Hebrews

We're gonna have 2 readings from god's words before Rory comes to preach to us.

The first is from exodus chapter 19, and then we'll be picking up our Hebrews series Hebrews chapter 12. So exodus 19 and then on to Hebrews 12. On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt, on that very day, they came to the desert of Sinai. After they set out from Repadim, they entered the desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert. In front of the mountain.

Then Moses went up to god, and the lord called to him from the mountain and said, this is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel. You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on Eagles wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession, Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites. So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the lord had commanded him to speak.

The people all responded together. We will do everything the lord has said. So Moses brought their answer back to the lord. The Lord said to Moses, I'm going to come to you in a dense cloud so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you. Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

And the lord said to Moses, go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Make them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day because on that day, the lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them. Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death.

They are to be stoned or shot with arrows. Not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live. Only when the Ram's horn sounds a long blast May they approach the mountain. After Moses had gone down from the mountain to the people, he consecrated them and they washed their clothes.

Then he said to the people, prepare yourselves for the third day, abstain from sexual relations. On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning with a very thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with god, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the lord descended on it in fire.

The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace and the whole mountain trembled violently as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and the voice of god answered him. The lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up and the lord said to him, go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the lord and many of them perish. Even the priests who approach the lord must consecrate themselves. Or the lord will break out against them.

Moses said to the lord, the people cannot come up Mount Sinai because you yourself warned us put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy. The lord replied, go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the lord or he will break out against them. So Moses went down to the people and told them. And then if you turn or look up to the screen for Hebrew's chapter 12, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of god. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son.

It says my son do not make light of the lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the lord disciplines the 1 he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.

Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the father of spirits and live? They disciplined us for a little while as best they thought. But god disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.

Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees, make level paths for your feet so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy Without holiness, no 1 will see the lord. See to it that no 1 falls short of the grace of god and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no 1 is sexually immoral or is godless, like esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.

Afterwards, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected, even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done. You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire to darkness, gloom, and storm. To a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word would be spoken to them because they could not bear what was commanded. If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death. The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear.

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living god, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. You have come to god, the judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?

At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised Once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken that is created things so that they cannot be that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship god acceptably with reverence and awe for our god is a consuming fire. Laurie, Cornerstone. Great to be able to open up the word of god with you.

My name is Rory. For those who don't know me, I'm 1 of the members of staff here. Let me add my welcome to you. Let's pray, though, as we begin our time in god's words. Come and behold him.

The 1 and the only cry out, sing holy, forever a holy god, common worship, the holy god. Finally, we have just sung those words that remind us of your awesome holiness. We have song songs that have reminded us that you are totally unique, that you are totally different, that you are totally glorious, that you're totally other and out of this world. And so we pray that as we come to this passage in Hebrews 12, that you will help us to grasp your holiness and grasp what it is to be a part of your unshakable kingdom. And so we pray that you'll help us with these things now in Jesus' name, amen.

Now you may have realized there in our readings that we are confronted, with a couple of mountains. Now when you see mountains in the bible, you must understand that there is huge significance in the bible when it comes to mountains. It's a a very, very important thing. Now I don't know if there's anybody here who enjoys hiking a mountain or enjoys going up them. I mean, I I I married into a family who love going for walks for some reason.

I think one's enough for me, but each their own. But, if if you have ever been up a mountain or or seen a mountain, it can have it can evoke many different types of, emotions. Sometimes, there are emotions of of positivity, aren't they? You may have the emotion of of awe and wonder at the at the the beauty and the size of a mountain. You may have a feeling of peace and serenity as you contemplate.

What's going on in front of you. You may have a a a feeling of adventure and exhilaration and accomplishment. Some of us a few years back decided to try and climb 3 mountains, the 3 tallest mountains in the UK, and we were hoping to embark on a great adventure and complete all 3 mountains, in 24 hours. And, like, brilliant, unfortunately, we failed, so maybe not so good. We have positive feelings with mountains, but at the same time, it could be that you have negative emotions.

1 of maybe not negative, but 1 that that confront us with humility and insignificance. Look how small and puny I am compared to this great mountain. 1 of loneliness and melancholy and 1 of fear and vulnerability maybe. Today, we're confronted with 2 mountains. We've been confronted with 2 mountains.

And I think they both evoke diff very different emotions for us. Now which mountain will you come to is is kind of the question that I wanna ask this morning. We've been Looking at this book in Hebrews, we had a break, I think last week, and we're returning to this passage in Hebrews chapter 12. And, really, this is the climax. This is the the the apex or the peak of his argument here.

It's kind of the the the summary. It's all that he's been saying. Sort of, I wanna round off, you know, like, when people have to do their their sort of closing remarks for an argument, they really wanna land it now. And here, the writer of Hebrew is like, I'm gonna land my argument, and he uses these 2 mountains to do so. See, we've been looking at Hebrews.

And he and the writer has been writing to this audience who have been feeling a pressure and all sorts of pressure. They've been feeling pressure to to abandon the gospel of the lord Jesus Christ, the good news of salvation. And attempted to return to a former Jewish way of living their life. And now why why are they tempted to do that? Well, it it seems clear in Hebrews that there is there is the sort of persecution element of things that that that they may have to suffer things because they're different to everybody else now.

It may be because they're isolated where everybody else has their guards and everybody house has their way of life. And suddenly these Christians are so different. And so therefore, they're isolated and alienated from everybody else. And there's discomfort here. And so the temptation is to go back to a way of life that was a bit more comfortable, a bit more in the in crowds.

Now as I talk about them, I wonder if you see those pressures yourself. They're they're no different pressures today than they were then in the sense. Are they? You know, you try and live out as a Christian, the temptation to go back to a way of life that means that I'm no longer ice related that I'm no longer alienated. That means that I fit in with the crowd.

That means that I'm not mocked or or or laughed at or different. I'm not overlooked. I'm not uncomfortable. And the temptation is real that I could go actually. Yeah.

Jesus sounds great, but I that that that seems like something else might be better. And the Hebrews writer says no. In fact, the Hebrews writer has gone to great lengths. To show you that if you go down that path, it would be a monumental mistake. And so he goes about showing us that in every way every way possible, Jesus is better.

I mean, if you want a summary of Hebrews, that is it. Jesus is better. Yeah. Name me 1 thing. Jesus is better.

Name me something else. Jesus is better. Right? If you go away knowing 1 thing about Hebrews, just know that Jesus is better. He's better than the angels, and the angels are pretty incredible.

He's better than Moses. He was a pretty I mean, Moses according to himself, was the most humble man in the world. Well, take that as your will. He wrote that himself. He's greater than the high priest heir, and he's he's a greater covenant.

He has a greater sacrifice. He has greater blood. And so he must be the 1 that we put our faith in exemplified by all those people in chapter 11. Who showed that by living by faith, despite the pressures, despite the the the persecution, despite the suffering and the disgrace, they realized that it was worth it for a heavenly city was an offer. And so to settle for anything else would be crazy.

And so he's gonna rub this all in in his summary statement. And all I want us to look at is 2 mountains and then 2 responses. 2 mountains and 2 responses. So here we go. Firstly, 2 mountains.

You'll notice that there is a 1 mountain that we have not come to, And there is 1 mountain that we have come to. And so the first mountain is the is the mountain that we have not come to. And that is the mountain that Tom Redenoff first reading the next of this 19. It is Mount Sinai even though it's not named. And so as the writer of Hebrews has been doing throughout the book, he transports us back to the day of of the exodus people.

And he brings us to Mount Sinai. And here we have Mount Sinai verse 18 to 21. Let's read that. You have not come to a mountain that can be touched, and that is burning with fire to darkness gloom and storm to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them because they could not bear what was commanded. If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.

The sight was so terrifying. That Moses said, I am trembling with fear. So here we have mountain number 1. It can be touched, but can't be touched. That was a weird thing, but I think all it's saying there is that it is a physical mountain.

It was a physical mountain. And what we're presented with in these verses is a very awesome, but a very fearful picture. I don't know if you read that, and as I read it again, you sort of see a spiral as it gets scarier and scarier and scarier. You've got this burning fire. You may have heard it as Tom Reddit.

You've got the the the thick cloud of god's presence descending upon a mountain. So there is darkness and gloom. There's thunder and lightning as this storm goes on. It reminds me of, it's like a movie scene or a teetler, like, lord the rings when there's, like, lightning bolts going off and cloud, and there's about to be some great battle or if you've watched stranger things, which you may not have, which is fine. You know, you go to the upside down world, and there's these crackling light and fire, and there's a dark place, and it's foreboding.

And it's gloom, but this is no movie scene. This is reality. And then you have the trumpet blast that gains volume and gains volume. As the lord in his presence descends upon a mountain and eventually this voice booms out of the mountain. And the people don't wanna know, do they?

They are frightened. In the next chapter that Tom read of Exodus's 20, It says this in verse 18 onwards, when the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, speak to us yourself, and we will listen, but do not let god speak to us, or we will die. That, you know, when you're you're so scared, you want every fiber of you wants to run. But you're so scared you seem frozen to the spot.

They're so scared of this voice, of this presence, of the threat. Even the threat to animals verse 20, they can't bear that commandment. If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death. Here, The unmediated presence of god spells out terror for anybody who unlocks. Even Moses.

Cannot bear this. Do you see that in verse 21? The site was so terrifying that mo even Moses said, I am trembling with fear. Moses is up at the Mount in the and, the Israelites, as you may know the story, have just said, oh, yeah. We'll commit to god.

And then as soon as Moses has been up the mountain for a while, decide to make a golden calf and worship it. And god is gonna break out onto them in anger because sin is a serious thing for god and he cannot bear it. And so when Moses is confronted with the the just and right anger of god, he is trembling with fear. And he's like, if I could will you block me out so that he can be okay, but he knows he can't be blocking out. He knows he can't be cut off for the sake of his people.

And so here, we have the mountain of law. We have the mountain that says, you cannot be in the presence of a holy and righteous and just god for you are so tainted with sin and no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you try and obey the law, all you do is add on burden upon burden on burden and you sin and you sin and you sin and so the unapproachable inaccessible god, if he breaks out against you, will obliterate you. Feel. The holiness of god called us during this morning. This is a world of fear.

This is a world of darkness. This is a world of gloom, and this is a world of terror. Anybody who tries to live in their own way by their own law by their own works, find themselves under the judgment of a holy god. And that is utterly terrifying. Now why is he presenting this to us?

Because that is the warning of Hebrews. Don't go back. Don't go back. Wouldn't you be crazy to go back to that? As many of you know, we're, we're going to teach, pilgrims progress on authentic on our camp in in the summer.

It's just a wonderful book. And, and, Bonya really gets gets this picture. He's got this character Christian who's on the way to try and get to the the celestial city, to heaven itself. And as he's going on his way, he meets a man who's all about law. And he says, try a different way.

Try and get up this thing called the, amount, amount legality. And he thinks, oh, brilliant, a different way. I'll try that. I'll go off the path that I've been told to go, and he tried to go up the path. But as he goes up the path, he realizes that this wasn't the right thing to do.

This is how it reads Christian left the narrow way and ventured out to find mister legality for help with his burden. But the closer he got to the hill, which seemed more like a mountain, the harder it was to go up. In a fact, in fact, the hill rose so high that it seemed to hang above him. He became paralyzed with fear and did not know what to do. His burden too seemed to weigh more now than it did when he was on the path to the wicked gate.

Then suddenly flames of fire burst out from the side of the mountain. Christian began to sweat and became deathly afraid of being burned. He thought, why did I ever listen to worldly wise man? And so he realizes to leave and to go to Mount Sinai is a very, very serious thing indeed. But That is not the mountain we have come to Christians.

That is not the gospel church. And so we get a lovely verse 22 but you have come to Mount Zion. Now it's a funny thing, the Christian Life, because in 1 hand, we are already at this mount. But on the other hand, we're not there yet. In 1 hand, we we're kind of with Christ right now.

We've been seeing this, but at the same time, we'll be there eventually. And so we have come to Mount Zion. Now it's really important that we understand that Zion does not mean a physical place. This is not a place in Palestine. Be and that is clear because it says what about it?

It is the heavenly city. This is a a spiritual plane that we're going on. So it's different to Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai, and I was physical, but Mount Zion here is a spiritual place. It's the city of the living god. Do you see how look look how different this is to Mount Sinai.

Just see the contrast. It's pretty great. So here you had Mount Sinai, the mountain where you you sort of didn't wanna go near. And if you did get there, you'd be probably burned to death. But now you have Mount Zion.

It's the city of the living god. It's a place where people come and live and that you're with the living gods. They're heavenly Jerusalem. And then look, it keep essentially before we got this sort of spiral of scariness, and now we get like a spir an upward spiral. And what's another word for that?

I don't know. Let's keep going off like joy. Alright? And it's just and you'll see the 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, It says you've come too. You've come too.

You've come too. I was like, whoa, whoa. Whoa. It's a city. But what else you have come?

This is an amazing verse. First 22, second half, you have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly. The word is myriads. It's an uncountable, innumerable amount of angels. Don't know if you thought about that.

When you stood up this more this morning and you sunk, even I've got a home in heaven, what a tune that is, by the way, we went and joined with myriads of angels to the praise of Jesus. When you stand up and you sing as the church of god, we join with the angels and we sing. And what a difference, right? Sinai, a picture of fear. But now, Zion, a joyful assembly.

The church of the firstborn, because we are with Jesus, we're united to him. We are as if a firstborn, and we have all the right of the firstborn son, and our names are written. What a great thing to know that your name, if you are a Christian this morning, if you're if you are a Christian this morning, your name is written on the annals of of heaven itself, that there is a book that records your name. Don't you want your name on the list? You know when you go to a a special event, and they've got a little clipboard and a load names, name, Jamie Lamril.

Sorry. You're not on the list. That's devastating, isn't it? But if your name's on it, yes. I'm in.

That's great that we're part of the roll call of heaven itself. That your name is on the list. When you come, and the father says come in. You're in. To god the judge of all, remember before the god the judge of all was a scary prospect.

But now, because we are able to come to him, it's not a scary prospect. To the spirits of righteous made perfect, this is not a an individualistic thing. We're part of a a greater community. We're part of a of a of a people that have gone before us who have completed the race, who have been made perfect, but we have also been made perfect. And hopefully, you know, hopefully you're not bored by this.

I'm not bored. Obviously, I, you know, because this is joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart. Yeah. But it's going up and up and up. And so lastly, what what is the best thing about this Mount Zion verse 24 to come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

He's the mediator. He's a better mediator than Moses, does it mean to be a mediator? Well, it's like a go between. It's it's the person that that represents both god and people. It's like you're you're a lawyer or or someone that represents both to bring 2 parties together.

Now Moses did that in the old testament. You might remember in that exit the scene. He's climbed up the mountain. He's got the 10 the 10 commandments to give from god to the people so that they could be in loving relationship with 1 another, but it was never a law. It was never a covenant that was able to satisfy our needs.

And to sacrifice our our our want and our desires. But Jesus is a better mediator. And incredible thing about Jesus, we talked about how Moses. Was fear was fearful and trembling. I told you that story about when the israelites had failed to be faithful to to god.

And Moses says, oh, will you block me out? But Moses knows he couldn't be blotted out. Moses knew he couldn't be cut off. Jesus had did not need to fear and tremble. But Jesus in the garden of gethsemane fears and trembles.

For he knows that he will go to a cross, and he will hang on a cross to be cut off. So that we can be in. He is a greater mediator. He is a greater Moses. He is better than Aaron and all his sacrifices.

The sacrifices that happen time and time again, but Jesus has the once and for all sacrifice. And then we have the glorious news that his sprinkled blood is better than Abel. Did you see that? The sprinkled work blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Abel was the man he was murdered for being righteous.

Wrongly. And so what does his blood cry out for? Cries out for justice, doesn't it? Cries out for vengeance. It cries out for the wrongs being made right.

And that's a good thing to cry out for. But Jesus is blood. Wow. Hard to think about blood. I know a lot of people get squeamish when we talk about blood.

But as he hangs upon that cross and his blood is shed, and it trickles down. It speaks a greater word than the blood of Abel. It speaks his blood. And it says this, that justice that Abel's blood cries out for met. It says that sin that you've committed forgiven.

It says that barrier that stopped you getting from god's gun. What a much more glorious word that Christ's blood speaks thanables. Do you see the difference between the 2 mountains? Are you with me? But 1 fear terror dread darkness gloom.

And the other 1, of light and of life and of joy and of peace and of security. Why would you go back? Why would you go back? Why would you leave Zion? So go to Sinai.

Don't go back. Which mountain will you come to? There's the 2 mountains. Here's the 2 responses. First response is in the negative and the second is in the positive.

Here's the first 1. Don't refuse his voice. If you look with me at verse 25, it says see to it, but you do not refuse him who speaks. He's used that phrase a few times in in Hebrew chapter 12. See to it.

See to it. You know, you might might be a parent and you could say to your child, see to it. Right? That doesn't mean it's like a that means it's not open for discussion, mate. Yeah.

I've told you to wash the dishes, and I'll see to it. I've told you to tidy your room, see to it. It's not like, oh, actually, can we lust have a discussion about this? No. See to it.

Right? He said that he said it before, see to it, make every effort to live in peace. Verse 14, see to it that no 1 falls short of the grace of see to it. See that no 1 is sexually immoral. Verse 25, see to it that you do not refuse him who speaks.

Then it goes on. It says this in verse 25. If they did not escape when they refused him, who warned them on earth, how much less will we if we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? So what he's doing here is using a letter to greater argument. And he's saying that there is a judgment if you don't listen to Jesus' voice.

And Justin, as in the old testament, when god used to sends his prophets. That's what I think it's talking about, when it when it when it talks about those on earth, the voice of those on earth, you know, god used to speak in many ways and in different through different people, all the different prophets. He sent his prophets on earth to warn people about the coming judgment of god and time and time again in the old testament, they just refuse to listen to god's words. I mean, 1 of the I don't even remember the story when we looked through ezekiel. No.

Sorry. It's in Jeremiah. Jeremiah has given a parchment. He's written down a load of judgments against against Jahoyuk and the king. And when Jahoyuk and gets that that letter, that says all that parchment that says about all the judgement.

Do you know what he does? He gets a pair of scissors. He just start after he reads 1 bit, cuts it, puts it in the fire, cuts it, puts it in the fire, cuts it, puts it in the fire, refuses to listen. But if you refuse to listen to god in the Old Testament, then the judgments do come. But wouldn't it be greater?

And this is the argument he's making if we refuse to listen to the voice from heaven? The word of god himself came to that, which was his own, and his own rejected him. Jesus, the word of god from heaven. And if we refuse to listen, if we reject his voice that says, come to me, have faith in me, then the consequences are even more serious and more dangerous for us if we refuse to listen. And so he continues his argument verse 26 to 27.

Read that with me. At that time, his voice shook the earth, But now he has promised once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken that has created things so that what cannot be shaken may remain. And so in the old testament and in the Jewish tradition, they always saw the shaking of the earth as a as a symbol of the judgment of god. And so when you see shaking, you must think of the judgment of god.

And he says at that time, he's returned to the Old Testament people and said there were shakings, and that was the judgment of god, but there is a time coming that once again. Not only will the earth be shaking, but the heavens and the earth and the skies and the waters and all nations, Hagai says, will be shaken for the day of god's judgment is going to come upon us. And all that is temporary, which is what he's talking about the creative things, all that is temporary and not in Christ will be taken away. Shaken off, and all that is permanent, all that is immortal, all that is imperishable, all that is unshakable will remain. So don't refuse his voice.

Jesus speaks to you this morning. Do not refuse his voice. If you do, you are gonna be part of the shaken, the shakable. This world is a shaky place, isn't it? You know, it's not hard to see.

Can't even get 2 nations to agree on something. This world is a shaky place that at the top of a button. You can just bomb anybody. This world is a shaky place. Everybody's felt that, haven't they?

When you're young, you know, you you're shaky, aren't you? You're nervous. You're trembling with fear on that first day of school back, you think, does anybody still like me? When you get older, still shaky. Does anybody still like me?

Well, have enough money. Will I have a will my job be safe? Will my kids turn out well? Will my car make it to this thing because it's breaking down? So now I'm getting into my problem.

Sorry. The shaky world. And if you trust in the shaky, it's like sinking sand. Don't refuse his voice. If you refuse his voice, the consequences are there for you to see.

But if you don't refuse his voice, accept see, it's not an invitation where you just get to, like, oh, maybe it's it'll be okay if I pass on it. It's not like a promotional that you get around, you know, on the on, you know, you get inundated with it on the email. This is a this is an invitation that you have to take seriously. Will you listen or will you not? But if you listen, and here's the second point of response, worship with reverence and awe, but with me at verse 28 to 29.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. And so worship god acceptably with reverence and awe for our god is a consuming fire. See if we listen to the voice of Jesus, the unshakable is ours. We're part of the unshakable. We're part of that kingdom that is unshakable.

You're so safe. You're so secure. We are the ones by the incredible, extraordinary grace of god are no longer at Mount Sinai, but are able to come into Mount Zion and have the acceptance of a once inapproachable, inaccessible gods. Mount Zion is our mountain. And so we have every reason to be thankful.

Amazing, isn't it how often we grumble? We tried 1 week in this church, not to grumble. How's it going now, ladies and gentlemen? And I only say that because I am a grumbler, like, Kenneth or notorious for ranting. I'm about to get on 1 now apparently about cana to my own family.

I've got no reason to be grumbling. I have every spiritual blessing in Christ. Nothing to be grumbling about. Thankful for all that god has given. Thankful for being brought into his kingdom.

Thankful that Christ would shed his blood for me. And so let us worship acceptably with reverence and awe. That means we respect and we fear god above all others. He holds number 1 position. The puritans used to have a Latin phrase called Coram Deo.

Coram Deo. I love that phrase. You wanna know what it means? Or is there some latin scholars here? It means before the face of god, everything you do Everything you say.

Every time you treat somebody, remember that I am before the face of god. Remember our savior Jesus when he was here. Always doing it, not for him. But for the father. So whether it's, I don't know, doing the dishes, the while I came back to my head, cooking a meal, do it to the glory of god.

Whether it's trying to deal with difficult people, do it to the glory of god, whether it's forgiving people, do it to the glory of god. Whether it's singing, let us join together with these thousands of angels. I mean, what the dickens? We're jointly with the angels. Let us sing our hearts out.

And it doesn't matter if you're a bad singer. Just belt it out. God doesn't care. He's not thinking, oh, that's a 4 out of 10. Is he?

He's not like, oh, gosh. Hope he hope he doesn't open his mouth again. I hope she doesn't, Laura. Dave. Sorry.

Oh, sorry. It's only the oh, sorry. No. Apologies. No.

God doesn't care about that. He cares about your heart. Cares about the fact that you're gonna belt it out. Never mind whether you can sing in tune. That's why I love Dave.

Dave's over there. Put you up, Dave. Dave's got Dave's got a range of here. So you can sing in tune in this sorry. I'm absolutely bad.

You know, mate. Sorry. He but as soon as he gets too high for Dave, he just stays about here. It's a joy. I try and harmonize with it.

But Dave understands he's before the face of god. So sing out of tune. I'll sing I'll sing slightly better. I could always tune. And why should we do this?

Because our god verse 29 is a consuming fire. That means god is holy. God is powerful. God is pure. God is perfect.

God is unique. God is other. God is jealous. He's jealous for your worship because he deserves it. And what other way can we respond to our king Jesus and to bow down and worship him?

He is gorgeous. He is dazzlingly bright. Let us worship him acceptably with reverence in awe. And so let us ask these questions to finish. What mountain will you come to?

How will you respond to the voice of Jesus? I don't know about all of you here. But there may be some who have never come, and they find themselves before Mount Sinai with fear and darkness and dread and trembling. Well, today, why not come? Come to Mount Zion.

Come to Jesus. Come to know his cleansing blood. Come to know joy and peace and security and somebody who is worth your worship. And Christians, we have every reason to be thankful. So let us worship acceptably with reverence and awe all the way to that day when Christ comes back and takes us with him.

To Mount Zion forever. That should be our prayer. Let's do that now. Our father in heaven, we thank you for the wonderful truths which we have heard proclaimed amongst us here this morning, we thank you that as your people and as your children, we no longer have to fear your holy wrath and the terrors of the law and the penalty that we deserve. We no longer have to approach you without a mediator in that old mountain.

Thank you that we can now because of the lord Jesus draw near to the heavenly mountain to our true and spiritual home. That we can draw near through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, confident of your smile and your favor and your goodness. Thank you that in our worship service this morning, we have joined with millions of Christians around the world, and we have joined with innumerable heavenly beings who praise your great name, the name of Jesus. And we pray please that you would help us as you have spoken to us this morning, not to refuse the invitation that has been given to us. That we would come to you to worship you acceptably with reverence and awe and joy and confidence and help us to do these things we pray not just today, but all through our weeks, and we ask it in Jesus' name.