[0:00] Hebrews chapter 12 on page 1009 of our church Bibles. Verse 18 that begins, For you've not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and tempest.
[0:19] Then down to verse 22, But you've come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God. I often wonder, and I speak to myself as much as to anyone else, I often wonder if, you know, we who belong to a church where we seek to exalt Christ, a church that seeks to glorify God in our worship, and a church where I pray that his word is proclaimed in truth and proclaimed faithfully, for the many who've responded in faith to the call of God to come to him through faith in Jesus.
[1:01] I often wonder if so often we take for granted, we take for granted the privilege that we have of sitting under the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
[1:13] I wonder if we even take for granted the gospel itself, the three gifts of salvation. I wonder if we take for granted the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
[1:32] I wonder if we have that promise that he ever wants to be once at all, to know him as Lord Jesus. I wonder if we take for granted.
[1:42] and join in the church in glory, join in the angels in glory. Even now, as we do here in our worship, we can see all these things that are done, but it's not a piece of stuff that we're living in heaven.
[2:02] It's a piece of work that we're living in. We're even more concerned about idol forms of worship.
[2:14] We're even picking faults here, there, and everywhere else, even about the church, and more often living for self rather than living for our Lord and Savior. We even think about what we call the new covenant of grace made possible by the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross.
[2:34] How often do we think even of the Lord Jesus and his shedding his blood on the cross so that you and I can have forgiveness for our sins through his death?
[2:46] Or is it the case that, you know, that we're just living lives of contrast? You know, on the one hand, we might profess the Lord Jesus, we might profess union with Christ, but in reality, living without Christ before me, even without the joy of the prospect of heaven before us, and instead just being locked in an earthly mindset and an attitude that obliterates Jesus and even puts to one side the promised glory of eternity with God.
[3:25] Because, you see, when we come to this last section of Hebrews 12 here, and I know we were reading language, we were reading concepts that actually might find quite distant to us in our 20th century way of speaking and way of thinking.
[3:39] But what we're reading here is this thing about contrast. And this is the immediate context of the passage, the contrast between life under the old covenant.
[3:52] In other words, some of the Israelites were under the law. That law that spoke of the great distance between God and man. You know, different contrasts in that time.
[4:02] And as we see here, the life of Christians under what's called the new covenant. That covenant, that relationship between God and man made possible by the Lord Jesus when he removed that distance between God and man by his death on the cross.
[4:22] There's that contrast between the living under the law, living under the terror of the law, and living under the grace of the Lord Jesus. And obviously for the next few files, we've got to look at this immediate context.
[4:38] We've got to try and grasp what this passage is telling us. As I said, I know that what we read here sometimes is difficult to take in. Certainly the wording is something that's difficult to our modern ears.
[4:52] But I think it will be application. So it will be application for ourselves in how you worship God, how you worship God, and how you respond to the God who calls you from time.
[5:07] So two headings that we've got there, two mountains and two responses. What about these two mountains as well? Remember this was a book written, I don't know who wrote it, but it was a long time.
[5:21] Thank you for the Christians. These are Christians who come to faith in the Lord Jesus. Who's known, who's the best of the Lord, who knows, how to contain.
[5:33] The promise of the saints. That's all. These are Christians who've departed from the form of faith, practices, and informal will achieve. And the thought of here, of course, he's been encouraging this Christian to, to reach his people, to fix their minds, and to do.
[5:53] These believers have been reminded, been reminded of the Lord. I'm talking to you, that one is for vain salvation, that one is for the one for all he can't see, in him.
[6:06] And it's going to be, when he can't see, the end of the game, and the Christian, and the Christian healing. They've been transformed.
[6:18] What are the children, they've been transformed, in the white history? And they tell him, test the days, don't leave them. Don't leave them. Don't leave all the days, when they watch this right time.
[6:31] When at that time, they haven't just found it to be. So there's a rallying cost, rallying cost to these Christians, that we also given them contact what these contact we mentioned a moment ago the contact between what they've left behind and what they now have privileged to have and they've been so he says you're mindful think of this he's mindful so what do we see about three things that's how we lead to what we've got here is my time the Lord gave the law to Moses the 8th fact the 15th of 19 that people said they didn't receive what was given the law to the people who knew Moses that law that formed a binding relationship between God and his people and it was the mighty, mighty family that God spoke to Moses so we read in Exodus 19 he comes here in Hebrew what did we read of in Exodus 19 the land of the dam the time of folks to go to the room so the God appeared to the people appeared to them in time the mountain even the mountain sandals even the sight and the sound of God says he spoke of his home no one was permitted to touch the mountain but even animals were there to be because there was that gulf between sinful man and God and his people remember it was in the same time that God did the people the law the law that reveals absolute holiness and man's need to conform to what God did the people and the means that was the law that was where people told to follow to worship the animal sacrifices the ceremonies the offerings doing it in the tabernacle then in the temple did the people do you think that's fun don't you this man's bin this man this man so be a man can not be the law
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[15:26] Thank you. So what is this?
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[17:58] So what is this? So what is this? So what is this? Gina-ier grasping not? That so tämä he is. So that he has these...
[18:18] of God's angels, God's things. There is veil, that veil between heaven and earth was a blessing. From this side of eternity we're joining with that song and blessing.
[18:33] It's a blessing of what we call the new covenant each time. It's a kind of blessing that we have in Jesus' name. And that's why this is so much less than earthly things and spiritual things and far more focused on this that God has done.
[18:53] And even if you look at this passage and look at this passage to tell us who loves the Lord you know verse 18, verse 22 the you that are mentioned there's actually a collective you this is plural you speak to the collective church speaks of God's people together worshiping the Lamb and the beauty of Jesus.
[19:24] Why is it that you so simply tolerate the visions and you touch when we're seeing here the blessing of heavenly worship with the fortress of this eternal bliss in the spirit of God so there'll be no more fear no more divisions for God's people will worship one worship one worship one it's a wonderful passage the more we look into it the more we see the heavenly blessing that God gives to the people many years ago there's someone I knew very well he lost a very good friend and he was very stated in his love someone wrote him a letter and the letters contain the very words of verse 18 to 24 and these words that spoke to spoke to this good friend that in glory worshiping the Lamb of God that worshiping the perfection of glory these words were such a reassuring that though there was loss in this side of eternity and that loss was great yet yet the the the unfurpassable blessing of the glory of heaven was such a great comfort to him because the soul of of one who'd received
[20:45] Jesus as Savior that soul was now beholding the Savior face to face and doing so along with the angelic the host along with the souls of the righteousness and the the the the and it's here and it's in front of the eternal one all who come tonight and all the events and the eternal glory so you come tonight tonight tonight tonight tonight you come thank you stand thank the
[22:16] He rejected him. He rejected him. And he would know his death and his wife. But God continues to see that he seeks to make him like that. He seeks from heaven and he's warming of the consequences of his weak sin.
[22:31] What do we see in death? He says, He seeks to see that how he's wrong. He seeks to warming, warming of the weak sin. He seeks to forgive him.
[22:41] He doesn't see the blood of God. He seeks to receive that voice. So if there is a way to an escape from God's conscience, then there is a peace that he does to the Lord.
[22:54] How much more for any escape from God's judgment he would hear that same voice. He would see to come to Jesus and there's a difference in sin.
[23:05] Because there's a voice that God says to him. He's just getting a decision. He's hearing that voice. He's hearing that he's saying, he's oh Thank you.
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