Hebrews 12, verse 16. Paul is continuing his discussion
here. He says, lest there be any fornicator
or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his
birthright. For ye know how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected.
For he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully
with tears. Paul has been encouraging us here in this passage to continue
in the faith, to run the race that's set before us with patience,
not to get discouraged. And He gives us a warning. He
warns us about this because some do quit. Some who seem to have
all the advantages and seem to have a real interest, they quit. They quit the race. They drop
out. They drop out because they're not real believers. In a runner's
terms, their DNF did not finish. And they didn't finish because
they had no faith. That's why they would drop out. And Esau
is given as an example to warn us. Esau was a man who seemed
to have all the advantages, didn't he? Had parents who were believers,
who was raised in being taught about the Lord. He had the birthright,
being the firstborn. And Esau sold his birthright
to his brother for a bowl of beans. And that birthright was
more than just the inheritance, what the firstborn physically
would inherit from his father. That birthright represented the
spiritual blessing. He would be the spiritual leader
of his family and he valued that so little, he sold it for just
some beans. Paul says, a morsel of meat.
Something so temporary. And that's a warning to us not
to sell out so quickly when times get hard because they will. But
here's what I know. No true believer will ever turn
away from the Lord Jesus Christ. Can't do it. Because anything
else other than Him is so inferior to Him. Once you've had a taste
of the very best, nothing else will ever do. I've used this
illustration before. I love sweets. I enjoy desserts
and so forth. And I particularly love cobblers.
Almost of any kind. And when we used to go to Ponderosa,
you know, the food bar they have, they frequently have peach cobbler
out there, and I'd always eat that. Then one time, we were
visiting my mother-in-law. She fixed a peach cobbler. And
I'm telling you, just the thought of it makes my toes just curl
up. I mean, oh my goodness, it's
good. Once I had a taste of that, I
never went back to that food bar. I mean, I just go without.
I just won't eat it because it's so inferior. Once you've had
a taste of the best, once you've tasted the sweetness of the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, you won't go back. Like Peter said,
to whom shall we go? I suspect if you come to religion
or come to ceremony and tradition, you'll quit that. But if you
come to Christ, you won't leave. You can't. And believers in Christ
have so much to be thankful for because of who we've come to,
who's called us, who's laid hold on us, and who we've come to.
And that's what we're going to see in the rest of our lesson
this morning. In verse 18, Paul says, for you're not come unto
the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire, nor
into blackness and darkness and tempest. We're going to see the
differences here between law and grace. How much better it
is to come to Christ than the Law. Now Mount Sinai, where the
Law was given. Throughout Scripture, Mount Sinai
represents the Law. And Mount Sinai was an awesome,
fearful sight when God's presence was there. Look over in Psalm
68. David had been taught something about what an awesome sight that
was in Psalm 68. This is where God's presence
was, where the Law was given. Psalm 68, verse 8. Well, verse 7, he says, O God,
when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march
through the wilderness, the earth shook. The heavens also dropped
at the presence of God. Even Sinai itself, that huge
mountain, was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. And
that's what those people saw, that awesome fearful sight because
God's presence was there. No person, not even an animal,
could touch that mountain. Could even touch the bottom of
that mountain without being killed. Even if they didn't mean to,
if they just stumbled into it and touched that mountain where
God's presence was, they'd be killed. That's God's holy presence. Now, believers aren't come there.
You're not come to a place like that. You're come to the Lord
Jesus Christ for life. Not for death, but for life.
What happened when the Lord touched people? He touched that leper. He said, Lord, if You will, You
can make me whole. He said, I will. And He touched
him and healed him. The Lord touched the eyes of
the blind man. He could see. He reached over the dead one
and raised her up. The woman with the issue of blood
was healed. She just touched the hem of his garment. The Apostle
John leaned on his breath, touched him with no fear whatsoever.
The songwriter said, he touched me, and oh, the joy that floods
my soul. Not death, but joy and life. All the law talks about is death. Do this or you'll die. Do that
or you'll die. If you do this, you'll die. If
you don't do this, you'll die. All the law talks about is death.
The Gospel, God's grace. When you come to Christ, you
hear about life. He did and we live. There's no death in Him.
But we're not come that Mount Sinai that burned with fire,
that was covered with darkness and tempest and storms. That's
what the Law does. The Law causes terror and confusion. We see there at Mount Sinai the
majesty of God and His holiness, who He is. We see the terror
of God in dealing with God outside of Christ, outside of a mediator.
But we're not coming to that darkness and blackness and tempest. Christ brings peace and order. Puts everything in order. Makes
it plain and simple to understand. We see in Christ the majesty
of God. But we see the majesty just like
we saw the majesty of God at Sinai in His holiness, His justice,
In Christ, we see the majesty of God in showing mercy to sinners
through His Son. We're not come to that darkness.
We're come to light. Christ is light. In Him is no
darkness at all. The Law revealed Christ in dark
shadows and pictures. But now, we have a full, clear
revelation of God's grace and God's salvation in Christ, the
light of the world. Now we have a full revelation
and we see Christ in all His glory and light that's revealed
in the Gospel. There's no darkness and tempest
and storms there. He goes on in verse 19, what
the people saw and heard there at Mount Sinai. The sound of
a trumpet and the voice of words. Which voice they that heard,
entreated that the words not be spoken unto them any more. At Mount Sinai, the people heard
from God. and they were utterly terrified. It scared the life out of them.
Not only was the sight terrifying, the message they heard was terrifying. It scared them to death. Now
I can understand why. The law requires perfection. What they heard is you have to
be perfect in order to be accepted. And if you don't, you'll die.
Now that's a terrifying message. The law tells us We're to be
perfect. But it doesn't give us any ability
and it doesn't give us any desire to keep it. To be perfect. The
law shows us our sin, but never shows us a cure. It shows us
our disease, but never shows us a cure. And that's terrifying.
But you're not come there. Not if you've come to Christ.
The Gospel says God requires perfection. Same as the law does.
The Gospel doesn't gloss over things and tell us something
that's not true. The Gospel says God requires
perfection from you men. Then it points to Christ, who
is our righteousness, who is our perfection. The Gospel points
out our sin. You can't preach the Gospel without
telling men and women we're sinners. That's what we are. We've fallen
in Adam and all we can do is sin. But the Gospel doesn't stop
there. Then it points to Christ, the
sin bearer, who bore our sin away. The Gospel points out our
sin, then shows us the blood. It covers it and puts it away.
The Gospel gives command, just like the law did, repent and
believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. Then the Spirit gives faith. Not only faith to believe,
but gives you a desire. A desire to come to Christ. A
desire to be more like Him. That's where we've come. But
Israel, when they heard God speaking at Mount Sinai, they didn't want
to hear anymore. In short order, they'd heard
enough of that. It's all they could take. But
the elect hear the Gospel and they want to hear more. Oh, just
give me more of that. Oh, I'll come back for more of
that. And the Gospel doesn't come forth in an awesome, loud,
terrifying sound like the sound of a trumpet. It comes to us
in easy words, easy tones that sinners can understand. It has
to come to us in simple, easy tones because sinners can't take
much. We're not beating sinners up.
We're just showing them Christ. What did the Samaritans say?
When the Lord came to that Samaritan woman at the well, she went back
to the town. She told the men, come out and see a man I met.
This is the Christ. This is the Messiah. And they
went out and heard Him teach. And He got ready to leave. And
they said, oh, don't leave. They wanted to hear more. And the
Lord stayed there three more days teaching them. And that's
the way we are. We hear the Gospel. Don't leave. I need to hear more of this. We don't want to hear any more
of the Law. The Law has no good news for sinners. It never will.
But we want to hear more of the Gospel. Because the Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only good news a sinner can ever
hear. So give me more of that. That's where we're coming. He says that they didn't want
to hear anymore because 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 the dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, even Moses said,
I exceedingly fear and quake. Now God is holy. We learned that
at Mount Sinai. God's holy. If anyone even touched
that mountain, Where God dwelt, they'd be killed. Because a man
cannot come to God the way we are. God cannot accept a sinful
man the way we are. The law always brings death. And it always, until it brings
death, gives us the fear of death. If you knew that if you touched
the foot of that mountain, you'd be killed. If you're within sight
of that mountain, You're under the fear of death. That mountain
was a reminder to you, wherever you could see it, of death. The death that the law demands.
Outside of Christ, death is certain. Just like in Christ, life is
certain. And that's who we've come to.
And the effect of hearing the law and seeing the majesty of
God made the people not want to hear anymore. Made them want
to run away. Because they could not do what was commanded, but
the Gospel. When we hear of the Lord Jesus
Christ, when God gives us eyes of faith to see Him, it makes
us run. But not run away. Run to Him. Run to Him to find in Him everything
that we need. But even Moses, Moses was afraid
and shaking in his shoes at the thought of dealing with God on
that mountain. Even the best men cannot come
into the presence of God in themselves. It's got to be in a representative.
But even Moses was shaking in his shoes. Now think about this.
Frequently, God talked to Moses. This was no new thing to Moses.
God talked to Moses frequently. But when He did, it was never
just an everyday affair like you and me talking to one another.
God spoke to Moses out of a burning bush that wasn't consumed. And
Moses was afraid. God spoke audibly to Moses frequently
in Egypt. He told him what was going to
happen with the next plague. And you go tell Pharaoh, let
my people go, but he's not going to listen to you. He spoke to
him audibly. God called Moses up into that
mountain and talked to him. Scripture says face to face as
a man talks to his friend. And I'm telling you what, awesome
experience. Because what happened when Moses
came down from that mountain? His face shone so bright that
people said, we can't look at you. Put a veil over your face.
That was something else going on up there on that mountain.
Even Moses was shaking in fear at the thought of speaking to
God. That's a whole lot different than people today. You hear people
on TV saying, God spoke to me and told me this, and God told
me this, and Jesus told me this, Here's how I know that didn't
happen. Besides the fact Scripture tells us that didn't happen.
They're not shaking. There's no fear. No reverence.
If God spoke to them, they'd be shaking. But yet Moses was
allowed to come speak to God because Moses was a type of Christ.
That's why he could go up there. He was a mediator. The picture
of Christ the mediator. He was a mediator between God
and Israel. Now a mediator is a go-between. It goes between two warring parties. and talk to both parties and
bring them together. And Moses was the mediator of
the law. God gave the people the law through
Moses. He was the mediator. But Christ
is the mediator, not of law, but of grace. He goes between
God and spiritual Israel. And we'll see more of that here
in a minute. But you know, people say how they would have liked
to have seen all those miracles in Egypt. Seen the plagues and
seen that Passover. Seen Israel miraculously delivered
from Egypt. The parting of the Red Sea and
how the Lord brought them through the wilderness and fed them and
clothed them and gave them the promised land ultimately. I wouldn't want to see that.
I wouldn't want to have lived at that time to see that because
that would have meant I'd be under the bondage of the law.
The bondage of all those ceremonies. I'd a whole lot rather live today.
and see God's grace. I've seen this morning evidences
of God's grace. I'd a whole lot rather be here
than back there, wouldn't you? I'd a whole lot rather be under
the light yoke of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is so wonderful, you
just can't imagine why anyone would turn away. That's why I
said at the beginning, if you come to Him, you won't. You just
won't. If somebody turns away, it's because they haven't seen
Him. Because He hasn't laid hold on them. Well, because you think
about where do you have to turn to? The only other place you
have to turn to is Mount Sinai. The darkness, and the blackness,
and the tempest, and the voice of the trumpet, and the fear
of death. That's what you have to turn to outside of Christ.
So that's not what we're coming to now, verse 22. But you are
come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Now we've seen Mount Sinai's fire and darkness and blackness
and death, and we're glad we don't come there. Believers come
to Mount Zion. Mount Zion throughout all Scripture
is given as a picture of God's church. It's the place where
God dwells, where He dwells with His people in mercy and grace. It's the place where His Gospels
are preached. And this is an immovable mountain. Look over
Matthew 16. Just like Mount Sinai was immovable. Couldn't get around it. This
mountain, Mount Zion, is immovable. Matthew 16, verse 15. Our Lord saith unto them under
the twelve, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, And
Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven. But I say also unto thee that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock, upon the rock of your confession,
the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ, I will build my church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it." This is an immovable
mountain. And it's not just a defensive
mountain. The gates of hell are going to attack it and it can't
prevail. The gates of hell can't prevail against it until the
gospel goes forth. It reaches His people wherever
they're at and gives them life. And we're come to the city of
the living God. The heavenly Jerusalem. The city
of the living God as opposed to the death of Simon. This is
the city that Abraham looked for. Which had foundations. Whose
builder and maker is God. This is the better country. that
all those Old Testament saints in Hebrews chapter 11 we read
about. That this is what they were looking
for. And we have it. This is the place
we're coming to. This city is built upon the foundation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it has for walls salvation. For its walls and bulwarks, salvation. God built it. God populated it
with His people. He defends it and He rules over
it. This is heavenly Jerusalem. It's not a city on earth. People fight over possession
of that city over there in the Middle East. And they have it. It's just a picture of heavenly
Jerusalem. The very word Jerusalem has to
do with peace. It's a place of peace. There's
never been peace over there. But heavenly Jerusalem is a place
where God's people dwell with Him and with each other in peace. Because He's given us peace.
He's made peace. And we have to, for the time
being, live here on earth. We worship here on earth. We
go about, we meet on earth. But our citizenship, our true
worship, is in heavenly places. In heavenly Jerusalem. Look over
in Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians 2 verse 6. has raised us up together and
made us sit together in heavenly places. In Christ Jesus. As we sit here this morning,
right now, we're sitting in heavenly places too. In Christ Jesus.
This is heavenly Jerusalem. And we're brought to an innumerable
company of angels. Angels of light. Not darkness
and death. but angels of light. Those angels
that fly about the throne of our God crying, Holy, Holy, Holy
is the Lord of hosts. Angels that God sends to minister
to His people. And angels who desire to look
into the things we're looking at this morning. Angels desire
to look into the gospel of redemption in a substitute. What we love,
they desire to look into. And that's who we're brought
to. In verse 23, we're brought to the General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge
of all, and the spirits of just men made perfect. We're come
to the General Assembly of the Firstborn. That word assembly
means a large public gathering of the Greeks. That's the word
they used for a large public gathering. Now there's just one
church. There's one Zion. There's one
body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you what, it's
a large gathering. It looks small in the different
places where it's gathered now. But when it's all together, it
is a large gathering. And we're all one. In this gathering,
we're all one. We've got the same head. We all
have the same communion by the same Spirit. We have the same
hope. We're washed in the same blood.
We're given the same faith. We all walk in the same way.
We have the same enemies and we'll have the same victory.
Right now, we meet in different local assemblies, but it's just
one church. And one day, that church is going
to be gathered together in heavenly Jerusalem. And it's the church
of the firstborn. In the Old Testament, each family
only had one firstborn. Kind of stands to reason, doesn't
it? And all the privileges, most
all the inheritance went to that firstborn. I always felt sorry
for the ones who weren't firstborn. It seemed like they got the short
end of the stick. But every child of God has the inheritance of
the firstborn. Every child of God inherits everything
that God has. Everything. Think of that. And
we have it. We're all equal in Christ who
is the firstborn from the dead. That in all things, He might
have the inheritance. And every child of God inherits
everything. Church of the firstborn. And
every one of those members has their names written where they're
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Every one of those members
was elected by God before the foundation of the world unto
eternal life. of who the members of this congregation
is going to be. He's not left a chance. God chose
him. He sent his Son to redeem him.
And right now, he's calling them out. The only reason this whole
world hadn't been wrapped up is he's still calling out his
left. And we're come to the Judge of all without fear, without
dread. Now with respect, with reverence,
but without fear. We don't have to fear death.
We don't have to have the same fear that Israel had at Sinai.
You know, in my job at work, I'll go to court sometimes. We
have to sue someone who's not paid bills or whatever, you know.
And whenever I go, I treat the judge with respect, certainly.
But I've never been afraid of the judge. Never one time ever.
Because I'm not on trial. Believers are not on trial. Now we come with respect and
reverence, but not fear because Christ was put on trial for us. He faced the judge bearing our
guilt and He was judged. He was found guilty. He was condemned
and He died in my place. So I don't have to fear the judge.
In all judgments given to Him, my judge is the one who loved
me so much He gave Himself for them. There's no fear there. There's love. And we're come
to the spirits of just men made perfect. The law only pointed
out men's sin. It only pointed out how imperfect
people are. But the law couldn't do anything
for them. In Christ, we are made perfect. Right now. Perfect. Look over in Romans chapter 8. No, we still live in a body of
sin, certainly. But that new man that's born
is righteous. Something the law never could
do for anyone. Romans 8, verse 3. For what the law could not
do, and that it was weak through the flesh. What law wasn't weak,
it's our ability to keep it was so weak. God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, for a sacrifice
for sin. Condemned sin in the flesh. that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." And all these
people, they've been made righteous. They've been brought to this
general assembly of the firstborn. Are united together in love,
in one body. In love for Christ and love for
each other. Now verse 24. And we're come to Jesus. the
Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling
that speaketh better things than that of Abel. We are not come
to a place, even an impressive place. We're not come to a place.
We're come to a person. The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
Mediator of the New Covenant. Moses was the Mediator of the
Law, the Old Covenant. And he wasn't a very good Mediator.
He's a faithful man. Don't get me wrong. But he wasn't
a very good Mediator because, at best, Moses was a sinful man. He had the shake and fear coming
into the presence of the Father. And because of who he was and
what he had done, he could not bring the people into the promised
land, could he? But Christ is the one mediator
between God and men. He goes between God and men and
brings His people back to God. And that's no small task. Our
sins have separated us from God. But Christ came. He put that
sin away through the sacrifice of Himself. He shed His blood. Brought the blood before the
Father. And God's not angry anymore. Then He comes and the person
of His Spirit gives His people a new heart and a new nature.
And we're not angry anymore either. Now there's peace. He's brought
the two parties together. And that's done through His blood. His blood before the Father satisfies
God's justice. His blood sprinkled on us purifies
the hearts and souls of His people. Just like the priest, when he'd
go into the tabernacle, he'd sprinkle everything with blood.
That blood would purify all those things in the tabernacle. The
blood of Christ sprinkled on His people, applied to His people,
purifies the hearts and souls. And our Mediator has no reason
to fear and shake at coming into the presence of His Father. He's
continually in the presence of His Father, seated at His Father's
right hand in the place of acceptance. And unlike Moses, our Mediator,
the Lord Jesus Christ, will, without a doubt, bring His people
into the promised inheritance to be with Him where He is. He's a perfect Mediator. And
the blood of Christ, lastly, speaks better things than that
of Abel's. Abel's blood cried out to God
from the ground. It cried for justice. It cried
for vengeance and it cried for a curse. The blood of Christ
cries out for mercy. Not vengeance, but mercy. His blood covers sin and removes
the curse. Abel's blood showed anger and
hatred of a man against another man, even a good man. Christ's
blood showed God's love for sinners. The people at Mount Sinai saw
the manifestation of God's holiness, His justice, and they were afraid.
They didn't want to hear any more. They ran away. The Gospel just whets the appetite
to hear more. The law, in effect, said, run
away. In effect, that's what the law
says. Do and live. Don't do, which is all we can
do, and die. It makes us just full of fear
and want to run away. There's no fear in the gospel.
What does the gospel say? Come unto me. Come. Just come
as you are. Come. The law says, get to work. When you get up in the morning,
get to work. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do all day long and don't
miss a beat. The Gospel says, come unto Me,
I'll give you rest. Why anybody would turn away from
that beyond me? Lord bless you.