Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'll be preaching from the book of Hebrews, chapter
12, over in the New Testament. The epistle to the Hebrews, that's
believers in Jerusalem, basically. this was written to, but it's
written to the church in general for our benefit. And it has a
lot of just fantastic, great truths for the true believer,
the true Christian. And the title of this message
today is The Heavenly Jerusalem. The Heavenly Jerusalem. And we're
gonna begin in verse 22 of Hebrews chapter 12. And this is where,
in the whole book of Hebrews, The Lord has given the writer
of Hebrews, I believe the human writer was Paul, but a lot of
people disagree with that, but that's okay, it doesn't matter,
this is the word of God. But the Holy Spirit has given
the writer of Hebrews the word of truth showing how that Jesus
Christ and the gospel of God's grace, the new covenant gospel,
which is the everlasting gospel, is far superior to the law of
Moses given on Mount Sinai. And that law of Moses given on
Mount Sinai has been abolished by way of fulfillment. Christ
fulfilled it all. You see a physical testimony
of that in that on his cross when he died and gave up the
ghost, The veil in the temple, that veil that separated the
holiest of all from the holy place, the veil was torn in two
from top to bottom, indicating that it was the Lord who did
it, not man. And so that shows the way into
the holiest, eternally, spiritually, had been established by the death
of Christ, for he is the way. You remember he said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Now the blood of bulls and goats,
the blood of animals, the sacrifice of animals, could not accomplish
that. That was only temporary, it was only ceremonial access. But Christ is the fulfillment
of all those types and pictures and prophecies. And so the old
covenant is now gone. And so when he describes true
believers, this is what he's doing here. True believers do
not come to Mount Sinai and to the Law of Moses for salvation. By deeds of the law shall no
flesh be justified in God's sight, for by the law is the knowledge
of sin. So when you go to God for salvation,
where do you go to? You don't go to Mount Sinai,
you go to Mount Calvary, which here is called Sion. Look at
verse 22 of Hebrews 12. But you are come unto Mount Sion. Now that's in the Old Testament,
you'll see, and sometimes in the New, you'll see it spelled
with a Z, Zion. What is Zion? Well, Zion, he
says it here in verse 22, he says, and unto the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company
of angels. So Zion, Sion, is the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. It can be emblematic
of the family of God, the church. Those who are members of God's
true church are members of Zion. And the first mention of Zion
in the Old Testament is, I believe, in 2 Samuel, where David was
conquering the Jebusites and taking Jerusalem, the city of
Jerusalem. And there was a, it seems like
there was a tower, a fortress outside the city called Zion. And it was there for their defense.
And David first took Zion and then he took the city. And on
Zion, outside the city, he built himself a house, a palace. And
that was for the defense of the city. Well, Zion became emblematic
of the city of Jerusalem. physically, but also of spiritual
Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem. Over in the Psalms, Psalm 87
verse two, listen to these words by the psalmist. It says in Psalm
87 in verse two, the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all
the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. And then that's Selah, you see
after that is a musical notation. Some of these Psalms were sung
and it means to pause. In a poetic way, it means to
pause and consider what you've just read. We'll go back to Hebrews
12 now. You're not come to Mount Sinai. You're not come to the law for
salvation, your works. That's a failure. but you are
come unto Mount Sinai. Mount Calvary, you say. Come
to Christ and into the city of the living God. What is that
city? It's not a physical city. It's not physical Jerusalem today. And it's not a physical temple.
He says the heavenly Jerusalem. That's the city of the living
God. What is the heavenly Jerusalem? That's the kingdom of God, the
kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Christ. That's what it is. And to an innumerable company
of angels. Now he could be speaking of the
heavenly angels who desire to look into these things as they
saw them unfolding, who are the attendants and sometimes the
messengers of God. He could be just simply speaking
of messengers of God in general. What do we preach? We preach
an eternal spiritual salvation through what Christ accomplished
as our surety, our substitute, our representative on Calvary. That's what we preach. And so
that's where we go for salvation. We go to Christ. Christ crucified
and risen from the dead. That's what this is all about.
We seek the forgiveness of our sins. We don't seek them in the
blood of animals. We don't seek them in the holiest
of all, behind the veil, as it were, in a physical temple. The
rebuilding of a physical temple is not the plan of God as far
as any part of salvation is concerned. I don't care what any preacher
tells you. We come to Christ. We plead His blood as the only
way of the forgiveness of all our sins. The blood of Jesus
Christ cleanses us from all sin. Not the blood of bulls and goats,
they couldn't do that. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. We come to Christ for righteousness. I'm not going to go to Mount
Sinai and say, well, now I'm going to keep the Ten Commandments.
I'm a sinner. The Bible says that there's none
righteous, no, not one. That's to be found among men.
We fell in Adam, we're born dead in trespasses and sins, and all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That means
we've missed the mark. What is the mark? Righteousness.
And it's a righteousness that can only be found in Christ. His obedience unto death. as
the surety, the substitute, and the redeemer of his people, his
righteousness imputed." Paul wrote about that when he was
quoting David out of the Psalms. In Romans 4 and verse 6, he said,
when it describes the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works. In other words, God lays to my
account, to my charge, righteousness without my works. Whose righteousness
is it? It's the righteousness of God.
Romans 1, 16 and 17 says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, for it is the power of God to everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first and the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
justified, the just, shall live by faith. In other words, I live
by looking to Christ as the author and finisher of my faith. He
is the Lord my righteousness. The Bible says in Romans 10 that
Christ is the end, the finishing, the fulfillment of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth. And so, this is where
we come for salvation. Not to the law. And then he goes
on to describe this city of the living God. Look at verse 23
of Hebrews 12. To the general assembly and church
of the firstborn. The general assembly. That's
God's elect Jew and Gentile out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation who've been brought to Christ. And the church, the
called out ones. That's what that means. See this
Zion, heavenly Jerusalem, it's the church. It's not a city over
in Palestine. That was a special place at one
time where God did a lot of work. But that's not what he's talking
about now, you see. We're talking about heavenly
Jerusalem. And it's the church of the firstborn.
And who's the firstborn? Christ is. The Bible calls him
the firstborn among many brethren. I believe that's specifically
referring to his resurrection, not to his actual birth. He did
have an actual birth, an incarnation, and that was necessary. He had
to have a human body without sin in order to stand as our
substitute and our representative. But he was the first born from
the dead in that he was the first resurrected from the dead. And
the Bible in 1 Corinthians 15 calls him the first fruits from
the dead. In other words, all for whom
he died was buried and arose again the third day, they also
will be risen. They also will be saved. There's
no situation in the Bible where anyone for whom Christ died will
perish eternally. That cannot happen. Christ said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. He said, this is the will
of him that sent me that I should lose nothing but raise it up
again at the last day. Well, he's the firstborn. This
is the church of the firstborn. He's the surety of the salvation
of his people. So he says in verse 23, to the
general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, And written in heaven, enrolled in heaven, one translation
says. And this is metaphorical language. God is not sitting up there with
a tablet and a pencil and writing in names, but it's a metaphor
for God's election of grace before the foundation of the world.
And in the book of Revelation, we find that it's put this way,
that their names are written in the Lamb's book of life. That's the elect of God. And
it's the Lamb's Book of Life. What is a lamb for? It's for
sacrifice. That's Christ, the Lamb of God. These are the ones for whom Christ
would die. The names of those who are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life, and here he talks about them, the
General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, which are written
in heaven. I heard a preacher once speaking
of the Lamb's Book of Life. He was on television. And he
said, we can surmise. Now that's where he first went
wrong. We don't surmise, we read the Word. And whatever the Word
says, that's what we're to believe. Surmising will get you into trouble.
But he said this, he said, we can surmise that when you're
born, God writes your name in the Lamb's Book of Life. And
then when you commit the first sin, God erases your name out. And then when you accept Jesus
as your Savior, God writes your name back in. Now, I don't know
how you think about that, but I'm gonna tell you something
right now. That is not what the scripture teaches. It is not. That is heresy. That is a false
gospel. That's a conditional salvation,
conditioned on man and not on Christ alone. Those whose names
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life are secure in Christ,
and they will be brought by the Spirit to faith in Christ, repentance
of dead works, and they will persevere in the faith by the
power of God. Now that's so. And the Bible
teaches us this, that when God chose them and gave them to Christ,
their sins, which they had not yet even committed, but would
commit, their sins were imputed, charged to Christ. 2 Corinthians
5.19, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them. The world there is the world
of his elect. It's not all without exception.
And God does not charge them with their sins. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Well, on what basis does God
not charge us with our sins? He charged them to Christ, who
died for them, paid the debt, established righteousness, which
he has imputed to them. So who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that dies. yea rather
is risen again and is seated at the right hand of the Father
ever living to make intercession for him. That's the issue. So it's not God writing, then
erasing, then writing again. No sir. Their names are written
in heaven, look at verse 23 now, and to God the judge of all,
God is the judge of all, and what is the standard of judgment
that God uses? Well, the Bible tells us, for
example, in Acts 17, 31, that God will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, in that he hath given assurance
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. That's
Christ. Christ is the standard. I've
got to be as righteous as Christ. And I cannot be so by my works. Even my believing doesn't make
me so. It must be Christ on the cross, dying for my sins, establishing
the perfection of the law, for Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. I believe in
Him who is my righteousness. And so God judges his people
on the basis of Christ, who is their righteousness. And he says
here, to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men,
made perfect or made complete. Now, who are these just men?
They're righteous men, righteous people, justified. Now, how did they get that way?
by the grace of God based upon the righteousness of Christ imputed
to them. Go back to Romans four and read
about Abraham. How did God justify Abraham? Was it by his works? Was it by
his faith? No, it was by the righteousness
of Christ. Christ's blood shed for Abraham. And this is the way it is. If
you're justified, you're a sinner saved by grace. You're one who
will, if you haven't already been, you'll be brought to faith
in Christ and repentance of dead works. And these just men made
perfect have to do with believers who have already died and gone
to be with the Lord. Their spirits are with the Lord.
And so they've been made complete in that sense. They're no longer
subject to sin or any of the flesh or the world. There's no
tears, there's no sorrow, there's no death. They're with the Lord.
They may have been made complete. Now they haven't yet been glorified
because that'll take place at the end of time when Christ comes
again and all of God's people will be glorified together. And
then he says in verse 24, now listen to this, and to Jesus,
the mediator of the New Covenant, or the New Testament. Here's
the whole crux of the matter. It's all salvation in Jesus Christ. And he says, and to the blood
of sprinkling, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. And that blood of sprinkling
speaketh better things than that of Abel. Now, what did Abel do? He brought the blood of an animal,
a lamb, to worship God. And that was God's prescribed
way of worship through types and pictures, symbols, which
were prophetic. Now, the blood of animals, we're
told, never could take away sin, but it was the one whom the blood
of the lambs represented. And this is what Abel knew. The
Bible says in Hebrews 11 that Abel did that by faith. That
is, based upon the promise of God that was made to Adam and
Eve back in Genesis 3.21. You remember, when Adam and Eve
fell, they tried to cover their nakedness with their fig leaf
aprons, which represents the works of man. And God removed
those fig leaf aprons, and in verse 21 of Genesis 3, it says,
God slew an animal and made coats of skin. I believe it was a lamb
that he slew. But he shed blood, because justice
has to be satisfied, and fig leaf aprons won't make that,
won't do that. Blood has to be shed, and God
showed it through a type, the blood of a lamb. And that pointed
forward. to one who was to come, the Lamb
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what he was saying, that
Christ would have to come and shed blood to satisfy God's justice,
you see. And then righteousness has to
be established. That's the coats of skin, imputed righteousness. Righteousness that is accounted,
charged to the account of God's people. And when Abel brought
that Lamb, that's what he brought. But what he's saying is here
is we don't have to bring lambs now today. We don't have to bring
the blood of literal animals. We have something that's better. And that's what he's saying about
it. This speaks better things than of Abel. We have something
better than what Abel had. Now Abel had the blood of Christ,
the righteousness of Christ, but it hadn't yet come about
in time. And so he had to constantly bring
those animals. Of course, he was killed, we
know that, murdered by his brother. But you see the sacrifices all
through the Old Testament. Well, we've got something better
than that. We've got Christ himself, the Lamb of God and his blood.
And so that's better things. In verse 25, he says, see that
you refuse not him that speaketh. Now, what is he talking about?
He's talking about the word of God. Abel spoke it. He spoke it to Cain and he got
murdered for it. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
spoke it. God speaks it in his word. Don't refuse him that speaketh.
This is the word of God. If what I'm preaching is not
the word of God, you can refuse it. But if what I'm speaking
is the word of God, you better not refuse it. He says, for if
they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, Remember
Moses spoke on earth. The prophets, much more shall
not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.
Those prophets, Moses himself, the blood of animals, they all
spoke on earth. And those who refused were punished
with death. There were many penalties under
the old covenant law. That was capital punishment.
So when they refused these things, they were either cast out of
the Commonwealth of Israel or they were killed. But what about,
how much more important and serious is it refusing God who speaks
from heaven? The word of God, this is eternal
issues. These are eternal matters. We're
not just talking about feel good religion. We're not just talking
about getting religion or moral reformation. We're talking about
life eternal or eternal death. That's what we're talking about.
And this is serious business. So he says in verse 26, whose
voice then shook the earth, remember God when he gave the law to Moses,
how it shook the earth, but now he hath promised saying, yet
once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. This gospel,
of Jesus Christ, that relates Christ, the savior of his people,
the heavenly Jerusalem, all of that. This is such profound truth
that we cannot imagine how much more serious it is than that
message on Sinai that shook the earth. This shakes heaven. And he says in verse 27, and
this word yet once more signified the removing of those things
that are shaken. All those things on earth that were shaken, now
they're removed. As of things that are made, that those things
which cannot be shaken may remain. This gospel cannot be shaken,
it cannot be destroyed. And verse 28, wherefore for this
reason we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. the heavenly
Jerusalem, the heavenly kingdom, let us have grace, whereby we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Let's
hold fast. Grab on to Christ and hold on
for dear life. He says in verse 29, for our
God is a consuming fire. The consuming fire is a metaphor
for the wrath of God. A lot of people say, well, I
don't wanna deal with the wrath of God, I just wanna deal with
the loving God. Well, my friend, here's the long
and the short of it. There is no love from God outside
of Christ. You can mark it down. The Bible
says, this is John 3, 36, it says, he that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. I want to preach the love of
God. But the love of God is seen in Christ, who took upon himself
the wrath of God for the sins of his people imputed to him,
and drank damnation dry. And there is no other way of
salvation but in him. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no wrath from God, to those who are in Jesus Christ, who walk
not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. That
is, they believe in Him, rest in Him. And all who do are citizens
of a heavenly kingdom. They're citizens of the heavenly
Jerusalem. Don't look on the things on earth
for hope, for salvation. Don't look on nations. Don't
look upon people. Don't look upon human religion
for hope and for salvation. Look to Christ, the heavenly
Jerusalem, the heavenly kingdom. Go to Mount Zion, Calvary, where
Christ died to put away the sins of his people and to establish
the only righteousness whereby we become citizens of the heavenly
Jerusalem, whereby we are justified before God. Sins forgiven, righteousness
declared, life given from God. All of that, that's what a citizen
of the heavenly Jerusalem possesses. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.