again today to Hebrews chapter
12 Hebrews chapter 12 and beginning
in verse 18 reading through verse 24 for you are not come unto
the mouth that might be touched that burned with fire nor into
blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and
the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated that
the word should not be spoken to them any more. For they could
not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake. 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, 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 sprinkling that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. We began looking at these verses
last Sunday and I just want to repeat what I said then, that
the context in which these verses is found is one of exhortation
to believers, Hebrew believers, to persevere in the faith, to
persevere in grace. The passage actually began back
in chapter 10 of Hebrews With these words, let us hold fast
the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful
that promised. Let us hold fast without wavering. These Jewish believers, they
were wavering. And the exhortation is to hold
fast. And he tells them that There's
a contrast between the old dispensation and the new dispensation. Actually, that's what this whole
passage speaks of, these verses which I've just read. A contrast
between the old dispensation, a legal economy that was instituted
at Mount Sinai, and the gospel or the dispensation of the fullness
of the times when the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world. Now hear me. There's a contrast
between two dispensations, but there's no contrast between two
ways of salvation. The way of salvation is one. and has only been one way of
salvation. From the first sinner that God
saved to the last he shall save, we're all saved in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ by him and his work alone. The old dispensation was a legal
economy, a legal plan. It was physical. It was carnal. It was a mountain that might
be touched. Mount Sinai was and is an actual,
a literal mountain that you could go to, you could visit, you could
touch it. The new dispensation or this
economy is spiritual. Consider these words to the woman
at the well, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ that he spoke
to the Samaritan woman. She said to him, our fathers
worshipped in this mountain. You know there was a controversy
between the Samaritans and the Jews. The Jews rightly knew that
in Jerusalem was the place where God had put his name. It was
there that God had told them that he would meet with them.
The Samaritans, they were part Jew and part Assyrians and other
nations, that the king of Assyria had populated the part of Israel
where the ten tribes had existed. When they were taken away, he
brought some people back. And they took up the religion
of the land of Judaism, but it was a mongrel religion. It was a religion mixed. And they said, in this mountain,
Mount Gerizim, I believe it was. This is the mountain where we
are to worship. She said to the Lord Jesus Christ,
now listen, our fathers worshipped in this mountain, that is Mount
Gerizim. And you say, speaking to the
Lord Jesus Christ, who was, according to the flesh, a Jew. And you
say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
You see, there's a controversy about a place, a place, an actual
place. And the Lord Jesus spoke to this
woman and he said, woman, believe me, The hour cometh when you
shall neither in this mountain, now listen, nor yet at Jerusalem
worship the Father. You worship you know not what. My, that could be said to so
many people today. So many places and so-called
places of worship, you worship you know not what. Because God
to them is an unknown God. There's only one way that anyone
may know God, and that is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord told her, you worship,
you know not what we know. Us Jews, we know what we worship,
for salvation is of the Jews. But, but, He said unto her, but
the hour cometh, and now is. When the true worshipper shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father
seeketh such to worship Him, God is spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The old dispensation, that mountain
that might be touched with all its carnal ordinances, its altar,
its sacrifices, all of those things. It was all centered in
Jerusalem, but it was all to come to an end, and it did, and
it is replaced with that which is spiritual, that which is spiritual,
and that is this dispensation that was instituted by the coming
of Christ. In Ephesians 1 and verse 10,
it is called the dispensation of the fullness of the times.
It's called that because in the fullness of the times, God sent
forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. This dispensation,
this spiritual dispensation, it began with the coming of Jesus
Christ. We have two parts of our Bible,
don't we? The Old Testament, The Old Covenant
and the New Testament, the New Covenant. Now, this dispensation
is called the fullness of the time. And the Apostle Paul who
calls it that in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 10, he goes on to
say that God hath gathered together in one. Now listen, God hath
gathered together in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth. This tells us, and let
this sink in now, that it is in coming to Christ, it is when
a person, when you, or any person, comes to Christ, We are come
to all of these things which are mentioned here in verses
22 through 24. He's telling the Hebrew believers,
hold fast your profession of faith. You've got something much
better than those believers ever had in that old economy. Now let's go through these things
that are mentioned here in verses 23 through 24. And I want us to begin with the
last, that which is mentioned in verse 24. And to Jesus, the
mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling
that speaketh better things than that of Abel. I begin here because
this is the first in our experience. This is the first in our experience. We hear the gospel, God the Holy
Spirit convicts us of our sin, and we are appointed by the Spirit
of God to the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to Him in our experience
of salvation. This is first. You are come to
Him, and this is the foundation upon which all of these other
things are built. You are come to him whose blood
was shed to ratify the new covenant. You remember he said, this is
my blood in the new covenant, in the New Testament. You are
come to him who is the mediator of this new covenant. And when you come to him as the
mediator of this covenant, you come to him as your prophet.
He reveals God. He teaches us about God. You
come to Him as your priest. He reconciles you unto God. You come unto Him as your King. He reigns in your heart. I like that verse. I like all
the Bible. But I especially like that verse
in Revelation 1 and verse 5 that says, Who loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood. and hath made us, you and I and
all believers, he's made us kings and priests unto God. The work
of Christ, when we come to him, the mediator of this new covenant,
his blood speaks better things than the blood of Abel. You remember
Abel was Adam and Eve's son, and he was murdered by his brother
Cain. And Cain, I suppose, hid his
body, buried his body or something. But he shed his blood, his brother's
blood. And God said to Cain, where is
that brother? And Cain asked that question,
am I my brother's keeper? And God said, his blood cries
to me. His blood cries to me. The blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator of this new covenant. It speaks better things than
the blood of Abel. Abel's blood cried unto God for
justice, for vengeance. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
it speaks. And it speaks, first of all,
to God. Because after everything is said
and done, remember the work of the Lord Jesus Christ was Godward. He was doing that which would
allow God to have mercy and save and justify sinful men and women. The blood of Jesus Christ speaks
unto God, and what does it say unto God? Well, it cries for
pardon. Pardon those for whom I died. Pardon them. And the blood of
Jesus Christ, it speaks to you and I, those of us who know him,
who come to him. And what does it say to us? What
does it say to you? Well, I thought about the words
of the hymn writer. This is what his blood says to
me. See if it doesn't say the same
to you. My sin. Oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole, was nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord. It's well with
my soul. His blood speaks to me, speaks
to my conscience, and it tells me it's well. It's well. Not because of anything I've
done, anything I will ever do. But because Jesus Christ in my
place paid my sin debt. A debt that I could never pay.
Now how does a person come to Christ? The apostle said you
are come to Jesus, the mediator of the New Testament, New Covenant. But how are we come to Jesus? Well, it's not by any work. We're
not told, well, here's a list of rules and regulations, and
you do these things, and you take these steps, and you go
through this class, and you've come to Christ. No, no. We're
not told we have to take a pilgrimage to Mecca, or a pilgrimage to
Rome, or anywhere else. Or that we've got to inflict
bodily punishment upon ourselves? We've got to do penance? We've
got to really suffer? No, no. How is it that a person
comes to Christ? There's only one way. By faith. That's what he said. As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. that whosoever believeth in him
might have everlasting life. We sang that hymn just a few
moments ago, Leaning. That's what faith is. It's leaning. It's leaning the weight of your
soul, of your being upon Jesus Christ. Leaning. We have come to Jesus, the Mediator
of the New Covenant. Now let's go back to verse 22,
and let's go through these things. First of all, you've come to
Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant. And in coming to Him,
then these other things that are mentioned here, you have
also come to. You are come unto Mount Zion. The difference in spelling here
in the New Testament with an S in the Old Testament spelled
with a Z, but that's just because of the language, the Greek and
the Hebrew language. You are come unto Mount Zion. Now what can this mean? Well,
keep your places here, but let's go back to Psalm 22. Psalm 22, or Psalm 2, I'm sorry,
Psalm 2. You have come to Mount Zion.
Mount Zion was a mountain in Jerusalem. Actually, Jerusalem
was built on two mountains. One was Mount Zion and one was
Moriah, Mount Moriah. You have come to Mount Zion.
Mount Zion was a mount in Jerusalem from which the king, King David,
he built his palace upon Mount Zion. And he reigned from Mount
Zion. Well here in Psalm 2, we read,
Why do the heathen rage? That is the Gentiles. Why are
the Gentiles raging? Fighting against God, arguing
with God, disobedient to God. And the people, the Jewish people,
they're always referred to as the people. And the people imagine
a vain thing, an empty thing. And all religion, before I read
on, just remember this, all religion, and there's all kind, you take
your pick. But all religion is empty. It's empty. Why do the people
imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth, that
is, Pilate, and Herod, and Caesar, and all the others, set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together. The Pharisees, the high priests,
the rulers, they take counsel together against the Lord and
against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder
and cast away their cards from us. Here's your only begotten
Son that you've sent into this world. Well, let's deal with
Him. Here's the heir. Let's destroy
Him. Let's take care of Him. Let's
net Him to a tree. Let's crucify Him. And we will
be done with Him once and forever. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. all the rage and all the hatred
of those men at that day, to destroy the Lord's anointed,
all they were doing was executing God's plan. They nailed Him to
a tree out of hatred. And yet they were doing exactly
what God had predetermined before the foundation of the world,
the way in which He would save His people. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. Man thinks he's so smart, doesn't
he? He's so smart he's outgrown God's Word. He's figured out
now. through evolution, how we came
into existence. He's figured out how God's universe
came into existence by Big Bang. Man's so smart, he's so intelligent,
he's so learned, he's become a fool. He that setteth in the heavens
shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall
he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. You crucified him, you nailed
him to a tree, God set him on the throne. You did your best, now I set
him upon my throne. Yet have I set my king upon my
holy hill of Zion. Zion was typical, Mount Zion
was typical of God's throne in heaven from which the Lord Jesus
Christ reigns. When the angel announced to Mary,
the Virgin Mary, that she should have a son, that's one of the
things he told her. He shall sit on the throne of
his father David, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. His throne he reigns over all. When a person is born again and
comes to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, he is in the kingdom
of heaven, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of his dear son. you have come to Mount Zion. Is that clear? I trust that it
is. In coming to Christ as your Lord,
as your Savior, you have come to Mount Zion. He told Nicodemus,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
When you come to Christ, when a person is born again and by
faith trusts in Christ, you have come to Mount Zion. You are in
His kingdom. Number two, or actually number
three. You are come unto the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Verse 22. What is this? Well, this is heaven
itself. that is often spoken of in the
Bible under the words of a city, the symbol of a city. If you
have turned back here to Hebrews, look back in chapter 11. Concerning
Abraham, Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 9, the scripture says,
He, Abraham, sojourned in the land of promise. God promised
him the land of Canaan, promised it to him and his descendants.
Now notice it says, he sojourned in the land of promise as in
a strange country, dwelling in tavernacles or tents with Isaac
and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, for he looked
for a city. which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God." You get the picture? Here's Abraham
living in the land of promise, Canaan, an earthly land. But he was looking for a city. He knew the promise was much
more than that land of Canaan. He was looking for a city. which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." One writer commented, in Bible
times, a city was a place of safety, being surrounded by strong
and high walls. So in heaven we shall be eternally
secure from sin and Satan, death, and every enemy. And a city was
well stocked with provisions, so in heaven nothing is lacking
which is good and blessed. You have come unto the city of
the living God. The Apostle Paul writing to the
believers in the church at Philippi said, our conversation, and that
word is citizenship, our citizenship is in heaven. We are citizens
of this country, but oh my, we're citizens of heaven. Our citizenship in coming to
Christ, heaven is your home. coming to Christ, you've come
to Mount Zion, you're in the kingdom of God, and heaven is
the city to which you are traveling. Just like Pilgrim and Pilgrim's
Progress, remember, the celestial city. Number four, you are come to
an innumerable company of angels to the General Assembly. Now,
they elect angels, and they are referred to as principalities
and powers. There's much that we are not
told concerning angels. The Bible tells us something
about angels, but not everything. But we know there is an order. There are principalities and
powers. There's seraphim, cherubim, and
angels. But what the apostle here is
telling us, that we are come to this innumerable company of
angels, to the general assembly, all the elect angels. As well
as all of God's elect, we all have the Lord Jesus Christ as
our head. And we are told this in Revelation
chapter 5. Turn over just a few pages to
Revelation 5. Beginning here in this chapter
with verse 9, we read, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou
art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof.
For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood,
out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Now that's
God's elect. That's you and I, those of us
who are saved. We've been redeemed by the blood
of Jesus Christ. But notice it says, And has made
us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.
And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about
the throne, and the beast and the elders, and the number of
them was ten thousand times ten thousand. and thousands of thousands,
saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to
receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessing. And every creature, every creature
which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and
such are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard I saying,
blessing and honor and glory and power Be unto him that setteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. What I'm saying is, you have
come to Christ, now you have come to this innumerable company
of angels. I'm sure they're here today.
I just know that. There are angels in our presence
here today. We can't see them, but they're
here. And John, later on in the book
of Revelation, remember he saw an angel and he bowed. He started
to bow down to him and the angel took him by the hand and said,
see that you do not do that. I am a fellow servant. And in Hebrews chapter one, we
are told that these angels are sent forth to minister unto the
heirs of salvation. You say, well, does every child
of God have a special angel? I wouldn't say every child of
God has a special angel, because there may be many, many more.
I know this, that King sent his soldiers to arrest God's prophet,
Elisha. And they just surrounded the
city, horses and chariots. And Elisha's servant went out
early that morning to get some water, you know, and he looked
and he saw all these armies around the city. And he came back in
and told his master, Elisha, he said, we're surrounded. We're
surrounded. And Elisha prayed and he asked
God, open his eyes. And God opened this man's eyes
and he saw that there was chariots of horses and fire around about
the city. There was more for them than
there was against them. You have come to this innumerable
company of angels. And I wouldn't doubt, I can't
prove this, but in heaven we may be allowed to look back over
our lives and see the many times when it, if it had not been for
the interposition of an angel, we would have been destroyed. Some of you, you can just remember,
can't you, when it seemed like you were headed for a crash,
headed for an awful calamity, and somehow you were delivered. I remember one time, many years
ago, traveling in Mexico, and they used to have what they called
the green angels. I don't know if they have them
anymore. But I tell you what, if your car broke down, you were
out in the middle of nowhere, and one of those green angels
came along, he was an angel to you. Not a literal angel of God,
but the government, an angel of the government. to help you
on your way and get your car going or whatever it took. We
had that happen one time. But I know God has his angels
watching over his people all around him. You have come to
an innumerable company of angels. One of the writers that I read
mentioned that these angels, the number is so great. And he said greater than God's
elect. Now I don't know where he got
that. Because I believe there's a great number of angels and
there's also a great number of those that Christ redeemed with
his precious blood. Notice on further, you are come
to the church of the firstborn. And that's all I can say about
that. This is a church that is the body of Christ, the temple
of God. It is that church which is built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone. It is that church against which
the gates of hell shall not prevail. Number six, you are come to God
the judge of all. That is to God who is the governor
of this universe, of his universe, of his world. And number seven,
you are come to the spirits of just men made perfect. These are Old Testament believers. We're one with them. They're
the just spirits made perfect. A.W. Pink said, the words made
perfect are relative and not absolute, because while they
are in heaven today, yet they await the resurrection and the
full glorification of their bodies, which is yet future. Let me close with another quote
from John Owen. John Owen wrote a commentary
on the book of Hebrews. I have it in four volumes. The
introduction has a thousand pages. John Owen was one of the most
learned of all the Puritans, I suppose. But his work, I don't think,
can ever be surpassed. Certainly not in content. First, he said this concerning
these Old Testament saints. They had reached the end of their
race wherein they had been engaged with all the duties and difficulties,
temptations, and tribulations connected therewith. They had
ended. or reach the end of their race. Remember, that's how this chapter
begins, isn't it? Let us run with patience the
race that is set before us. These Old Testament saints, they
had reached the end of their race. Number two, they were completely
delivered from sin and sorrow, labor and trouble, which in this
life they had been exposed to. And third, they had now entered
into their rest and reward and were, according to their present
capacity, in the immediate presence of God and perfectly happy. And one day, by God's grace,
you and I will be there with them. You are calm. to Jesus, the Mediator of the
New Covenant. I trust that you have come to
Him. And if you haven't, that God's
grace will enable you this morning to look to Christ. Don't look
to yourself. You look inside, there's nothing
there to give any hope. But my friends, you look to Christ,
the center substitute, God's Son, the Redeemer. You look to Him. Lean upon Him,
trust in Him, and there's life for a look in the crucified one. May the Lord bless this word.
Let's sing this hymn.