still be just. In Christ
I see how God can make me clean and accept me. I only see that
in Christ, in the light of who Christ is. Do you see that? Do you believe that? Do you really
believe that Christ is all? Do you? Then God's giving you
light. That's grace. That's grace. In
the law, we find a storm. But in Christ, we have peace.
We have peace with God. Oh, what a statement. By nature, we've declared war
on God. We were in Adam and we declared
war on God. And we've got no way to stop
it. No way to win it, no way to stop it. So you know what
God did in His grace for His people? He put an end to the
war for us. He made peace. In Christ, we
have peace with God. Because the blood of Christ blotted
out all the sin that made God angry. And that blood works on
the hearts of God's people too. Yes, that blood took away God's
anger, but I've got a problem. I'm born hating God. I'm born
at war with God. Yes, God's appeased, but something's
got to be done with me. I got to be made new. I got to
be changed. You know what does it? The blood
of Christ. The blood of Christ sprinkled
on my heart makes me surrender. That is the only way I will ever
surrender is the blood of Christ applied to my heart. And God's
so gracious. He takes that rebel and applies
the blood of his son to their heart and makes them surrender.
And God accepts them. The terms of surrender are easy.
God's so gracious, he didn't even make it hard, Bob. The terms
of surrender are easy. Come to Christ. You come to this
mountain of grace, and you'll find all that God has left for
his people is peace. Fifth, in the law, remember,
we find the voice of a trumpet, this God coming in judgment.
Christ, we hear a trumpet too. In grace, we hear a trumpet.
It's the voice of grace. Look at Revelation chapter 1.
This voice, it reveals Christ. Christ, the way of righteousness.
Christ, the way of grace and salvation. And when the voice
of this trumpet speaks, men fear too. They do. They fear. Look
here, Revelation 1 verse 10. Remember, this is the beloved
apostle writing. This is the apostle who was so
comfortable with the Savior, he leaned his head upon his breast.
What a close, intimate relationship. This is the beloved apostle writing
in Revelation 1, verse 10. He says, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet
saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. This
voice is revealing Christ, Alpha and Omega. first and the last. And John describes what he saw
down in verse 17. John said, when I saw him, I
fell at his feet as dead. When I saw him, when I heard
his voice and saw who this was, I fell at his feet as dead. Fear. And he laid his right hand upon
me saying something the law never said. Fear not. Fear not. I am the first and the last. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking to his people. And when Christ speaks to us,
His people today are just like the Apostle John in that day.
We're full of reverence. We sit at his feet. We fall at
his feet. But there's no judgment there.
There's no wrath there. Because Christ is revealing himself,
not as the judge, but as the Savior. Fear not. There's no
judgment for God's people. And that last day, the day of
judgment, There's not even going to be a review of the believer's
sin. You know, people use that, and
listen now, this is a subtle use of the law to try to chain
you up. Now, I try to keep it on the straight and narrow. They
say, now on that day of judgment, yes, Christ died for your sin,
but everything we did is going to be put up on a big screen
for everybody to see, and won't you be ashamed, you know, to
have everything, so don't do it so you won't be ashamed. That's
a lie. That's a lie. All that is are
chains of law. They're not even going to be
a review of the believer's sin in that day of judgment. You
know why? Clark, there's none to review.
Christ's blood, put it away. It's gone under the blood of
Christ. So there is no fear in judgment
for the believer. If you need fear to keep you
in line, you're not a son. Sons stay in line out of love,
don't they? Sons follow and obey out of love.
fear. You come to this mountain, mountain
of grace, you'll find no fear, no fear of judgment. Sixth in
the law, we find words that nobody wants to hear. You come to the
mountain of grace, you know what you'll say? Tell me more of that. Tell me that again. When we hear
God's grace, we say, Oh, speak more of those wonderful words
of grace to my weary We say with the songwriter, grace is a charming
sound. It's harmonious to the ear. Tell
me more about that. Many of you have been here years
and years and years. Did you come here this morning
expecting to hear something that you never heard before? I bet
not one of you did. Raise your hand if you did. Did
anybody here think you're going to hear something you never heard
before? Then why did you come? Tell me one more time. Tell me
again about God's grace to my miserable soul. Oh, tell me again
about God's love in Christ. Tell me how God could love a
sinner like me. Tell me. Tell me more about God's
mercy and grace in Christ that guarantees my salvation. Tell
me more about His grace and His faithfulness. Preacher, I'd leave
him in a second. I'd leave him in a second. Tell
me again of His grace. He will not let me go. Oh, preacher, I'm going through
the fire. My heart's broken. Tell me again
of His promise of grace that I will never, no never, leave
thee nor forsake thee. Tell me again. Tell me again
about God's grace that He would send His Son to do for me what
I cannot do for myself and keep the law for me and make me righteous.
Tell me again. You've got to tell me again because
I get afraid this can't be so. Could it really be true that
God Almighty would sacrifice His Son in the most humiliating,
painful, wretched way so that He could save a wretch like me?
Could that really be true? If it is, tell me again about
God's grace, that He'd sacrifice His Son for my redemption. Tell
me that again. I just can't hear enough. Tell
me again. Tell me more of that. That's one thing nobody ever
said. Nobody ever said a lot. Tell me some more of that. Oh,
they hear God's grace. They say, tell me some more of that. Jan and I have been married
pretty good while. I first laid eyes on her when
I was 11 years old. And I'm, this is, this is the
honest truth. I mean, I loved her from that very moment. I mean, I'd have cut off my right
arm just to have her be my girlfriend. Do you get tired of me telling
I love you? I mean, I do. Do you get tired of it? Bride of Christ. Do you ever
get tired of hearing the bridegroom say I love you? Tell me again. Tell me again.
I won't get tired of hearing it. Seventh, in the law we find
fear. Oh, so afraid. In grace, not
only will you not find any fear, grace can take your fears and
cast them out. They're gone. Now, just what
I said a minute ago, the believer says, tell me more about God's
love. You know why? Because perfect
love, His perfect love, casteth out fear. In Christ there is
no fear. What are you afraid of? All there
is in Christ is a calm assurance because Christ has borne our
sin away. Christ has taken the sin of His
people away and made them perfect, justified them. Look back here
in our text, Hebrews 12, the end of verse 23. This is what
you find when you come to this mountain, mountain of grace. You'll find the spirits of just
men made perfect. Christ has justified everybody
there in this mountain. Christ has justified them, made
them without sin. Then what's there to fear? Nothing
is there. Right now, look at verse 22.
You come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. Now this is
heavenly Jerusalem. This is what this is saying.
The Apostle Paul said the same thing, Galatians 4. We read open
the service, talking about heavenly Jerusalem. This is what this
is teaching us. The true religion is not in the earthly. It's not
in the outward. True religion is heavenly. And the same thing is true about
salvation. Salvation is not in the earthly. It's not in the
fleshly. It's not in the outward. True salvation is spiritual.
It's in the heart. And it has to be that way because
the law demands perfection, not just outwardly but in the heart.
And I can't give it. I might be able to fool you well
enough into thinking some things about me that are not true. I was talking with Brother Paul
Mahan a couple of weeks ago and told him, I am wound tighter
than a drum. I am just, oh, I'm so just intense,
just wound like a drum. I wish I could just ease up.
That doesn't sound like the Frank Tate I know. Well, I got him
fooled. I can fool you about some things
for a little while, but I can't do anything about the heart.
It's corrupt. It's desperately wicked. Who
could know it? The law demands perfection inwardly. I cannot give, but grace gives
it. God's grace gives perfection
inwardly. gives a new nature. God's grace
enables us to worship God in spirit and in truth. If you're
trying to worship God in this legal economy, the old writers
talked about economy. I don't know if our little young
children understand that. I try to always use words you
can understand. This legal economy, this legal way of doing things.
If you're trying to worship God that way, you're just pretending.
You're pretending. But grace lets us worship God in spirit
and in truth. Truly worship Him. All right,
ninth, if you come to this mountain of grace, you're going to find
an innumerable company of angels. I don't want to get carried away
with this, but I'm not going to skip it either. But because angels
are real creative beings, you know, the word deals with them
over and over again. The Lord says angels watch over
his people. He talked about you be careful
now with how you treat my people. Their angels are watching. Angels
are sent to minister to God's people. Our Lord said it's angels
who would gather His elect from the four corners of the world
in the last day when our Lord returns. But this scripture and
other scriptures that speak of angels, they're not written to
tell us about angels. They're not written so that we
will be fascinated with angels. They're certainly not written
so that we'll seek angels. Are they, Eric? Everything written
in this book is written for one reason, until you seek Christ.
So they're not written for that reason. I believe this is why
scripture tells us about these angels and why the writer mentions
it in this particular time. This is telling us something
about God our Savior. Our God will use many different
means to take care of His people, but He will take care of them.
He will take care of them. If He sends an angel to keep
you from dashing your foot against a stone, alright, I mean however
He does it, if He reaches His hand down and turns you every
which way. That's all right. However he
does it, that's all right. Don't get carried away with angels.
Be carried away with how our God takes care of his people.
He takes care of them. He's not going to lose one. And
you can be impressed with angels if you want to. But I'll tell
you what, angels desire. to look into these things of
the gospel that you hear preached to you every week. Angels desire
to look into what you know and love. Angels desire that. You
know why? There's no redeemer for fallen
angels. They know about the redeemer. They know about the sacrifice,
but there's not one for them. The only reason the angels desire
to look into these things, they're not fallen angels, is God, in
God's words, is they're elect angels. God kept them from falling.
But if they fall today, there's no redeemer for them. There is
for you. There is for me. There is for
human beings. And they desire to look into
these things. Well, that puts angels in a totally
different perspective, doesn't it? Let's not get carried away
with that. Let's get carried away with looking
into these things of God's grace. Let's get in, get serious about
looking into these things, seeking God and his grace in Christ Jesus. Then 10th, if you come to this
mountain of grace, you're going to find the church. Verse 23
says to the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven and to God, the judge of all under
the spirits of just men made perfect. Now here, when it talks
about the general assembly, the church of the firstborn, the
church, I mean, we, we call this, I'm going to go to church this
morning. This, this, the church is not building on earth. The
church is not even one local assembly. The church is all of
God's people from all of time. The church is a universal church.
It's the body of Christ, every believer. And this whole church,
the whole assembly has been gathered together. You know how? By God's
grace. They've been gathered together.
They were chosen of God, elect of God. Their names are written
in the Lamb's book of life before time began. They're all called
out by God's grace from They're different generations, they're
different times, but they're all called out by God's gospel.
They're all brought to believe upon Christ by God's grace. Now you come to Christ, and you'll
find it was God's grace bringing you along. It wasn't your decision.
It wasn't just you up and decided to come to Christ one day. You'll
find it was God's grace drawing you along. Now God's people are
gathered together to worship Him. is God will help me. I'm just
not going to allow anything to go on in this building among
this group of people but the worship of God. Not going to
do it. God's people have come together
to worship Him. No other reason. And public worship
is important. I can't stress that to you enough.
Public worship is so important because we need each other to
encourage one another, to help one another. It is a great encouragement
to me that you show up every week. You're an encouragement
to one another. You show up every week to worship
together. It's just better when the family's
all together. It just is. And this phrase, general assembly,
has to do with a festival, a party. Now, we're not acting a fool
and a party, but brother, there's something to celebrate right
here, isn't there? It's God's grace. That's why we gather together
to celebrate God's grace. There's nothing to celebrate
in the law. But you come to this mountain of God's grace, you're
going to find something to celebrate. God's salvation of His people
by His grace. The 11th, if you come to grace,
you're going to come to God, the judge of all. Now, nobody
under the law did that. When they heard the judge of
all, they said, don't speak anymore. I don't want anything to do with
this. The law made us scared to death of the judge. But in
grace there's no fear of the judge. And you know why? Innocent
people are not afraid of the judge. Christ has made his people
innocent. They're not guilty. So they're
not afraid of the judge. Matter of fact, they come to
this mountain of grace and they have fellowship with the judge.
Fellowship with him. Then verse 24, and you're come
to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. into the blood
of Sprinkly, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." Now,
coming to God by grace is coming to God in Christ. It's coming to Him in another,
in the merits of another, in the pleading of another. And
this is so comforting to my heart, the way the writer phrases this.
Grace enables us to come to Jesus. He uses the name Jesus. This
is the name of our Lord's human nature. This is what the writer
is telling us. We come to God who was made flesh
for us. Now, if God went to the extreme
of being made flesh so that He can redeem His people by His
grace, I feel pretty confident that He's going to show grace
to the needy beggar that comes to Him. I do know this, God will
accept everyone, every sinner without exception that comes
to God by the Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator. And he uses this
name, Jesus, the name of his human nature, to show us how
comfortable and confident we can be to come to him for grace.
So I tell you, come to Christ. Don't go to the law to see if
you can make yourself more acceptable. Come to Christ. He's the mediator
of a better covenant, a covenant that's much better than the law.
It's the covenant of grace. And the whole system of grace
is bound up in this person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like
the children of Israel told Moses, Moses, you be our mediator. You
go speak to God, find out what God says, and you come back and
tell us. Well, I guess that was all right. That worked pretty
good for him. But how much better is it for you and me to have
Christ, the Lord Jesus, be our mediator Go to speak to God for
us. Now back to where I started.
It, filling any spiritual need, any spiritual, it all depends
upon Christ. Grace is all bound up in Him.
Grace depends upon God's promise of grace in Christ, not our ability
to earn it. Grace depends upon the blood
of Christ. God can be gracious to you if
Christ's blood paid for your sin. Grace depends on Christ,
our mediator, doing everything that's required of us. Everything
that we can't do, which is everything. So He does it all. Grace depends
on Christ pleading for us as our mediator. And when He pleads
as our mediator, you know what He pleads to His Father? His
sacrifice, His blood. Actually, He doesn't even have
to say anything. He sits there before the Father with the scars
of His sacrifice evident before the Father. And the Father sees
that and is always pleased. He'll always accept his people
because of that sacrifice. That's why I need pleading for
me. Grace is given to sinners by Christ freely, without us
ever doing anything to deserve it, because that's the nature
of grace. Isn't that much better than the
law? If you hear of grace, why would you ever want to come by
some inferior way, the way of the law? Doesn't grace, the grace
I just described, does that satisfy your every need? Does it? Then why come to God any other
way? Come to Him, come to Him by grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I don't have time to go on
there, Lord willing. Next week we're going to look
here at something better, the blood of sprinkling, the blood
of sprinkling. Maybe that will whet your appetite
for next Sunday. That blood of sprinkling, that
covenant that was ratified by the blood of Christ is far better,
far better. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you for your grace.
How we thank you for this better covenant, the covenant of your
grace. How we thank you that you did
not leave us to ourselves, trying and failing to keep this covenant
of the law, but you gave us the covenant of grace. You gave us
the mediator of this covenant of grace, sure and free in our
Lord Jesus Christ. Father, how we thank you. And
Father, I pray that as we leave here this morning, that we leave
here trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, that we never even turn
our thought back to Mount Sinai, trying to come to you through
our obedience, trying to make ourselves better, more acceptable
by the law. but that we'd come in the Lord
Jesus Christ, fully trusting Him, looking to Him and Him alone. Let us leave here this morning
with grace, your grace, God-given grace in the heart. Father, how
we thank you. Bless us. For Christ's sake,
we pray. Amen. All right. Mike, come lead
us in a song. Let's stand and sing 125, 125.
Let's sing the chorus after one and the last verse. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me Thine
all in all. Jesus paid it all, All the debt
I owe, Sin had left a crimson stain. Was it white as snow? Lord, now indeed I find Thy power
and mine alone Can change the leper's thoughts And melt the
heart of stone. For nothing good have I, Whereby
thy grace to claim. I washed my garments white in
the blood of Calvary's Lamb, And went before the throne, I
stand in Him complete. Jesus died, my soul to save,
My lip shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, Mine as gold.