Hebrews chapter 12 and today
we are looking at verses 18 through 24. For you are not come unto
the mouth that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor
unto 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 touched
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. I'm sure this morning that we
would all agree that these verses that I've just read, this passage
is a tremendous and glorious part of the Word of God. And I want to begin my message
today by reminding us of three things as we look at these verses. First of all, this passage was
originally written to Christians who were by nationality Jews. The first words, you are not
come to the mount that might be touched. We all recognize,
or we should at least, that this speaks of Mount Sinai, which
had a special place In the history of the nation of Israel, the
apostle who wrote these words, he was not saying that those
to whom he wrote the letter, that they themselves had actually
come to Mount Sinai. I doubt that any of them had
ever visited such a barren place as Mount Sinai, but their nation
in its conception or in its beginning, after they left Egypt, when they
were constituted a nation and the people of God, they had come
to Mount Sinai. So we need to recognize that,
first of all, these words were at first written to Christians,
those who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who were by
nationality Jews. Number two, we should recognize
that the context, the overall context in which these verses
are found has to do with the perseverance of the saints. If you look back to chapter 10,
just a moment, this whole passage really begins here in chapter
10 and verse 23 with these words, let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering. Now the Word of God teaches,
and we believe this and preach this with all our hearts, the
preservation of every chosen sheep, everyone that was given
to Christ in that everlasting covenant of grace We believe
that each and every one shall be preserved and shall be brought
home safely into heaven. And while the scriptures teach
this truth, the preservation of the saints, this truth must
not and should not promote presumption nor neglect on our part. This truth, a wonderful, glorious
truth, that God's people are saved and safe for eternity. It was never given and it should
not be used to cause presumption on the part of those who profess
to be God's people. The flip side of preservation
is perseverance. Perseverance. He preserves us. We persevere in the faith. Look with me over to 1st Peter
chapter 1 just a moment. In 1st Peter chapter 1 and verse
5. Let me begin my reading in verse
3. 1st Peter 1 beginning with verse
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the
power of God through faith, unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. Do you see those who are begotten
again unto this inheritance, which is heaven, that we are
kept by the power of God, but don't stop there, through faith,
through faith, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, faith is not an isolated act. It's not something that
a person does one time in some kind of evangelistic service
and moved by their emotions. They walk down a church aisle
or they pray a prayer that the preacher tells them to pray or
anything like that, and so-called they have faith, they have believed
in Christ, and then they go out and that's the end of that. Everything's
taken care of. I'm on my way to glory now. Everyone
who truly calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and
we are kept by the power of God, but always through faith, through
faith in Christ. I have believed, I am believing,
and by the grace of God, I shall continue to believe. Several years ago, I called a
friend of mine early one morning. He was in his early 90s. gone
to be with the Lord. Been a pastor I've known for
many years, faithful man of God, and his wife answered the phone. She called him to the phone and
took a little while. He had to get his hearing aids
in to hear me. And I asked him, I said, Brother,
what are you doing? He said, Pastor, he said, I'm
following on to know the Lord. You say, well didn't he know
the Lord? I believe he did. He had been a faithful preacher
of the gospel of Jesus Christ for many years. What did he mean
then? He was following on to know the
Lord. He was saying the same thing
the Apostle Paul said in Philippians chapter 2, that I may know him. That I may know him. You say,
don't you know him? Oh yeah, I know him, but I want
to know him. And in that word, know, is included
the word love. In the scripture, those whom
he did foreknow, speaks of his love. And when a person knows
someone, in this sense, loves that person, then we continue
to desire to know that person, to love that person, to be with
that person, to please that person. And a person who said, well,
I believed, and they use that in the past tense, I believed. No, my friends, there's no greater
truth and no more comforting truth than the preservation of
the saints. But it should not be misconstrued
to teach that people can believe and then that's the end of that.
to know God. And remember, you say, well,
that was Paul. He was an exceptional case. Let me remind you of this.
The Apostle Paul said that he was a pattern. He was a pattern. You know what a pattern is? He
was a pattern for those that should believe on Jesus Christ. Oh, yes. We know Him. We trust
Him. We believe in Him. But we are
kept by the power of God through faith. So these words that we
are looking at today in the context, the teaching is the perseverance,
the preservation of the saints. Let us hold fast, let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering. And then the
next few words there in chapter 10 are these, Let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but
exhorting one another. So first of all, these words
that we are looking at this morning were originally written to believers
who were of the nation of Israel. And second, the context in which
they are found is one that speaks to us of the perseverance of
the saints. That's the reason when we preached
two weeks ago from the very beginning of this chapter, let us run with
patience, with endurance the race that is set before us. Number
three, we should recognize this, the temptation that the text
especially deals with was for them to return to what we call
Judaism. Now, how does the apostle deal
with this temptation? The exhortation is to persevere,
to persevere in the faith. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith. They were being tempted to turn
back because they had come out of Judaism. They were Jews. They'd come out of Judaism. and
they are tempted now to turn back. But how does the Apostle
Paul deal with this temptation? He shows, and this is a passage
we're looking at today, he shows the great contrast. I hope you
can see this today and every day. The great contrast between
the mount that might be touched, in other words, that to which
they were tempted to return, and that to which we are come. You know, in the letter of Hebrews,
the apostle, he shows several contrasts. First of all, he begins
with the contrast between the Lord Jesus Christ and the holy
angels. They are called the sons of God,
sure, but they are not the Son of God. He never said to one
of those angels, set thou at my right hand till I make thy
footstool, make thy people to be thy footstool. He never said
that to any angel. Christ is superior. He is the
everlasting Son of God. He is the eternal Son of God.
He is one with the Father and with God the Holy Spirit. And
so he begins with that contrast between Christ and the angels.
And then we come on through the book of Hebrews and we see there's
a contrast between the priesthood. The priesthood of Aaron and that
of Christ. Christ was made a priest with
an oath. God took an oath. Can you imagine
that? God who cannot lie, God who cannot
change, that He would take an oath and say, Thou art a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. None of those Old Testament priests
were ever made a priest with an oath. And we know that He
shows a contrast between the covenants That old covenant that
God made with the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai and the new and
everlasting covenant of grace. And then he shows also this contrast. This contrast between that old
dispensation and what we call this new dispensation. Now someone might ask, well how
could anyone How could anyone be tempted to go back to that
old legal bondage? How could anyone be tempted to
that? Well, let us remember that even
believers, we too, have three enemies. As long as we are in
this world, we have three enemies. And they're real. Make no mistake
about it. These are not imaginary. These
are not some kind of scare tactic. These enemies that we all have
are real. The flesh we speak of first.
The flesh. And we will have this flesh,
that old nature, that old atom. We will have this until this
body dies. We're going to have it. And that's
a real enemy. encourage us, that would whisper
to us, turn back, give up, what's the use? You ever have any thoughts
like that? The flesh, we've all got that
same enemy. And then the world, the world,
it hasn't changed and it's never going to change. This world is
under a curse. It's no friend of God, and it's
no friend to help us to God. You know, we get, sometimes we
act as though we're surprised at the things of this world.
But remember, who is the God of this world? The Prince of
Darkness. We shouldn't be surprised at
anything that this world comes up with. And also we have the
enemy of Satan. And the scripture says that he
walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He's a formidable enemy, my friends. He has power. He doesn't have
all power. Thank God for that. In fact,
the scripture says, resist the devil and he will flee from thee. But we do have these three enemies. Someone might say, well how is
a passage like this relevant to me? I was never in Judaism. I've never been tempted to turn
back to Judaism. That's true, absolutely. But every one of us in this building
who know Christ today, at one time we were under the power
of darkness. Turn back over a few pages to
Colossians chapter 2. We were under the power of darkness. And you may be here today and
you are still under the power of darkness. Colossians chapter
1 and verse 12, Paul says, giving thanks unto
the Father. You know God's people are thankful
people. God's people are thankful people.
How could you not be thankful? If God's made you one of His,
how could you not be thankful? How could we not be thankful?
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet, means
He's qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son. God delivered us, translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son. In other words, we are come
unto Mount Zion. We are come unto Mount Zion,
as this verse, this passage tells us. And this truth should and
does promote thanksgiving on our part. And as we look at the
privileges of this dispensation in which we now live, what thanksgiving
it should promote in our hearts. Now you say, well, what do you
mean by that word dispensation, preacher? I visited many, many
years ago a church camp in Pennsylvania. I preached there for a couple
of nights. And the man who ran that camp,
I had not met him until I got there. Someone had recommended
me to him, and he gave me a booklet that he had written. And after
I left there, I found out that about half or more of the Bible
wasn't even for me. They had it all divided into
different dispensations, you know. And the sermon on the mouth,
that's not for us. That was for the Jews. Brother
Ralph Barnard used to say, anytime we come up against anything in
the scriptures that we don't like, we say, well, that was
for the Jews. Oh, no. Now, when I use the word
dispensation, I want to make sure we all understand what the
word means. When it's used in reference to
God, It always means plan, scheme, economy. You look up the word
economy in the dictionary and the first definition you will
find is a plan for the household. In other words, a householder,
whoever is in authority, he has an economy. He has a plan as
he governs his house. Now, the dispensation that we're
talking about is the dispensation of the fullness of the times. Now, turn back with me to Ephesians.
I started to let you in on a little secret. I never intended to cover all
of these things this morning, and I won't have time. Well,
look with me here in Ephesians. This is such an important verse
of Scripture in this context. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verses
9 and 10. The Apostle Paul says, Having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of the times, he might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on
earth, even in him." This dispensation of the fullness of the times.
Remember in Galatians he says, in the fullness of the times,
God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law.
This dispensation began with the incarnation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. From His incarnation. And yes,
the world got this right when they divided the dates between
B.C. and A.D. Before Christ and in
the year of our Lord. Because this is certainly true
of this old legal economy was before Christ came. this dispensation
that began in the fullness of the times with the incarnation,
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into this world. And let
me say this, this is the last dispensation as well. There's
not going to be another one. There's going to be an eternal
eternity, that's true, but this is the last dispensation in the
fullness of the times. We have been in the last days
since the coming of Jesus Christ. You know, you hear these preachers
play on that. And for some reason, people are
just interested. They have tickled ears that have
to be tickled if you can promise them anything about future events,
things that are going to happen in the future. And men have learned
to use that and draw crowds. But we have been in the last
times, if people will believe the word of God, since the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at that in Hebrews chapter
1. Hebrews chapter 1. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days... See what I'm saying? We've been in the last days.
The last days began with the coming of Christ. In this dispensation,
God's purpose, God's economy is to head everything up in Christ. Everything is headed up in Him. Now let me say a word of warning
here. By no means does this mean or
does this teach that there have been two ways of salvation. That's not true and that's not
what I'm saying. There's only been one Savior.
There's only been the blood of one sacrifice that puts away
sin. Now those in that legal economy,
that old dispensation before the coming of Christ, they look
forward. They look forward by faith to
the coming of the one who was promised to be the seed of the
woman who would bruise the head of the serpent, who would destroy
the works of Satan. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
But now He has come and By His coming and by His work and finishing
the work of salvation, that old economy has passed away. It's passed away. And that's
what the Apostle Paul is telling these people here. And as I said,
we would never be tempted to go back to Judaism. We were never
in Judaism. But we were in this world under
the dominion and power of the God of this world. And there's
always a temptation to turn back, to look back. But oh, when you
see the privileges. And like Peter said, when the
Lord asked them, will you also go away? Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ. the Son of God. There is a temptation to turn
away, but where will you go? To these folks, it was back to
Judaism. But who would leave the blessedness
of this dispensation of knowing Christ and go somewhere else? Reminds me of a man that that
I knew years ago, he owned a restaurant. And he told this story that there
was a family dining in the restaurant one time and they had fried chicken.
And so their young child was in a high chair there and they
gave him a chicken bone or something, you know, to kind of cut his
teeth on. I guess you don't do that anymore,
but it's back in the old days. And I tell you what, when the
family got ready to leave, that boy was not ready to turn loose
with that chicken bone. He wasn't going to let it go.
And this man who owned the restaurant, he very wisely picked up something
that was shinier and offered it in exchange for the bone.
And the baby gave the bone away. Who would turn away from Christ
to the weak and beggarly elements of this world? To the law and
all of those commandments and all of those ceremonies and rites
and rituals that were associated with that old economy. Now, if you will, let's just
glance, and I mean that, let's just glance at the Judaism to
which they were tempted to return. And we see this presented to
us in verses 18 through 21. For you are not common to the
mouth that might be touched. Now you can read about this later,
if you will, in Exodus chapter 19. But let me just mention some
things about that mountain. When God came down and issued
His law and the Ten Commandments, which were a preamble to that
whole law, He issued that to the nation of Israel as a covenant. And everything that we read here
about that experience shows the inferiority of that dispensation. First, we are told there was
blackness and darkness. blackness and darkness and shadows. You know, in that old dispensation,
Christ is there. Christ is presented, but he's
presented in those shadows. Now, we who live today, we, with
the New Testament, we can take that tabernacle all apart. And
it's a blessing to do it, isn't it? To take that tabernacle all
apart, all of the coverings all of the boards, the silver buckles
that held those boards together. I mean the sacrifices, all of
it. And we can show you how it all
spoke of Christ. But let me tell you something,
if you had lived in that day, seeing those things might not
have been quite as easy. Now that He's come and brought
all this to light, It's much easier to see those types and
those shadows, how they speak of Christ, isn't it? Sure it
is. But this old economy, it was
all dark, black. And number two, there was a tempest. Now, tempest, of course, speaks
of the wind and the moving of things, and that in itself indicated
that that dispensation, it was only temporary. it was going
to be removed. It was only for a space of time
until the heir, the Lord Jesus Christ, came. And then there
was the sound of the trumpet. Now, this trumpet, we have those
in our church who play wind instruments. We thank God for them. But this
trumpet, or this sound of a trumpet, it was so exceedingly loud that
the scripture says it caused the people to tremble. It caused
them to tremble. Now when you think of that and
compare that to the tender voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
says, come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. What a difference, what a contrast,
right? To a trumpet sound that's just
louder and louder, a screeching sound, and causing those who
heard it to tremble. What a contrast to the gospel,
the sweet words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there was that
prohibition of drawing near. You read that in Exodus, God
told Moses, he said, you fence off the mountain and you come
up and you make sure that no one comes up with you and you
make sure that no animal touches that mountain. And Moses went
up and spoke to, or God spoke to Moses and God sent him back
down. He said, you separate this mountain. And Moses said, well, we've already
done that. No, you go do it. You go do it. Because if anyone
just puts their foot on this mountain, they're going to die. And any beast, any animal that
comes to this mountain, you stone that animal. You kill him with
a dart through the heart. The prohibition to not to come
near. What a contrast to what we have
today. As we are told, having therefore
brethren, brethren boldness to enter in to the holy, the holiest
place. Holiest by the blood of Jesus
Christ. And then we see the weakness
of the mediator. Moses, he was a mediator. And if you look, that's the only
thing that God ever commended the Israelites for doing. They
asked for a mediator. They said, you go. You go. You go. You speak to God. You get the message. And then
you bring it back to us. But don't let us hear him. Don't
let us hear his voice. The distance. The distance. We can't even begin to understand
this today. The distance between infinite
holiness, God, and you and I who drink iniquity like water. The distance. Moses was a mediator
in that case, but even he himself said this, I'm afraid. I exceedingly fear and quake. The mediator that we have, the
Lord Jesus Christ, For there's one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus. He's both God and he's man. He's that daysman. He's that
one between us. Aren't you thankful? Aren't you
thankful today that there's one who stands between you and this
holy Lord God that he is, a consuming fire? And then also, that fire, that
consuming fire, burning fire, speaks of judgment. And God demonstrated
at that time, when He came down on that mountain and gave that
fiery law, He demonstrated that as a judge, He will not clear
the guilty. He will not clear the guilty. And I sure hope, I sure hope
that you're paying attention. And when I said that, you may
have entertained this thought. But what about me? I'm guilty. What about me? You say God will
by no means clear the... He said that. What about me? I'm guilty. God has found a way, hasn't He?
He's found a way to punish your sins in the substitute that you
might go free. You guilty, Him innocent. Your sin laid upon Him, Him dying
in your stead, and you are released. He found a way. That's the product,
that's the gospel, isn't it? Of infinite wisdom. Now, I'm
going to stop here, but the only thing I want to say before I
stop is we are come, as he said to the mediator, the very last
thing that he said, we are come to Jesus, the mediator of the
New Testament or New Covenant. How does a person come to Christ? Have those words, when you've
read those words or heard those words, have they ever sounded
strange to you? You are come. He doesn't say
you have come. You are come. The passive voice. Doesn't that sound somewhat strange?
It may sound strange, but my friends, it illustrates the truth
that our Lord taught. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. How does a person come
to Christ? He's brought to Christ by the
power of God the Holy Spirit working in a heart of stone and
giving that person a heart of flesh. who desires to come to Christ,
to believe in Christ, to trust in Christ. That's how you come
to Christ. It's not by moving your body.
It's not by penance or anything like that, but it is rather by
faith. By faith in Jesus Christ, we
come to him. And when we come to him, all
these things that are mentioned here are ours. Now, the Lord
willing, I hope to preach on this again next week.