In a moment, I want us to look
at Hebrews chapter 12, but turn with me for a little background
to Ephesians, the first chapter. The Jews have a legend. I don't
much care for their legends any more than I do for anyone else's,
except when they serve a good purpose, and the legend serves
a good purpose. There's a legend among the Jews
that Joseph, when he was prime minister in Egypt and there was
a famine throughout the land of Canaan, Joseph had the storehouses
of Egypt, plentifully full storehouses, opened up and he would take huge
loads of grain and cast it into the Nile so that all those in
the land of famine might know there was bread somewhere upriver
and make their way to Egypt. I don't know about the legend,
but I know that our great Joseph, the Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator,
the prime minister of this universe, that man who died in our room
instead at Calvary, has cast into the river of life all the
bountiful grace of our God. to turn our hearts heavenward,
that we might look earnestly for that inheritance that is
ours in Him. The Lord has two ways by which
He graciously forces us not to build our nest on anything or
in any place in this world. are the trials, trials such as
we have seen in this 11th and 12th chapter of Hebrews. Thinking
of those things, I wrote a few lines that will be in the bulletin
Sunday. Every air of endless bliss passing
through this wilderness finds his journey to the end. vexed with trouble and with sin. This is God's all-wise decree. May He give us grace to see.
Thus He weans us from the earth, its vanity and empty mirth. He sends trouble, trials, and
heartaches He sends difficulties here so that it is written we
must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.
It is true that if we enter into that eternal home at last with
Christ in heaven, we must go home by way of the cross. There's no other way but this. But at the same time, our Lord
has graciously poured out upon us the rich bounty of that which
awaits us. Grace here is but the foretaste
of glory there. Grace is glory begun. And glory is grace finished. Look in Ephesians 1 for just
a moment. I want you to see two things. Heaven is our eternal
inheritance. But it is not just pie in the
sky and sweet by and by. We are given the foretaste of
it already. And it is an inheritance that
we have already obtained. Now hear me. It is an inheritance
that we who are gods have already obtained through the purchase
of Christ's precious blood as our substitute, our mediator,
earned won and purchased all the glory of the heavenly inheritance
for all his people. Nothing left to chance. Look
at Ephesians 1 verse 11. In whom we have obtained an inheritance. Do you see that? It's already
done. It's finished. We haven't yet
taken possession of it, but we've already obtained it. We haven't
yet personally laid hold of it, but it's already ours. In whom
we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. Now look at verse 13. Not only
have we obtained this inheritance by the purchase of Christ, but
all the inheritance of heaven's glory, that means all the grace
along the way too, is already ours because God the Holy Spirit
has been given to us as the earnest of that inheritance that awaits
us. Look here at verse 13. in whom you also trusted, as
God the Father trusted Christ with your soul and with his glory,
the time came when you trusted him. When? After that you heard
the word of truth. When a man or woman is made to
hear the word of, quite literally, the truth, the truth of the gospel,
the gospel of your salvation, when God the Holy Spirit brings
the gospel of Christ to your heart, causing you to look to
Christ, trusting Him. He speaks peace to your soul,
and it comes to you not just as the gospel of salvation accomplished,
but the gospel of your salvation. Oh, my soul, He did this for
me. He actually put away my sins.
He actually fulfilled all things on my behalf. in whom you also
trusted, after that you heard the word of the truth, the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also, after that you believed, and
this is not told by some second work of grace, quite literally
the passage should read like this, in whom also, having believed,
having believed, You were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
look at this now, which is the earnest of our inheritance. Most of you know Faith and Doug
just sold the house they're living in, getting ready to move. And
we were over there a week or so ago in the evening taking
care of the kids. Somebody came by to look at their house. And
before the fellow left, he put something in Doug's hand. It's
called earnest money, earnest money, down payment, security
deposit, whatever you want to call it. That means if you don't
get the house, you lose the earnest. It also means that you're in
dead earnest about getting this thing. It means that you put
something up to show your determination. Now listen to me. God, the Holy
Spirit in us, is the earnest, the pledge, the promise, the
foretaste, the down payment, the sign of God's absolute earnestness
in giving us everlasting glory. And God's not going to lose his
down payment. He's not going to lose the earnest
money. He's the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption
of the purchase possession There again that word redemption is
used in such a broad way. Here it's talking not about what
happened at Calvary or even what happens when God the Holy Spirit
comes in regenerating grace, but it's talking about the final
consummation of our deliverance from all the consequences of
the fall and of sin and the curse of the law when these bodies
are raised up and delivered into the glorious likeness of the
resurrected Christ and we're made to possess everything that
we have already obtained in Him. All right, now, turn over to
Hebrews chapter 12, if you will. Hebrews, the 12th chapter. We're going to look at verses
18 through 24, and rather than reading them at the outset, let
me give them to you as we go along. Verses 18 through 24. If you belong to God, If you
are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, if God has in His boundless
infinite mercy opened your dead soul and poured into you the rivers
of living water flowing from the throne of God, springing
up in you unto everlasting life, Then here the Holy Spirit declares
are nine heavenly blessings that are yours. They're yours. They're not things that we're
going to obtain. They're already ours. They're
not things we're going to have. We already have them. Oh, we won't enter into the fullness
of them until we've dropped this robe of flesh. But they're ours
to enjoy now. So I pray that God the Holy Spirit
will give you grace to enjoy them a little. Number one, look
at verses 18 to 21. Having come to Christ by faith,
believing on the Son of God, we now, right now, enjoy the
blessed privilege of complete, absolute freedom. from the curse
and terror of God's holy law. Look at verse 18. For you are
not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned
with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and
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? My soul, what's he talking about?
He's talking about what's described in Exodus chapter 20. For they
could not endure that which was commanded, that if so much as
a beast touched the mountain, it should be stoned or thrust
through with a dart, let alone a man. If there's any ox that
just happens to brush up against that mountain, you kill it. If
there's any ass that just happens to step over into the edge of
that mountain, you stone it. If there's any dog that should
walk up on that mountain while God's giving His law, you take
that dog and shoot him with a dart. Kill him on the spot. Don't you
come near this place. Don't you come near this place.
If you do, God says, I'll kill you. And so terrible was the
sight, verse 21, that Moses, by whom God was pleased to give
his law, said, I exceedingly fear and quake. What relationship
do we have with the law? I can't tell you how often I've
been asked the question, but isn't there some way in which
the believer has some connection with the law. You can't just
say that the law of God has nothing to do with the believer. No,
I wouldn't dare say that. But Paul did. And he said it
rather emphatically. He says, you are not come to
Mount Sinai. Oh, thank God. Thank God. We have nothing to do with that
mountain of blackness and darkness and terror and death. Nothing. Nothing. So terrible was the sight, and
so terribly holy is God's law. So terrible was the sight, and
so terribly strict is God's justice, that if any man approaches Mount
Sinai, any man comes to Mount Sinai and puts his hand to that
law, that man suffers death and to no exception. The law is given
to condemn. That's all it can do. The law
is given to slay. That's all it can do. It can't
motivate. Wasn't designed for that purpose.
It can't direct. Wasn't designed for that purpose.
It can't inspire. Wasn't designed for that purpose.
All it can do is strike terror in your soul and death at last
if you touch it. But Christ Oh, thank God, He
has fulfilled the law for us. And now, in Him, we're free. Look at two passages, just two.
They're familiar to you, but look at them. Romans chapter
7. Romans chapter 7, verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren, you also
are become, D-E-A-D, dead to the law. Well, what does that mean? Now, can you imagine asking that
question? If you went to the funeral home and you looked at
somebody, well, he's dead. What do you mean by that? I mean,
he's dead. Man, I owed him a million dollars. Don't matter now, he's dead.
You know, he threatened to kill me last week. Don't matter now,
he's dead. He came up in my yard last week, had a gun in his hand.
If I hadn't got out of his sight, I'd be dead. Don't matter now,
he's dead. What do you mean by that? I mean, he don't matter.
I mean, he don't matter. He's of no consequence. He's
of no significance. He's dead. He's dead. You are dead to the law. Dead to the law. The law has
nothing now to do with us. We're dead. We died to it in
Christ that you should be married to another. Look at chapter 10,
verse 4. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Everyone that believes. The law
demands righteousness. Will we ever learn this? The
law demands perfect, absolute righteousness. Will we ever learn
it? Absolute holiness. Our consciences
demand the same. And we strive and work and labor
and hope somehow by something we do to achieve it. And even
though we say, oh, I trust Jesus for my salvation, we still keep
trying to make ourselves righteous before God, and we find no rest
in our souls until we come to the end of the law. And the end
of the law is Christ. The end of the law is faith in
Christ. The end of the law, when we cease
trying to make ourselves good, when we cease trying to make
ourselves acceptable to God, when we cease trying to appease
God, we've reached the end of the law. We've come to faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the end of the law. Our
Savior, by His obedience to the law as our representative, and
by His death before the law as our surety and substitute, satisfied
every demand of the law. And therefore, it is written,
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Being made
a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. For this purpose, He endured
it, that the blessing of Abraham might come on us. God's elect
among the Gentiles as well as the Jews. All right, look back
at Hebrews 12, 22. Number one, we have complete
freedom, complete, total, absolute, unchanging, unchangeable freedom
from God's holy law. Number two, in Christ, we who
believe now have the enjoyment a free access to God. But you
are come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. You have already
come. Again, this is not talking about
something in the future. It's not even really talking
about that which is present, but rather that which is already
done. Having come to God by faith in
Christ, we have already come to Mount Zion, the city of the
living God, the new Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an
innumerable company of angels. We've come to this church of
the firstborn. And now, coming to Christ by
faith, we continually come here. Mount Zion was the hill on which
the temple of God was built. There alone, God set the holy
place. There alone, God set the holy
of holies. There alone was the mercy seat. Where God said, I will meet you
between the cherubs on the mercy seat. God said to all the people
of Israel throughout the days of the Old Testament types and
ceremonies, there's only one place where I'll ever meet you,
only one place where I'll ever speak peace to you, only one
place where I'll ever receive you, and that's on the mercy
seat, through the blood of the sacrifice put there by the high
priest on the Day of Atonement, the blood of the Paschal Lamb.
Now listen to me. Jesus Christ is our mercy seat. He is our sacrifice. He is our paschal lamb. He is our high priest. He is our holy temple. And he's the only place where
God will ever meet with you. Did you hear me? Did you hear
me? Oh, he comes and meets with his
people in the assembly of his saints, but only as we meet around
the mercy seat. He comes and visits us with His
grace, but only as we meet around the mercy seat. God comes to
us in mercy, but only as we come by faith to the mercy seat. This
is not a sanctuary. This is not a holy place. This is not some kind of a mystical
building. This is just a building, no more
holy than a barn. The only difference is, here
God's people come together. And He meets with us as we meet
at the mercy seat. Not here, but yonder. Understand
that? It's a heart matter. It's a faith
matter. It's got nothing to do with physical
or material things. It's altogether faith. Now, we
have come here. to this holy place. And now,
being ourselves made to be the temple of God, Christ our priest,
our mercy seat, our sacrifice, we have free, constant access
to, a constantly open way of approach to God Almighty. Now, I've just said more than
I can ever begin to talk about. Not only do we have access to
God, we have an open way of approach to God Almighty on His throne
that can never be blocked up, shut, or even constricted. Did you get that? Sometimes, not sometimes, most
of the time, to be honest. Most of the time, we talk to
God in public prayer. I really don't think we're talking
to him. We're talking to each other. It's acting like we're
talking to him. And we want to show humility. And so we start
preparing ourselves for prayer. And we start preparing ourselves.
to come to God. And we start preparing ourselves
to come into His presence. Now, Lord, as we come into Your
presence, we beg of You that You'd open a way. It's open. It's open. And the only thing
that's closed is us. But when can I go to God? Just
whenever you take a notion to. When can I go to God? all the
time. Right now, the Lord God bids
us come freely to the throne of grace. Now, I hope I don't
need to explain what I'm saying. I'm not talking about this silly,
irreverent, blasphemous nonsense that you see in the religious
world, go and bombard heaven and claim things in the name
of Jesus, and now I've got it. Oh, no, no, no. I'm not talking
about anything lacking reference. I am talking about freedom. Freedom. I don't know any other
way to illustrate it than that which I'm familiar with. I had
just one daughter from her earliest childhood. She has been free to walk into
my office call up on my lap and tell me anything she wants to
and ask anything of me. But she's always known to do
it with respect. And you know what? I never really
had to insist on it much. She just knew, this is what you
do. And she, loving her dad, respects
him. The two go together. We come
to God with no barriers except the barriers in us. How often your children, how
often did you as a child experience horrible timidity going to your dad to
talk to him about something, he was tickled to death once
you got it out for you to talk to him about it. But you were
full of fear, full of apprehension, full of not knowing your dad,
full of mistrust. And all the problems in you,
not in him, all together in you. That's what keeps us from God. Do you understand that? All the
difficulties in here, not there. Come boldly, freely to the throne
of grace that you may obtain mercy, whatever mercy you need,
and grace, whatever grace you need, in time of need, whatever
the need is. We enjoy this access to God. And we ought to know how free
and open it is because we have perpetually God's presence and
union with us. He says, I'll come to you. My
Father will come to you. We'll come to you in the person
of the Spirit. We'll not leave you orphans. And we are perfectly
accepted. Accepted into beloved. All right, let me move on. I
want to get done. Here's the third thing. You and I, trust in Christ,
right now possess the privilege of heavenly citizenship. You
are come unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Our citizenship is in heaven
from whence we look for the Savior. Let me see if I can illustrate
that for you. I travel a good bit. Go to Mexico,
other countries. Used to go to the islands a lot.
And I'm always conscious of some things when I'm traveling. I'm
conscious of the fact that I'm not really terribly welcome where
I am. I'm a stranger. And if you go
to a place where you are dead, sure enough, a stranger, you
know it. Nobody has to say a word. You
just know it. You don't belong here, bud. But
I also want to behave in such a way that I don't bring any
reproach upon my own people, upon Americans, upon my homeland.
Traveling, you'll find out in a hurry that Americans don't have a lot of respect abroad
most places. Because when people got a little
money and they get away from the restraints of mom and dad,
or get away from the restraints of husband or wife, or they get
out there where nobody knows them, well, you can just imagine
what happens. All restraints are gone. Never
going to get back home. But when they leave, that's what
everybody over there thinks Americans are. I don't want to bring any
reproach to my homeland. But at the same time, I'm not
the least bit interested in looking into the possibility of buying
some property or making some investments down there. I'm not going to be there long.
I'm not interested in sinking any roots. I'm not interested
in setting my heart on anything there. I can look at some things
and enjoy them. Several years ago, Shelby and
I were down there, we were out in the square in Minnetonah,
and they came out to take down the flag in the afternoon. Man,
I thought I wish they did that in Danville. They came out to
take down the Mexican flag. And there's all kinds of folks
out there in that huge city in the square. The military marched
out, armed. Armed. And some fools were standing
around there that didn't have enough sense to pay some respect
and take their hats off. I watched the fellow. He took an M16 or
whatever the thing was. I don't know what it was. I don't
know guns very well. With a bayonet on the end of it and poked him
in the belly and pointed at his hat. The hat came off. I stood
there and was impressed. I mean, I was impressed. And
I was thankful for the experience. I don't think I'll forget it
till I die. But the flag didn't mean much to me. It wasn't significant
to me. I'm not a citizen there. More
than that, I don't even get disturbed by
what's going on down there. I just don't get disturbed by
it. Some years ago, I was visiting Kingston, Jamaica, and they were
going through some terrible times of riots, gunfire and murder
and all that in the city of Kingston. And I went down there and did
what I went there to do, did some preaching, and I wasn't
fool enough to go places where I knew I didn't need to go, but
I wasn't too much disturbed by it. I was leaving in just a few
days. It really didn't matter a great
deal to me. Children of God, we are strangers here. Strangers
here. Don't set your heart on anything
here. Don't do it. And don't let anything
here disturb you much. Just don't do it. Not worth it.
Not worth it. Fourthly, we who are gods, I'm
about to say something. I can just say it and move on
because I don't know much about it, but I know it's so. We have the companionship of
the angels of God. We come to an innumerable company
of angels. This I know. I don't know much
about angels. I've read some books, even took
some courses studying them, and know less about them now than
I did when I started. I just don't know much about them. And
the fellows who write the books don't know much about them. But
this I know. There's a whole bunch of them. They're called
here innumerable. I know according to Hebrews 1,
they are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those
who shall be the heirs of salvage. I was riding down the road the
other day. I forgot who I was with now. Oh, Larry and I were coming
back from Tennessee. Man, that traffic. I forgot how
many lanes it was coming out of Nashville. Just shoo, shoo,
shoo, shoo, shoo. That fog park. That fog park. Well, boy, I'm glad they're good
drivers. I'm glad angels ride on fenders. You don't really
believe that, do you? Oh, yes, I do. Oh, yes, I do. Believe in guardian angels? Not
a guardian angel. Don't believe Roman Catholic
superstition. Guardian angels? Oh, yeah. All of them. They're
sent of God to minister to those who should be heirs of salvation.
And when God's elect leave this world, they come to God's Elijahs
and carry them up to glory. The angels of God, right here
tonight. Right here. listening to every word preached,
every prayer uttered, every song sung, that they might learn something
about what they could never know. Redemption and grace, mercy,
forgiveness. I know this too. If we are His, if we belong to
Christ, All the spiritual wealth of the sons of God is ours. We have come here as the sons
and daughters of God Almighty to the General Assembly and church,
look at this now, church of the firstborn. Come here to the General Assembly
and Church of Christ. No, that's not a good translation.
It would be better translated to the General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn Ones, whose names are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect. You see, in the family of God, All the sons of God are firstborn
sons. There are no degrees of acceptance,
no degrees of heirship, no degrees of glory, no degrees of favor. All God's sons are firstborn
sons. We were, what did Paul say to
Ephesians 2? He hath quickened us together with Christ. That means Dave Burrage, when
Jesus Christ died, we died in Him. When He was buried, we were
buried in Him. And when God raised His Son from
the dead in new life, He raised us from death to new life in
His sons. And we come one by one to experience
that newness of life when he gives us life and faith in him.
But all his sons are firstborn sons. Our names were written
in heaven before the world began in the book of life of the Lamb,
slain from the foundation of the world. All right, here's
the sixth thing. Every believer, every child of
God, is absolutely safe, perfectly secure, I'll put you now, listen to the
word you preach. Constantly under the defense,
protection, and care of God's holy, sovereign, omnipotent throne. Verse 23, to God, the judge of
all. God has judged our sins in Christ
and declares that we are no longer subject to condemnation. But
more than that, he's the judge of all things. Did you ever notice
how David spoke in the Psalms and he said, Lord, you plead
my cause. Lord, you undertake for me. Lord, you deal with my enemies. I stand before you righteous. I stand before you as your servant. There's more at stake here than
Don Fortner. There's more at stake here than
Grace Baptist Church. There's more at stake here than
Bob Zalapanza. What's at stake with the welfare
of God's people? God Almighty, His glory and His
throne. That's what's at stake. Sometimes I meet up with men
who will not take care of their families. They just won't do
it. Lazy buzzards. Not worth the salt and powdered
tape to kill them. They expect somebody else to take care of
their family for them, but they won't do it. They just won't do it.
They won't do it. I have more respect for horse
droppings than I do for such men. And I'm telling you what,
our Heavenly Father takes care of His own. And we ought to treat Him like
He did. That means trust Him, believe Him, confide in Him. Cast your care on Him. We've
come to God the judge of all. Number seven, being united to
Christ by faith, we are brought into the company of glorified
saints, the spirits of just men made perfect. Again, I can't say much about
that either. I haven't seen any of them yet. But it's talking
about the present tense. If tonight we've come here and
engaged in worshiping God, Rex, when we walked in here in the
name of Christ, this assembly becomes the temple of God, 1
Corinthians 3, Matthew 18, 20. More than that, we have come in our hearts to heaven itself. And we worship around the throne
of God, right where those elders are
seated, described in Revelation 4. And with the spirits of just
men made perfect, worship the Lamb of God. It's called, you
are called. to the General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn, to the spirits of just men made perfect. They
are our brethren with us in the body of Christ. They worship
before the throne just like we do, only they worship perfectly.
They rejoice before God, according to Luke chapter 16. Every time one of God's elect
is saved, there's joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repents. And they are very, very interested
in what's going on down here amongst us who are not yet made
perfect. They are that innumerable great cloud of witnesses urging
us all in the faith. Number eight, verse 24. You and
I who believe are the objects of the personal care and mediation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if God will give you some
direction, I'll come back to this next week, but let me give you
a hint. To Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, to the blood
of sprinkling, there speaketh better things than that of Abel. Abel's blood cries from the ground
for justice. And it got him. Will you hear me now? The blood
of Christ cries from the ground for justice and cries at the
bar of God in heaven for justice. Not to the slaughter of his brother,
but to the everlasting salvation of his brethren. We've come to
Jesus, our Savior, The Mediator, Daysman, Advocate and surety
of that covenant ordered in all things ensure. And lastly, we
have right now, as surely as the saints in heaven have it,
full, irrevocable salvation through Christ's precious blood, because
His blood cries at the throne of heaven. for our salvation
on the basis of justice. For what does the blood of Christ
speak? Does it speak for forgiveness? Then I'm forgiven. Does it speak
for justification? Then I'm justified. Does it speak
for sanctification? Then I'm sanctified. Does it
speak for glorification? Then I'm glorified. Does it speak
for life? Then life is mine. Five bleeding wounds he bears. Received at Calvary, they pour
effectual prayers. They strongly plead for me. Forgive him. Oh, forgive, they
cry. Nor let that ransomed sinner
die. Amen. Brother Lynch, you can
listen to him, please.