Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter
12, we'll pick up in verse 25. The title of the message is, Refuse not to hear Christ
when He speaks. Refuse not to hear Christ when
He speaks. That's what it's about. Now this
epistle started out with God speaking. It says God has spoken
in times past by the prophets to the fathers. He has spoken
in different ways, different matters. He spoke to them by
the prophets. He spoke to them in that old
covenant of works. He spoke to them in the types
and the pictures. God spoke to them. But now He
speaks to us in His Son. In His Son and by His Son. When
the Gospel is preached, Christ is speaking. Christ is
speaking. When the Gospel is preached,
Christ is speaking. When His Word is read, Christ
is speaking. And it says, he who speaks from
heaven, and that's because he is now in heaven. That's where
our Lord speaks, and he speaks from heaven. And that being so,
how much ought we to listen? This is not an earthly message
that men have come up with. This is from heaven. The good
news is from heaven. God has sent it to us. God has
sent it to Bethel Baptist Church in Spring Lake, North Carolina.
God has sent the gospel here. Christ has been speaking here
for a number of years. The message and the issue is
here is that when the Lord speaks, don't refuse to hear. Listen. Listen. You know, our Lord speaks
and He speaks in heaven. He intercedes for us now, even
in heaven. He speaks in heaven, He intercedes
for us. And then Christ speaks from heaven.
In Acts 26, 14, Paul was rehearsing, I think it's before Agrippa,
what happened to him on the road to Damascus. He says, and when
we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto
me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. Our Lord is speaking. He's speaking
at that time to Saul of Tarsus, and he's speaking from heaven,
where he reigns, where he sits on the throne, where he rules
over all. That's where he's speaking from. It says in Matthew 3.17, and
lo, a voice from heaven spoke, saying, this is God the Father
speaking, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
So we cannot say we've not heard from God. We cannot say we've
not heard from Christ, for He's speaking. Just in reading this
tonight, the Lord is speaking. He's speaking. He speaks in different ways.
He speaks in creation. It says in Psalm 19, verse one
and two, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech. Night unto night showeth knowledge. You know, creation is the voice,
is the voice of Christ. When you look, at creation. It
says every day, the Lord is. It says every day, God is. The
Lord speaks in creation every day. Everything you and I look
at, did you look at anything today? You walked outside, did
you look at anything? And think of God. Think of Christ, the Creator.
It has a voice. We should. There shouldn't be
a day that we don't walk out the door and look at creation
and not hear the voice of God. When we hear the birds sing,
we should be able to hear the voice of God. Those birds are
singing His praise. They're singing His praise. I
have no doubt. I know they don't know Him like
we do, but they're doing what they were made to do. They're
doing what they were made to do. And then He speaks in Providence. It says in Psalm 107 verse 25,
For He commandeth and raises the stormy wind which lifts up
the waves thereof. That's His. The wind is His. The storm is
His. The cold is His. It all has a voice. Listen here
in Psalm 148, eight. Fire and hail, snow and vapor,
stormy wind fulfilling his word. Fulfilling his word. You know,
the weather that we so often complain about is fulfilling
his word. That's what it says. And then
as we looked at here not too long ago, he speaks in chastening. In Micah 6 and verse 9 it says,
the Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom
shall see thy name. Hear ye the rod, and who hath
appointed it? And who has appointed it? Hear
it, it has a voice. The Lord speaks, and he speaks
in chastening. But what he's speaking here especially
of is in the gospel. When the gospel is preached,
if I'm standing here and I'm preaching the gospel in the power
of God's Spirit, it's not me speaking. It's the Lord speaking. He's using this clay pot. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. And God has been pleased to take
men, like myself, put them in a pulpit, and speak through them
to his people. That's how he does it. When the
gospel is preached, Jesus Christ is speaking, and he's speaking
to us from heaven. Not from the grave. He's not
in the grave. You know, he said, the blood
of Abel cries to me from the ground. The blood of Christ pleads
from heaven. That's where it is, the blood
of Sprinkler. That's where He is. He's in heaven. He speaks of redemption. He speaks
of forgiveness. He speaks of rest. We saw last
Sunday. He said, come unto me, all you
that labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Did you hear
Him speak? That was Him speaking, that was
not me. That's Him speaking. I take His Word and I turn over
to Matthew 11 and I read that to you, that's the Lord's voice. His Word is His voice to us. Come to me all you that labor
heavy laden, I'll give you rest. He speaks of redemption, it's
finished. It's finished. When he died on Calvary's tree,
he cried, it's finished. Redemption is finished. He has
paid the price. You have been purchased by the
blood of Jesus Christ. You're a purchased people. You're
a purchased people. You know, the church is a people
made up of sinners saved by the grace of God, purchased by the
blood of Christ. You're not purchased with silver
and gold. That's not the currency of heaven. You were purchased
by the blood, as Paul says over in the book of Acts, by the blood
of God. The blood of God. In the Gospels
preached, we hear how God can be a just God and a Savior. How
God can have anything to do with a wretch like me. Paul said,
Oh wretched man that I am. He didn't say that until after
God saved him. He wouldn't say that unless God saved him. He wouldn't say that. Paul would
not say that. He would choke to death and go
to hell before he would say that. When the gospel is preached,
our Lord is speaking to us. He's speaking to us from heaven
of how God the Father, how He can be a just God and save a
bunch of wretched people like you and me. That's the truth. Now, when the gospel is preached,
when Christ is preached and Christ is speaking, See that you refuse
not him that speaketh. It has this meaning. See that you refuse not him that
continually speaks. How long has the gospel been
preached here? 40 years? At least 40 years? Rupert was here, I think, 38,
something like that. At least, let's say 40 years.
About 40 years then. The gospel's been preached here
for 40 years. And He's saying here, see that
you refuse not Him that speaks, that continually speaks. Christ
is continually speaking from heaven to this congregation. To this congregation. You think, well, I wouldn't do
that. I don't know anyone here that would do that. I was talking
to a pastor friend of mine last week, and he was telling me of
a family that had been going to the place he pastors for 15,
16, 17 years. He said one day they just decided
to go to the Free Will Baptist. They said they liked it better.
He said they'd sit there and listen to Henry preach over those
years, him preach over those years, And I've been up there
preaching, and other men have been up there preaching the gospel,
and these people sat there and said amen, and you know, right
with you, and now they're gone. Now they're gone. They like the
Free Will Baptists down the street better. We are kept by the power of God
through faith in Jesus Christ, but listen. The key here is we're
kept by the power of God. It's God who keeps us. I cannot
keep myself. I've lived long enough now, and
I've experienced enough now to know I can't keep myself. Lord,
you keep me. Lord, you keep them. You keep
the people here. Keep us believing. Keep us believing. Bring us in a way that keeps
us looking to you. Now, you know, I know I'd like
to have, and you, would like to have a comfortable life. And
we'd like to have things that go real well and just things
go real smooth. I'll tell you how things are
to go. Whatever keeps you looking to
Jesus Christ. And it'll be a little different
for each one of us. God may have to take something
from you that He doesn't have to take from me, but He may take
something else from me that He doesn't have to take from you.
And He has to put me through certain trials, and not put you
through, and put you through certain ones He doesn't need
to put me through. I tell you what, I like the fact that my
life is designed by God. I love the fact. I love the truth
that my life is designed, the path is designed by God Almighty. I like that. See that you refuse not Him,
that you do not turn away from Him. Some are turning away here
in Hebrews. And He's saying to them, don't
you refuse. If you turn back to those old
ways, if you go back to those old ceremonies, if you go back
to free willism, if you go back to that stuff, you're refusing
to hear Him when He speaks of grace and mercy. You're refusing
to hear Him. It's not just, I like this better
than that. It's the refusing to hear God.
It's the refusing to hear God. How do we refuse to hear Christ
when He speaks? Well, it's by not hearing Him. By paying no attention to Him.
By paying no attention to the message. Giving no attention
to it. Just letting it go as the old
saying is, through one ear and out the other. Here's another way we refuse
Christ when He speaks. Absence from public worship.
When we absence ourself from the worship service, and I know there's times that
come up that we can't help it. I know that. I understand that.
It's the life we live out here. But when we just start stayin'
home, just start stayin' home, it's refusing to hear Him who
speaks. Here's another way. Neglect of
Bible reading. Reading the Word of God. When
we neglect the Word of God. You know, I feel ashamed. But
I'm guilty of this. I mean, I'm guilty of what I'm
talking about. You know, there's times I stayed home when I should
have gone home. I just sat down and said, I just
don't feel like going. I'm too tired or too something. I just
didn't go. I know that. And I know there's
been times I got so caught up when I had the business that
I decided to get caught up in it, and I would neglect reading
the word of God. I know that. I know that. And I know that's how these things
can be done. I know it is. I ought to know, I mean, I have
believed the gospel now, heard and believed the gospel for 40
years. 40 years, now listen, 40 years. I ought to know this
book. from Genesis to Revelation, backward
and forward. I ought to know just each chapter
and each book. I ought to. I ought to. Here's another way. Refusing
to believe when you hear it. Refusing. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Put in a question mark
on God's word. And here's another way. And we
just looked at this in Matthew 11, hearing with indifference.
He said, we piped and you wouldn't dance. We played the funeral music and
you wouldn't mourn. Just absolute indifference. And here's another way, and this
one probably hits closer to home than any of it, is refusing honest
rebuke. Honest rebuke. When the gospel
hits us square between the eyes, when the word of God hits us
square between the eyes, the truth, and it's refusing to deal
with it. Refusing to deal with it. Hearing the gospel comes with
consequences. You know that? Every time you
and I hear it, every time I preach it. Every time, it comes with
consequences. For they escaped not who refused
him to speak on earth. Now, whether he's speaking of
God when he came down on Mount Sinai, or that was Christ speaking,
or they're speaking of Moses, whichever he said, he's saying
here, you refused him. It was the message they refused.
Remember they said to Moses, don't let God speak to us anymore. They said because they couldn't
endure, they could not do the things they heard. We never hear the gospel without consequences. Good or
bad. Without consequence. Because
His Word never returns to him, He said, void. It always accomplishes
the purpose wherein it was sent. When Israel of old refused to
hear the Lord speak, when they refused to keep the commandments, when they refused to hear Him,
they died in the wilderness. It says they could not enter
in because of unbelief. They didn't believe what they
heard. It wasn't mixed with faith. They were religious. They weren't
atheists running around out there in the wilderness. They were
religious. They believed there is one God. But they didn't know the only
God there is. They didn't know, even though
they claimed to be His. Even though they claimed to know
Him. They died in the wilderness because
they refused to hear His Word when He spoke. Much more shall
not we escape if we turn away from Him that speaks from heaven.
See, there were a group here in Hebrews, I'm sure there was
a group of them, several of them, that were ready to turn back. Turn back. And he said, now listen.
You better listen to the Lord as He speaks in the gospel to
you. You better listen. Our Lord came down from heaven
and spoke the truth. He said, as I hear, I speak,
and to refuse to hear Him is certain death. That's what He
says. It's certain death. Certain death. And if they died
for refusing to hear the Lord speak, then, How much more punishment
shall they be worthy of who refuse Him now? Who came into this world
and spoke to us in person. God came into this world in the
flesh, spoke to us in person, and has gone back to heaven and
He's still speaking to us. He's still speaking. Our Lord says this in Mark 4.24. And He said unto them, take heed
what you hear. With what measure you meet it,
it shall be measured to you. And unto you that hear shall
not be given, but take heed how you hear. Because however you meet it,
whatever measure you give to it, it'll be measured back to
you. He says here in Hebrews 12, 26,
"...whose voice then shook the earth." Oh, what power there
is in the Word of God. When God spoke. You know in creation,
back in Genesis, when God spoke, things happened. Creation happened. On Mount Sinai,
when God spoke, it says, shook the earth, whose voice
then shook the earth. That mountain quaked from the
voice of thunder and the voice of words. That mountain just
quaked. And they feared. Moses said he
feared. He feared. But now he has promised,
saying, yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also
heaven. Now this is in reference first
to the coming of Christ, whose birth, whose life and death and
resurrection shook the earth. It shook things up. It shook
religion up, shook those Pharisees up. And what he's making reference
to here, I think is in Haggai chapter two, verse six and seven.
Let me read this to you. For thus saith the Lord of hosts,
yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens
and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake
all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I
will fill this house, this house, he's not talking about the temple,
he's talking about the church, with glory, saith the Lord of
hosts. When our Lord came, into this world, he shook everything
up. He made a man. Look how many
of those children were killed because of him at two years of
age. All of that was shaken up. It
was removed. He did it in order to remove
it. Listen, verse 27, this word yet once more signifies the removing
of those things that are shaken as of things that are made. The
Jewish state as it was for years and years and years, thousands
of years, the ceremonies, the sacrifices, the priesthood, all
of it was shaken up, all of it was removed. That's why He said
He removed it all. All of them. You know why? Because
it could be. Anything that could be shaken,
anything that could be removed, He says it's removed. Or it's
going to be removed. That those things which cannot
be shaken may remain. Which is His kingdom, which is
His priesthood, they can't be removed. He's a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's what it says. His priesthood
can't be removed. The Aaronic priesthood was removed
because it could be. All that we have in Christ, now
listen, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption
cannot be removed. It can't be removed. He's telling them and telling
us that old covenant is removed and everything that had anything
to do with it is removed. But the things that cannot be
removed are the things we have in Jesus Christ. He can't be
removed. All that we have in Him can't
be removed. That's good news. All blessings, faith, Let me
tell you something, Job said, when he has tried me, I will
come forth as gold. If you're tried and you leave,
you never had faith. What you had was false faith,
a false profession, and God removed it. He made it evident. He made it evident it wasn't
real. Faith cannot be removed. True
repentance cannot be removed. Our adoption cannot be removed.
The new birth cannot be removed. And that new covenant of grace,
as before the world was, made between the Father and the Son,
and us and the Son, cannot be removed. The old covenant was
removed. The old covenant of works at Mount Sinai is gone.
It's gone. But this covenant of grace, It
cannot be shaken. It cannot be shaken. And all
that you and I have in Christ can't be shaken. It can't be. It can't be removed. Wherefore, verse 28, we receive
in a kingdom which cannot be moved. It doesn't just say removed,
it can't be moved. It's solid. It's on a solid rock.
the Lord Jesus Christ. It cannot be moved. And that
being so, this ought to give us great courage and great comfort. And he says here, that being
so, let us have grace whereby we may serve God. God's to be
served. How's He to be served? First
of all, it takes grace. Apart from grace, you and I would
never know God. We wouldn't know Him. Apart from
grace, we wouldn't want anything to do with Him anyway. Apart
from grace. Whereby we may serve God acceptably. Acceptably. How do we serve God
acceptably? We serve God in Jesus Christ,
we serve God in the Gospel, and we serve God by faith. That's
how we serve God acceptably. And then here's another way we
do it, with reverence and godly fear. This service starts with grace,
and then reverence and godly fear follow it. Do you stand in awe of God?
Do you really? Do I really? Do you really stand
in complete awe of the very being of God? who He is. And godly fear, that's a fear
that's born of God. It's of the work of God. It's
godly fear. It's not ungodly, it's godly.
Godly fear. And don't forget this. For our God is a consuming fire. Does that sound like the preaching
that goes on today? It has God like an old grandpa
wanting the grandkids to come over today. Just let them come
over and stay all day. Today's preaching has God so
weak that I don't know why they even call Him God. It's unbelievable that they would
call such a person God. But God is a consuming fire. God is to be feared, listen,
for who He is. Who He is. God is still the same
as ever. In Christ, in Jesus Christ, we
find God who is gracious, God who is merciful, God who is love,
God who is a savior of sinners, outside of Christ. If you leave
Christ, that's why He's telling these Hebrews, if you leave Him
and you go back to that old Jewish economy, the old sacrifices,
the temple, the priesthood, I'm telling you, here's what you're
going to meet. You're going to meet God who is a consuming fire. That's the one you're going to
meet. It says in Psalm 89-7, God is
greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. He's to be had in reverence of
fear, godly fear. And to be had in reverence of
all of them that are about him. Holy respect. A holy awe. Outside of Jesus Christ, I'm
telling you, God is a consuming fire. Now closing, what he's telling
us here is when the gospel is preached, Jesus Christ is speaking
from heaven. The message is from above. The message is from God. God
has sent us the message. And He's speaking to us through
His Son. And when that happens, when that
happens, give great attention to what you heard. Give great
attention to it. Let's not let it just slip away.
And I know because of the sin in us and our weakness in this
flesh that it's so easy to let things just slip away. But try and pray that the Lord
would enable you to meditate and think upon these things,
to give some thought to them. Give attention to the gospel.
Believe it. Believe it every time you hear it. Believe it.
Listen. Believe it all over again. Believe the gospel every time
you hear it. Just believe it all over again. And He tells us here that all
that can be removed will be. Only that which cannot be moved
or removed will remain. and that is Jesus Christ. And
although we have in Christ, that cannot be removed. That can't
be shaken or taken away. And our God is gracious. Our
God is merciful. Our God is love. He delights
to show mercy, but never forget, never forget, God also is still
a consuming Fire. A consuming. We're not talking about a little
match here. We're not talking about just
a little campfire going here. No, he says a fire that consumes. Absolutely burns up. The message is this. When the
Gospel is preached, give serious attention to it. And don't you
refuse Him when He speaks. Believe Him. Look to Him. Call on Him. Seek
Him. Seek to know Him more. I think one of the worst things
for a pastor is to see somebody leave. That's been around a while
and it just leaves. It happens. It happens. When the Gospels preach, believe
it. Believe it.