Remember Who God Is

Transcript

GR 1723
05/04/2014
Remember Who God Is
Hebrews 12:25-29
Gil Rugh

In the closing verses of Hebrews 12 we are dealing with the fifth and last warning passage of the book of Hebrews. And it will incorporate some of the things that have appeared in the previous warning passages. I want to take you back and just remind you and review with you some of what he has said in these warning passages. So go back to Hebrews 1. And foundational to everything that is covered in the book of Hebrews are the opening verses of Hebrews. Really, that gives you in a summary, concise statement what will be unfolded through the rest of this extensive letter. Let me read the first three verses. “God after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days has spoken to us in His Son.” And right there you see the dramatic contrast. It's God who has spoken in the past in Old Testament history, He spoke using prophets and He used a variety of means of communication—sometimes angels, sometimes dreams, sometimes visions and so on. But all of that has been superseded now because”in these last days He has spoken through One who is a Son.” The ultimate, climactic revelation is given in the person of the One who is Himself the Son of God.

He elaborates on the character and description of the One who is the Son. He's “the One whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world, the ages and all that is in them. He is the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His nature, and He upholds all things by the word of His power.” Understand what it means when revelation is coming from the One who is God's Son. He is the very nature of God Himself, the radiance of God's glory. He is God in human flesh, “all the fullness of deity dwells in Him,” as Paul wrote to the Colossians.

Then he talks about the work of Christ. “When He had made purification of sins He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.” You have both the person and work of the Son of God unfolded here. He could be no greater in His person because He Himself is God, the exact representation of God's nature. And He did what no one else could ever do—He made purification of sins. The book of Hebrews unfolds these two aspects, the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is in every way superior to all that has gone on before. He is the fullness of God's revelation to man, the completeness of God's purpose in providing salvation for sinful people. When He sacrificed Himself on the cross, He completed what was necessary for the work of salvation, He rose from the dead, He ascended to heaven, He sat down at the right hand of the Father in glory. Remember as we have gone through Hebrews, the significance of this would be understood by these Jewish believers. In the Old Testament system under the Mosaic Law the high priest went about his duties but there were no chairs provided for him in his temple service. His work was never done. Christ sat down, there is nothing else, there is nothing more to be done to accomplish and provide salvation. It is a denial of what Christ has done. It is an attack on what Christ has done that religious systems have developed the idea that by good works, by baptism, by doing a variety of things you can bring cleansing from sin and make yourself acceptable to God. It's not enough to include the sacrifice of Christ as part of what has to be done. It is everything that has to be done.

And that's the development of the book of Hebrews. Christ the Son of God, fully God and fully man made a sacrifice which was He Himself on the cross to pay the penalty for sin. That supersedes all prior revelation that God had given. Now that doesn't mean prior revelation was wrong, because it was God who spoke, but prior revelation was in anticipation of what God would fully accomplish in the person of His Son, what could only be accomplished in the person and work of His Son.

This congregation of Jewish believers that are the recipients of this letter, under the pressure of the days—persecution and suffering and so on—were thinking that perhaps a possibility would be to return to the Mosaic Covenant and the priestly system and sacrifices associated with him. After all God had given it at Mt. Sinai through Moses and that would alleviate some of the suffering that came to them because of identification with Jesus Christ. The letter to the Hebrews is demonstrating that is not a possibility; that is not an alternative. Some people have the idea that we talk about Christ and Bible-believing Christians may have their view, but there are a lot of religious views and there are a lot of variations even among those who call themselves Christians. And it's not just one narrow way. It is just one narrow way. It's not my way, your way or someone else's way, it is God's way.

So what he does through the book of Hebrews is he unfolds the superiority of Christ, and you have it picked up in Hebrews 1:4, having become as much better than the angels. As great as the angels of heaven are and the revelation they have given of God and so on, Christ is better. And we noted when we started our study of Hebrews; we went through the book of Hebrews every time that word better is used. Christ is better, He is superior; He supersedes it. Everything prior in Old Testament history was in anticipation of what Christ would do.

Five times in this letter he breaks in with what we call warning passages. In every congregation there is a mixture. Many years ago Charles Spurgeon was preaching a sermon and he said, all of our churches are a mixture. In this congregation of professing Jewish believers the writer believes may be a mixture that some have stopped short of true faith in Christ. Those who have placed their faith in Christ have to understand there is no going back, those who stopped short of faith in Christ need to understand being Jewish, being a church member is not sufficient for you to enter into all the blessings of God's salvation.

So the first warning passage begins in Hebrews 2 and covers the first four verses. And that follows up on what he said about angels and the superiority of Christ to angels. Then Hebrews 2 opens up, ”for this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we don't drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, ever transgression and disobedience received the just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” I mean, if prior revelation of God coming through angels resulted in those who disobeyed what God said, being severely punished, what will it be like for those who reject the revelation that comes through God's only Son? There will be no escaping the wrath and judgment of God. So that's a rhetorical question; verse 3, “how will we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” We won't, there is no escaping the judgment of God if you reject the salvation provided in Christ.

Turn over to Hebrews 3. In further explaining the superiority of Christ and the revelation that we have in Him and His work, in verse 7. This follows up, verse 6 said, Christ was faithful in showing His superiority to Moses, remember. “Christ was faithful as a Son over His house, whose house we are.” Now we belong to Christ, we belong to God's family, those redeemed by Christ “if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.” Through the book of Hebrews there is an emphasis, salvation is only by faith in the revelation that God has given. That revelation focuses in His Son Jesus Christ, His finished work on the cross. You are not saved by faith plus works, but you are not saved by faith without works, because if you have truly trusted Christ your life will be changed and now you will live in obedience to Him. That's the point. In verse 6, we are part of God's house “if we hold fast our confidence and our hope.” Because those who don't continue to trust Christ, live for Him and in obedience to Him, are indicating they never did have His salvation. You don't lose your salvation, you never had it.

So he warns them, verse 7, just as the Holy Spirit says, and he quotes from the Old Testament in these verses. You can see them marked out in verses 7-11. “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” The comparison will be what Israel did in the Old Testament. They hardened their hearts against what God said, they refused to believe. And you'll remember what happened—they couldn't go into the Promised Land. Almost everyone over 20 years of age is going to have to die in that barren wilderness, not go into the land flowing with mild and honey that God had promised because they refused to believe and obey Him.

So his warning in verse 12, “take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.” Verse 14, “for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” When you are born again, you are born into God's family. Peter says we become partakers of the divine nature. Now our life is changed. It doesn't mean we never sin. None of us live a perfect life, even as God's children, but life is changed. And now we desire to please Him, we desire to obey Him.

Verse 15, the warning, “today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts.” Don't be like those in Israel's history who heard what I said and hardened their hearts against it. So verse 18, “to whom did He swear they would not enter His rest but to those who were disobedient.” So we see they were not able to enter because of unbelief. You see unbelief and disobedience are referring to the same thing. If you really believe in God and the salvation He has provided in Christ, you will obey Him. If you don't obey Him, you really don't believe in Him. Jesus put it using different terminology—“if you love Me you will keep My commandments.” Now keeping the commandments is not the way you come to love Him, but if you do love Him, you've come to love Him when you place your faith in Him. Then you will obey Him.
Hebrews 4 opens up, “therefore let us fear if while a promise remains of entering His rest anyone of you may seem to come short of it.” And so he is speaking to a congregation of professing believers, like I would be speaking to you today. And he gives a warning—“let us fear if anyone of you would seem to come short of it. For we indeed have had good news preached to us just as they also. But not this, the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest.” You may hear the Word of God, memorize the Word of God, but if you haven't believed the Word of God, you are closed out from the blessings of God's salvation. He is concerned. Those people in the Old Testament, they heard the Word of God. They had it spoken to them. They heard what God said. They just chose not to believe it.

The Apostle Paul was a more modern example of that. He was a man who had memorized much of the Old Testament. But memorizing the Bible didn't save him. Believing the truth of what is being said brings salvation.

Down in verse 6, those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience. And it repeats it again. Verse 7, “today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” Verse 11, therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience. And then culminates the warning in verses 12-13, that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Don't think you can fool God with a profession, don't think you can fool God by saying you believe. He is the One who examines the heart. There is no creature hidden from His sight. All things are open and laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do, said through Jeremiah the prophet. I the Lord search the hearts. You don't fool God. That's the warning here, it comes out of genuine concern. Something is wrong. Why are some of you thinking you can go back to the former religious system?

I'll give you an example. In recent years hear of a man who was converted out of another religious system. He became a professor in an evangelical seminary. He became the head of a large evangelical association of professors. Then one day he resigned and said, ‘I'm going back to my old religious system.’ How can you do that? Well, there is overlap. They believe in Christ, too. They just believe that is not enough. You must also be baptized to be saved. You must also do this to be saved, and you must have an earthly priestly system to sustain you . . . And on it goes. Wait a minute. Do you know what he is indicating here? He never did believe. Knowing a lot is not the same as saving faith. That can be a difficulty for us as a church, where we make great emphasis on the Bible and knowing the Scripture. But we want to be careful we don't miss what the point is—you must believe what you hear.

So that's the second warning passage. It went from Hebrews 3:7 to Hebrews 4:13. Hebrews 5:11 through Hebrews 6 gives you another warning passage. You see these are large and they overlap. Verse 9 prepares the way for this warning passage of Hebrews 5, “having been made perfect He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” That's not saying you are saved by your works, you are saved by recognizing that He is the only Savior, placing your faith fully in Him so that now your life is lived in obedience to Him. The beginning of obedience for salvation is placing your faith in Christ because God commands all everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. And He furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead.

Now he moves into this warning passage. He is concerned about their seeming inability to understand the finality of what God has done in Christ and the completeness of that salvation. And he warns them you can't go back. Then he says in Hebrews 6:4, “in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away,” turned away and decided they are not going to continue to follow Christ. What happens? “It's impossible to renew them again to repentance” because the only way that they could be saved is if Christ would come and die again. I mean, the only way of salvation is the death of Christ. You close the door on that and you are lost. There is the one way and there is the every other way. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me.” Every other religious system, whether it is a variation of what is called Christianity, whether it is Judaism, whether it is Buddhism, they are all the same—they are ways to hell, to destruction. You say, I don't like to hear you say that about other religions. I didn't say it, I’m just telling you what God said. If you do not place your faith in Christ, no matter what else you place your faith in, you are lost.

I shared the Gospel with someone this week, they had come through surgery. And I said, let me ask you, what would have happened if you had died during that surgery? Where would you be today? I'd be in heaven. Why do you think you would be in heaven? The silences are getting longer. Well, I'm a good person. I do good. I never killed anybody. I try to be nice to people. There is only one problem with that. You are saying you are good and God says you are not. “God says there are none good, there are none righteous. All have sinned and the wages of sin is death.” I’ll explain. I mean, it doesn't matter the details of what religion you are a part of or what good works. They are a way to hell. Religion is a way to hell and ultimate destruction from the presence of God.

So if you reject Christ, where are you going to go for salvation? He is the only way. It's narrow, but as we've talked about, it's as broad as it needs to be because the death of Christ and the salvation He provided is available to anyone who will place their faith in Him. So you say, it's not as broad as it should be. Well, how broad does it need to be? It's broad enough to save you, it's broad enough to save anyone everywhere anywhere in the world who will place their faith in Him. It seems to me that's pretty broad. But it's also very narrow, it's the only way.

So he is concerned for them. That's the third warning passage and that goes down through Hebrews 6 to the end of the chapter.

The fourth warning passage, we're going to get to Hebrews 12, is in Hebrews 10:26. And he is concerned because some, verse 25, have already forsaken the fellowship of believers. Now if you decide you don't want to be part of God's people anymore, you don't want to fellowship with God's people anymore, what are we saying? I don't want to be in God's family. It's serious. So he says in verse 26, “if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” If you continue to refuse to place your faith in Christ, there is no other sacrifice that God will accept. None. All that awaits you now, what is the alternative? A terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who set aside the Law of Moses died on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Verse 29, “how much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace. We started in Hebrews 1 that Jesus Christ is God's Son, He is the radiance of His glory, the express image of His nature. He is the One through whom all things were created, He is the One by whom all things hold together, He provided purification of sins by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross. When the work was done, He sat down at the right hand of the Father. And now you just trample His death under your feet and say He is worthless to me, I regard it as something unclean.” Like the Jews would understand the Old Testament, it's something defiling, worthless. What do you expect from God? Sure and terrifying judgment. There is nothing like the love of God. We sing of the love of God and we have today, and to write of it would drain the oceans dry, one of the hymns says. But you understand there is also nothing like the wrath of God. He is the infinite God, manifesting an infinite love, but also manifesting an infinite wrath. People think they can choose to believe in the love of God but then say, My God wouldn't send people to hell. I don't doubt that, but your God is not the true God who is sovereign over all. He's the God that people create in their minds in their own image. And then they worship themselves. So the alternative to Christ is God's wrath and judgment.

So that's the fourth warning passage, it runs from Hebrews 10:26-31 which says, “it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” You do not want that to happen. Just as we can talk about the love of God being unspeakable, so the wrath of God is unspeakable, it goes beyond what we can express.

The final warning passage is where we are in Hebrews 12. We've taken this time because much of what is in these prior warning passages is here. He's given examples in Hebrews 11, remember, of those who persevered in their faith. Through difficulty, through trial they trusted God and they held onto the promises He had given. He told us in the beginning of Hebrews 12 that the suffering and difficulties and trials that come into our lives as God's children are part of His disciplining process. We are His children and discipline is part of His love and molding and shaping and preparing us for glory, it's a maturing process. Then in Hebrews 12:18 we really begin the warning passage that will run down through the rest of the chapter where he drew a contrast between Mt. Zion and Mt. Sinai. Starting with Mt. Sinai, that was a fearful place, an awesome place, demonstrating that we have a God who is a God to be feared. “The mountain trembled, there is blazing fire, there is darkness, there is the blast of a trumpet and the sound of the voice of God speaking was so much that the people begged Moses to be the mediator because they feared being destroyed. Moses,” the man of God, great as he was, we're told in verse 21, “so terrible was the sight Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling.”

But then he says as believers in Jesus Christ we haven't come to Mt. Sinai, we “have come to Mt. Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” And that's the place where countless angels dwell, where the church will dwell, where Old Testament saints will live. This is the city of the living God, and we looked at that in our previous study, the New Jerusalem and something of the details described in Revelation 21 and into Revelation 22. They talk about the eternal kingdom that we will be part of.

And we have come, verse 24, to “Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant” in contrast to the old covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, “to the sprinkled blood, the shed blood of Christ applied to those who believe, which speaks better than the blood of Abel,” whose blood cried out from the ground for vengeance. We have the death of Christ that provides salvation.

Then he drives home the point—“see to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking.” Now he picks up on that, verse 24, “the sprinkled blood which speaks better.” It takes us back to Hebrews 1, the opening verses, “God spoke in time past in a variety of ways and a variety of means. In these last days He has spoken to us in a Son.” And that message is the message of salvation, the death of His Son is the sacrifice to provide cleansing from sin. And the command here—“see to it, you better not refuse Him who is speaking.” You better not ignore God. See to it, pay attention, you better listen up, you better not refuse God, you better not turn away from Him who is speaking. And what has he been saying? Salvation has been provided in My Son, only in Him. Those who don't believe in Him will be the objects of My infinite burning wrath. So the warning comes—don't refuse Him who is speaking.

Then that comparison that we have seen already—“if those did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.” If they couldn't escape the judgment that was announced at Sinai for unbelief and disobedience, how are you going to escape the judgment announced directly from heaven by the One who came from heaven, the Son of God who gave His life on the cross? To reject that, to refuse Him, we saw in the previous warning passage, God says that is “just like you trample the death of My Son under your feet and say it is worthless to me, I will have nothing to do with it.”

And His voice shook the earth then, but now His promise saying, “yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven. “ Don't turn away from Christ. When Israel did they couldn't go into the land that God had promised, they were shut out because of disobedience and unbelief. That's a picture of those who will be cut off, closed out from heaven and all that God has promised to those who love Him.

He quotes here from the book of Haggai, we're going to turn to Haggai 2. Verse 5. “as for the promise which I made to you when you came out of Egypt, My spirit is abiding in your midst, do not fear.” They had a promise given, and then the verse quoted. “For thus says the Lord of Hosts, once more in a little while I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. I will shake the nations, will come with the wealth of the nations, will fill this house with glory. It is all Mine.” This shaking, he picks up verse 6 that refers to that time of judgment. We use that similar kind of expression, we say, we'll see how things will shake out. And what's left is what we mean. The things that shake out, they will be gone and then we will have what we want, we'll see the outcome, what's left. Here what God is talking about at a judgment that will shake out all sin, all unbelievers so He'll have a kingdom that is perfect, pure and holy for His people who have been purified by His grace.

Come over to Revelation 21, we were in this passage in a previous study, but you see the connection, where we are. Remember in the Old Testament it talked about the promise of God for a coming kingdom. It doesn't break it out as we find it in the book of Revelation where it gives us order in the return of Christ, Revelation 19, following judgments on the world. There will be judgments in connection with the Second Coming of Christ to earth to establish a kingdom that will go for 1,000 years, the first part of Revelation 20. Then at the end of Revelation 20 the Great White Throne judgment where all unbelievers are sentences to an eternal hell, to a fire which burns forever and ever. Revelation 14 describing this says, “the smoke of their torment goes up into the ages of the ages.” There is no end to it. Then you have Revelation 21, “the new heavens and new earth,” continuation of the kingdom. Everything vile, everything defiled has been shaken out, if you will, and now verse 3, “I heard a voice from heaven, behold the tabernacle of men is among men.” Remember we read in Hebrews 12, it's the city of the living God. It's the New Jerusalem, the Holy City coming down out of heaven. It's where God dwells. All the former things associated with the result of sin are gone. Verse 4, “all tears, no death, no mourning, no crying, no pain.” All these first things are gone. Verse 7, “he who overcomes will inherit these things. I will be His God, they will be My people.” And 1 John tells us, “who is he who overcomes but he who believes that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God.” Those who have overcome, have overcome because they have placed their faith in Christ and the victory that He has accomplished becomes my victory. And I am cleansed in Him.

But verse 8, “the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, immoral persons, sorcerers, idolaters, liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” That's what he's talking about, the shake out—heaven and earth shaken. When all is said and done what is left are those who have been cleansed by the grace of God. Not those who are sinless, because there are no such people; not those who didn't sin as seriously as others did. Paul said you couldn't sin any more grievously than I did. I murdered people for placing their faith in Christ. But He has cleansed me, Paul said, so that people could realize there is no limit to the grace of God and the salvation He brings.

What a contrast, these destinies. You can see why the concern in Hebrews, come back to Hebrews 12, is so serious. God warns, “once more I will shake not only the earth but the heavens around the earth.” It is all made new. This expression, verse 27, yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things. And so those things which cannot be shaken remain. This will be the new heavens, the new earth, the New Jerusalem. There is no shaking that is made in all its purity as the eternal residence of the people of God.

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, we don't have it yet but we are the recipients, we are the heirs of it. As he talked about in Hebrews 12:22, it's the heavenly Jerusalem. And yet in Hebrews 13:14 he says, that is a “city which” we don't have yet but is yet “to come.” We are not in the kingdom now, but we are the recipients of that kingdom, we are the heirs of that kingdom and we will be part of it when it is established. Since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude. What kind of thinking is this that maybe I'll go back, maybe I'll turn away from Christ. If you truly place your faith in Him and allow your mind to be focused and filled with what He has done, the response is gratitude, grace, thanks. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 9;15, “thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.” That's what he is talking about here, this thanks, this gratitude. In light of all he has unfolded about what God has done for us in Christ, how can we but say thank you, God, for your unspeakable gift? How do you measure what He has done for us in Christ? That He has delivered us from eternal hell and brought us to eternal glory. Our hearts must be filled with gratitude.

Let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe. Only as we come before Him as those redeemed by His grace and hearts filled with gratitude for that grace bestowed upon on us in His salvation can we please Him with our service. The word for service here is the word we get liturgy from in English. This is often used to refer to religious service. It has been used of the activity of priests in the Old Testament. We come to worship God, to serve God. That comes from hearts filled with gratitude. Not a burden to serve Him, not a burden to obey Him. It's the desire of our hearts, redeemed by His grace. He loved me so much in my sin, in my hopeless, wretched condition. He doesn't say, clean yourself up and I'll give you another look. He cleans me up and says, you look perfect. Now live for Me. What else would I want to do? That's a heart filled with gratitude. That's our acceptable service with reverence and awe.

You know we live in a casual day and Christianity has been “casualized.” I'm not saying we can't be casual, informal. We have to wear a tuxedo to church or whatever. We need to be careful that we don't develop a casual attitude toward God. He is a God to be served with reverence and awe. He is God, He is worthy of our best. He is worthy of our service. That's why Paul would write in a letter of his and say, “whatever you do, you do it as unto the Lord.” The desire is to please Him, honor Him because we reverence Him. We are in awe of Him. He is the One worthy of our worship, worthy of our service, worthy of all respect. Don't have to show how much we fit the day by showing how flip we can be in our worship, in our service. He is a God to be reverenced, to show respect. Our awe of Him grows. We know Him. The world does not know Him.

Our God is a “consuming fire,” verse 29. You never lose sight of what we have been rescued from. Our God is a consuming fire. I come with gratitude because He rescued me from a just condemnation by having His Son come and pay the penalty for my sin. Why would He do that? It doesn't make any sense, humanly speaking. Why would Christ die for His enemies? Why would he die for those who hated Him? Why would He die for those who were indifferent and thought they were fine as they are? It makes no sense. But it does when you understand something of the love of God. That's why the great demonstration of God's love is that “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” That's the unspeakable love of God. But never forget, out God is a consuming fire. That puts the balance. That helps me in my gratitude to appreciate what He has done for me. So is suffering a great sacrifice in this life, short life that it is? Persecution? Rejection? Shame? Slander? I've been suffering so much. I mean He has rescued you from being an object of His wrath to being an object of His love, to being one destined for eternal hell to being destined to a city of glory. Our hearts are filled with gratitude so that we want to serve Him with reverence and awe and never forget that our God is a consuming fire.

That quote is from Deuteronomy 4, come back there as we finish. Deuteronomy 4, our God is a consuming fire. In Deuteronomy 4 Moses is reiterating what happened to Israel at Mt. Sinai. You'll note in Deuteronomy 4 the chapter opened up in verse 2, this is in preparation for Israel to go over into the land. Verse 2, “you shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I commanded you.” Great encouragement—God gave His Word to us so we would understand it and obey it. This is not some mysterious book that is only for the learned and scholarly. This is given so that it can be understood and obeyed. Don't add anything to it, don't take away anything. The idea that well, the church has a certain authority and it can add its traditions. No one can. The Word of God is complete.

He warns them that these things are to be taught and obeyed. Verse 14, “the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you might perform them in the land where you are going.” Watch yourselves, a warning, there is no room for any other gods, any other way of worshiping. And then he comes down after warning them about the danger of disobeying on this, he says in verse 24, “for the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” That's the context. Some of these Jews, professing believers in a local church like our church were thinking they could go back to Judaism, back to the Mosaic Law. Understand our God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. What makes you think you could reject His Son and choose an alternative way of worshiping Him? Choose an alternative way of being cleansed from your sins? Can you expect that that would incur anything but the wrath of God? What more would we want? Christ came and died for us so that we would not have to experience the wrath of God. “The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I mean, think about it, it's free, no conditions. Well, if you'll join this church, be baptized, commit to taking sacraments, commit to give your money, at least 10% and preferably 15%, some of you can do 20%. These are the things then, I think, and you come and confess to me periodically how bad you've been and I will absolve you. Then you may get there. Do you know what? God says, I did it all. We have the song, Calvary paid it all. That's it.

Now we've been through Hebrews. Any wonder the writer to the Hebrews is concerned. What do you not grasp on this about Christ and the finality of Christ? I mean, I can see we settle down and it becomes old hat. We become somewhat casual and indifferent about it. Understand, this never becomes casual, indifferent or less important to God. It is no less important to Him today than it was 2,000 years ago, than it was 4,000 years ago. This is it. Doesn't matter you've been a Christian for twenty years, forty years, fifty years, five years. It's not like I've been a Christian long enough, these things . . . Never becomes commonplace for God, it better never become. Our God is to be served with reverence and awe. Our God is a consuming fire but we can be filled with thanks and gratitude that because of the salvation we have in Christ we will not be consumed by that fire. But we will enter the glory of His presence and enjoy all that He has promised to those who trust Him.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your salvation. Thank You for all You've done for us in Christ. Lord, we are gathered before You today as a local church, even as that congregation of Hebrews was. And Lord, it can also be true of us that there are mixed in here those who have not trusted Christ as Savior. Perhaps they were raised in this church. Perhaps they have come more recently. Lord, You know our hearts. All things are open and naked before You. You examine us on the inside. You know whether we have truly trusted You or just professed faith in your Son. Lord, I pray that each one here might consider carefully the reality of the relationship they have with You. And Lord, we are thankful that the offer of Your salvation continues today, that we are invited to come, all who are burdened and they find rest for their souls in the One Who is the Savior of our souls. May we who have placed our faith in the One who loved us and died for us never take it for granted, never become casual, indifferent, lax. We count it a great privilege to serve You with reverence and awe, never forgetting that we have been brought from death to life. We praise You in Christ's name, amen.