Hebrews chapter 12. Now that song that we just sang
a moment ago, I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. That is the message that Paul is writing here to the Hebrews
to remind them of that very truth, because it is natural that men
would look for many things, because in the natural religious bent
of men, it is such that man thinks that he can do something to enhance
his standing with God. I mean, he can get in good with
God. You know, a lot of people think
that. I mean, if you listen to much of preaching that's on the
radio and TV today, that's primarily what it's about is how you can
get the inside track with God and gain all these blessings
and different things by things that you do if you'll just be
faithful and you'll do all of these things. But the truth is that our only
hope, our only help is found in Christ, because there is not
one of us in here that left to ourselves, would not depart tomorrow
and turn away. We would be like Lot's wife. That is why the Lord said, Remember
Lot's wife, because Lot's wife is typical of man by nature. Lot is typical of man by nature
who is compelled by the power of God to come out of Sodom. And Lot's wife went back. I don't think she just turned
around and looked as Brother Al brought out. I mean, it says
she was behind him, looking back from behind him. He was up there. She says, I ain't going there. I'm going back this way. You
know, I'm not leaving those things. And so she was left to her own
devices. Was she worse than Lot? Was she worse than Anybody else
know? She was just left to her own
devices. She was, in my estimation, typical
of those who were outside of the grace of God. Lot is typical
of those who are in the grace of God. And she was brought into
the place of safety And she was led to go on her way. All men
by nature are like Lot's wife, and that's why the warning is
so real. Every one of us is like Lot's
wife. And the only thing that will
keep us from being Lot's wife and being turned into a pillar
of salt is the grace and mercy of God to compel us on the way
and keep us on the way. And so certainly, That's the
message that Paul is speaking here to the Hebrews. He speaks
it to them as a word of exhortation, just like we exhort one another
to stay on the course. You know, stand firm. Don't turn
back. Now, will you turn back? You
will if the grace of God doesn't keep you. But you see, that's
why He put us together as brethren in the Lord. That's why He gave
us His Word. That's why Paul wrote to the Hebrews. It's not
because he wanted them to turn back or he thought they were
going to turn back if they belonged to the Lord. But the exhortation
is, don't turn back. I mean, what are we going to
do? Come together and say, well, go ahead and turn back. No, we're
not going to turn back. We know that Christ is the way,
the truth, and the life. We want to keep on that way.
And so we would exhort and encourage one another with all that's within
us because we believe that that is the way of salvation. And
so it is that he says, but ye are come unto Mount Zion and
unto the city of the living God. the heavenly Jerusalem, and 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
Franklin that speaketh better things than that of Abel." The Scripture says that the law
was given to a Mediator. It was ordained in the hands
of a Mediator by angels is what the Scripture says. Now, who
was the Mediator to whom the law was given? It was Moses. Now, Moses is a Mediator. But now, if you know who you
are and what you are by nature, he's a poor mediator. Because
all that Moses can do is say, if you don't do this, I'm going
to kill you. That would be like going to your
accused of a crime and you go into your lawyer's office and
he says, buddy, hey, one thing left for you. You say, well,
wait, aren't you going to defend me? He said, I don't have anything
to defend you with. He said, you're guilty. Now how
would you like to go into court with a mediator like that? And
so he says to these Jews, he says, you're not coming to Mount
Zion where the mediator, all that he could do is condemn you
and tell you how bad your punishment is going to be. since you have
not kept these things." But he said, you have not come to that
mountain that might be touched. He said, you have come to Mount
Zion and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. Now what
does the new covenant say? You see, the old covenant, the
mediator of the old covenant, he had tables of stone in which
the law was chiseled. But when you see that chiseled
in stone, it's there, isn't it? There's not a thing in the world
that can change that. It's there. It's recorded. I mean, when they are making
a tombstone and they chisel the name in wrong, guess what? It's
wrong. Now, of course, they can replace
it. I mean, they can redo it. But if the name is chiseled in
wrong, of course they don't chisel them anymore. They do it with
sandblasting. But if they put the name in there
wrong, guess what? You can't go up there with an
eraser and erase it, can you? Because it's chiseled in stone.
It's there. And so consequently, that law
that was given to Moses was chiseled in stone. It can't be changed,
dear brethren. God made it so that it can't
be changed. The law of God never changes. But the glorious thing is that
we're not come to that. That's not the place to which
we have been called. Because if it were, dear brethren,
we'd be in a mess. We wouldn't have one hope or
one leg to stand on. Because if I come telling you
now this is what you've got to do in order to enter into the
kingdom of heaven, and if you don't do it, That's it. You've got one opportunity
and this is it. See? People talk about an opportunity. Now's your opportunity to be
saved. Well, dear brethren, let me tell you something. If you're
waiting on your opportunity, it's already past you because
your opportunity is never going to come because you see what
the mediator of the New Covenant did. He has not come to give
people an opportunity. He didn't come to make salvation
possible. But He came as one who purchased
redemption for His people, absolutely, and without any mixture of change
whatsoever. He did something when He went
to Calvary's cross. That's why He said, Remember
my death till I come, because His death means something. It's
not an opportunity, but it is that which is done. Because you
see, while the mediator of the old covenant, being Moses, while
he said, do this and live or perish, the mediator of the new
covenant says, I will write my laws in their heart and I will be their God and they
shall be my people. and they shall no more teach
every man his neighbor know the Lord for they shall all know
me from the least to the greatest." Because you see, that is the
work of God in the Spirit to give the people of God the law
of God that is written not in tables of stone but in the fleshy
tables of the heart. That is, he has put the imprint
of his Son upon his people. And he has by cords of love drawn
them to himself just like those angels took Lot by the hand and
snatched him out of Sodom and said, buddy, you're coming. Because
you see, those angels went there to save Lot. Now what if they
had went down there and said, come on, Lot, man, you know the
Lord wants to save you, but it's all up to you. Now if that was
true, where would Lot be? He'd have burnt right up in Sodom,
would he not? Of course he would have. It's
not up to you. It's up to the grace of God.
And it is the grace of God that's demonstrated in the snatching
of Lot out of Sodom because Lot wasn't leaving. He said, man,
I've got it pretty good here. I'm enjoying this. But you see,
the Lord wrote the law of God upon his heart and brought him
out because it pleased Him. And that, He says to these Hebrews,
you've come to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, not to Moses. Don't be worried. Don't try to
go back to Moses. What do you want to go back there
for? He says, You have been called to Mount Zion, to Jesus the mediator
of a new covenant built upon better promises, and to the blood
of Sprankling, that is that which cleansed the altar, that which
was seen as an offering for sin, to the blood of Sprankling that
speaketh better things than that of Abel. Now, Abel's offering
was an offering of blood, was it not? But did Abel's offering
take away his sin? Not a bit. The Scripture says
that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins. There is one of the songs we
sing in the book, not all the blood of all the goats on Jewish
altars slain could take away one's sin or remove the guilty
stain. It's not possible that it should
occur, but we're not called unto the sprinkling of the blood of
Abel. We're not called unto a carnal offering of some sort that men
in the flesh could make, but we're called unto the blood of
the sprinkling of the altar of the heavens where the Lord Jesus
Christ has entered in once into the holy place in our behalf,
having obtained eternal redemption. And that's the place to which
we're called. to the blood of sprinkling that
speaketh better things than that of Abel. And that's the place
we come this morning, to remember his death till he comes again.
Because you see, it's this blood. It's not just the fact that blood
was shed. Now a lot of people get all caught
up in the shedding of blood. Well, the shedding of blood is
only important insofar as the blood points to that which Jesus
Christ did. which was the laying down of
His life in the behalf of His people. That's what the blood
is. The Scripture says the life is
in the blood. And so that if the Lord Jesus
Christ poured out His blood, it means He poured out His life.
And the blood of Sprankling that speaketh better things than that
of Abel is the blood of the Mediator of the New Covenant, the one
who said, I will bear their sins, I'll carry their sorrows. I'll
carry their grief. I'll be that one who suffers
in their behalf because they belong to me. See that ye refuse
not him that speaketh. For if they escape not who refuse
him that spake on earth..." Now who is it that spake on earth
that he's talking about? He's talking about Moses. If
men disregarded the law of Moses and perished, how much more is
it which Moses really had no power to do anything because
the law was given to Moses, and he's just a figurehead of it. And so if refusing the law of
Moses, who's nothing but a figurehead, if refusing that, men perished,
how much more would it be, and this is in a measure a hypothetical
situation, how much more would it be if we refuse Him that speaks
from heaven? Who is it that speaks from heaven?
The Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, He's the one who speaks
from heaven. Why? Because He created all things
and without His hands was nothing made that was made. He is that final Word. He is
the One who has spoken from heaven. How does this book begin? God
who at sundry times and in divers manners has spake in times past
by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by His
Son. Now He has spoken, dear brethren,
and that is what it says here. And so how can we escape if we
refuse Him that speaketh? How can it be that a man could
be saved apart from Christ, is what he said. If you reject the
way of Christ, what is there left? What would you have to
stand on? If you say today, I don't want
to be found in Christ, well, dear brethren, what is your hope?
You wouldn't have any, none whatsoever. And so he says by word of exhortation,
he said, You have not come to Mount Sinai, but to this mountain,
to the blood of Franklin, that speaketh better things than that
of Abel, and see that ye refuse not him. Because if you refuse
him, then there is no standard. There is no place of standing
that you would possibly have. How 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 the heaven. And this word yet once more signifieth
the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things
that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain."
Now what is it that cannot be shaken? It is that which Christ
has done. You see, there's been a shaking
that has taken place in the earth. It didn't take place in Moses'
time, but it took place when Christ came. There was a shaking
of the things that could be shaken and what things could be shaken.
All of those carnal commandments and all of those things, the
religious ways that the Lord had given to the Jews, those
things were not eternal. They were those things that were
temporary because they were meant to be taken away so that that
which could not be taken away would forever stand and be seen.
the Lord Jesus Christ. And this word yet once more signifies
the removing of those things that are shaken. The blood of
bulls and goats, which could never take away sin. They could
be shaken and they were, because they couldn't perform that which
ostensibly they were set forth to do. We know they were never
intended as such, but that was the teaching and the lesson. Why? Because the law was a schoolmaster
to what? Bring us to Christ. Now, the
scripture says if there had been a law given that could have given
life, then salvation would be by the law, would it not? But
there was not one. And so it was necessary that
those things that could be shaken might be shaken, that those things
that could not be shaken may remain. And what is it that can't
be shaken? It's this kingdom he's talking
about here. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved
or shaken. It can't be moved. Now what did
the Lord say to Peter? He said, Peter, he said, Thou
art Peter, and upon this rock. Now he wasn't talking about Peter
personally, but he was talking about that which he had drawn
Peter unto. He said, upon this rock, speaking
basically of himself, upon this rock, he said, I will build my
church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against him.
Now that's that which cannot be moved, is it not? He said,
wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. Now how
do we receive the kingdom? What is the kingdom? He said
you didn't come to Mount Sinai. That's not the kingdom to which
you are called. He said the kingdom to which
you are called is the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn.
This cannot be shaken. The gates of hell cannot be prevailed
against it. Why? Because that One who is
her Captain, that One who is her Protector, that One who is
her Redeemer, that One who is her Mediator, He cannot be moved. Nothing can overcome the people
of God. Greater is He that is in you
than he that is in the world. Yeah, but he cannot be shaken.
The people of God cannot be destroyed. The people of God cannot be turned
aside from the courts of heaven because of the fact that Jesus
Christ died in their behalf. And he said in the day of judgment
that he would separate the sheep and the goats, and the goats
would be on his left hand and the sheep would be on his right.
And he would say to those on his left, depart from me, I never
knew you. But to those on his right, he
would say, enter thou into the joy of the Lord, which was prepared
for you from before the foundation of the world. Now that's a glorious
thing, dear brethren. The kingdom of God cannot be
shaken. It can't be diminished. It can't
be lessened. It can't be overturned. It doesn't
matter what happens in the world, what conflagration might occur,
what political upheaval might happen, what persecutions might
arise, those for whom Jesus Christ has shed His precious blood shall
be brought into that kingdom, and they shall never perish. That's what he said. He said,
I know my sheep and they shall never perish. Wherefore we receive in a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear. Now, dear brethren,
that is that which God has been pleased to work in the hearts
and lives of His people. And He is presently calling them
and teaching them and leading them, giving them a desire to
walk uprightly before the Lord. Now, are we in the flesh and
by nature any different than we were before we ever heard
of the Lord? Not a bit in the world. You're
still just the same old person that you were, but by the grace
of God. By the grace of God and the work
of the Spirit in you, He is compelling you. So that there is a conflict
in the hearts and lives of all of God's people, even as that
which is described by the Apostle Paul. He said, the good that
I would not, I don't do the things I want to do, and the things
that I don't want to do, I find myself doing. But he says, I
thank my God, through Jesus Christ my Lord, that while with my mind
I serve the law of God, in the flesh I am a sinner. I serve
the law of sin. I'm still a sinner, will be till
the day I die. But by the grace of God, I have
inherited a kingdom that cannot be moved. And it is that to which
I press by the grace of God." And that's what he says here,
that we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
For our gods are consuming fire. You see, this is the thing. There's a healthy respect that
the Lord is pleased to put within the hearts and lives of His children
to know who God is. Now, there's two ways in which
we can understand. Our God is a consuming fire.
He's a consuming fire in that He means exactly what He says. And He said He would destroy
all things except those whom He loves. He is a consuming fire. He is a consuming fire in that
He has burnt away all that could be shaken, that that which cannot
be shaken will remain. You know, when something burns,
you can see the hottest fire that's ever been, but there's
always something left. There'll always be some evidence
left behind. That's that which can't be shaken.
Now, you know, you can take a big old pile, and you think, man,
this is a big old pile of stuff, and in a little while, it's reduced
down to a little bit of ashes. But those ashes are the essence
of what was in that pile. And you see, that's that which
the Lord has done in shaking that which could be shaken. That pile could be burned up.
But that residue, he said he had a remnant in there. He's
got a residue. You know, it's just a handful.
I mean, the big pile is reduced to a handful. Because that which cannot be
shaken will remain. He is a God of faithfulness to
those whom He loves. And those whom He loves, He calls
by His grace. And he causes them to believe.
One thing that the Scripture is very plain about is that a
man who has fled to Christ for refuge will never be forsaken. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now that's not just some
offhanded thing, but a man that trembles before God and knows
himself to be a sinner, the Lord will never forsake him. Because
a man could never come to that place except the Lord sent his
angels to take Lot by the hand and bring him out of Sodom. Because
by nature Lot would have never left Sodom, but by the grace
of God he has no desire to go back. Because he knows what that
place is and he knows where he's been, and by the grace of God
He's called to a place that he has not yet seen. But by the
grace of God, he believes, sometimes haltingly, sometimes weakly,
sometimes seemingly not at all, that what the Lord has promised,
he will deliver. But you know, I believe it's
a true thing that you cannot keep one of the children of God
from calling upon the Lord. You can't do it. You know, a man, a religious
man will get out here and he'll abandon his faith. You heard
people talk about, well, I lost my faith. Well, the problem was,
he probably did. Because if you can lose it, it
had to be yours. Because when the Lord gives a
man faith, he can't lose it. Because, you see, the Lord gave
it to him, and he said, this can't be shaken. Or he didn't
say it couldn't be shaken, he said it can't be destroyed. It can be shaken. We are shaken
from time to time. We are faced with difficulties
and troubles and trials, but that's part of the shaking process
so that the Lord might show that gold which comes forth out of
the fire that is the refined product. And we shall see Him
as He is. And we see him as he would have
us to remember him now. He says, as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup, you do manifest my death until
I come again. May the Lord give us a mind and
heart to do so today.