You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
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How Jesus is greater than anyone or anything else.
And today we come to the powerful conclusion of the sermon.
Yes, there's one more chapter next week and there is great stuff in there.
But it is more of a P.S. than part of the main argument of the written sermon.
And what you'll see this morning is that the writer gets a bit fired up.
I'll be honest with you, I probably will too.
I've been looking forward to this particular passage since sometime last year when I was planning this sermon series.
And that's just fair warning to you that I'm pretty excited about it.
I told you last week, I'm warning you again.
Just reading it here in a moment should get your heart pumping, okay?
Remember where we are.
We're running by faith in things that we can't see with our eyes yet.
But we're enduring because we're looking to Jesus.
And then we pick up reading at verse 18 of chapter 12.
Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said,
And I tremble with fear.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven,
and to God, the judge of all,
and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,
and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.
For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth,
much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
At that time, his voice shook the earth.
But now he has promised,
Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.
This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken,
that is, things that have been made,
in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
And thus, let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe,
for our God is a consuming fire.
This is the word of God.
Let's ask for his help.
God, we do so need your help.
God, we need you to open our eyes this morning that we would see wonderful things in your word.
Not just that.
God, you know that we need you to change us inside out.
Don't just help us to see and know things.
Help us to grasp with the depths of our being the wonders of who you are and how you love us.
Make us new people.
Bring us into new relationship with you today.
By your word, by your spirit.
We ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I brought an object lesson for us this morning.
It's not real pretty.
A lot of dirt.
I also have a helper for us.
Charlotte is going to come up and help me a little bit.
Because you see, you get this ball of dirt.
And, well, there's all sorts of things in there.
But show us what happens when you shake it.
Charlotte's really strong.
So she's going to shake it up for us a little bit.
Yeah?
Shake it harder?
Really, really hard?
Oh, man.
There's a lot of stuff coming off of that, isn't there?
Okay.
Hold on.
Let me see.
Let's get it out and see.
Ooh.
What's all that stuff that came off of it?
What do you see in there?
Dirt and leaves.
Dirt and leaves and sticks just kind of hanging.
What's that?
Play-Doh.
Ugh.
Play-Doh just kind of chunking up.
What color is the Play-Doh?
Green and purple.
Ugh.
But you shake it.
And the harder you shake it and you kind of beat it around a little bit,
it just kind of breaks off all over the place, doesn't it?
It's not really sticking together anymore.
I tell you what.
That's a lot of Play-Doh.
Let me clean it up for you before I give it to you, okay?
Brought this towel in here to finish the job because Play-Doh is kind of messy.
But hold on.
What's that?
What's that under all the Play-Doh?
A rock?
A rock.
Huh.
There's all sorts of stuff in that big ball of dirt, wasn't there?
Okay.
I tell you what.
I'm going to give you this rock to keep with you during the sermon, okay?
And what I want you to do is I want you to keep shaking it while I'm preaching, okay?
Because I think if you just keep shaking it enough, stuff will keep breaking off and falling all over.
I want you to see if it disappears like all that other stuff, okay?
Can you keep the rock for me?
You keep the rock and just shake it for us and we'll check back in and see how it's going, okay?
Thank you, Charlotte.
She'll come back up in just a minute.
We'll check in on the rock.
I can still feel my hands shaking as I tried to grip a bat walking to the plate in the high school state championship baseball game.
I was usually really confident.
I played a lot of baseball and my whole life had been that.
But all of a sudden, this was different.
The guy was throwing like 90 miles an hour.
Never seen that.
I didn't know if I could keep up with that.
To be honest, I'd never tried.
And if I didn't, we might lose.
And what would that say for me?
I'd be exposed as not good enough.
I can still remember those same hands shaking, sweating, nervous as I prepared to propose to my wife years later.
I was pretty sure that she liked me.
I mean, I'd been a pretty good boyfriend, I thought.
But she was so amazing.
I mean, what if she finally wised up in that moment and realized how far she was out of my league?
And what if the person who knew me best, rather than pulling me in, pushed me away?
That was still a possibility.
That was scary.
Many of us, many days, just kind of coast through life without shaking and trembling.
Maybe you're used to living that way.
But at the same time, we're in an unstable world, aren't we?
Maybe there's some scary experiences that you're going through or that you see around you.
Maybe it's the need to prove ourselves worthy that can all of a sudden make us shake when we don't see it coming.
Or when the bar is suddenly set really high.
We are especially shaken when all of a sudden we encounter the real God.
This passage opens by contrasting two ways of relating to God.
That's really what the verbs that say you have come or you have not come, that's what they mean.
How do you relate to God?
The first way is represented by the mountain you can touch, Mount Sinai,
where the Ten Commandments were given to God's people.
Let me read you just a bit of the background
of this passage out of Exodus 19.
This is right after God brings his people out of Egypt and across the Red Sea
and they come to the foot of Mount Sinai where God tells Moses,
I'm going to meet you there.
Here's what it looks like when he does.
There were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain
and a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people in the camp trembled.
Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God
and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.
Now just get this picture.
Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke
because the Lord had descended on it in fire.
The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln
and the whole mountain trembled greatly.
The creation is shaking.
As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder,
Moses spoke and God answered him in thunder.
Then in chapter 20,
when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning
and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking,
the people were afraid.
Yes, can you understand?
And they trembled and they stood far off
and said to Moses,
you speak to us and we'll listen,
but don't let God speak to us lest we die.
The people stood far off
while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
You see what was going on?
Suddenly people who had felt pretty good about themselves most of the time
a leader who had just stood toe to toe
with the most powerful people in the world,
performing signs and wonders before them.
All of a sudden they are shaking and trembling in fear.
Hebrews highlights seven aspects
of this way of relating to or worshiping God
right here really fast.
The physical mountain that they were kept from touching.
A blazing fire that keeps them back.
Darkness that seems to weigh on them.
Gloom.
That's the spirit they feel.
The storm.
The thunder worse than you've heard in summers in Alabama, I'm sure.
A trumpet blast that is loud and startling.
A frightening voice.
So frightening it leads people to beg not to hear it again.
Everyone is shaken.
Terrified.
Even their mediator, their leader, Moses.
The emphasis as I read it,
it's on the people being kept at a distance.
Far off, right?
Far off, out of fear and for their own protection.
Now to be fair to Moses and the Israelites,
they're not wrong about their distance from God's holiness, are they?
God himself is the one who says,
any man or beast who touches the mountain will be killed.
Would you stay far off?
Just to be safe.
Further, being shaken to the core is what tends to happen to people in the Bible
when they encounter God.
I mean, even as righteous a guy as Job,
he was a pretty holy guy,
but he begins to see God for who he is
and he feels small and despises himself
and repents in dust and ashes.
The great prophet Isaiah sees God high and lifted up
and what does he say?
Woe is me!
Unclean!
I'm unclean!
What about the apostle Peter?
Pretty great guy.
He pleads in desperation.
Depart from me.
I'm a sinful man.
That's what happens to even the best of us
when we encounter a holy, holy, holy God.
Someone has to intervene between us and him.
Get him away.
I can't be near him.
In this case, it's Moses.
And he's trembling himself, isn't he?
He's the representative.
See, many of us navigate life
based on performing well enough to measure up.
And then we encounter the holiness of God
and we're shaken.
There's no Play-Doh exterior that holds on in the shaking.
The dirt and the sticks, they don't cling anymore.
All of a sudden, the things that seemed pretty decent start falling off.
And many of us hate that feeling so much.
Either consciously or subconsciously,
we start to relate to God the way these people did at Sinai.
How's that?
Keep your distance, right?
It's safer, really, just to observe church every once in a while.
It's safer, really, just to know some things about Jesus
and to talk about praying.
That feels safe.
It's safer, isn't it, just to bring God up
when we've been doing well or feeling spiritual lately.
So, now maybe I can talk about God.
After all, if it's based on my performance,
deep down, I know that I don't measure up.
I'm finally faced with something harder
than a 90-mile-an-hour fastball.
The majesty of the Creator.
The holiness of the lawgiver.
The justice of the judge.
And I start to get the sense
that the one who knows me best
wants me to keep my distance.
Mostly wants me to know that he's way out of my league.
I'm unworthy of being with him.
Yeah, I was afraid of that.
Charlotte, you still shaking?
Yeah.
Okay, she's working on it.
If you can relate to any of those feelings,
a feeling like God might want you to stay far off,
that you're so unworthy of him
and he's so far beyond you,
you may have even heard us say some of those things this morning
because they're not untrue, are they?
Not entirely.
But God actually wants to change those feelings for you today.
He wants you to experience him very differently.
See, Hebrews says you have not come to that mountain.
In other words, that is not the relationship
that you have with God,
that he desires for you to experience with him.
The Greek says it actually emphasizes this.
The very first word of this whole section is not you have come.
Verse 18, not you have come.
Verse 22, but on the contrary,
you have come.
Where?
To Mount Zion.
Now, maybe that in itself doesn't mean a lot to you.
But we're going to get a seven-point description
of this other way of relating to God
that is entirely in contrast with the first.
What is the feel, the atmosphere,
the experience of coming to this mountain?
Well, it is the heavenly city.
Not merely the created earthly one you touch here,
but the place that God made for his people
to find peace and rest forever.
However, countless angels are there
in what can only be understood
as the most exhilarating party
that you have ever been to.
That's what festal gathering means.
We don't use those words.
It means they are in joyful celebration
all over this mountain
with the assembly,
the church of the firstborn enrolled in heaven.
Now, Jesus is often referred to as the firstborn,
the one who receives the inheritance,
who leads the next generations.
But now, on the mountain,
it's the whole assembly of his people
who get that treatment
because their names are written in heaven.
They're heirs to the kingdom, if you will.
This is from earlier in the chapter,
the cloud of witnesses that has gone before us, right?
They are there rejoicing with the angels,
celebrating all on the mountain.
And then, and then incredibly,
who else is at your party?
There's God himself.
God himself is there,
the judge of all.
Now, that's a turn, isn't it?
How does that fit with all this good news
and celebrating that's going on?
The judge has shown up to ruin the whole thing.
This is our great fear, right?
Judgment.
Shaking.
I'm gonna fall apart.
I'll be ruined.
Except,
except that in this case,
God is here indeed as the judge
who will set all things right
and yet,
we are safe
because the people there
are spirits of the righteous
made perfect.
So, there's nothing
for the judge to hold against them,
to hold against us.
How can that possibly be?
The holy judge is there.
This must be the group
that finally got it all right,
got it together
and performed well enough
to impress the judge.
Is that what happened?
No, you know better than that.
You've read Hebrews.
That's not what's happened.
But before we get to the next two things,
I wanna recognize the tension here.
This is the same God.
He's there in judgment.
Majestic.
Holy.
Just.
There's on this mountain too
fire,
lightning,
thunder.
And yet,
what's the atmosphere?
The atmosphere,
even in spite of that,
there's joy over gloom.
There is wild celebration
instead of darkness.
The people are actually
right there
with the judge,
aren't they?
Instead of far away from him.
What is going on?
How is that possible?
There's a greater mediator here
on this mountain.
Verse 24.
Jesus is there.
The mediator of a new covenant.
In other words,
the representative
who did not tremble
or shake
before the presence
of the holy God,
but walked,
bearing our sin
into the holy place
to take God's wrath
towards sin
upon himself.
Right?
And then he rose
to be our living representative
in the holy place
because he brings us
into a new relationship
with God.
He,
Jesus,
has hushed
the law's loud thunder.
He has quenched
Mount Sinai's flame
toward us
because he took
that wrath
in its fearsome fullness
upon himself.
He has washed us
with his blood.
He has brought us
nigh to God.
Amen?
And he does that,
of course,
by his blood.
His blood is there.
The sprinkled blood
that speaks
a better word
than the blood
of Abel.
Interesting.
God told Cain
when he killed
his brother Abel
that the blood
of his brother
cried out to God
from the ground.
It cried out
for justice
upon Cain.
God told Cain
that he would
certainly be cursed
for shedding
his brother's blood.
What word
does the blood
of Jesus
speak?
Father,
forgive
them.
Mercy
in place
of judgment.
Meaning
that Jesus
bears the curse
so that not only
the soldiers
who nailed him
to the cross
but did not know
what they were doing
but also
we whose sins
held him there
on the cross
would get what?
Blessing
instead of curse.
A better word?
You like that one better?
Amen?
Blessing,
mercy,
forgiveness
is what his blood
speaks to us.
Are you surprised
at this point
in Hebrews
that Jesus
is greater than?
That Jesus
is better?
I hope
you're not
missing that message.
Are you surprised
that it is Jesus
who makes
all the difference
at how we relate
to God?
See,
that's what happens.
The tenor of things
on this mountain
is not this fearful
distance from God
but this joyful
nearness
to him.
you've come
to the mountain
into the city
where God
himself dwells
and you've come
there through the blood
of the eternal
son of God.
No wonder
there's a party
going on,
right?
Who else
would you want
to be with?
This is what
you were made for.
Joyful nearness
to God
and you're
invited in.
God issues
that invitation
to this party.
But there's a warning.
Verse 25.
See that you
do not refuse
him
who is speaking
in Hebrews.
God speaks.
Remember the sermon
started
by reminding us
that in these last days
he has spoken
to us how?
By his son.
That's his great word,
his final invitation.
See that you
don't refuse it
for if they
did not escape
when they refused
him who warned
them on earth
much less
will we escape
if we reject
him who warns
from heaven.
God then promises
to shake
not only the earth
but also
the heavens
in that great day
still to come.
there's going
to be a great
shaking
and only
the things
that can't
be shaken
will remain.
You see
what that means?
It means
friend
if you have
never
trusted
Jesus
run today
to the one
who is
unshakable
and fix
your hope
to him.
He is the
only safe
place.
None of us
measures up
on our own
and yet
you don't have
to run away
from God
you can run
to Jesus
and he brings
you near
to God
safely
so you just
say Jesus
rescue me
Jesus
anchor me
Jesus
hold me
and he will
he will.
Maybe you've
called yourself
a Christian
for a long
time
and you've
been living
distant
from God
for just
as long.
You've been
right there
kind of at the
foot of Mount
Sinai
you know a lot
of good
things that
God's people
are supposed
to do
and you figure
you'll just
try to do
most of them.
You say
you've trusted
Jesus
but you live
as though
you have to
tiptoe
around God
to avoid
his gaze
most of the
time
only talk
to him
when you've
been on
your best
behavior
lately.
Don't
refuse
him
who is
speaking
don't
stay at
a distance
when he
is urging
you
to draw
near.
Perhaps
it's because
you're thinking
that Jesus
is for
after you
die
when you
actually need
him while
you live.
Maybe
you're
realizing
right now
Jesus
for you
has been
a moral
example
but that's
really it
and you realize
that's actually
not enough
for me.
Even with a
great example
I'm not
holy enough
and you realize
that you need
Jesus to be
a bloodshed
sacrifice
for you.
Let me be
as clear as I
can for all
of us.
It's sobering
but you and
I were
created.
We're things
that have
been made.
which God
promises
will be
shaken
and removed
along with
the rest
of the world
as we
know it
leaving
only
the things
that cannot
be shaken.
If that
doesn't
get your
attention
I don't
know what
else to
tell you.
We are
things that
have been
made.
Jesus
was not
made.
He has
always
been.
Therefore
let us
be
grateful
so
grateful
for
receiving
a kingdom
that cannot
be shaken.
God
sends
Jesus
and we
attach
ourselves
by faith
to the
one who
lives
and will
hold
no matter
what shaking
happens
we've
got to
be
connected
to him.
Friends
we
must
cling
to
Jesus.
Charlotte
you've been
shaking for
us?
You want to
come on
back up?
Ooh
that's
really
good.
You did
a lot
of
shaking.
It looks
just like
I gave
it to
you.
You didn't
get anything
else off
of it?
Even with
all this
did you
shake it?
Did you
shake it
hard?
And what
is it?
That's the
same rock I
gave you.
Just the
same, huh?
You know a
little play-doh
on the side
but it's a
rock.
You did a
great job.
Thank you
for your
help.
This is a
picture of
the solid
rock of
Christ.
We have
received this
kingdom that
cannot be
shaken.
Maybe you
know from
world history
that even
the greatest
kingdoms
eventually
crumble and
fall when
shaken.
The Roman
Empire around
the time of
this written
sermon fell.
Perhaps
during today's
sermon some
are feeling
shaking in
the USA in
ways that we
haven't before.
Listen, if
Christ tarries,
it will fall
too.
There will
be economic
danger.
There will
be political
danger.
There may
even be
physical
danger.
But the
kingdom of
Jesus, no
matter what
else comes,
will never
be shaken.
You want to
give your
neighbors,
your kids,
the next
generation,
something that
they can count
on and hold
on to and
that you know
life's going to
be there for
them?
Give them
Jesus.
That's the one
they can count
on.
God.
Because listen,
how does it
end?
Our God is a
consuming fire.
He still is.
That hasn't
changed.
He will shake
and consume.
And so we
worship him with
reverence and
awe because of
his holy
greatness and
because of his
great holiness.
holiness, this
fire of who our
God is would
certainly consume
us on our
own.
But because of
the Lord's
great love, we
are not
consumed.
Because Jesus
is so perfectly
holy himself and
gives himself in
our place, we
can draw near
without being
shaken, without
being burned.
He makes all
the difference.
He is a sure
and steadfast
anchor for our
souls, the
greater rest, the
greater sacrifice,
the greater
priest, the
only man not
made.
So he can
bring us to
and keep us in
the presence of
God, on the
joyful mountain of
God, in the
safety of God
forever.
He can and
will do that.
And so that's
something to look
forward to, right?
Absolutely.
Forever.
But according to
this passage, it's
actually something
more than that.
It is something to
live in right
now.
It's this verb
tense that
means, yes, you'll
be there forever,
but you have
come already
to this
mountain and
the great
celebration and
the blood of your
Savior cleansing
you before God,
the judge.
You have an
unshakable
kingdom led
by an unshaken
king with an
imperishable
inheritance, an
unfading crown
of glory in an
invulnerable
place through
his unfailing
love.
You have
that.
See, his
kingdom that
cannot be shaken
means the
life of heaven,
the life of
eternity is
already alive
in us.
By our union
with Christ,
the kingdom,
he says, is
already in
our midst
its righteousness
and joy
and peace
in the Holy
Spirit.
Mine are
keys to
Zion City
where beside
the king
I walk
today.
So,
so tell me
practically,
pastor,
how, how do
I live
unshaken
when everything
I hold dear
seems to be
shaking?
well, when
diseases ravage
me and
those I
love,
the unshakable
kingdom says
my greatest
disease, the
sin of my
soul that
runs all
through me
has been
forgiven and
cured so that
I will live
forever no
matter what
happens.
when financial
disaster hits
and I begin
to wobble,
the unshakable
kingdom says
my greatest
debt has been
paid once
and for all
so my good
shepherd will
make sure I
have everything
that I need.
When I'm lonely
or persecuted,
I lean into the
family of God
that I've been
welcomed into.
When I'm weak
and unable to
handle the task
before me,
I draw on the
power of the
Holy Spirit
already present
in me.
It happens
over and over
and over in
all these
situations.
How do I
live unshaken
when I'm so
fearful about
life all
around me?
It's just
been a few
years, Will,
there was a
pandemic and
then more
terror attacks
and then wars
and then there's
all this unrest
and division.
Are you kidding
me?
There's no
stability anywhere.
What's next?
I'm worried.
Friend, if God
is for us,
who can stand
against us?
You have come
already to the
mountain with
Him and He
won't let you
go.
When you're
shaken to your
core, and you
will be.
The loss of a
loved one,
professional
failure,
a child
wandering,
divorce,
depression,
dementia,
you feel like
you're drowning,
you think you'll
be utterly
destroyed,
and the
unshakable
kingdom says
nothing can
separate you
from the love
of God in
Christ Jesus
our Lord.
Lord, you
are more
than conquerors.
You possess
a kingdom
that cannot
be shaken.
That's why
we say
with Jim
Elliot,
he is no
fool who
gives what
he cannot
keep to
gain what
he cannot
lose.
When you've
got the
unshakable
kingdom
because of
your trust
in the
unshakable
king,
no one
and nothing
can take
that away,
and you
become more
and more
eager to live
that way
right now,
to live
in that
joyful
nearness
to that
God,
to be with
him as
often as
you possibly
can,
worshiping
him with
overflowing
gratitude.
I mean,
there's got to
be even
more than
that,
right?
You're not
just a little
thankful.
It's like
every part
of me is
grateful.
How else
could I
worship?
I don't have
to come in
here to do
it.
It flows
for me
every day,
dancing in
the aisles
with holy
awe.
How is
it that I
can know
this God?
Praise
Jesus.
Brothers and
sisters,
we have
come
already
to the
kingdom
that cannot
be shaken,
to Mount
Zion,
to the
rock of
Christ.
On
Christ,
the solid
rock,
I stand.
All other
ground is
sinking
sand,
and there
will be
plenty of
chances to
experience that,
to be shaken
in this
world.
The waves
of persecution,
of pain,
of problems
in life
will threaten
to wash
you away,
but listen
to the good
news.
You are
not there
desperately
trying to
climb up
to that
rock to
get to
the top
of that
mountain.
You're not
scrambling
as the
waves wash
over you
to find
footing for
your feet,
some solid
ground that
will hold
you.
No,
we have
come to
Mount Zion.
On
Christ,
the solid
rock,
we stand
with innumerable
angels,
with the
firstborn
enrolled in
heaven,
with God,
the judge
of all,
making all
things right,
including our
struggling spirits
that he has
already made
perfect.
Thanks to
Jesus and
his blood
speaking blessing
to us,
you're already
there on
that rock.
Y'all,
Jesus is
greater than
anything else
that we
might hope
would hold
us.
The entire
earth and
heavens will
shake one
day, but
you have
already received
the kingdom
that cannot
be shaken.
God,
praise you,
thank you,
you're holy
and you're
gracious.
Everything
else is
sinking sand,
be warned.
Don't grab
on to
something
else,
but on
Christ,
the solid
rock,
you stand.
You will
not be
shaken
because he
will not
be shaken.
Thank you,
Jesus.
Thank you,
Jesus.
We want
to thank
him
together now.
I want
to give
you a chance
to draw
near to
him,
even in
this moment
as you
hear him
saying,
this is
how you
come.
You come
through me.
As we
have our
worship team
come back
up and
as we get
ready to
stand and
sing this
last song,
we're also
going to
have some
of our
elders and
men and
women on
our prayer
team.
They're going
to come
down front
and they'll
also be in
the back if
that's more
comfortable for
you.
They'd love a
chance to
pray with
you for
just a minute.
sing about
Christ,
the solid
rock on
whom we
stand and
maybe for
the very
first time
in your
life you're
saying,
that's the
one I
need.
Please
come,
we'd love
to pray
with you.
Or maybe
you've been
there and
you've been
standing on
him and
you realize
you haven't
been able to
find him
lately and
life's hard
and you felt
like you're
going under
or you know
something that's
coming up and
you'd like us
to pray for
you because
it's coming
in the future.
We would
love to be
able to do
that.
Let's
stand together
and sing and
I invite you
to go ahead
and start
coming forward
or back and
we'll just
take just a
quick minute
to pray with
you even
as we sing.
For more
information,
visit us
online at
southwood.org.