The work that the Lord has performed
in the earth, even as He has ordained all of those things
that occur in the earth that to men are unsavory. And it is amazing that men could
look at these things, such as those that Brother Al has brought
forth, and look at it in the fashion that they think that
all of these things just somehow happened to bring these things
to pass. I mean, that there was no design
in it, that it just kind of, you know, maybe a little tweak
here and a little tweak there, but it just kind of ran its course. But it is a glorious thing when
we see that the world belonging to the Lord is never one moment
out of His control in whatever occurs and transpires. And that
is a great comfort to those who have fled for refuge unto Him.
And I would say a great consternation to those that would war against
Him because they can do nothing to thwart His way Everything
that man does, everything Satan does, all redounds to the glory
of God. And they cannot escape it. It
is just an inevitable thing, and it is a glorious thing if
we be found praising Him. Now, we have been looking in
verse 12, I mean in chapter 12, And we have gotten towards the
end of it. I want to go back over a couple
of things. Beginning in verse 25, as we have been brought to the place as
the Lord has led the writer of Hebrews to point out the fact
that we've been brought to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that
of Abel. Of course, being the contrast
to those Old Testament truths, as great as they were, and the
sacrifices that were made there, pointed unto an end that God
purposed, but not the end, not the purpose. for the blood of
bulls and goats could never take away sin. But we are brought
not to those offerings like Abel brought. Abel brought an offering
that was ordained by God and the Lord had respect unto Abel
in his offering, but that was not the end all and be all. But what he is saying here is
we have come to a better offering than that. We're not talking
about temporary offerings. We're not talking about offerings
that are given by way of illustration. But we're talking about the offering
and that one offering which has perfected forever those who are
sanctified in Christ Jesus. And that's what he says. For
we're brought to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. And then
he says in verse 25, See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused
him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." Now, of course,
he's speaking about Moses. He said if we turn away from
Moses' law, then we would perish. I mean, if a man disregarded
the way of Moses' law, He would perish. He's speaking to them
as Hebrews. He says, you couldn't disregard
that because that was the only thing the Lord had shown you.
And if you despise that, then you despise the Word of God.
But He said, if that be true, and those didn't escape who refused
the law of Moses, how much less Is it that we should ever escape
if we refuse Him that speaketh from heaven, which being the
Lord Jesus Christ come in the flesh and declared the glory
and righteousness of God to men? If we neglect that, what is there
left? I mean, we've not just disregarded
a prophet sent from God as Moses was, but we have disregarded
the words of God Himself. as he spoke through the lips
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So how much more shall not we
escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven? And
so even as he has done throughout this whole book is to show the
superiority of the ministry and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
to that which has gone before. Now the Lord singled out the
nation of Israel as a people to whom the law and the prophets
was given. Paul says in one place, What
advantage then hath the Jew? He said, Much in every way, because
chiefly unto them was committed the oracles of God. The prophets
of God did not go to the Ammonites. The Lord didn't send the prophets
to all these people. He didn't send Moses to the Philistines,
but He sent them to the nation of Israel that He might demonstrate
the fact that He has a peculiar people in the earth to whom the
Word of God is sent. And so He's showing the superiority. As great as the law of Moses
was, there is a greater. voice that speaketh. And then
he says, This voice 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 the heaven. Now
when Moses spoke, Remember there was fire around the mountain
and the earthquake and all of those things that they couldn't
go towards that mountain and it was hid in a cloud of fire
and smoke. And even if an animal wandered
up there and touched the mountain, they would die. He said that's
the glory of Him that speaks in the earth. But He said, yet
once more I shake not the earth only. but also the heavens. Now when the Lord Jesus Christ
came, as Moses came and shook the earth, when the Lord Jesus
Christ came, He shook the heavens and the earth. Because what he
came to do, it upended the apple cart. I mean, it tore up everything. Because he says this, Yet once
more I shake not the earth only, but also the heaven. And he's
speaking of the fact that Jesus Christ came into the world once.
And this word, yet once more, signifies the removing of those
things that are shaken. Now what was shaken? The Law
of Moses was shaken. Remember, the veil of the temple
was rent entwined. And it signified that the way
unto the holiest of all had been made open. Because the Lord Jesus
Christ shook those things that were given by Him that spoke
on earth, He shook them to the very core, to the very foundations,
And He, in order that those things are shaken as of things which
are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Now He speaks about those things that could be made. He's talking
about certain things that could be seen, things that men had
erected. I mean, here was a temple that
was erected by men. Here were the tablets of stone. You remember they were first
written by the hand of God, and then the second time that they
were given to Moses, he chiseled them out in those stones. So those first tablets of stone
were broken. But when the law was given, it
was a thing that demonstrated that it could be shaken. But
that which could not be shaken, must remain and that which could
not be shaken is the ministry and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no secondary work. There is nothing to be added
to it. There is certainly nothing that
can be taken from it because it is the very foundation upon
which the people of God stand. There is no other name given
under heaven among men whereby we must be saved. There is no
other way. The Lord Jesus Christ made that
so very plain and clear. Now, unless we believe He was
a liar, then, dear brethren, there is no other message we
can preach. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. Now, that's as plain as the nose
on your face. Now, when men, as they will do,
because you see, men love their own gods, and they make many
gods in the earth, and they say, well, they're all the same. And
the Scripture indicates that they are. You know, all of the
gods of the earth are the same. It is a true thing that there's
not one god in the earth that is better than the other one.
Just pick you one out. Any one you want to pick, they're
all the same. That's basically what Joshua
said when they were getting ready to enter into the promised land. He said, pick you out from among
the Jews of this day whom you'll serve, whether the God of the
Amorites or the Perizzites or which one, it doesn't make any
difference, just choose whichever one you want. But he said, as
for me and my house, he says, we will serve the Lord. Not because
he said we will choose Him, but because He has chosen us. because
He is the only true God. It's not that there's some competition
that's available. It's not so that we're going
to have a religious seminar and sit around and debate whether
or not Christianity is better than Islam or Buddhism or whatever
ism you want. There's no seminar to be had. There's no debate to be held.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
And nothing else makes any difference whatsoever as far as being something
that cannot be shaken. Now the things of the earth,
men can argue and talk about morality and all of those things
and the effect of religion on their communities and all of
that stuff. And you'd have a hard time building a case from a moral
standpoint of the superiority of one religion morally to the
other, because there is morality in all religions. But Jesus Christ,
He came to shake morality, did He not? Because He came to the
Pharisees who were very moral men. They were men who were pillars
of the community. And he looked them in the eye
and he said, you are of your father the devil. But why did
he say that? Because they opposed the one
path of righteousness that there was, and that is himself. They opposed him. So you see,
it does not make any difference what men may hold up as being
beneficial to their communities and their societies. I mean,
religion plays a part in the societies of men, but that's
not what this is about. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
shake that which could be shaken so that that
which remained could not be, and would be demonstrated that
it could not be, which is speaking of Himself. It's speaking of
He's that which cannot be shaken, Dear brethren, He is the One
whom all our hopes are cast upon. There is nothing else that cannot
be shaken. Your faith can be shaken. Everything about you can be shaken.
It can be destroyed in a heartbeat. The only thing that keeps you
from falling is the Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you from
falling, the Scripture says. Why? Because it cannot be shaken,
not because of you, but because of Him. He is the power of the
people of God. Yet once more, once more, the
Lord, how did He begin this book? God who at sundry times and in
divers manners has spake in times past to the fathers by the prophets. This is what He is talking about
right here. Have in these last days, spoken unto us by His Son. End of the story. There is nothing
left to be said. We are not waiting for some unfolding
of some prophecy that is now going to lead us into the promised
land. Dear brethren, it has been declared. I mean the truth of
God has been set forth in no uncertain terms and there is
nothing that can be added to it. That is what the wants is. I mean, when something's done
once and for all, that's it. There's nothing left to be done.
And it is that which shall stand the test of time. Wherefore are
we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved? Now, why can
the kingdom of God not be moved? Is it built on the backs of the
people of God? I mean, we're going to be faithful
to the Lord? And that's going to be what's
going to keep it going? I've heard men say, well, when
the Lord said to Peter, Peter upon this rock will I build my
church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,
that this is speaking of Peter as a man and this is basically
the foundation of Roman Catholicism, is it not? That men will perpetuate
it. I mean that the Pope who in essence
in their understanding is the victor of Christ. He's the representative
of Christ in the earth. Now brethren, we're in trouble
if that be the case. I mean, if he's the representative
of Christ in the earth, we're in a bad shape. Why? Because
he's just a man and he's a fallible man. And men can't by their religious
decrees cause anything to happen. But Jesus Christ, who has spoken
unto us from the heavens and upon the earth, this is done. It is an absolute thing because
it rests in Christ. It does not rest upon the backs
of God's people. It is not dependent on God's
people to do anything, but it is dependent on Christ. And He
is our hope, He is our expectation, and we can find no comfort in
the religious deeds and ways of men and things that we're
supposed to do. I mean, that's a scary thing. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom
that can't be moved. Haven't we get it? We received
it. Now receiving, a lot of times
you'll hear men say, It's up to men to receive it. God gave
it, but men have to receive it. Well, that's not what the Word
is. That's not even remotely what
is being said here. We've received it because God
gave it. Now you tell me how somebody
can refuse something God gives them. Now, you know, if I give
you a gift, you can refuse it. Well, that's true. That's a true
thing. You can refuse to receive a gift
that I give you. But you see, it's impossible
to refuse a gift that God gives you because you see, thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. You see, we receive
it because God gives it. And there's nothing we can do
about it. Now, that's a glorious thing there, brethren, because
if there was something you could do about it, you would. But you
see, we receive it. That is, we're on the receiving
end of it. We didn't do anything to cause
it to come our way, but we are the receptors of it. Now, if
you've got a radio antenna sitting up here and a radio signal comes
out, That antenna is going to pick it up, isn't it? Why? Because
it's a receiver. I mean, it didn't do anything.
I mean, have you ever seen a radio antenna do anything? But have
you ever seen a radio antenna refuse to receive a signal? I
mean, it can't. Why? Because it's just a receiver.
You see, the power is in the broadcast. And that, dear brethren,
is what we have received, is that which has been given to
us by the power of another. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom,
it has come to us. We weren't looking for it, but
it came to us. Cannot be moved. Let us have
grace. May we be found in grace, is
essentially what he said. Let us have grace. whereby we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." Now,
in the light of this, he's not saying, now let's serve God so
we can keep this. But he said, having received
this, let us walk in obedience unto the way of the Lord. And
that is an exhortation that comes to the people of God. I mean,
wouldn't we encourage one another to embrace that which God has
given us? We certainly wouldn't encourage
one another to cast it off, would we? Why? Because it's a thing
that's precious to us. I mean, you know, we wouldn't
go around telling people to take their money and throw it in the
trash. Why not? That'd be stupid, wouldn't
it? I mean, if somebody come along
and said, well, you need to take your money and go burn it. How many of y'all would do that?
Why? Because you know that the money
has value. So we encourage one another to
hold on to our money, you know, to be wise with the money. And
so such is the exaltation of those who have been given the
things of the kingdom of God. We've got a treasure, dear brethren.
It's a rich treasure. What are we going to do? We're
going to tell one another to value it, to look at it, to get
the benefit from it. You know, insofar as that lies
within us, which, of course, we know that it's only as God
works in us that such things occur. But let us have grace. Now, that's what it takes to
serve God, is it not? Grace. I mean, can you just tell
a man, well, go serve God? Okay, what you need to do is
serve God. Well, now, if a man's telling another man to serve
God, that's a good thing. I can't find anything wrong with
one man telling another man to serve God. The problem is, though,
how are you going to do that? There's only one way, dear brethren,
and that's by the grace of God. That's why it says, Let us have
grace whereby we may serve God acceptably and in godly fear.
You can't coerce men into serving God. You can't talk them into
it. You can't entice them into it. It can't be done. But when He
who speaks from heaven is pleased to bring this truth unto men
and apply it by grace, they'll run to Him. and they will desire
to serve Him according to the good pleasure of His will, whereby
we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." Is
there any other way to serve God? No. That's an acceptable way of serving
God is in reverence and godly fear. Why? Because we know who
He is. He is the true and living God.
He is high and lifted up. We are nothing before Him. We
are recipients of His mercy. As Jeremiah said, thy mercies
are new every morning lest we be consumed. And so we must serve
God in reverence and godly fear because there is no other way
to serve Him. You cannot serve God telling Him what to do or
what you are going to do. Or, well, Lord, I know You want
me to do this, but I'm going to do that. I mean, that's not
the way a man serves God, is it? How could it be? But may
we have grace to serve God acceptably. The Lord dwells with the man
who has a broken and a contrite heart. You see, He'll never despise
a sinner that calls upon His name. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Because he's full
of mercy and kindness to all who call upon him. He'll turn
none away, not the smallest child or the oldest man that ever lived,
because he's the one who's the giver of grace, and he's the
one who's constraining the hearts of his people to call upon him. May we have grace to serve God
acceptably with reverence. and Godly fear. For our God is
a consuming fire. Now, there are several ways in
which we can understand that. Of course, the most plain fashion
in which one can understand that is a consuming fire is one that
just burns up everything. Is it not? I mean, if something's
consumed, it's gone. I mean, that's it. That's who
our God is. Now, what is the picture He's
painting here? He's an absolute God. I mean,
He's not some weak-kneed God that's waiting on folks to help
Him out and do stuff for Him. But He is a God who is a burning
fire that sweeps across and does exactly what He wants to do.
And there's not one thing you can do about it. Now, people
don't want you to tell them that, because they want to know, wait
a minute, I mean, you know, what about man's free will? Well,
what about it? Nebuchadnezzar found out about
man's free will, did he not? And he said, The Most High ruleth
in heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and there is none
that can stay his hand, or question his doing. Say unto him, What
are you doing? What are you doing? No, He's
a consuming fire and He burns up everything in His path. And
dear brethren, He will destroy everything that He has created
according to His purpose, except that He sees fit to preserve
some of it. You see, men don't have a right
to anything. I know our Constitution It says
men have a right to, what is it, life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness. But that's men among men there,
brethren. We don't have any rights at all
before God. And some people get that confused. And they get to thinking that
God operates on that principle. You don't have any rights before
God because He is God. He's a consuming fire, and He's
a destroyer of all things as He sees fit, and He's a builder
of it. of all things as He sees fit.
And in His mercy and His kindness, it has pleased Him to build up
His people in Christ. Now how did they get to be His
people? Because it pleased Him. Ain't no other explanation. I
mean, He didn't look around to see who was good. I mean, if
the Scripture says Lot was a righteous man, why was he righteous? He's
not righteous by any standard that men would set forth, is
he? But you see, it doesn't make a difference about that. Our
gods are consuming fire. He is the one that sets the standard
of righteousness, and it says, Lot is hidden in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and whenever he sees Lot, he sees Christ. And that's
his righteousness. And dear brethren, if we're looking
for any other righteousness than that, we're barking up the wrong
tree. because he is the standard of righteousness. And unless
your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees,
which were highly moral men, shall no wise enter into the
kingdom of heaven. Brethren, there is only one righteousness,
and it is the righteousness of a consuming fire, because it
will burn up everything that is not as pure as Jesus Christ. Now, that offers no hope to the
flesh, which is exactly the place that
God would bring His people, that we have no hope, that we have
no expectation. We don't have anything because
we know our gods are consuming fire. And our only hope of standing
in His presence is not anything we're going to do, but it's going
to be because of His will and purpose. revealed in Jesus Christ
that he is the Savior of sinners. And upon that we have hope because
he said he'd save sinners. Paul said Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners. The Lord Jesus said that he came
to save sinners. That's a glorious hope. But you
see, it's only sinners that he saves because he's a consuming
fire. And He burns up all of that which
pretends and purports to be righteous in the earth. So remember, as
we go day to day, that our God is a consuming fire. And He set
one standard of righteousness in the earth. There is no other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved
except the name of Jesus Christ the righteous. May He be found
as our righteousness and we be found in Him with no other.