Exodus chapter 24. Now last time we were here in Exodus
24, we beheld the new and the old. We beheld the new mediator
and the old mediator. We beheld Christ, the new mediator,
and Moses, who was their mediator. And we beheld the new way and
the old way. We beheld Christ, the new and
living way, pictured in all those sacrifices in that old way, Moses,
when he made those sacrifices to make that covenant with Israel,
that pictured Christ and the sacrifice he made and the covenant
he's made with his people through his blood. Then we saw the new
relationship we have with God in Christ in their old relationship
after Moses worked this work. He called the elders back up
into the mount, and they saw God. We behold God in the face
of Christ Jesus through faith. And they feasted with God, picturing
fellowship with God. We have fellowship with God in
Christ. And they feasted upon the sacrifices
that God had accepted, those sacrifices they made that God
accepted. They feasted on those sacrifices.
We feast on Christ's broken body and his shed blood through faith
and at his table. And we do so looking for the
marriage supper of the Lamb when we'll do so in his presence face
to face. So after, you know that Israel
went 1,500 years after that day. that he made that covenant with
them and they went up into the mount, but they never again saw
God's face, and they never again had that fellowship with God.
You know why? They said, we'll keep the covenant.
We'll do everything God said. We'll keep our end of the covenant.
And while Moses was in the mount getting the law, they broke it.
They made a golden calf and worshipped a golden calf. They broke the
law before they ever got it in their hands. We can't come to
God by covenant of works. We cannot come to God trying
to keep our end of the covenant. Christ kept that covenant for
his people. And so now what they enjoy just
for a brief day, every believer gets to enjoy forever because
we can't break the law in Christ. He's fulfilled it. And so our
covenant's fulfilled, it's everlasting because of what Christ did for
us. Now today, we come here and we see that after Moses finished
that work, God called him up to the mount. And here's what
I want you to understand and get from this. Christ's resurrection is our
guarantee that we have been redeemed and shall be saved. Christ's
resurrection is our guarantee. It's every believer's guarantee
that we have been redeemed. God accepts us. We shall be saved. We see in Moses being called
up to the mount a picture of Christ being resurrected to the
mount of God after he finished his work. Let's read it again,
Exodus 24, 12. After Moses finished that work
of making the covenant, the Lord said unto Moses, come up to me
and to the mount and be there. And that's what God did with
Christ after he finished the work. Moses, here's a type of
Christ, the mediator. Now today we also see Joshua. Joshua went up to that, up the
mount with him. Joshua's also a picture of Christ's
mediator. Joshua's name means Jesus. It's
the same as Jesus. It means Savior. And he will
be the one God uses to lead them into Canaan. And so he called
Joshua up with him to show the children of Israel Joshua was
his mediator, his minister. And so Christ's resurrection,
this is what we're going to be looking at. Christ's resurrection
is the guarantee for every believer that we've been redeemed, God
accepts us, we shall be saved. Now, I've titled this, The Sight
of Christ's Glory. The reason I've titled it that
is because in the verse 17 it says, And the sight of the glory
of the Lord was like the firing fire, consuming fire on the top
of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. I've titled
this, The Sight of Christ's Glory. Now, first of all, after Christ
finished his work, the Lord God called him up into heavenly Mount
Zion, declaring, God is satisfied. Christ said it's finished. And
after he finished the work God gave him to do, God the Father
raised him from the dead and called him up into Mount Zion,
heavenly Mount Zion, that which earthly Mount Zion pictured.
He called him up to heavenly Mount Zion, to heavenly Jerusalem,
declaring that God is satisfied. That's what we see pictured here,
Exodus 24, 12. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Come up to me into the mount and be there. Look at verse 13. And Moses rose up and his minister
Joshua, and Moses went up to the mount of God. This was after
Moses finished the work God gave him to do of making the covenant
with Israel. Then the Lord called Moses up
to Mount Sinai. Well, when Christ finished his
work, God the Father called Christ up to heavenly Mount Zion. And
it's by this resurrection of Christ By Christ being resurrected,
God declares to His people that He is satisfied. Satisfied with
what? God the Father sent His Son. He sent His Son to declare His
righteousness. That's the purpose for which
Christ came. Most people will say, well, Christ came to save
His people. That's not the preeminent purpose. The preeminent purpose
was to declare the righteousness of God. And he did that by magnifying
and honoring God's holy law. That was the chief purpose for
which Christ came. Christ fulfilled the law for
God and for his people. For God, Christ declared God
righteous. He declared he is righteousness. That's what Christ declared on
Calvary's cross. He declared God is a just God
and a savior. He's a just God in that he will
in no way overlook the sin of those he saves. He will punish
every sinner he saves. That sinner must die. And they
shall die, but they're gonna die in Christ Jesus the substitute. That's why Christ came, was to
die on their plate. So he's a just God. He poured
out wrath on his son in place of his people because his law
must be honored. And that means he's a savior.
He saved his people in a way that's in harmony with his justice.
He is a just God and a savior. He's just and he is the justifier. That means everything I just
said plus this. You and I don't do the justify
and he did. He's the justifier. He justified all his people.
He's the justifier. And by that, he declared God
righteous. Every promise the father made,
Christ fulfilled it. And by that, he declared that
God is righteous. He's righteous. And Christ did
this for his people. He did this for his people. The
law required that you and I must die. That's what the law required.
The soul that sins must die. It must die. Yeah, we were made
sinners in Adam, but God's not gonna, he's not gonna, he's not
gonna damn the man that meets him outside of Christ. He's not
gonna damn him because of Adam's sin. He's gonna damn him because
of his own sin. That's what that verse means. The soul that sinneth,
it must die. You're not gonna die for the
sins of the Father. We'll die for our own sin. We
don't pray, Father, forgive me of Adam's sin. We pray, Father,
forgive me of my sin. We're made sinners. We're the
sinner. And he came, and that sinner's
got to die. So Christ Jesus came and took
the place of his people and bore that eternal wrath in our place. And I wish we could get that.
I wish we could understand the depths of what that means. It
just kind of goes over our head. We hear it, hear it, hear it.
We just don't think about how Christ suffered for us. And that law requires a perfect
obedience which is a perfect heart love for God and his people. And Christ fulfilled that for
His people by going to the cross and being made sin for us and
being made a curse for us for God and His people. That was
perfect love to God the Father and perfect love to His people,
which is the positive fulfillment of the law. He fulfilled the
positive aspect of the law by fulfilling the negative aspect
of the law for God and His people. That was perfect love to God
and His people to lay down His life for God and for His people,
to be made the least for God and for His people. So, that's
why Christ came, and now God is saying He's well pleased by
resurrecting His Son. Isaiah 42, 21, the Lord is well
pleased for His righteousness sake. And He's talking about
His servant, Christ the Lord. The Lord is well pleased for
Christ's righteousness sake. He magnified the law and made
it honorable. Isaiah 53.10 says it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. It doesn't mean that God got
some kind of immoral satisfaction out of bruising his son. It means
God's law was satisfied by bruising his son. Justice had to be satisfied
because God's holy and he satisfied it in his son. He has seen the
travail of his soul and is satisfied. The pleasure of the Lord has
prospered in Christ's hand because Christ justified many because
he bore their iniquities. And the Lord tells us mercy and
truth are met together. Mercy and truth, righteousness
and peace have kissed in harmony. justice and mercy are in harmony
in Christ on the cross. And so, you remember when Peter
and the others, John and I forget who else, but they went up on
the Mount of Transfiguration, you remember, and after they
saw Moses representing the law and Elisha representing the prophets
and Christ And Peter spoke up and said, well, let's build three
altars here, one to Elijah, one to Moses, and one to the Lord
Jesus. And a cloud covered that mountain, and they hit their
face. And when they looked back up, they didn't see anybody but
Christ. And God spoke from that cloud, and he said, this is my
beloved son, whom I will please. You hear him. Don't you be worshiping
the law. Don't you be worshiping the prophets.
You worship my son. I'm satisfied with him and him
alone. So that tells you and me, here
we are. We're sinners. We're going to
have to meet God. We're going to have to come into God's presence.
You can ignore what I'm preaching to you. It was like Thursday
night. It was raining and storming outside,
and I announced back there, I said, I said, it's flooding, and it's
fixing to flood in the parking lot. And everybody thought I
was just joking. I went back to talking. I was
serious. Water was fixing to come into
people's cars in the parking lot. And y'all ran out there
and saw. It was flooding. But y'all ignored
me when I told you. Well, don't ignore this, though,
because it's the same way. You're going to face God. You're
going to face God. And that's a flood you're not
going to overcome. So hear what I'm saying to you. Don't try
to come to God through Mount Sinai by the works of the law.
Come to God, believe in Christ on Mount Zion. And God will accept
you because he's pleased with his righteous servant, his son,
and nobody else. He's only pleased with his people
in his son. So believe him. As Moses entered
the glory of the Lord, so Christ has now entered into His glory. Moses went up and entered into
the glory of the Lord. We're going to see this. Well,
that's a picture in Christ. He's gone up and entered into
His glory. Look here in verse 15. Moses
went into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. That cloud's
the glory of the Lord. That's His presence. What? And the glory of the Lord abode
upon Mount Sinai. When you read something in the
scriptures and you don't understand what it means, read the next
phrase. I'm serious. There was a cloud that covered
the mount. What did that mean? And the glory of the Lord abode
upon Mount Sinai. That was the glory of the Lord.
That was the Lord's presence. And the cloud covered it six
days. And the seventh day he called
unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Look at verse 18.
And Moses went into the midst of the cloud and got him up into
the mount. And Moses was in the mount forty
days and forty nights. Here's the picture. That cloud
was the glory of God. That was God's presence. God
made Moses wait six days. And the seventh day, he called
Moses into his glory. And Moses entered into God's
glory in the mount. And here's what that pictures.
Six days speaks of labor. The seventh day speaks of rest
in the scripture. Christ labored for God and his
people. That's pictured in the six days.
But when the labor was over, when he finished the work, the
seventh day, pictures, rest, Christ entered into his glory,
into God's presence, into his rest. Listen to the scripture.
Christ prayed to the Father, John 17.4, he said, I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify
thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was. See, as the Son of God, Christ,
he is the very glory of God. He had that glory of God with
the Father before he ever came to this world. But then he came
to this earth as the God-man. And so when he said, glorify
thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was, he's saying, glorify thou me as the God-man mediator. He came down as the son of God,
he went back as the God-man. And he was glorified by God.
And the scripture says, Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had by himself
purged our sins, when he had finished the work, he sat at
the right hand of the majesty on high. Why'd he sit down? The work was finished. And so
Hebrews 4.10 says, he, speaking of Christ, that is entered into
his rest, he ceased from his works. The works are finished. All the works are finished. There's
nothing else to give the law. I wish we could get this. You
and I can't give anything to the law that Christ had already
given it in perfection. We don't owe the law anything.
Christ gave it everything it demanded of us in perfection. He did that for us. That's what
faith lays hold of. That's what faith is confessing. Christ did the law for me. He established it for me. We
don't make void the law through faith. It's only through faith
that we establish the law. We're saying Christ did it for
me. And so he entered into his rest. And when you believe on
Christ, you enter into his rest. He's our Sabbath. He's our rest. The works are finished. He did,
you know, on the Sabbath day, God said, I'm gonna provide you
enough on that Friday that it's gonna last you all through that
Saturday so you don't have to lift a finger. Well, Christ provided
us everything we needed in the days that he worked for us so
that now we just enter into his rest and we don't have to do
anything else to be accepted of God. We don't have to do anything
else to be made righteous and holy. We are righteous and holy
in Christ Jesus. Isn't that good news? This is
what rest is. It's having a clear conscience
with God. It's knowing I don't have to
do anything to be accepted of God. God accepts me through faith
in Christ. That's rest, knowing I don't
have to, I don't have to today get into this guilt pattern and
decide, oh boy, I better do something to make up for what I did yesterday.
That's not rest, that's bondage. God's people don't have to do
that. He's purged our conscience from those dead works. Those
once purged have no more guilt of sin. It's not that you don't
see your sin and you feel guilty for it, but you don't feel condemned
by God for it because you know what Christ did for you. That's
what it means, Hebrews 10. If they would have brought those
sacrifices and it would have purged their conscience, they
wouldn't have brought any more of those sacrifices. What makes
people in religion keep working and working and working and working?
Because their conscience is not purged, that's why. That's all
religion's about, is trying to soothe a burning conscience.
That's all it's about. When God brings you to Christ,
he purges that conscience from those dead works because you
know there's no more condemnation. God accepts you, end of story,
it doesn't matter what you do. Now when you sin and you see
your sin, now it breaks your heart because you know you're
accepted by Christ, you know you're accepted by God's grace,
and so that's what constrains you, the love of Christ constrains
you to live for him. Not guilt and fear of death and
all that. That's a dead man trying to be
religious. When you have life, now you rest
in Christ. That's what we have. Christ entered
into rest, and when you enter into Christ, you're in rest with
him. What did Paul say in Colossians
3? Your life is hid with Christ in God. You're at God's right
hand right now. So set your affection there. There's our life. And we're there.
As He is, so are we in this world, righteous and holy. All right,
now, thirdly, as God gave Moses the law to
teach the children of Israel, so God the Father has entrusted
Christ to teach His people not just the law, but the law and
the gospel. Look there in verse 12. The second
part, he says, And I will give thee tables of stone, and a law,
and commandments, which I have written, that thou mayest teach
them. Now Moses didn't have the power
to teach them in the heart. Remember God said, I'm going
to make a new covenant with you, and I'm not going to write it
on stone, I'm going to write it in your heart, spiritually. That's what Christ has the power
to do through the Holy Spirit. And how does he do this work?
Moses gave them Aaron and Hur while he went up to the mountain
until he returned. And Christ has given us his preachers
while he went up to Mount Zion until he returned. And he's preaching
through those preachers. Look here at verse 14. And he
said to the elders, tarry ye here for us until we come again
unto you. Christ is coming again. He's
coming back. He says, and behold, Aaron and
her are with you. If any man have any matters to
do, let him come unto them. See, while Moses went up to the
mount, he left them with some ministers. He didn't leave them
without a shepherd. He left them with some under-shepherds while
he went up to the mount. Well, Christ has not left us
without shepherds. He left us his under-shepherds,
and Christ is teaching us through them. Now, go to Isaiah 3. I want you to see this. It is
not from Mount Sinai that Christ is teaching us. It's from Mount
Zion. I've said that to you a couple
times. I want you to understand what I mean by that. Remember
when Paul gave that allegory in Galatians telling about Hagar
and Sarah and how they pictured the two covenants? You know, this covenant right
here we're looking at in our text was a covenant of works
made at Mount Sinai. Paul said that covenant genders
to bondage because you can't fulfill it. But he said Jerusalem,
which is above, Jerusalem was in Mount Zion. Earthly Jerusalem
was in Mount Zion. He said Jerusalem, which is above,
is free. That's the mother of us all.
That's the picture of the church of God. That's where Christ sits
in heavenly Jerusalem, in heavenly Mount Zion. You know, in the
scripture, when John said he saw new Jerusalem coming down
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, what
is that? That's when Christ has called all his elect to him in
heaven. And then this world's gonna be
over. And that new Jerusalem is all his elect made perfectly
righteous. coming down out of heaven adorned
by Christ's righteousness as a bride for Christ. That's Jerusalem. That's Mount Zion. Well, that's
where Christ is. He's with his people in heaven,
and that's where he's calling us to. He's calling us to faith
in him now, and hereafter he's calling us to be with him. And
so from there, he's teaching us now through his preachers.
And let me show you that. Isaiah 3, verse 2. He says in Isaiah 3 verse 2,
I've written this down wrong I think. Hold on one second. It shall come to pass in the
last days. Do y'all see that anywhere? 2-2? Alright, Isaiah 2-2. There you
go. It shall come to pass in the
last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established
in the top of the mountains. Those last days are these last
gospel days when Christ has ascended. And that top of the mountains,
that's not an earthly mount, read the next line, and shall
be exalted above the hills. This is a heavenly mount we're
talking about. And all nations, that is Christ redeemed out of
all nations, shall flow unto it, and that's unto Christ, seated
at heavenly Mount Zion. And many people shall go and
say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to
the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways. He's not teaching us your ways,
my ways, he's teaching us his ways. And look, and we will walk
in His paths, that is, in His righteousness through faith.
For out of Zion, out of heavenly Zion where Christ is seated right
now, shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord. from heavenly
Jerusalem, from heavenly Mount Zion. Right now Christ is teaching
his people the law and the gospel in spirit and truth. Verse 4,
and he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many
people. Christ judges who are his and
he calls them out and he gives you spiritual discernment in
your heart. And when he does that, Your weapons cease being
carnal weapons and they become spiritual weapons. Look at the
next word. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift
up sword against nation. That is, his people called out
of those nations. Neither shall they learn war
anymore. Remember Paul said the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal. They're mighty through God to
the pulling down of stronghold. We're not using carnal means
anymore to try to call sinners out. We're just using the gospel
word now, that's all. We beat our swords in the plowshares
now because Christ has called us from outside. You get the
picture there? All right, now what does he teach
us from this heavenly mount? Turn to Matthew 5. In what we
call the Sermon on the Mount, it begins and it says, it says,
Christ went up into a mountain and sat down and his disciples
came to him and he opened his mouth and he taught them. Well,
that's what's happened right now. Christ has gone up to Mount
Zion. He sat down at God's right hand.
Our scripture we just read said his disciples will come unto
him and he teaches us. How do we come to Christ? He
said he's in heaven at Mount Zion. We gather right here where
he told us to gather and he said I'll be there and I'll teach
you and I'm going to teach you through the gospel that's being
preached. So we gather under him in the mount, he's seated
there at God's right hand, and he's teaching us. Now what does
he teach us? Look at Matthew 5, 17. I said he teaches you
the law and the gospel. He teaches us that he has fulfilled
the law the same as he fulfilled the prophets. Matthew 5, 17.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am
not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be full filled. I've given you this
illustration many times. That cup right there, when Melinda
filled it up to right here and brought it, set it there, it
was not filled full. Filled full is when you can't
put another drop in it. Christ said, that's what I came
to do to the law for my people. I came to make it so they can't
put another drop in it. It's fulfilled. Now, he did that
just like he fulfilled the prophets. Men will take that scripture
and they'll say, see there, we're still under the law, and that's
just blindness to use that scripture to make that claim. Well then,
if that scripture's teaching you you're still under the law,
then that scripture's teaching you you have to fulfill the prophets.
Christ said, I came to fulfill the law and the prophets. That
means he fulfilled them and they're fulfilled. You can't fulfill
them. They're done. He did it. He fulfilled the law
and the prophets. That's what he's got to teach
us first. That he's the righteousness of God. And he teaches us this. If we think we've kept the law
and we teach others to keep the law, we're breaking the law and
we're teaching others to break the law. Read the next verse,
verse 19. Whosoever therefore, because
Christ has fulfilled the law, he says, whosoever therefore
shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach
men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.
That's what's going on in religion. Men are breaking the law themselves
and teaching others that they can keep it and must keep it. And by that, they're teaching
others to break it too. Well, who is the righteousness
of the law? Who fulfilled it? Who did it?
Christ did it. And who teaches his people that
the way we fulfill it is through faith in Christ? Christ. And
he's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven because of that. Look
at the next verse. Whosoever shall do and teach,
the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. That's
Christ. He did the law, and he teaches
his people the way we do it is through faith in him. and He's
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you that
except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you can't enter the kingdom of heaven.
The righteousness that exceeds the scribes and Pharisees is
the Lord Jesus Christ, our righteousness. And he teaches us that the law
reaches to our heart, so we can't keep it. The next verse he's
told them, you've heard by them of old time, you've heard the
scribes and Pharisees teach you that you shall not kill and whosoever
shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto
you, whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause,
in the heart shall be danger of the judgment. Sins in the
heart. Sins in the heart. And this judgment's
not just the judgment of men. Look, they taught falsely, whosoever
shall say to his brother Rekha shall be in danger of the counsel,
meaning man's counsel. Christ teaches us whosoever shall
say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire. So it's in the
heart, and the counsel we're in danger of is God's counsel
in hell. And then Christ teaches us, so
cease trying to offer your gifts and your sacrifices to please
God. Stop that and come to Christ
because he's got all against you as long as you're not bowing
to him. You come to him now and be reconciled. Ask for mercy. Look at the next
verse, 23. Therefore if thou bring thy gift
to the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath all against
thee, If you hadn't believed on Christ, you have one that
has ought against you. Christ, our elder brother, has
ought against you. He says, leave there thy gift
before the altar and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother. First come to Christ. First come
and bow to Christ and trust Christ. And then you can serve God through
faith. Then come and offer your gift
through faith in Christ. Agree with your adversary quickly
while you're in the way with him. Agree with Christ today. Today is the day of grace, lest
at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge
deliver thee to the officer, and Christ is all of those. He's
the judge, he's the officer, and he's the adversary. and you'll
be cast into prison. And we're talking about God's
prison. Verily I say unto thee, Christ says, this is of utmost
importance, you shall by no means come out till you've paid the
uttermost farthing in hell. That's what he's talking about.
That's what Christ teaches us from the heavenly man. He's fulfilled
the law. Now, he's the one that teaches
us that he's done it, and the way we do it is believing on
him. Because we can't keep it. We need a righteousness that
exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees. And law reaches to our heart.
It says you're guilty in your very nature. And the counsel
you're in danger of is hell, God's counsel. And so he says,
now quit trying to serve God by your gifts and your sacrifices
and come to the one who is all against you. Come to Christ and
bow to Christ and trust Christ and believe on Christ and then
you can serve God on the basis of faith in Christ. Righteousness
accomplished. Because you want to, not because
you have to. That's what he teaches us from
the heavenly man. It's the same as what Paul said
when he said what the law couldn't do and that it was weak through
the flesh. God sent in his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the
flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk by faith. Who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. Who believe on Christ. And so
when he's brought you there to Christ, you have reached the
end for which the law was given. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So when he's
brought you there, brethren, and that's what I pray he'll
teach us this morning, that he'll teach us from Mount Zion and
teach us this morning that he's the end of the law so that we
cry out with Paul and say, I do not want to be found with a righteousness
of my own, that's from the law of Mount Sinai. I want to be
found in Christ's righteousness alone, that righteousness which
is of God by the faith of Christ given to me through God-given
faith. That's the righteousness I want to be found in. And I
pray God bring you that place. And that's Christ's work to do
it. He has the glory to do that. And then lastly, now this is
so important. Whichever mount you attempt to
come to God by. Every man sitting here, everybody
in this room, this is so of everybody in the world, but we'll just
talk about us right here. Everybody in this room is going
to come to God one of two ways. You're either going to come to
God on Mount Sinai in your works, trying to do the works of the
law, or you're going to come to God in Mount Zion, trusting
Christ. one of the two ways. And however
you come, whichever mount you come by, that's how you're going
to behold, that's going to determine how you're going to behold Christ's
glory. We're going to all behold Christ's
glory. But by whichever mount we come,
that's going to determine how we behold His glory. Let me show
you what I mean. Verse 17, Exodus 24, 17. The sight of the glory of the
Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the
eyes of the children of Israel. They were lawbreakers. They had
said they'd keep the law, and they had already broken it in
their heart, and they were about to break it by making a golden
calf. And they looked up there, and what they beheld on Mount
Sinai, when they beheld the glory of God, they beheld devouring
fire. That's what they beheld, consuming
fire. Go with me to Hebrews 12. If
you attempt to come to God by the works of the law, we shall
behold the glory of Christ like devouring fire, like consuming
fire. You can bank on it, and it's
going to consume us. If we try to come to God and
say, God, we're righteous and just, God's going to say, well,
now you're going to pay for all your sins now, and he's going
to cast you in hell. pay for your sins. That's what
Christ did for His people on the cross. Either we're going
to come in Christ trusting Him. If we come in Christ through
Mount Zion, we'll behold the light of God's glory in the face
of Christ, the favor of His grace in the face of Christ. We come
through Mount Zion, you're going to behold a consuming fire. Come
by grace, you'll behold the light of His counsel. the light of
His favor. You come by works, you will behold
a consuming fire. Now let me show you this, Hebrews
12, 18. You are not, he's speaking to believers here, you are not
come into the mouth that might be touched and that burn 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 words should not be spoken to them
anymore, for they could not endure that which was commanded. 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 and quake. Now that's the
mount we hadn't come to, believer. He's describing Mount Sinai.
He's describing what you're gonna face if you come in the works
of the law. We ain't come through that mountain.
But you're come to Mount Zion. unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, 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 the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that
of Abel, That's who we've come to, brethren, on Mount Zion.
Now look at this word of admonition. See that you refuse not him that
speaketh. How do I refuse Christ that speaks
if I hear this word declaring to me that I can't fulfill the
law, that Christ alone fulfilled it, that the only way I can have
the righteousness God requires is through faith in Christ. I
hear Christ speak that in this gospel, and I reject it. I'm
refusing him that speaks. If I reject the gospel, I'm refusing
Christ that speaks. Now listen. For if they escape
not who refused him that spake on earth, Much more shall not
we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. It's bad enough if we reject
Christ on this earth when he walked this earth. It's far worse
to reject him now that he's ascended to Mount Zion and God's given
us proof that he's satisfied with Christ. Now watch this. Whose voice then shook the earth,
but now he's promised, saying, yet once more I shake not the
earth only, but I'm gonna shake heaven too. And here's what that
means. It signifies the removing of
those things that are shaken as of the things that are made,
that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. He's gonna
shake it till the only thing that remains is what can't be
shaken. That's what it's saying. He's
gonna shake heaven and earth until everything that he hadn't
established is gonna be removed. But the only thing that's going
to remain is what He's established. Watch this now. Wherefore, we,
me and you believer, receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. It can't be shaken. This is Christ's
kingdom. Now look at the next word. Let
us have grace. Not let us have works. Let us
have grace. Grace rather than works. Faith
rather than works. whereby we may serve God acceptably
with reverence and fear. If you attempt to come apart
from grace, if you attempt to come apart from faith in Christ,
if you attempt to come by the works of the law through Mount
Sinai, he says, verse 29, for our God is a consuming fire. If you try to come through the
works of the law, you're going to behold what they beheld that
day on Mount Sinai. Christ's glory is going to be
a devouring fire, a consuming fire. But if you come through
Mount Zion, let us have grace. Don't you want to rather have
grace than judgment? Wouldn't you rather have God's
grace than His justice poured out on you for your rebellion
against Christ? Let us have grace whereby we
may serve Him acceptably. The only way you can serve God
acceptably, the only way you truly reverence God with a godly
fear is when you bow and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only way He'll accept us, the only way. So I pray this
morning, let us have grace. I pray Christ speak to us from
Mount Zion and make us behold His glory, Paul said, God made
the light to shine and we beheld the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus. Not as a consuming fire, as a
God who accepts us, rejoices in us because we're robed in
the righteousness of Christ. I want you to have grace. I want
you to come that way. Now listen to me. The parking
lot's gonna flood. It's gonna flood. Don't ignore
what I'm telling you. Get to Christ now. All right,
amen.