OK, if you take your bowels and
turn me to Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12. Today, we'll be looking verse
26 through verse 29. And the title of the message is the
voice that shakes. The voice that shakes. Scripture says in Let's read
in verse 25 and we'll read to the end. See that ye refuse not
him that speaketh. 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, whose voice then
shook the earth. But now he hath promised, saying,
Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, yet once more,
signified the removing of those things that are shaken as of
those things that are made, that those things which cannot be
shaken may remain. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved Let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is
a consuming fire. Now, in light of the analogy
that the apostle is giving concerning Mount Sinai and Mount Zion, Mount
Sinai representing the law and Sinai representing Christ, He
encourages these believers who have come to Jesus Christ and
gives us the assurance that we have come to the right place.
We who have come to Christ have come to the right city, the city
of God, a heavenly city. We have come to an eternal kingdom
of God, of which God is king, and we have come to inherit this
kingdom and are made perfect by the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ. This is our assurance that we
have come to the right place. We are not come to a covenant
of works. He says that we have come to
Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. We are not come to
a covenant of works. Covenant of law, which we all
have failed to obey. We've not come to a religious
creed or religious rites or religious ceremonies of which there is
no end. The apostles dealing with this
matter of circumcision in the church in Acts, chapter 15, the
apostle said, Men and brethren, why would we try to heap on the
Gentiles those things which we and our fathers could not bear? Salvation is not by law, but
by grace, which is through faith in Jesus Christ alone. In Hebrews 10, verse 11, it says
that every priest standing daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices that can never take away sin. Is this
not what religion does? Religion constantly offers the
sacrifices that they please to offer. Not even lamb, not even
blood. They offer religious rites and
ceremonies and all this pomp and circumstance. And yet, none of it takes away
sin. The same is true of all freewill
works religion. They offer rites and ceremonies.
They offer, instead of rams and goats, they offer their decision
and will. They offered outward religious
effects and efforts. And today, many will come to
church posing to please God because it's Easter. Many will come and
say, well, it's time that we tip our hat to God and pay our
respects to the risen Jesus. And they come expecting their
coming to please God. But then when they come and perform
their pagan rituals in the church, they go out and perform their
pagan rituals outside the church. Bunnies and eggs. All pagan rituals. And so then, their worship is
nothing but vanity. It's foolishness. It's empty. It's what the Scriptures call
will-worship. Go over to Colossians. Colossians
chapter 2 and verse 20. Colossians 2 verse 20 says, Wherefore,
if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why,
as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances,
touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish
with the using, after the commandments and doctrines of men? which things have indeed a show
of wisdom in will-worship, in humility and neglecting of the
body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh." If
you are believers in Christ, know you not that you are dead
with Christ? We who believe on Christ, who
believe in Christ, We were crucified with Christ. Paul said, I am
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. The law and ceremonies which
are of no value to us who are dead in Christ. Because if we
are dead with Christ, we are dead from the rudiments of the
world. The rudiments of the world is
the law. We are dead to the law. The law
demanded our death. Justice demanded our payment
for sin. And Jesus Christ, having our
sins imputed to Him and charged to Him, we died with Him. We died with Him. And so why, as living in this
world, are you subject to ordinances? What ordinances are you subject
to? Touch not, taste not, handle not. Isn't this the ordinances
of men, the commandments of men? Well, now, you shouldn't touch
that. You shouldn't touch that, because
if you touch that, it's bad. Have you noticed that false religion
always puts the evil on the thing instead of the person? Alcohol
is bad. No, alcohol has not sinned. It's not alcohol that's the problem.
It's man that's the problem. It's our sinfulness. It's our
wickedness to abuse those things. And I'll tell you, these people
have a show. They make a great show in the
flesh. They can put on a good act. They
can dress up, and they can smile, and they can be religious for
about an hour and a half. And after that's over with, they
throw their clothes in until next year, and they never darken
the door of another church building. They never really care about
anything As far as thoughts of God, they never have any thoughts
of Christ unless some holiday comes around. They make a good
show in the flesh, but the Scripture said not to any satisfied. Why
do you think they have to do it over and over and over? Because
it never satisfies. It's never finished. The work's
never done. They've always got to do something
else. There's always something that they've got to reach for,
some other level that they've got to obtain. It's never enough. But if you'd be dead with Christ,
that's enough. The law says that's enough. The
law says that's good. That's what I demanded. I demanded
your death. And in Christ, we died as our
representative. We died. And if we are dead with
Christ, the scripture says, if you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affections on things
above, not on things of the earth. If we are saved by the grace
of God through faith in Jesus Christ, through his blood, it
is because we are dead with Christ. And when the Lord died, we died.
When our sin was nailed to that cross, And he suffered, we suffered,
in union with Christ, under the strictest penalty of
God's law. When he died, we died. This is
what sprinkling of blood has reference to. When it talks about
the blood being sprinkled, they took the blood of that sacrificed
animal and then they would sprinkle it on the people. Why? There
was union. There was union between the death
of the sacrifice and the people. That's what the Spirit of God
does. He sprinkles the blood of Christ on our hearts and we
are in union with Christ. His death was our death. And now, having paid all the
debt for our sins, we are free from the law. We are not under
the covenant of works. We are under a covenant of grace,
free from the law of sin and death, the law that condemned
us. We, by the offering of Christ,
are justified in the eyes of God. Innocent. Innocent. This is a mysterious thing. You're
not going to be able to fully understand this. We believe this
with all of our heart, that when Jesus Christ died,
I was so in union with Him that the law did not see the difference
between me and Him. I died when He died. And when he rose again from the
dead, I rose again from the dead with him. Therefore, as he sitteth on the
throne, he is not subject to the ordinances any more. We are
not subject to them. Why then would we put ourselves
under such legal rules and obligations as touch not, taste not, and
handle not? If we are dead with Christ, we
are not under the law of sin and death, but we are under the
law of love. The law of faith, the law of
grace, we're not lawless. We're not lawless, we're not
without a ruler, are we? We're not without a king. We
have a king, we have a risen king. And He rules us by love. Not our love for Him, but His
love for us. That's what constrains us. Why is it that we are not all
raging alcoholics? Why is it that we are not all
caught up into the sin of this world? Are you not capable? Yes! You are very capable of any sin. Why is it that we are constrained?
It is the love of Christ that constrains us. Oftentimes, we feel like it's
our love that constrains us. And when our love becomes so
low, we feel as though we're left low. It's not your love
that constrains you. It is the love of Christ that
keeps you in the faith. It is the love of Christ that
constrains you from sin. The apostle confesses that religious
works and ceremonies put on a good show, these sights and sounds
and smells make men feel good and feel holy. But this is nothing
but will worship, and it will never satisfy the flesh, much
less God. But we who are dead with Christ,
being covered in his blood, are free from the demands of the
law. And this is what the apostle
is expressing. He said, we have come to the
right place. We have come to Mount Zion. And then he says in verse 25,
see that you refuse not him that speaketh. See that you refuse not the gospel
of Christ, which is salvation by grace, through faith in Christ
alone. All who will not believe this
gospel have turned away from the voice of God. You've not turned away from my
voice. You've not turned away from my
words. Men who refuse to hear the gospel have turned away from
the voice of God. All who will not believe turn
from the voice of God that shook the earth. When God came on Mount
Sinai, the earth quaked and the hearts of men melted. Yet those who refused to believe
God's prophets were not spared. You think of Korah and all his
people that rebelled against Moses and Aaron and said, Who
are you? We're just like you. Why do you get to be the leader? Why can't we all just be the
leader? And God says, OK, if you want
to be in that group, you move over here. And God opened up
the earth and swallowed them up. If those men perish without mercy,
how do you suppose that you will escape hell if you refuse to
believe on the Son of God? How does any one of us suppose
that we would escape God's judgment? Apostasy is not a word used much
in the church anymore. Nobody seems to be an apostate.
Nobody. Remember, the church believes
that God loves everybody, no matter if you're there or not,
or you go away or not, doesn't really matter. I always like that picture somebody
said about Noah's Ark with the big bumper stickers that said,
smile, God loves you. They were all drowning. Yet, look at what we have. We
have a bunch of Calvinists who refuse to obey the gospel. We have a bunch of people who
confess the doctrines of grace and yet they do not even attend
or enjoy the gospel. What we have is a bunch of apostates
in our day. We have people who have accepted
Academically, the things of God, and refuse to hear the voice
of the Son of God and live. Listen to the promise of God.
Verse 25, "...see that ye refuse not Him that speaketh, for if
they escape not who refuse Him that spake on earth, Much more
shall they not escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from
heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But now hath He promised,
saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also
heaven." The promise of God. God who shook the earth with
the law has also promised to shake the earth again. Now, this
passage of Scripture is found in Haggai chapter 2 and verse
6. You'll read that later, that's
fine. But the passage of God speaking of yet once more shaking
the earth has reference to Jesus Christ coming. Has reference
to the promise of the Messiah coming into the world. God promised, God shook the earth
at Sinai, but He also shook the earth at the cross. At the cross. Behold, what took place at Calvary
that shook the earth was so great, the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified
and risen from the dead was so great that it turned the world
upside down. Can you imagine this? No press
like we have today, no internet, no anything like that. Just 120
men that were gathered in that upper room, preached the gospel. 3,000 souls were saved on the first
message. After that, 5,000 more were added
to the church, and then churches began to pop up all over the
world. Why? Because God shook the earth.
God turned the world upside down by this message, by the gospel
of Jesus Christ. The gospel reveals the complete
and utter depravity of man. No other gospel message does
that. No other religion in the world
declares the complete inability of man to please God. No message in the world. No gospel
in the world like this. The gospel of Jesus Christ declares
that salvation is not an act of man, not an act of the will,
but of the sovereign grace and free gift of God Almighty. No
other religion says that. Every other religion is a religion
of works. Everyone says, you must do this
in order to obtain God's favor. That's not the gospel. The gospel
message that turned the world upside down was a message of
grace, free grace, God giving salvation to men. The gospel
reveals that there's only one way to please God, and that is
through the representative man, Jesus Christ. This is the message. And every other religion, they're
very tolerant of any other religion, except this one. Because this
religion, the true religion, is intolerant of any other way. That's why they hate us. The Christians in the early church
were called people of the way. They were called that because
They knew there was only one way to God, and they would not
budge. They would not compromise this.
And the other religions were astounded. They all compromised
with each other. But not this. Not this. We don't compromise. There's
only one way to God, and His name is Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. See then that you refuse not
the gospel of God because God is speaking. This gospel is the Word of God. If we don't believe that, we
shouldn't even be here. There's no reason for you to
be here if you don't believe that. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
the Word, the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. See that you refuse not this
gospel, because God is speaking. Sinners tremble at His voice
and cry for mercy. Have you not trembled at His
voice? If we don't tremble at His voice,
we think too little of God. Our God is a consuming fire. The God who saved us, the God
who redeemed us is still a consuming fire. We should serve Him with
such reverence and godly fear. Scripture says, knowing the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. We persuade men. See that you
refuse not the gospel. How many pretenders do you suppose
claim to believe, but will not obey the voice of God? There
are many, the Lord said, that will say to me in that day, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? Lord, have we not
believed Calvinism? Lord, have we not believed the
five points? Did we not write the articles
of faith? Did we not do this? Did we not
do that? He'll say unto them, depart from
me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you. The cross shook men. It shook me. I knew all the five points of
Calvinism long before I knew Christ. But when God revealed my sin
to me, what else could I do but fall down and bow down and say,
Thou art just and holy to send me to hell. Lord God, have mercy
on me. And you know what? I found mercy.
I found mercy. And the cross not only shook
earth, it not only shook my soul, but also shook heaven. When that veil of separation
had been taken away and torn down, when the Lamb of God brought
His own blood in the presence of the Father, heaven itself
was shaken. The Lamb of God in heaven took
His own blood and swore with an oath that we who have fled
to Christ have a sure hope and refuge for our souls. Do you
realize this? That if one of those that Christ
died for goes to hell, heaven itself would crumble and Christ
himself would no longer be deity. This is how sure the blood of
Christ is that he swore with an oath. When he said, I could
swear by none greater, he swore by himself. that they who have
fled to Christ for refuge shall have a sure place, a hiding place. Don't you suppose it shook heaven
when the Lord Jesus Christ took the book from the hand of the
Father? Took the book. You know how it
shook? It shook with the sounds of hosanna
and praise. And now to us who believe the
Lord Jesus Christ, His Word has shaken off those things that
are made. Look at that in the text. He
said, Yet once more signify the removing of those things that
are shaken as of the things that are made. When Jesus, when the
Spirit of God came to us and created in us a new nature, a
holy nature, He shook. Those things that were made,
our thoughts that we made, our religion that we made, our thoughts
of God that we made, our way to God that we made, was shaken
off. Behold, all things are become
new. He shook off our sin. He shook
off our thoughts of God. And those things which cannot
be shaken remain. Jesus Christ remains. Jesus Christ remains. And as long as He remains, I
remain. As long as He lives, I live. And the Scripture says, Wherefore,
we receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved. Friends, we have a
kingdom that cannot be shaken. This world and all the things
in it are going to be shaken off. A dog comes in and he's wet. And he gives a big shake. And
all the water and dirt and everything flies off. One day God will shake
this world. And the only thing that will
remain is the kingdom of God. And whosoever. Is in the kingdom
of God will remain. Whosoever is an inheritor of
the kingdom of God, we have receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved,
let us by grace Have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and fear." Friends, our God shook the earth with
the law, but being dead in Christ, we're free from the law. He shook the earth at the cross
and saved us from our sins. In time, he shook us by the Holy
Spirit. creating in us a new nature,
and one day He'll come and shake off all these things that we
think are so important. What do you think is important?
What's important? What's more important than this? I pray that God blesses to your
hearts. Let's be dismissed with prayer. Father, I pray that you'd
bless this to our hearts, that you'd, by your Spirit, give us
grace to understand, to believe, and trust in Christ alone, our
surety, our hope. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen.