We're in the book of Hebrews
today, if you want to turn to chapter 12. We are nearing the
end of this book and I will be sad to finish it. The book of Hebrews is is really
unique in one way. It's a letter, an epistle written,
I believe, by the Apostle Paul, though some people don't think
so. I think it was written by the
Apostle Paul to the Jews who were believing Jews in the land
of Judea. Paul himself was a Jew, a Hebrews. a Hebrew, a physical descendant
from Abraham, but only those who believe Christ are the true
children of Abraham. And so when the apostle was writing
to the Hebrews, he is giving them something that is unique
in the New Testament, the unfolding of the shadows of the law in
the fulfillment of the Lord Jesus Christ. His work, His person,
His relations to His people, His offices, all of the accomplished,
it's the most glorious book, I would say, it's hard to say,
isn't it? One of the most glorious books
of all of scripture. And in so many ways, it's so
condensed, it's very compact. And one of the things to be sure
we get from the book of Hebrews is that it is about the Lord
Jesus Christ. His superiority to everything
that came before. Now the Hebrews, the Jews, those
believing Christ in that nation, they were in a church or churches
that were mixed with those who were also Jews but not believing. And so the book was written to
warn them, and there's many warnings in this book, not to depart from
Christ. throughout the book of Hebrews,
and I would like to just go one chapter at a time, and I'm not
going to take time to do that and give you a summary of it,
but if you just begin at the beginning of the very beginning
of Hebrews, you'll notice how in the very beginning, God is
setting in comparison and in contrast two things. He says,
God, so it's the same God, we're talking about God, God who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to the fathers
by the prophets." So it's the same God speaking to the same
people, your fathers, your ancestors, the prophets. This God who spoke
to them at different times and in different ways has in these
last days spoken to us. The same God who spoke then has
now spoken. Then He spoke by the prophets,
now He speaks by His Son. And that really sets in motion
the whole comparison and contrast in the book of Hebrews. It's
the same God has the same message to the same people And yet, that
message given them then was just a shadow, just a foretaste of
all that would follow. Then they were given the law.
Now they're given the fulfillment of the law. Then they had but
shadows. Now they have the substance,
the reality. Then they only heard about God
from Moses. Now they hear about him in and
by his son. And so all of Hebrews is about
that comparison and that contrast. The comparison really almost
ends there. It's the same God, has one message,
but that message came in two different ways, the Old Covenant
and now the New Covenant. And that new covenant, that New
Testament, is the everlasting covenant, whereas the old was
just temporary. The old was earthly. The old
had to do with physical things. The old had a priesthood of sinful
men. The old had a people that were
physical descendants. But the new has everything that's
heavenly and spiritual, has to do with Christ and a spiritual
people, a spiritual place of worship in the heart. by the
Spirit of God Himself concerning a work accomplished by our Savior. So this is just a brief outline
of what the book of Hebrews is about. And contained in here,
there's many warnings. It begins in chapter 2, not to
let these things slip. You've heard these things, don't
let them slip. So great a salvation, don't neglect it. Don't be like
those Israelites in chapter 3 who proved themselves to be apostate,
who fell away because of unbelief and died in the wilderness. Don't
be like them. You need to continue on looking
to Christ to enter into that eternal rest, that rest of His
finished work in our salvation. He's our High Priest. Now we
are to go into the very throne room of God and receive the grace
from Him at His throne, from His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior. He's our High Priest. He's the
one who did all that Old Testament priesthood only typified. And
He actually put away our sins. He actually made us holy. He
actually perfected us forever. And all this is built up in the
first 10 chapters. And then in chapter 11, And not
just there, but especially in chapter 11, he sets forth before
them all the fathers. He mentioned them in chapter
1. So you'll see how in the very beginning there's this mention
of the fathers, and then in chapter 11 he brings them back in, doesn't
he? He begins with faith. We've been
talking about the work of Christ. We've been talking about the
Son of God. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done. but by His mercy that God has
saved us in the person of His Son in our nature as our High
Priest and as our King. And so in chapter 11 he sets
forth faith because faith gives God all the glory. Faith finds
its all in Christ and faith ascribing all credit to Christ our Savior
looks to Him only. And so he brings out all of those
Old Testament prophets. He begins with Abel. He goes
on to Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob
and Joseph and Moses and just continues on through Rahab the
harlot. and Jephthah, and Gideon, and
Barak, and Samson, and David, and Samuel, and all the prophets,
and women who received their dead raised to life again, and
others who were tortured, not accepting deliverance. All these
live by faith in Christ. And so they're set forth, not
only is the Old Testament unfolded, but all the Old Testament fathers
and saints who look to Christ are set forth to the Hebrews.
Such an overwhelming, persuasive argument from all of scripture
that Christ is all, Christ is all. Never lose the sight of
the point of this book. It's about Him, it's about Him.
and his finished work. And so in chapter 12, we're getting
now the climax of this whole development, this whole unveiling
of Old Testament scripture. For thousands of years, God had
kept it cloaked. And now, after the resurrection
of his son and the ascension and exaltation of his son on
heaven's throne as man and God, the son of man, the son of God
on the throne of heaven, ordering all things, given all things
according to the everlasting covenant and will of God because
of what he did. And on behalf of his people,
now he sets him forth to us. The Lord Jesus Christ exalted
and is bringing this whole thing to a climax in chapter 12. And
he talks to us as the children of God, the sons of God. And
the whole book has been really a correction, an exhortation
and a correction, an encouragement, yes, appointing us to Christ,
yes, but also a discipline from the hand of our Heavenly Father
to show us in disciplining us, He's bringing us to Christ. That's
the effect of God's chastisement in the life of his people, is
to afflict their conscience by the word of God and in the gospel
to direct them to Christ. And so it is in our life. God
uses the gospel, he attends it in his providence by these different
things in our life, and all of them are meant to bring us to
our knees in weakness and utter need and dependence upon Christ,
and then to see that in Christ we've been given all things.
and we can come to his throne. It's a throne of grace, a throne
where his blood was sprinkled. God accepted him with him, his
people also, and given them all things in Christ. That's what
chapter 12 is getting into here. And so when he gets to verse
14, he says, follow peace with all men and holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord. Chapter 12, verse 14. And so
he is gathering together this full argument of the book and
bringing it to a climax here. And I want you to see how this
verse ties in with what follows. Notice verse 18. Chapter 12,
verse 18 here. We can tie these together. He's
going to set the two, two things what? The Old Covenant and the
New, in contrast. He's going to set forth the Old
Covenant congregation, the Old Covenant worship, the Old Covenant
tabernacle, and the Old Covenant city, Jerusalem. All these things
are going to be set in contrast to the New Covenant. And the
verse that we just read here in verse 14 is gonna be tied
into that because this is what it's about. He says, you are
not come unto the mount that might be touched. It was a physical
mountain, you could touch it. Nor are you come unto the mount
that burned with fire, Sinai burned with fire, nor unto blackness
and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the
voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated that the
word should not be spoken to them anymore. Don't say it. I
don't want to hear the voice of God anymore. It's too loud.
It's too fearful. And they drew back. If they touched
the mount, even if a beast touched the mount, it was to be stoned
or thrust through with a dart. And they weren't to look. Don't
look. Don't come near. Don't touch. That was the message.
But 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. Oh, this is a
fearsome thing, isn't it? It was awesome, but awesomely
fearsome. It was a fearful thing. They
couldn't come near. They weren't allowed to touch.
They weren't even allowed to look to see who was speaking. And they were terrified. Moses
himself said, I exceedingly fear and quake. Amazing, isn't that? How can we come where Moses couldn't
come? Well, he was just a sinful man.
But we're much more sinful than he was, huh? But notice verse
22, see the contrast. But you are coming to Mount Zion,
and 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, 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 speaks better things than that of Abel.
Now, you can see here, The contrast. What is the focus here? It's
what we've come to. You are not the people who come
to Sinai. You haven't come there. You are
the people who have come to Christ. You've come to the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to Mount Zion on which that city
is built. and you've come to God the judge
of all, and all these things he's listed here, the general
assembly, innumerable company of angels, and so on, especially
to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than the blood
of Abel. So you can see now in this contrast,
if we back up to verse 14, how he's building up to the total
conclusion and climax of the book, isn't it? It's about Christ. It's about his blood shed to
make the everlasting covenant, to put it into force and bring
the blessings of it to all of his people. And so he says here,
verse 14, follow peace with all men and holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. So the exhortation here is very
strong. The word pursue means to eagerly
pursue, to earnestly pursue. And so it's a great emphasis.
It's not a subtle introduction of a new topic. That's what I
want you to get here. It's not introducing something
in afterthought. This is consistent with everything
that came before. This is actually part of that
building up and that climax of all that came before. It's coming
as a conclusion after the unfolding of the mysteries of the Old Testament
concerning Christ and all the exhortations joined to those
and the warnings not to depart from Christ. Don't go back to
that old covenant. It's all about that. And also
there's a warning here. If we fail to do this, what do
we lose? We'll never see God. You see,
it says, follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.
Peace and holiness. And if we don't pursue these
things, we lose grace. We lose glory. So it's not merely
peace between people, and it's not merely our personal godliness
in this life. It's much higher than that. It's
everything God has been revealing in the book of Hebrews. Remember
the thief on the cross? He had no time to get down on
the cross and go pursue peace with people. Nor did he have
time to get down from the cross and go on to pursue and mature
in his life in his own personal godliness. And yet he saw the
Lord. So you see, it's not practical
godliness here that is in view. Even though practical godliness
is part of the life of a believer, that's not what is in view here.
It's that substantial peace with God. It's that true holiness
and blamelessness before God that is only, both of those are
only ours because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he says, with all, do this with all, earnestly pursue and endeavor,
eagerly pursue this with all, not just individuals, but the
whole body of Christ together. He's speaking to Jews who believe.
All of you Jews together. as a congregation, and not just
Jews, but all of the believers, those who were maybe Jews by
nature, specifically, but including Gentiles. Here's the revelation
that was hid as a mystery from the foundation of the world given
to Paul to reveal concerning God's purpose through Jesus Christ
that the Gentiles would also be fellow heirs with the Jews. And so he's saying this, with
all men pursue this peace eagerly. And he's talking about here to
strive together that they might all together as a body, all of
God's people, grasp securely and firmly lay hold upon the
peace that Christ established and the holiness which he made
us before God by His shed blood. See, this is the subject of Hebrews,
isn't it? It's the blood of Christ offered,
accepted, by which we are sanctified and made holy. Sanctified means
made holy, but not only sanctified, but perfected. One offering completely
made all of God's people holy and perfected them forever. That's
an offering, isn't it? That's a high priest. When we
think about gradually getting better and better, the Lord Jesus
Christ, by one offering, perfected forever them that are sanctified. And we need to firmly grasp that. We need to securely lay hold
upon that. Because it's only in so doing
that we can actually know God, worship God, praise God, thank
God. and have any hope that God, by
His Spirit, would conform us to the image of Christ. Because
that's the life of faith. It's seeing Christ and what He
has done as our High Priest and as our King. So this is the part
I wanted to point out here as sort of a summary of what we
touched on the last time. Let me read this to you from
the book of Colossians. He says in Colossians 1, verse
16, by him, by Christ, were all things created that are in heaven
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created
by him and for him. Now, this is the Son of God,
isn't it? And he is before all things because
that's the Son of God. He created all things by himself
and for himself. And it says, And he is, notice,
the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he, Christ, might have the preeminence. Verse 19, Colossians 119, listen. For it pleased the Father that
in him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, should all fullness dwell, and
having made peace through the blood of his cross." We didn't
make peace with God. Christ made it for us. How? By the blood of his cross. How
did the blood of his cross make that peace? He took our sins. lifted them from off us, bore
them as his own, and then sacrificed himself as an offering to God,
giving himself in total for a sinful people to take their sins away
from them and to purify them and bring them to God by the
eternal will of God, that everlasting covenant, an act of pure grace
on God's part. Now, that's what he did by the
blood of his cross. How do we enter into that? looking
to Jesus. We simply look to Christ. But
he goes on in Colossians 119, having made peace through the
blood of his cross by him, by Christ, to reconcile all things
to himself. By him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled. Notice, how did he reconcile
us? How did he remove our offenses? that offended God in justice. He says this, through the body
of his flesh, through death, in his own body, through his
own death, he made peace. He brought us to God. The just
one died for the unjust ones to bring us to God, 1 Peter 3,
18. Now he says, in the body of his flesh through death, notice,
to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. In the sight of God, Christ offered
Himself and by that offering He made our peace with God and
made us holy before God. Praise God. if you continue in
the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel." Where is this declared to us? In the gospel.
It's what we hope, we expect, we anticipate, we're looking
forward because God has laid it all on Christ. If it was somehow
part on us and part on Him, we wouldn't have any sound basis
of hope, would we? we would be of all men most miserable,
because we know something about our sinfulness and our weakness. And so, this is all what has
happened. And this is spoken of, this peace
and this holiness is spoken of throughout scripture, that Christ
did this by himself for his people. And that's what Hebrews is talking
about here in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14. Now, back to Hebrews
12 and verse 15. Looking diligently, That goes
along with following peace, doesn't it? Looking diligently lest any
man fail at the grace of God. If you're drawn away because
you cannot accept the fact that you are a sinner and Christ is
the only Savior, if you're drawn away to trust some other gospel,
then you fail the grace of God. Because the grace of God is pure
grace. If it be of grace, then it is
all of grace, or it is not of grace at all. Romans 11, 6. So
he says here, looking diligently, lest any man, not just the congregation,
but every individual in the congregation, lest any man fail of the grace
of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and
thereby many be defiled. When we begin to go back to the
false religion of man's work in salvation, the result of that
will be envy, strife, bitterness, wrath, Lust, pride, all these
things come out of that. But with our eyes on Christ,
what happens? We know we have received mercy.
We continue to look to Him from whom we have received mercy and
grace and salvation and righteousness. Do we look upon our brethren
with envy and anger and wrath? No, we look upon them with mercy
and patience and forgiveness. We hold up one another knowing
we ourselves are subject to falling just like they are. We have no
cause for boasting. We have no confidence in our
flesh. We trust in Christ alone. And together, by God's grace,
we've joined together under Christ our Savior with this gospel and
we have a common communion in the blood of Christ. It's all,
He's everything to us. And so he says, if you don't
look diligently to the grace of God in Christ, you'll fail,
and then in that congregation, a root of bitterness will spring
up and trouble a whole group. He says, verse 16, lest there
be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel
of meat sold his birthright. You know the story. He comes
in from the field, Esau's hungry. He cannot wait till the next
meal. He sells his birthright to Jacob for just a morsel. I'll give away eternal life and
eternal glory for what I want now. He could be bought. Esau could be bought. He was
willing to give salvation and life in Christ and eternal glory
up. for a morsel of meat. Now, God
calls that fornication. You know what fornication is
in a physical sense. It's any sexual impurity. Adultery
is being unfaithful in marriage. But spiritual fornication, that
is departing from Christ. That is leaving the living God,
as he says in chapter 11, verse 11 and 12. Those people in the
wilderness, they departed from the living God. They fell in
the wilderness because of their unbelief. He says, take heed,
brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
in departing from the living God. That's what Esau was, a
spiritual fornicator. By his birth, he was the firstborn.
He had the privileges of the firstborn. Abraham had been given
promises. Isaac had been given promises.
His father, Isaac. He was in line to receive those
same promises, at least physically, he didn't care for them. Salvation
was of no more value to him. It was of less value to him than
a morsel of meat. That's what he's saying here.
And that's what happens when we leave Christ for some other
means of salvation. We need to firmly lay hold on
salvation by grace alone. It's a daily thing, isn't it?
We find ourselves to be sinful, we find our sinful nature to
be strong, and we find ourselves to be utterly weak. And what
do we do? Are we going to go back to self-help
religion? Are we going to trust something
like every religion of the world does? You do these things and
you'll be better and accepted with God? No way. We've proven. that God's law is effective.
It shuts our mouth. It brings us guilty before God,
and it shows us our helplessness. We cannot be justified before
God. We cannot sanctify ourselves.
We can't do anything. We need a Savior. That's what
Savior means, someone who saves. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
is our only Savior. We don't have two. We don't help
him. We're dead in sins. We're without life, we cannot
hear, we can't see, we can't walk. The Lord Jesus Christ has
to open our ears and eyes, give us feet to walk, hands to lay
hold. Basically, he's saying he has
to give us faith. He has to birth us and create
us in Christ Jesus and give us this regenerating work of God
in our souls so that we might trust Christ only in all of our
salvation. If you trust in something about
yourself, you can't be trusting Christ. And this is the struggle
of our life. This is the old nature against
the new nature, isn't it? We want to fully trust Christ,
and we find this mixture in ourselves, this unbelief, and it's that
sin that so easily besets us, and we're constantly afflicted
by it. And we would like to throw it
out, but we can't get rid of it. We're constantly at war here.
But by God's grace, by Jesus Christ, we do overcome. We overcome
by the blood of the lamb looking to him only. Now going on, he
goes here in verse 18, Hebrews 12, verse 18. Oh, let me deal
with verse 17. He says, for you know how that
afterward, speaking of Esau, when he would have inherited
the blessing, he wanted it now, but he didn't want the spiritual
one. When Jacob came in secretly, or sneaky, to Isaac's tent to
receive the blessing, and he pretended to be Esau, coming
in Esau's clothes, the clothes of the firstborn, by the way.
And Isaac smelled him and touched him, felt him. Is this my very
son Esau? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm him.
So then Isaac gives Jacob all the blessings. Everything was
given to Jacob. And then Esau comes in afterward
and Isaac is like, what? Who are you? I'm Esau. Who? Oh, and then he realized
what he had done. And he saw, oh, my father, bless
me. Even me, father, isn't there
just one blessing for me? And Isaac said, I've given everything
to your brother. And Esau wept bitterly, it says,
with tears. And you know what Isaac did?
He did not repent. Isaac did not give him the blessing. He gave it to Jacob and he left
it with Jacob because God will not change his mind. There's
no repentance. Once he gives his people his
gift of saving grace in Christ from all eternity, he's not going
to go back. He's going to fulfill it to the
end. They will be saved to the uttermost. And so Esau found
no place of repentance. His father wouldn't change his
mind and Esau couldn't do anything to get him to change his mind
because you know why? He had no interest in Christ. He came for a physical blessing,
he went away empty. And so he left, he fulfilled
the word that God spoke from eternity, Jacob have I loved.
Esau, have I hated? And aren't you glad that God
loved Jacob? Aren't you glad that salvation is by sovereign
mercy and grace? Because if it wasn't, where would
we be? We are Esau. We are the slimy
scoundrel that Jacob was in his heart, and unless God saved us,
We would be left to ourselves, wouldn't we? We weren't the first
born, we were nothing. God set his eternal love on us
for his purpose, because of things found in himself, his goodness.
So verse 18, Hebrews 12, 18. For you are not come unto, so
here's a contrast now. You are not come unto the mount
that might be touched, that burned with fire, nor into blackness
and darkness and tempest. So, what was this mount? It was
Mount Sinai. You, who believe Christ, you
are not come to Sinai. You're not come to God in the
Old Covenant. That mountain could be touched,
but if you touched it, you died. That mountain could be seen,
but you weren't supposed to look. The mountain burned with fire. You could see that God was an
all-consuming fire. But what good did that do? That
didn't save anyone. You see, they received the law
from God on Mount Sinai, but that law didn't have any, it
didn't, they couldn't know God through the law. All they could
see was God's justice. He couldn't tolerate sin. His
own nature refused sinners to abide in his presence, an all-consuming
fire. Can you know God that way? If
you know Him in His justice alone, in His holiness, in His justice
alone, do you know God? No. Because you can only know
God in Jesus Christ, where God's truth and grace are seen. Truth
and grace came by Jesus Christ. The law was given by Moses. So
we can only know God if we know him in his saving mercy and grace. The Pharisees didn't know God.
They trusted in themselves that they were righteous. The Israelites
who saw God in the mountain, what was the result of that?
Well, they were afraid. They were terrified. Moses exceedingly
feared and quaked. So they drew back. And as sinners,
when we draw back, we hide. And when we hide, we don't know
ourselves anymore. Our conscience becomes seared.
And we look at others and we say one of two things. We become
hopeless because we think it's all got to be done by us. Or
we become proud because we're so self-deceived. that we look
at others and we say, well, I'm better than them, so God's going
to judge me on a sliding scale. Both are completely wrong. The
law has this purpose to show us our guilt. Isn't that incredible
that God throughout thousands of years of history, the nation
of Israel was under the law to prove their guilt? that they could not justify themselves
before God. By the deeds of the law, there
shall no flesh be justified, for by the law is the knowledge
of sin. All the law does is show you
your sin. Can you see that? Scripture itself,
what does it show us until we see Christ? Our sin. And every
time we read it, even knowing Christ, what does it do? In ourselves,
we're sinners, sinners, guilty, and helpless, and hopeless. But
that's why we're not come to that. We're not left there at
the law. The law was our tutor, a schoolmaster,
one who would come behind and strike us with that rod. What
are you doing? And so that's what the law does.
And it leaves us in bondage. It leaves us in fear and hiding.
It causes us to be proud. We don't believe God. We think
somehow we're going to have to make up the gap. And we have
no imagination that there's any other way to come to God because
we don't know God. The law leaves us ignorant of
God. Only, all we see is His justice and terror in our own
sin, and we can't face that. We hate a God like that. We hate
God. And that's just the way we are
by nature. And because we hate God, we hate others. We hate
ourselves. We deceive others, we deceive
ourselves. The law leaves us in the dark, doesn't it? So he
says here, you're not come to the mouth that might be touched.
If you touched it, you'd die. Nor to the mouth that burned
with fire. God is a consuming fire. If we
see him in his holiness, he will consume us. And we can't know
him that way because it's just blackness and darkness and tempest,
his judgment constantly before us. He says in verse 19, and
the sound of a trumpet. Not only did they hear the words
of the law that pronounced their guilt, but they heard the sound
of the trumpet that told about their coming condemnation and
judgment. And it was loud, exceeding loud. Their condemnation was coming.
And the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated,
they begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.
They could not endure that which was commanded. They couldn't
do it. And they couldn't endure the pain and suffering that would
come for failing to do it. And if so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through the dark. You're
not come there. If you trust your works at all,
you're going there. And so this is a mountain. There's another mountain. And
he's contrasting these two mountains. He goes on, verse 22, but you
are come to Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. And we won't
go further than that today, but let's consider these things.
We see something about the law. We know something about the law
by nature, don't we? We are born under the law. Until
Christ saves us, until we hear the gospel, we are under the
law. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law being made a curse for us, but we didn't know that
until God preached the gospel to us and by His Spirit made
it our hope, made Christ our all. We were under bondage, such
bondage that it could be felt Like the darkness in Egypt, we
felt it, didn't we? We were afraid that we were going
to be the object of God's wrath and spend eternity in hell. And what did we do? We did everything
to get ourselves out of that with no help. Our conscience
continued to afflict us. We'd go to church week after
week or whatever it was we did in religion. Men say, do this,
and we tried to do it, and it didn't help. Thank God it didn't
help, because that's the result of a schoolmaster continually
striking us and holding us under these rules that constantly left
us terrified and under bondage, a heavy load, and we didn't know
the load was on us because we didn't know anything else. We
grew up under this. And then one day, by God's grace,
what did we hear? Jesus paid it all, all to him
I owe. Sin left a crimson stain, but
he washed it white as snow. And we saw it didn't depend on
me at all. In fact, in spite of my sin,
God saved me for Christ's sake. He provided his son. He looked
upon his son. He received his son and received
me for his sake. And that's it. It didn't depend
on me. I don't raise my hand. I don't
make a decision. I don't go to some priest. I don't do any of those things
because all of them are damning. There's only one thing that saves,
what God thinks of His Son crucified for sinners, and that He received
and raised from the dead and justified His people with Him
when He raised Him from the dead. That's it. And faith, God-given
faith, sees Christ that way. We say, oh my, I'd never heard
it before. I never knew God in mercy. I
never knew the grace of God. I thought that every time I sinned,
I was digging my grave deeper, and I didn't have any hope because
I couldn't stop sinning. Such a foul and wretched man.
Who could ever save such one as me? God did. For men, this
is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. And they're only possible in
His Son. So there's two mountains. These
two mountains are held in contrast. The one has a people associated
with it, and they have a doctrine, they have a law associated with
them, and they worship God in a certain way. How did God give
the law, remember? He gave it, it says, through
the administration or the disposition of angels. The angels were involved
in giving that law. That's why the book of Hebrews
talks about angels, because the Hebrews were in this mindset
of worshipping angels. No, you're not supposed to worship
angels. Angels are commanded to worship
Christ, and they're his servants for the heirs of salvation. Don't
you be worshipping angels. In fact, that's what happened
in the garden. That's what the devil tried to
do in the wilderness with Jesus. He said, if you just fall down
and worship me, I'll give you everything. He was a fallen angel
and many of those angels followed him. And so the world is worshiping
Satan and his angels. We don't worship angels. To worship
angels, to try to keep the law and to come to God by the law
is essentially the worship of angels. We don't worship angels. No, that's the way we used to
think about things. Now, how do we come? What is the mountain we've come
to? Well, he says we've come to Mount Zion, to the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels. So, here are these three things. Zion, the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem. What are these things? Well,
remember Jerusalem was up on a hill and originally the people
called the Jebusites were in that land and David finally overtook
the Jebusites. The Joab, his captain, came in
and they overcame them and that's where David established his throne
was in Jerusalem. They built a city on Mount Zion. Well, of course, that pictured
the true mountain city of the true King, the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the mountain? It's the
kingdom of Christ. What is the kingdom of Christ?
What is that city on the hill? What is the heavenly Jerusalem?
It's the people, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, those
saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's not a physical city or
a physical mountain. It's not a geographical place.
It's people made holy. They themselves are the building
blocks in the city of God. And the walls of the city are
salvation. Isaiah 26, one and two, it says
that God is, let me read that to you so I don't get it wrong.
He says in Isaiah 26, he says, in that day shall this song be
sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and bulwarks. God doesn't create walls for
our salvation. He created salvation for our
walls. You see, we trust in walls and
other things, but God says Christ is our savior. He is our salvation. He's your wall. And not only
that, but we are stones built on top of the foundation, which
is Christ. He's the precious cornerstone,
and we're living stones in that temple. This city, God dwells
in this city, the city of the living God. And this city is
the temple of Christ. This is the city where God makes
himself known to his people. The light of this city is the
Lamb. This is the city that's called
the Bride of Christ. Let me show you a couple of scriptures
about this. In Psalm chapter 48, Notice how the terms correspond
here in Psalm 48, read this to you. He says, great is the Lord
and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain
of his holiness. Now that corresponds to what
we just read in Hebrews 12. The city is the heavenly Jerusalem,
it's the city of the living God, and it's the mountain of His
holiness. It's where God dwells. He says,
beautiful for situation. Situation, you know, have you
ever seen a house plan, and they always draw the front of the
house, that's called the elevation? The view that you see when you
look at the front, the most attractive view of the house, that's what
he's talking about here. The city of the living God is
breathtakingly beautiful to look upon. How can that be? We're sinners. Well because our
beauty is the beauty of our Savior, the beauty of our husband, we're
dressed in the same robes of our husband, our heavenly husband. He has clothed us, in Psalm 45,
in the gold of Ophir. The needlework, the garments
of the bride are provided by the groom, the husband, and they're
his own work. In other words, his own obedience,
his submission to God in obedience that caused him to give his life
for those who were enemies of God by nature and sinful, and
he redeemed them out of their sins and purified them and made
them holy in his own righteousness, that righteousness of his obedience
in his death when he offered himself for sinners to God in
sacrifice. He gave himself in total. That
was love that fulfilled not only the everlasting covenant, but
the law of God. And that beauty is put on us
because that's the beauty in which Christ himself is dressed.
And so he says, it's beautiful for situation. Christ himself
in Song of Solomon 470 says, oh, my beloved, thou art all
fair, I see no spot in thee. And so, beautiful, the city is
beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth. Sinai
was a terror. Zion, the church of God, is a
joy because that's the place of salvation. We're saved in
the Lord. The joy of the whole earth, Mount
Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great king. Christ
is the great king. You see how these things correspond?
Notice he says, God is known in her palaces for
a refuge. Now the law was a terror. The
last place you wanted to go was to Sinai because it was destruction. But notice going to Christ is
safety, it's refuge, it's a fortress, a high tower, a rock of salvation. And God is known in her palaces. Each believer in the city of
God is a palace. Jesus told his disciples, I go
to prepare a place for you. In my father's house are many
mansions. That's where I'm going, to prepare
a place for you. He's creating this city, the church of the
living God. He died to purchase and purify
her to himself in love And that's what he did. He rose, ascended
to heaven, sits on heaven's throne, sends his gospel with his spirit
into the world to call his people, to bring them to himself, to
put them in this temple, and then dwell in them individually
and together as a congregation. Even while we're gathered here
in this very place right now, Christ is with us by His Spirit.
He said, where two or three are gathered, I will be there in
the midst of you. So this city is beautiful to
God because it has the beauty of Christ. Every member in this
city is clothed in Christ's own beauty, His righteousness. What
is more beautiful to God than Christ giving His life for His
people? Nothing excels that. The Lamb
is all the glory in heaven. For all eternity we will surround
the throne and we will give honor to the Lamb. as one having been
freshly, his blood freshly there before God and before his people,
freshly slaughtered, freshly slain, his blood ever efficacious,
ever glorious to us, because his blood is himself given in
total to save us from our sins and bring us to God and to present
us in the very presence of God in all of his glory without blame,
holy as the sons of God, the heirs of God, the dwelling place
of God. This is the city we're come to.
Can you see the huge contrast here? 2 Corinthians 3 talks about
the law as a ministration of condemnation and death. But it was glorious in the awe
that it struck in the minds and the hearts of those Israelites
then. But it was not glorious in the fact that it only kills.
But the gospel comes and tells us of Christ and what He did,
and the gospel is life to us. The law was written on tables
of stone, the gospel is written on our hearts by the Spirit of
God, as according to the New Covenant. I will put my laws
into their hearts and in their minds will I write them. That's
the gospel of Christ crucified, written on our hearts so that
we believe Him. This is what we're come to. And what is attending
this? An innumerable company of angels. Why are these angels here? Well,
they're the ministers. They're the servants to Christ.
They serve the heirs of salvation. We don't worship angels in the
New Covenant. We shouldn't have worshiped them
in the old, but men are tend, you know, the devil, it says
in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, he makes himself to be an angel
of life. He's not. But that makes him
the awe of sinful men who trust in their own works. There's only
one glorious to us, is Christ. And let me read this in Colossians. Colossians chapter two, let no
man beguile you, of your reward in voluntary humility and worshipping
of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen,
vainly puffed up by his own fleshly mind, not holding the head, which
is Christ." Okay? So that's the result of false
religion. We worship these things that
are not supposed to be worshipped. Angels, for example. The Catholic
religion worships angels. They worship dead saints. That's
idolatry. There's only one God we are to
worship and we can only worship him in Jesus Christ. We can't
know God and we can't worship God except in his son. And so
we worship, we've come to him. And yet there's an innumerable
company of angels. When we come to Christ, when
we're built into that body of Christ, when we're part of that
temple, that city, that mountain, the kingdom of God, which is
Christ, and given to us, remember, the meek shall inherit the earth,
the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When we
come there, guess what? The angels desire to look into
these things. And as we're gathered here together,
even though our numbers may be small, like when Elisha and his
servant were in that place where the armies of the Syrians were
around, he said, Lord, open the eyes of my servant so he could
see. And he looked, and the whole place was surrounded with chariots
of fire. The angels were interested in
salvation, that Christ, the Son of God, would stoop from his
high place and become man and take our obligations and bear
our sins and bring us to God in a great parade of all of his
people. And the darling of heaven bringing
his bride and presenting her to himself, it's glorious. Read
Revelation chapter 21. Read it and see there how God
sets forth the beauty of his people as the body of Christ
because they are clothed in Christ's own righteousness, given his
spirit. They're one with him in spirit.
Amazing grace. This is what we're come to. We're
not come to the old. Lay hold on the grace of God.
Lay hold on Christ. Rest in His finished work. Do
not draw back into perdition. Patiently bear up all trials
in life, knowing that they're designed to bring us to Christ
through the discovery of our own weakness and the perfection
of His strength in our salvation. Don't let your hands hang down
and your knees grow feeble because of the length of time, the duration
of this life in faith. Realize that every day is a growth
of grace. And we're being brought more
and more to be conformed to the image of God's dear son. As we
look into the perfect law of liberty, the gospel, the mirror,
we're changed into the same image as our savior. and live your
life pursuing this with all the people of God, with earnestness
and eagerness, anticipating our final being brought finally to
glory. Not only do we have this city
now by faith, but we shall one day in our bodies be resurrected
and fitted to be like Christ's glorious body. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this New
Testament in Christ's blood. Thank you for the fellowship
we have in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope, our salvation,
our all blessings, our life, eternal glory, everything is
in our Savior, given to him for his people. And we come to Him
and stand in awe, in adoration, with joy, great joy, because
His own obedience is our salvation. His obedience unto death is our
sin covering. And we are accepted because of
Him alone. And so we have great confidence
and expectation that you will receive us even in the day of
judgment in His righteousness. for we stand today looking at
your word, trusting what you've said, that what he did is all
sufficient to save us from every sin and to perfect us forever
by his redeeming blood and by his intercession for us. Give
us your spirit now, we pray, to know these things in our hearts
and cause us to live by them day by day and save our children,
Lord, save our families, and cause us to proclaim these things
into the ears of sinners so that they might hear and believe you
and bow and worship you. In Jesus name we pray.