Motivated by Heaven’s Perspective

Sermon Transcript

Hope you have your Bibles; pull them out if you have them.  If not, there’s a little black Bible that’s all yours. It’s got your name all over it right under that seat in front of you, and that one’s yours. Turn to Hebrews 12.  As we near the end of this chapter we have a section of Scripture here that I hope will be—as I anticipate it will be—the fuel for your spiritual tanks this week. I mean, I know that the Scripture is analogized that way, not in terms of fuel but in terms of food, right? It’s meat and it’s milk, and it’s this ingesting of spiritual perspective that changes our lives and it fuels us for another week. And I hope that this week, and this passage is poised for this very purpose, that it would be like high octane ethanol. It’s the, you know, it’s the thing that—ethanol, I don’t know, is that what they use? What do those funny cars ride on? We’re not in Kansas, you don’t know, right? Alcohol, is that it? You just didn’t want to say that word in church? High octane fuel. How about that? I think this passage can be that for us. (1:38)

It may seem like a parenthetical statement, but it’s really not. I mean we’ve got to remember the context. In Hebrews 12 it’s all about taking the sin that so easily entangles us and getting it out of our lives. It’s all about holiness. It’s about sanctification. I mean, he hasn’t lost that perspective. But what he’s doing here is giving us heaven’s perspective, which is so helpful. I mean if you want to think about heaven’s perspective, no one had it better than Christ. Right? I mean if anybody knew what it was to have heaven’s perspective, it was God incarnate who walked among us. And when you think about the topic at hand, no one preached about this topic like Jesus did. Think about it, right? When it comes to saying no to temptation and sin, Jesus said it would be better for you to gouge out parts of your body and lop off your arm than to continue in a pattern of falling into temptation. He said it would be better if your friends were drowned in the lake of Gennesaret than for them to be the avenue through which sin comes into your life. I mean, Jesus was drastic and dramatic about the topic of temptation and sin, right? No question about that. (2:35)

And allow me to postulate this morning that the reason I think Jesus was the most drastic in this teaching about sin and temptation is because no one had a better perspective on sin than Christ. Right? I mean, as the God Man, as the incarnate God, he certainly knew without any kind of long distance view, he knew it up close, to problem with sin. And when it came to being the lamb of God, no one knew the cost of sin more than Christ. I mean he knew it would cost. And sin was no small matter. It was a big deal. And so Jesus with that heavenly perspective, he taught about sin in a way that is big. I mean it’s dramatic. And it should motivate us. But I think more than just hearing him preach, we need to adopt his perspective, and nothing does that better in Hebrews 12 than verses 18-24. (3:23)

So this morning we reach a passage that if you’re not careful you’ll think, well where’s he going off on this? What’s this all about? It’s all about where we started. Saying no to sin. Taking the sin that so easily trips you up and getting it out of your life. It’s about growing in sanctification, but it’s all about perspective. Look at what he says in verse 18 as he takes us back to the Old Testament for the ultimate foundation of perspective, and he talks about the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai. He says you have not come in this new covenant relationship—you have not come to a mountain that can be touched. That mountain that’s burning with fire to darkness, gloom and storm. (3:58)

Do you remember the story at all? When God came down on that mountain this was a really dark experience. I mean, this was not pleasant. This was not like friendly and inviting. This was a dramatic, dark picture. And the Bible says, you know you didn’t come to that. This new covenant thing, this transformation in your life is not like that one. That, verse 19, was like a trumpet blast. And it was literally a trumpet blast, and a voice that spoke from the mountain, and those who heard the voice didn’t say, hey give us more of that. No, they begged that no further word would be spoken to them. That’s why they kind of put Moses at the front of the parade and said, you go talk to him. We don’t want to talk to God anymore. This isn’t a good experience. Because they couldn’t bear what was commanded, and when it came down to it, they knew that even if their little animal went out and touched the mountain—the Bible says that even if an animal touches the mountain it must be stoned. You can’t go here and hang out. You can’t even touch the mountain. The sight was so terrifying that Moses even testified later in the book of Deuteronomy that he was trembling with fear. This was frightening. It was not an inviting experience. (5:02)

But he says you know, as you think back to Sinai, that’s not what you’ve come to in this new covenant relationship with God. This is not the old covenant. This is a new covenant. And for the present time—that’s an important phrase—for the present time it’s like we’ve come to, verse 22, Mount Zion. Mount Zion. You’ve heard that before? There are five hills on which geographically the city of Jerusalem was founded. One of the five hills, south of the Kidron Valley, is called Mount Zion. Now, when the word Mount Zion is used, rarely is it used to describe a hill on the south part of Jerusalem. It’s usually used by the poets of the Old Testament, by the song writers, to talk about some kind of idealized relationship that God has with his people. And whenever the word Zion comes up, not every time but the majority of times that it comes up, they’re looking forward to some perfect, idealized relationship that the people of God will have with God. And he says, you know, in the new covenant relationship we’ve come to that kind of thing. We’ve come to Mount Zion. Not to the new Jerusalem, and not to the old Jerusalem. We’ve come to a heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. (6:08)

You’ve come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly. You’ve come to the first born, the church of the first born, which remember is what Esau was parallel—we saw it in verse 17 last week. Esau is the first born apparently, but he wasn’t the first born, he didn’t act like the first born, and he didn’t get the blessing and inheritance of the first born. But we’ve come to the church of the first born. We’re not talking about Christ here, we’re talking about us, the people that will receive the inheritance. Whose names—plural, that’s why it’s not Christ—are written in heaven. We’ve heard that before. Bottom of verse 23. You’ve come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect. You’ve come to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant—it’s not the old one—to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (6:59)

Now that’s a big contrast. The contrast is clear. Two mountains. You’ve got Mount Sinai—oh, that was dark, that was scary—and Mount Zion—it’s heavenly, it’s not real clear, we see through a glass dimly and I can’t quite get a handle on all of it, but it’s like angels and spirits of righteous men, but it’s joyful and it’s positive and it’s welcoming, and it’s the place were God lives and I’m kind of a citizen there now. Now I realize there’s something better coming. Right? Our eschatology says that one day the dwelling of God will be among men, and out of heaven will come the new Jerusalem, but for now it’s way better than the old one. And the old one was Mount Zion—I’m sorry, Mount Sinai. And Mount Sinai, mm. You don’t want to live there. (7:41)

Before we come to Mount Zion, just to get poetic about this. Before you have a relationship with God and you relationally connect with God, you’ve got to walk by Mount Sinai. Did you track with that? You cannot understand, to put it terms you might be familiar with, you cannot understand the Gospel unless you understand the Law. Wasn’t Sinai all about the giving of the Law? Can’t have Gospel without Law. You can’t have grace without what the Law reveals, and that is sin. This juxtaposition of Sinai and Zion is so helpful because I got to understand both of them to get Heaven’s perspective. Heaven’s perspective includes a perspective from Zion, and a perspective from Sinai. (8:21)

Let’s start with Sinai. Sinai is going to reveal to us this picture of the gravity of sin. That’s not a fun picture. Look at it again: verse 18. It’s a mountain. Oh, you may be able to touch it—that may be one advantage: it’s real, it’s corporeal, it’s right in front of you—but it’s burning with fire. I mean, that’s not a great place to hang out. And it’s dark and gloomy, and there’s a storm on it.  There’s a trumpet blasting, a voice that’s not like, oh, I want to curl up next to that voice, it’s a voice where you go, “I don’t want to hear anymore.” Can you go speak to him for us, ’cause we don’t want to talk to God. Because I can’t even let my pooch, my little doggie, run up and touch the mountain. If we do, you got to kill him. And there’s yellow caution tape around this place where God is. That’s not very friendly. (9:00)

Number one on your outline. When it comes to getting heaven’s perspective, number one: we have to remember the gravity of sin. That’s what Mount Sinai is all about. It’s to show you how serious sin is. Now think about this. What’s the point of Mount Sinai? Sinai is the giving of the Law. God comes down, when they’ve just come out of Egypt, and God dwells on Mount Sinai on the Sinai peninsula there just south of Israel, and he’s going to reveal to them the standard, the divine standard. Here’s the standard to live by. And it starts with the Ten Commandments. What chapter’s that in, Sunday School grads? Exodus, Chapter 20. (9:38)

Exodus 19 sets it up. And this is what the writer of Hebrews is summarizing. Let’s look at the original text here with me, for a second. Exodus 19. Look at this with me. This is just before we get the rules, and the rules are going to start with the big ten, the Decalogue. And the Decalogue is going to be nine ethical rules and one ceremonial rule, and they’re all about the way we’re supposed to live. And the rules, unfortunately, are going to reveal a problem. And the problem is illustrated as it’s set up on Mount Sinai. It is set up with an uninviting, very get-away, you can’t deal with God kind of feel. It creates a barrier here. It is the revelation that you people that want to have fellowship with God, can’t. That’s what Sinai is all about. And the reason is, here’s the rules, you don’t measure up. That’s what Sinai is all about. (10:34)

It’s like your kid who gets his math test graded. It’s the grading of the test. The kid may take the test and think he did fine, but one day the answer sheet is going to laid next to your kid’s test. And that’s the giving of the Law, Mount Sinai. And it says things like this: Don’t covet. Don’t covet. When you see your neighbor’s Hummer, black, shiny, drive into his driver, you be fine. Just be fine with your little Toyota Corolla. Don’t covet that. Your neighbor’s wife, your neighbor’s stuff, your neighbor’s home. Oh, and by the way, let’s start with the big one, number one: Let’s not have anybody be God in your life except for God. OK? Let’s make sure he’s the center of your life. Oh, and don’t ever bear false witness. And I know sometimes you’ll want to say something that’s not true. Don’t ever say anything that’s not true. Tell the truth. OK? Remember some of these rules? We memorized them as kids. These are all pretty big rules. Obey your parents. Honor them. Make sure you take care of them in their old age. Make sure you obey them in your youth. Nah, we’re not doing great at either one of those. And you that here comes the answer key on Mount Sinai. And it’s like, uugh. Well he sets up it up that way in chapter 19. (11:39)

Third day. Well let’s just jump into the third day here in verse 16. They’d already been there, there’s already a lot of gloom, but it gets worse on day three. Verse 16. Exodus 19:16, you with me? On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast. And everyone in the camp trembled. You think God was just kind of showing off? No. God was coming down and showing them you can’t really hang out here. You can’t have fellowship with me. Matter of fact, when I show up you ought to tremble, so here comes all the accoutrements of my holiness and I’m going to show you that I’m not like you. Verse 17. Moses led the people outside the camp to—now underline this, this is almost hilarious here—to meet with God. That was the intention, but guess what? It wasn’t really happening. We already learned in our passage that summarized chapter 19, they said we don’t want to talk to God. God was making a point. You’re right. Come out to meet with me, but, mm. You can’t meet with me. The whole point was to illustrate a problem and it was typified by a list of commandments. Here are the commands, And the bottom line is you look at those commands and you don’t measure up. That’s the point of this whole thing. (12:50)

Anyway, let’s get a little more of the feel. They’re going to meet with God, middle of verse 17: They stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, verse 18 says, because Yahweh descended on it in fire and the smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace and the whole mountain trembled violently. If it weren’t bad enough, now there’s an earthquake. That’s a little unsettling when the earth moves under your feet. Verse 19: And the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Right? That’s, you know, the David Coresh—what is that place called?—Wako. You remember that? Sorry. It’s floating around in mind in various places. But remember they took the speakers out there and RRAAGH!  Was I the only watching that, like all day? Remember that? It’s not comfortable. The whole thing is uncomfortable. The whole this is just awful. Earthquakes. Billowing smoke. Darkness. Gloom. Loud trumpet. Louder and louder. It’s not comfortable. (13:39)

Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. Verse 20: And Yahweh descended at the top of the Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up and Yahweh said to him, “Go down and warn the people so that they do not force their way through to see Yahweh and many of them perish.” Wait a minute. We’re coming out to meet you now. We’ve left Egypt. We want to, gonna come and hang out and worship our God—that was the whole point of telling Pharaoh we’re leaving. We’re going into the desert to worship, remember that? And now you show up and you’re telling me, you’re telling everybody—you’re telling me to tell everybody not to come because they’ll die? Yeah. But what about the holy guys? The holy guys will be OK, right? The priests. I mean, we pay some guys to be really holy. (14:17)

Verse 22: Yeah. Even the priests who approach Yahweh must consecrate themselves. They’ve got to go through all the ablutions and the ceremonies because if they don’t, Yahweh will break out against them. Now that was surprising. They’re the really holy guys. Verse 23: Moses said to Yahweh, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai because you yourself warned us. Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.” Holy, by the way, two meanings in Scripture, both of them are connected. Holy here means set it apart, don’t let anybody come; it’s a spatial division. Right? It’s the caution tape, the yellow caution tape. This mountain, can’t hang out here, caution. Mn. Division. Holy. Set it apart as holy. (14:57)

I just—there was a bottle of water back on the counter and I just drank it, and I said, “Whose is this?” as I drank it.  And everybody said, “Well, now it’s yours.” Because I sanctified it. I set it apart. I made it holy. Right? Because no one wants to drink after me. It’s not a good illustration, but the point is, it’s now mine. Don’t put your lips on my Kirkland water bottle. This is mine. That’s what was happening at Mount Sinai. (15:23)

Holy also has another meaning, and they’re related. And that is, when you say holy, that guy is holy, or God is holy, we mean some ethical standard of purity, right? God is ethically up here, and we’re down here. They both are related, by the way. Because here’s the deal. A bunch of sinful people who have just come out of Egypt go to meet with their God. God is holy. He is ethically pure. He’s perfect. He comes down and reveals his law code to people. And now he says, Now you can’t come touch the mountain. I am ethically pure, therefore we have to be distant from one another. Do you see that? That’s the picture of Mount Sinai. You can’t come and hang out on Mount Sinai. (16:01)

But I thought God was there, I thought he was a loving guy. He is, but he’s holy first, see. You cannot understand the love of God if you do not understand the holiness of God. You cannot embrace the Gospel unless you embrace and understand the Law. You cannot get grace and really grapple with grace unless you understand the guilt of sin. And this is a distinction that is completely ignored today. Because we look at this God and we say what’s wrong with you? Why don’t you just chill out? Why is the God of the Old Testament so angry and just always just so distant. Aaw, I don’t like that. I like the God of the New Testament. (16:36)

News flash. Same God. Right? Hasn’t changed. Same exact God. The difference is in the old covenant he is revealing his standard which puts distance between him and people. It is a barrier. Well it wouldn’t be a barrier if we lived according to his standard. But we don’t. That’s what the Law did. It showed that God was holy and we don’t measure up. And when we grapple with that truth, now we’re ready for Mount Zion. Now we’re ready for grace. Now we’re ready for the gospel. (17:05)

And I know this point may not sound as scandalous as last week’s message, but here’s the deal. If you do not preach the Law. If you do not preach Mount Sinai. If you do not present the problem, the Gospel answer is not the Gospel. Are you tracking with that? You cannot have the Gospel without this. And you’ll see when we take the Law out of the Gospel, we all of a sudden have a Gospel where we’re groping for some point of origin. We try to present it to people with well, OK, I don’t want to be negative, I won’t talk about hell, I won’t talk about sin, umm, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Let’s start there. That’s not the Gospel. You do understand that, don’t you? The Gospel starts with the Law. The Gospel starts with the fact that the God that created you is so holy you can’t have fellowship with him. If he were to come down on a mountain, you couldn’t go and hang out—you couldn’t even touch the mountain. If your dog touched the mountain, the mountain would die. That’s the God we’re dealing with here. (18:02)

That doesn’t make for a good Gospel tract, right? That doesn’t—you don’t want to put the rose petal on the cover of that tract. And that’s why we say, well can’t we just ignore the Old Testament God? Answer: no, you can’t. It’s the same God of the New Testament. You do understand that the New Testament is predicated on the Old Testament. You do understand that the New Testament message is given assuming that you know the Old Testament. When it comes to Mount Sinai, we don’t ignore it. Hopefully in the New Testament we say been there, done that. We’ve got to do that. That’s what the book of Romans is all about, by the way. The book of Romans is to show you that when it comes to the Law you should be able to say been there, done that. I’ve looked at the commands of God and I’ve recognized I don’t measure up. (18:44)

Let me show it to you. Romans 7. A great statement of this truth. If we don’t get the Law, we cannot embrace the Gospel. If we don’t understand the point of Sinai, we cannot have fellowship with God on Mount Zion. Romans 7. We got that feel from Exodus 19. We didn’t finish reading the passage; you can read it on your own, but it is a dark situation. And then come the rules. Which, by the way, before you impugn God’s character that you wish he could be more loving, can we deal with that for just a second? Why is it that God just can’t lighten up in the Old Testament? Why can’t he just kind of say, “Well, it’s OK. I understand you’re just weak and frail and made of dust.” I get it. Why does he to be so caution tape, don’t come here, you come here you die. Why all that? (19:30)

Talk about scandal. Here comes some scandal. You ready? Because as a holy God he is naturally, or ontologically repulsed by sin. There’s a statement for you. There’s a bumper sticker. God is ontologically repulsed by sin. Put that on there. See what they say. God is naturally, by nature, repulsed by sin. And I know we think that the guys that are sinners are the guys on the 11 o’clock news tonight. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The problem is all of us are repulsed ontologically, naturally, by God. There’s one. Again, you don’t hear much of that. You and I are repulsive to God in our sinful state. We are. That’s the truth. That’s what the Bible teaches. That’s what Sinai was all about. You can’t hang out with me. You can’t have fellowship with me. Here’s my rules. You don’t measure up. I’m repulsed by that. And if you say, well that’s the part of God I don’t like. That’s like me saying to you, Why won’t you just love the fish a little bit more. Why don’t you hang out this afternoon? Just go dive off the end of the pier and have lunch with Flipper. Just go under the ocean and spend the afternoon there with them. Because you love Flipper don’t you? You love those dolphins. They’re so smart and intelligent and lovely. Love those fish. Go hang out with them for a while. (20:49)

Well, I can’t. And then some of you, well I can, I got a SCUBA certification. Great. To hang out with Flipper you’re going to have to bring some artificial apparatus to do it, right? You want to hang out at the bottom of the ocean with Flipper, and pet Flipper and have a conversation about the hotels they’re building under the ocean—whatever they do because they’re so much smarter than we are—sorry; I reveal way too much when I preach, don’t I? If you want to hang out with Flipper, your little pet dolphin, you’re going to have to put on some artificial apparatus. Now if I say well, if you love him, take all that off. Forget that. Just have face to face fellowship. He doesn’t want to see bubbles. Hang out with Flipper. You can’t do it. Why? Because you are ontologically repulsed by his environment. You do realize that, right? You cannot—your lungs, if you breathe in—go, just try this. Just go [-] with water. Get underwater, take all that salt water, and just breathe it into your lungs. You know what your body will naturally do? Right? Bplghleghehgh!  Come on. Don’t you love Flipper? Don’t you love those dolphins? Don’t you love those fish? How do you spit out their environment like that. That’s so rude. (22:02)

Well you do it because your ontologically repulsed by their environment. You are not designed to breathe in that salt water. Or any other water. Your lungs are made for something else. You do realize God is not just being mean here. God is not being rude. God is not uptight. God sees sin, something that falls short of his standard, and he just can’t have fellowship with you. It’s like you just having rocks for lunch today. It doesn’t work. You’re not made for that. And God is not made for sin. He cannot have fellowship with sin. That’s the problem. Sinai revealed that, and he graded the test, and he showed it to us. (22:39)

Well if the Law shows us our sin it must be a bad thing then. Romans 7:7. It’s not a bad thing. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Is it deficient? Does it got a problem? Romans 7:7: “Certainly not. Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the Law.” I mean, it revealed, it was the grading of the test. “For I would not have known what coveting really was if the Law had not said, ‘Do not covet.’” I would have thought, well, you know, I just kind of thinking about my neighbor’s stuff, that, I don’t know, I’d just like to have that so I kind of focus on it—what’s wrong with that?” Well the Law says that’s not a godly thing to do. It’s an ungodly thing to do. It falls short of God’s glory. And you know what? When the test was graded and I realized well I do do that, I do that all the time. Well, you’re not supposed to do that; it’s wrong. When it revealed that, now I knew I was a sinner. I recognized that. “And sin,”—verse 8—“seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment produced in me every kind of covetous desire.” Now what you need to know about that, it’s not the instigator of it, it’s the revelation of it. I mean, the Law shows. It’s not like—it’s like every answer now I start to see: wow, I was wrong there, I was wrong there, I was wrong there. And everywhere I look there was red ink on the paper of my life. For apart from the Law sin is dead. Now it doesn’t mean you didn’t fail the test before it got graded. It didn’t mean that the people before the coming of Sinai who were coveting in their heart about their neighbor’s camel, it didn’t mean that they were weren’t sinning. It just meant when the Law came and showed them, that now all of a sudden, wow, I’m guilty. (24:00)

My kid fails the test the minute he takes the test, right? Not every time thankfully. This is not, you know, autobiographical. But he fails the test before it’s graded. The point is when it’s graded now we know he failed the test. And that’s exactly what the Law does. Once I was alive apart from the Law. I thought, hey, I did all right on that test. But then the commandment came and sin sprang to life, and I saw the F at the top of the paper. I died. I found that the very command—verse 10 now, of Romans 7—that was intended to bring life actually brought death because the whole Law giving was about do this and you’ll live. The problem is we couldn’t do it. And it deceived me, and through the commandment—middle of verse 11—seizing the opportunity, rather, it deceived me and through the commandment it put me to death. So then—verse 12—there’s no deficiency in the Law. The rules are godly, they’re holy. The commandment is holy. The commandments are righteous and good. Did that which was good then become death for me. Well by no means. It didn’t cause it. It just revealed it. But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good. I had the death sentence now. I realized I flunked. So that through the commandment, sin might become utterly sinful. (25:15)

Now, I’ve talked a little bit about justification, but our series is about sanctification, right? And the point is you can’t be justified unless you grapple with the guilt of sin. You have to know you’re sinful before you can embrace the grace of God. Same thing works for sanctification though, too. Right? If the whole point is hating sin enough to forsake sin and say no to temptation, I got to despise it. I need to hate it. The commandment helps me hate it. The commandment reveals how utterly grave and drastic sin really is. The perspective of Sinai—don’t ever lose it—I recognize we passed Zion, passed Sinai to go to Zion, I get it. But don’t ever forget Sinai. Sinai is the reminder of the desperate need we have for Zion, to put it in terms of Hebrews 12. We’ve got to remember that. And the thing that makes the difference as it relates to the Law—the Law doesn’t change, and you are who you are—what changes it is your attitude. (26:08)

Just one passage. We won’t turn you there, but Psalm 36 is a great psalm. Just look at the first—when you get a chance—the first four verses. The first four verses of Psalm 36 make it clear that you and I are only going to respond to sin, and we’re only going to see that the commandment says we don’t measure up, if we’re humble enough to recognize it. To put it in terms of virtue and vice, the virtue is humility, and the vice is pride. And here is what the psalmist says. It says—here is an oracle about the sinfulness of the wicked. There is no fear of God before their eyes because in their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. So just to get another level deep in this first point: you will never see the gravity of sin unless you’re humble enough to measure yourself against the Law. And whether it’s for justification—the Gospel, you can’t be saved with an appeal that says, hey, improve your life like some multi-level marketing program. It’s not about that. It’s about that you are not acceptable before your Creator. The Law has to create that sin is utterly sinful in your mind. So you need that humility to embrace the Gospel. (27:16)

But you also need it for sanctification. You’re never going to despise or detect sin in your life unless you’re willing to measure yourself humbly against the Law of God. And that’s—let’s put it this way. You are never going to be more sanctified if I can’t walk up to you, and you can’t walk up to me and say, “So, how are you not measuring up this week?” See what I’m saying? And you need          humility for that. Where am I falling short of the glory of God this week? If you’re a prideful person, here’s what the Bible says. You will flatter yourself too much to detect or hate your sin. See where I’m going with this? You and I need to visit Sinai regularly. (27:51)

Do we live under the Law? Are we stuck on Mount Sinai? No. But we should recognize that our sins have made a separation between us and God, and that we ought to detect in humility, and hate in humility the sin that’s pointed out in the rules of God. Remember the gravity of sin. That’s what Sinai is all about. (28:10)

But here’s the good news, thankfully, and you’re so glad to get on to verse 22. But verse 18 said we didn’t come to that kind of arrangement anymore. We’ve been there and done that. Now don’t forget it—that’s what we’ve got to say about Sinai. We don’t neglect it, we don’t ignore it as a bunch of Gentiles outside of the Old Testament. We don’t say we don’t have to read it. No, we read it, we understand it, we’re convicted by it. But now we’ve come beyond that. We haven’t come to the mountain that you can touch. We’ve come to a mountain you can’t touch. Verse 22: You’ve come to Mount Zion. As I said, the idealized picture of the poets in the Old Testament about God reigning as he should over his people. It’s the heavenly Jerusalem. Please note this carefully, I’ve already underscored it. But if you missed it because I talk too fast—a lot of people say that about me—it’s not the old Jerusalem, and it’s not the new Jerusalem. It’s the heavenly Jerusalem. Your relationship with God right now is not living in some theocracy in the Old Covenant. And it’s not the new Jerusalem that comes out of heaven. That’s coming. The one we live in now is a spiritual, relational Jerusalem. You live in a relationship with God that is spiritual. It is Mount Zion, God hopefully ruling over your heart. The city of the living God. That’s a totally different thing. And picture by the way the contrast here. Could you build a city on Mount Sinai? No. You don’t hang out on—there’s yellow caution tape around Mount Sinai. You cannot hang out there. But this one, not only can you come to the mountain, you can live on the mountain, because there are thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly and the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. And that’s a place where God dwells. (29:44)

Now you’re not living in the place where the dwelling of God is among men. That’s coming, Revelation 21. But right now I am a citizen of heaven, the Bible says, and I am living with God on a different mountain. Not Mount Sinai that I could fellowship with God, but one I can. Now we’re missing the last part of this passage, and we’ll get to that in a minute. The mechanism is incredibly important: the blood of the mediator. But for now all I know is that I’m not there anymore, I’m here. I don’t sit there and say I’m unworthy of being in God’s presence. Somehow I’m still unworthy of being in God’s presence, but not I can live in his presence. That’s a radical change, one that should bring—as the bottom of verse 22 says—a joyful assembly. It ought to be we’re all sitting around going I’m an inheritor of the kingdom, a firstborn—that’s what the firstborn was; Esau was supposed to get the inheritance but he didn’t, Jacob got it. And so for us, we’re the firstborn. The assembly of the firstborn whose names are recorded in Heaven. (30:37)

This is a big contrast. If Sinai was about division and barrier because I saw my sin, now, even if I see my sin, and because I see my sin, something has been changed where now I’m not only—it’s not just that I’m allowed near the mountain, I’m allowed to build a living, a dwelling on the mountain of God. See, this is a huge contrast. This goes from barrier and separation to union, access and oneness. And that changed by the way in Scripture. There’s a very important biblical New Testament word for this. It’s called reconciliation. And what happens is I’m separated but now I’m reconciled. (31:17)

Number two on your outline. That’s worth being joyfully excited about. I put it this way. Number two: we need to joyfully celebrate our reconciliation. Joyfully celebrate reconciliation. The difference and distinction and contrast between Sinai and Zion is we were separated here but now we’re joined together here. That’s called reconciliation. Parties that were alienated because of sin are now joined in union with one another. And that is a major, major truth. That’s gigantic. As a matter of act, the Scripture makes such a big deal out of this that much of the New Testament is about this one concept of reconciliation, which again, if you don’t understand Mt. Sinai, if you don’t understand the Law, if you’re not convicted of sin, it makes no sense. Reconciliation? What do you mean? See? Doesn’t God love me already and have a wonderful plan for my life, and all I got to do is grab that plan? No, that’s not it. You are alienated from Christ. You are ontologically repulsive to God, but he wants to bridge that gap anyway, and there’s a way to fix that problem, and it comes through the mediated blood of Christ. But the point is you can go from there to here, and that’s critically important. It’s called reconciliation. (32:25)

Romans 5. Great explanation of this concept. It’s all over the New Testament. Let me give you one concentrated section in Romans 5 that spells this out as clear as any other passage. Romans 5. Are you still with me this morning? OK, good. Romans 5. This is good stuff, huh? This is the meat of the Word right here. I hope you sense that. Romans 5:1. Therefore since we have been justified through faith—now let’s stop with justified for just a second. We’ve looked at that throughout this series, but that is a critical word. There is something about my ontological repulsion before a holy God that is now changed. I am no longer repulsive. The difference between repulsion and sin, and being right with God, is the word justification. I’m made right before God. The repulsion that put up the yellow caution tape is now removed because I’m no longer repulsive to God. That’s called justification. And how did I do that? I did that through doing a lot of good deeds, right? What’s the Bible say? We looked at it last week in Titus 3:5, but here it is again. It’s a justification through faith. There’s something that very different than you religious friends who go to church every week hoping to be good enough to be acceptable to God. We don’t do it that way. It is through faith. We have peace with God, here’s the mechanism now, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Someone had to stand as a mediator and fix the problem for you. (33:55)

Through whom—Christ that is—we have gained—here’s a great word that related to reconciliation, it’s a great word, circle it—we’ve gained, what? Access. Could you get on Mt. Sinai and hang out? No. But you can hang out on Mt. Zion. Why? ’Cause now you have access. How did you get in? Something changed about you. Justification. How? Through the mechanism of Christ. That’s why Christ came. He did not come, as a lot of churches are not preaching in massive quantities, even so-called evangelical churches, that Jesus is just a good example of love and ethical purity. That’s not what Jesus came for. If he wanted that he could have sent a few more Moses or Elijahs or Jeremiahs. He came to be the mechanism to make me right before God, and no man could do that. God had to do that himself. So, through Christ I’ve gained access by faith, not by my works, into this grace, which I don’t deserve, in which we now stand. I can stand in the presence of God now. Why? Because I’ve done a lot of good things? I’m putting money in the bag every week, and I help out people who are evacuated from their homes? No, it has nothing to do with that. It’s by trusting in the mechanism, the mediated blood of Christ, that makes me now able to stand in the presence of God without fleeing from the holiness of God. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. One day the new Jerusalem will come out of heaven, and I will no longer see through a glass dimly. I will see face to face and the blessing of the inheritance will be completely mine. And that’s the hope of the future. We have that hope in the glory of God. (35:27)

Now you may be going through some hard times as they were in the first century, but don’t freak out. Verses 3 and 4 talks about ultimately it builds our character, it purifies our trust and all of that. Now he says in verse 6, you got to see this. That at just the right time, when we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. That’s so important. Our salvation was paid for, and our salvation was applied when we were powerless and sinful. Now, people aren’t going to die for ungodly people—that’s what verse 7 is all about—and maybe if there was a really good person someone might die for them. But God, verse 8, demonstrates his own love for us in this, that while we were sinners Christ died for us. He looked at us, ontologically repulsed by us, and said I’m going to fix the problem. He had to do it at a high cost, the mediatorial blood of Christ has to solve this for us. (36:15)

It says in verse 9 now, since we’ve been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath—which we deserved if you understand Sinai; if you don’t understand Sinai you’ll never have that perspective, and you’ll never embrace the grace of the Gospel. You’ve got to understand that we’re being saved, not from loneliness or purposeless, we’re being saved from the wrath of God. That’s the point. And we’re saved from the wrath of God through him. For, verse 10, if when we were enemies, God’s enemies, we were—here’s the word, what’s the word?—reconciled to him through the death of the son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have not received reconciliation. Why are we singing songs about Jesus every Sunday? Because he was the mechanism of our acceptability before a God that we should never have had ever had any chance of hanging out with. But not only do we get to hang out with him—is that the real deal? Well, yeah, that’s good. But it’s not having to suffer the penalty of failing the test, and it’s being an inheritor, the firstborn of all the blessing of God. And that’s what we’re looking forward to. Is that a big deal? Huge deal. Is that supra-circumstantial? Absolutely. If you’re here and your ten million dollar Santiago Canyon house burned down, you know what? In light of this, big deal. Doesn’t really matter. Your names are recorded in heaven as someone who will receive all the blessings of God with no reference to sin. You will be completely forgiven. You are completely forgiven, and angels are rejoicing because of the mechanism of forgiveness. (37:51)

Isn’t that what Luke 15 is all about? And we learn a little bit about angels in Scripture; not a ton. But we learn they got excited at creation; we learn that in the book of Job. And then we learn, according to Luke 15, that the one reason we know for sure that they rejoice in God’s presence is when a sinner comes to repentance. That’s it. When a sinner repents, they celebrate. And the Bible says, back to Hebrews 12, you’ve come to fellowship with God, a heavenly Jerusalem, the city or dwelling of the living God, you’ve come unto thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly. We don’t see it, we don’t hear it, it’s not audible. One day we’ll see all that right up close, but for now we understand that the Bible says when we repent of our sins, and I hope you jotted that passage down, Luke 15, it’s all about that. Luke 15. The whole chapter, the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son, is all about the fact that we have to rejoice because what was dead is now alive. And that’s a great line from the ~~ son. (38:50)

Let me digress for just a second. Do you remember when you got chosen for a fight in elementary school? Maybe it was just my elementary school. Chosen. You’re chosen. Right? And then he would often look at you if he was bigger than you and say, You’re dead meat at 3 o’clock. Right? Remember that. You’re dead. And then, if that happens in the morning it’s really bad because you’ve got all day to sit around and go, “Oh, I’m dead at 3. I’m dead!” That’s the reality, okay, of Sinai. Sinai says you are dead. You’re dead. You’re dead, man. When the bell rings and you meet the holy God, you are in big trouble mister. That’s what it’s all about. But the good news is that though you were dead, at some point in the day God’s grace breaks through. Your enemy, and God is your natural enemy, do not mistake that, because he’s holy and you’re not, he is your natural enemy. Your enemy has become your friend. Your enemy has become not only your friend, your redeemer. Your enemy has become your defender. Your enemy has become your protector. And you not only have access to God, the one that should take you and wipe you off the face of the universe, is someone who is looking at you and saying, “I love you though, and I’m going to pay the price through the mediatorial work of my son, and you will be completely forgiven.” You think the angels get excited about that? I think they do. The Bible says they do. And if you have your name written in the registry of Mt. Zion, so to speak, see, then you’re in good shape. (40:20)

I got to turn you to this. Turn to Psalm 87—Psalm 87. What a great, great, great passage that maybe brings this together. And I gotta say this because I’ve talked about Mt. Zion, our passage talks about Mt. Zion, and if you want to talk about this idealized, poetic of Mt. Zion, here is a great passage. One thousand years, by the way, before the coming of Jesus. This is an Old Testament text, but you will see as he drifts from a geographical mound on the south of the Kidron Valley in Jerusalem, he moves into something much more spiritual and idealized than that. Sons of Korah wrote this song, or at least it was dedicated to them in Psalm 87, and it says in verse 1—Psalm 87: 1, that he has set, speaking of God now, his foundation on the holy mountain. Yahweh, verse 2, loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob, and so far I’m thinking physical place. I’m thinking I know where Mt. Zion is, you’re thinking geography. Then he says, glorious things are said of you oh city of God. Selah. (41:24)

What’s “Selah” mean? You’ve been around here listening to preaching, right? Selah probably is a musical term, maybe an interlude of music, maybe pause—whatever it means, it’s a time for the reader or the singer to ponder what was just said, to let that resonate. So I’m thinking now, city of God, that’s a little bit, ’cause I’ve been to Zion, man. There’s a lot of stuff going on in Zion. It’s not per—city of God, now that’s kind of taking me to the top shelf now. Now watch where it goes, after you’ve pondered that, after the “selah” of verse 13—or verse 3, rather. (41:55)

Verse 4, now. He says—here it starts getting really bizarre—I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me. Stop right there. Rahab? You know what that is? It’s not the prostitute in Joshua’s day. Rahab is the word used for the nation of Egypt. Now let’s think. Pretend you’re a Jewish person now, in the Old Testament. Egypt? Now I know it was four hundred years earlier, but Egypt and Israel weren’t getting along too well. It’s the whole Pharoah-Moses thing. That wasn’t good. Rahab, you mean Egypt? And then Babylon, which was yet to come. Babylon would be the nemesis of Israel for the next four or five hundred years after this was written. So, Babylon? And Ra—you mean, they’re going to be on your team, God? Is that what you’re saying? (42:37)

How about this next one, middle of verse 4. Philistia, too. You ever heard of the Philistines? They didn’t get along really well. Talk to David about a big tall guy, and a battle with a slingshot. Philistines are not good guys here. And yet all of a sudden Philistia and Tyre, along with Cush which was the upper Nile crescent in Egypt? Those guys that are always defending their borders and wanting to fight us—those guys are going to be on our team? You’re going to have those people acknowledge you? Yeah. Keep reading verse 4—And will say, here’s God now, and God will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’ Now we’re not talking about a mountain in Jerusalem anymore, right? Something about you from Philistia, from Babylon, from Egypt, from Cush, you’re now going to acknowledge the king and live in fellowship with him, and so much so that he’s born in Zion? Trust me, the Philistines were not born in Zion, right? But this ain’t physical, geographical Zion we’re talking about. (43:34)

Keep reading. Talk about the Gospel in the Old Testament, look at it. Verse 5. Indeed of Zion it will be said, ‘This one, and that one, they were born in her.’ And the most high himself will establish her. Do you see the Gospel of the book of Acts now in the Old Testament songbook? Out of all these foreign countries, the Gentiles will be picked out and it will say, even of a bunch of Americans thousands of years down the road, ‘That one’s born in Zion. Oh, and that one over there, born in Zion. Oh, that one’s got the birthright from Zion.’ The picture is beautiful. (44:04)

Indeed of Zion it will said, this one and that one were born in her, and the most high will establish her. Verse 6: and Yahweh will write in the register of the peoples, this one was born in Zion. Selah. Isn’t that a great verse? I mean, that’s what it’s all about. It’s about me being a child of Zion. I want to be—I want to be a citizen of Zion, and there’s only one response to that by the way, and the angels are ahead of us on this one—verse 7—as they make music they will sing all my fountains are in you. What’s that about? Sustenance. Fulfillment. Happiness. In this poetic picture, everything that is important to me comes from that. Comes from what? That your name is written in the registers of the people of Zion. Are we talking about being national, of being a national Jew? We’re not talking about that. We’re talking about you and me being in fellowship with God and no longer having the caution tape up before the mountain of God. Now I’m living in the mountain of God. I’m not only accepted, my name is written in the registry. And that just transferred into the Greco-Roman world in the New Testament as well. How often did Paul pull out his citizenship of Rome going, “Hey, look at me! I’ve got rights here!” And so it is with us. You have the right to full access as the firstborn, the church of the firstborn, because your name is written in the registry of Zion. Does that sound New Testament? Jesus liked to put it this way in the new covenant. He said through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the book of Revelation. He called it the Lamb’s Book of Life. Remember that? And he said your name better be written there; that’s a big deal. (45:27)

I love the concept of a name written in a book as it related to my heritage because that is something legal, and that is something firm, and that is something secure. And when I think about celebrating, I don’t want to be this person that doesn’t understand the security of what it means to be adopted into the family of God, having been born in Zion. Right? Isn’t that great to know that no matter what happens in your external life, even if in your life you feel like you’ve had one of the hardest lives of all, if your name is written in the registry of the people of Zion—man. That’s a pretty darn good, secure thing. That changes everything about perspective. Can you celebrate, no matter what happens in your life, if that’s true of you? That’s huge. Born in Zion. Lamb’s Book of Life. It’s not only a great blessing, it’s necessary. What’s the last thing about it said in the Scripture? Revelation 20: and those whose names were not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire. The point is you’re going to have to meet God without any kind of protection if your name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. That’s a great passage. I’ll write in the registers of the people, this one was born in Zion. (46:40)

This is not an evangelistic message about justification. It’s really a practical message about sanctification. But I hope that sends a chill down your spine to make sure that you and I are genuinely Christians. I hope you recognize that. Maybe your Christianity was a pitch for some multi-level marketing improve your life scheme, and you’re recognizing now it’s about you seeing sin as utterly sinful. And maybe you need to recognize, hey, I need to make sure I’m a Christian today. That’d be a good thing. Because before you can celebrate reconciliation, you better make sure you are reconciled to God. It’s critically important. Do you know for sure that you’re a Christian? Are you absolutely, one-hundred percent sure? Make sure that your name is written in the registry. (47:18)

How do you do that? What did Luke 15 say? When do angels rejoice?  When they see sinners repent. And of course we’ve read in Romans 5, it’s all about faith. Repentance and faith: those are the two key words in Scripture. How does this affect your worship? I hope it affects your worship and keeps you from being a critic and a skeptic. “Well, I don’t really know if I like that, and that’s too fast, and that’s too slow, and that’s too loud, that’s too quiet”—stop with all that. If there are lyrics on the screen that speak to these supra-circumstantial issues of my reconciliation and redemption that God has laid down his son for my life so that I might—we should celebrate that with joy. Let’s just enjoy that. Because I guarantee ya, when you get to heaven too, the music’s not going to exactly what you hoped for. Right? That’s a pretty big crowd up there. And all I’m telling you is let us engage in worship and not just on Sundays. You ought to worship every single day. Music is one way to do that, prayer is one way to that. As we’ll see next week, how you live is one way to do that. But we need to joyfully celebrate our reconciliation. The angels are doing it, your name is written in the book, you have access to God—that’s a big deal. (48:20)

One more section of this, bottom of verse 23, Hebrews 12. If you can take any more, here it comes. Bottom of verse 23. The tone changes just a little bit here. It says you’ve come to God, the judge of all men. Hmm. That’s sobering. Yeah, I guess I have come to God, who is he judge of all men. And to the spirits of righteous men made perfect—that takes me back to the cloud of witnesses, right? I mean, there are people here and they’ve been made perfect, but they are righteous also doing righteous acts. They’re justified and they’re being sanctified, they have been sanctified; they have righteous lives. And you’ve come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, a new promise, a new arrangements, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Now think that one through. The covenant of Christ is like the covenant of the Passover, which was a promise of God, a small covenant, small “c”, where God promised if you put the innocent blood’s lamb on the doorpost, you would not suffer the wrath of God in Egypt. Remember that? And all you had to do, you had to take the hyssop branch after you executed and slaughtered a lamb that you would eat for dinner—lamb chops—you would first take the blood from the hyssop branch, and you stir that in the branch and then you’d go out to the front of your house, and you’d—on the doorpost—you’d sprinkle the blood. Remember that picture? And the sprinkled blood in Egypt was a picture of them escaping the wrath of God as the wrath of God came upon Egypt for the sin of the people. The blood sprinkled, it protected you. Now the thing about that is, it was bad enough at the Passover. You had to live with an animal for a week that you started to see as a pet, and now he would die so that you would be forgiven. But now it’s not about a lamb. It’s not about an animal. It’s about a person. It’s about the son of God. It is—jot this down—1 Peter: 1. It is about the—verse 19—the precious blood of Christ. You weren’t redeemed, he says in verse 18, with perishable things like silver and gold. You were redeemed or purchased by the precious blood of the lamb. (50:30)

Number 3. We need to live soberly. Live soberly. Soberly live in light of your redemption. Redemption is a strategic word. A purchase of blood. The blood of Christ. Then again, don’t think about the mechanics of blood cells and all that. We’re not talking about blood cells. We’re talking about the fact that an innocent person died so you could go free. Isn’t that what the lamb of the Passover was all about? The innocent animal that now I’ve become attached to and I kind of like has to die so that I get to live. And that’s what the blood of the covenant was all about. Christ, the perfect tone, would have my sins laid on him, and the justice of God would be poured out on him so that I could go free as innocent, and his righteous live would be applied to me. The great transaction. Think about this now. His righteousness applied to me, and my sin applied to him. And because of that, now I can, hey, enter into the mountain of God. And it’s not like Sinai, there’s no barrier there anymore. If you are justified, you’ve got access, but it came through the high price of the blood of Christ. (51:31)

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer was known to say, right? He says, Grace might be free, but it’s cheap. Right, remember that? And here’s the reality: you maybe rejoicing in the fact that we don’t earn justification, but it came at the blood of the son of God. And by that mean, God’s wrath was poured on him and not on you. That’s a big, big deal, and that leads to not gleeful joy, it leads to sober joy. It leads to a happiness and a thanksgiving that is profound. And not like, Hey! High five! Can’t wait to high five all the angels and Jesus when I get to—” I think you’re going to be reverentially humbled before the throne of God. And by the way, think about him as your judge. That’s what Peter said. If we call on God, this father of ours, who is the judge of all the earth, he’s going to judge everything. See, shouldn’t we live our lives in a reverent fear before God? I mean, we’re dealing with the judge here. This isn’t just a dad who just kind of, you know, works for the city. I mean, this is the judge of the world. Now I understand he’s brought us near, but that’s not gleeful, mindless living. This is sobriety. This is reverence. Your judge has become your defender though. Don’t forget that. (52:47)

Romans 8. It’s so good. If God is for us, who can be against us. Right? And I love how that goes. Who is the one who condemns? Do you remember that passage? Let’s turn there. No service after this one. I say that every week, but we got time for this, if you can hang in for a few more minutes. Romans 8. You want to talk about the sobering reality of Christ our mediator, who could be and should be our judge, becoming our defender—it’s a huge turn of events. Romans 8:30. Let’s just jump into the middle of this. Those he predestined—Romans 8:30—he also called, and those he called he justified, and those he justified he glorified. I thought that hasn’t happened yet? It hasn’t. That’s what we call a prophetic perfect. It’s so confident in the chain of events that it’s spoken to us as a past tense reality. We’re gonna be glorified. (53:39)

Verse 31. Nothing’s going to thwart God’s plan. What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, if he’s working us to the new Jerusalem and we now have contact with the heavenly Jerusalem, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but he gave him up for us all. How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? Who will bring a charge against those whom God has chosen? If your name is written in the registry of Zion, who could be against you? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Well, there is a condemner. There is a judge. All judgment has been given to the Son, Christ Jesus. Yeah, you’re right. He is the judge. But your judge now has become your mediator, who died for you. More than that, he was raised to life, and he’s at the right hand of God and he’s also interceding for us. What a powerful truth. The Christ who should judge you, the God who should pour out retribution on your sin, has now become your defender, your protector. And Christ himself who was slain for your sin has become your mediator, your intercessor, and stands as your advocate and argues your case. Nothing better than that. (54:50)

But it’s not a gleeful joy. It’s not some brainless happiness. It’s a sober truth. It’s a kind of reverential fear, it’s a kind of sobriety that leaves us I hope humbly to make sure that we approach our Christian lives carefully. Also, just one last note on this. I hate to skip this one phrase. If you still have Hebrews 12 available there, look at that last phrase of verse 23. You’ve not only come to God, the judge of all men and the mediator—verse 24—of a new covenant sprinkled blood, but you’ve come to the spirit of righteous men made perfect. The spirits of righteous men made perfect. Let’s think that one through for just a second. The spirits of righteous men made perfect. (55:28)

Again, talk about humbling. Talk about sobriety. Nobody earns it. Everybody is made perfect. We may be being made righteous, or as it’s said over there in Hebrews 10, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Remember that verse? The point is I may be progressively becoming more righteous in my life and working at it, but I’ve been made perfect, forever, by the sacrifice of Christ. And the point is again, that’s humbling. What is the first verse you learned about not earning salvation: Ephesians 2:8-9. Right? It’s by faith, it’s not of works. The last line there: so that no one should boast. Talk about humbling. No one’s going to be doing this when they enter into the kingdom because of anything they’ve done. This is all about grace. (56:18)

There is one more line. I guess we should catch this too. Verse 24: the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. What did Abel’s blood cry out for? He was killed by Cain unjustly, and his blood cried out from the ground, the Bible says, and wanted what? Justice. Right? Bible says the ground is defiled. He told Israel that. If you don’t execute murderers, the blood of those murdered people will cry out from the ground for justice. That’s what the Bible says. Now, what a minute. Let’s think through that again. Abel. Cain. Cain kills Abel. So then God executed him, right? No, he should have. But he didn’t. Do you remember what God does for Cain? God for Cain puts a mark on him and protects him. God, for a guilty person that deserved death, ended up becoming his defender and his protector. What about the blood of Abel? It’s kept crying out: justice, justice, justice. What does the blood of Christ do? It provides justice. Right? It’s called propitiation in the Bible. Propitiation: the satisfaction of justice. You want to talk about the blood of Christ speaking a better word than the blood of Abel. The blood of Abel said, ‘Justice. This is not right. Something’s not right. It needs to be settled.’ The blood of Christ, now, comes and speaks a better word than that. It provides justice. God is not winking at your sin, he is not looking the other way. You will be accepted into the kingdom of God. You are right now in the heavenly Jerusalem accepted as a citizen of heaven. Why? Not because God’s looking the other way and holding his nose and saying, Well, come on in. We’ll just deal with it. No, he has dealt with it. Remember Good Friday? Paid in full? Tetelestai? The point of the cross was that the blood of Christ is the propitiation for the injustice of sin. It speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Nothing better than that. (58:07)

I know that’s a lot of information, but when it comes down to it, it should change the way we live. As one Christian writer has rightly put it, the Christian life is a lot about remembering where we’re going without forgetting what we’re missing while celebrating what we have. And that’s really what we’ve been preaching about. But don’t allow that to be temporal. It’s not temporal. It’s eternal. Hell has been cancelled. Heaven has been secured. And you have full access to God right now. Before lunch you can have full dialogue with God because of Christ. Hell has been cancelled, heaven’s been secured, you have full access to God. (58:40)

That by the way is the kind of theological perspective, the heavens’ perspective, that when you’re tempted this week to compromise again, it should become a repulsion to you. Because we know what sin requires, and we know what Christ has provided, and we know what kind of privileged access we have where it is all by faith, completely predicated on grace. Because of your response of recognizing that your sin is utterly sinful. It’s the essence of the perspective of Hebrews 12. May we carry it into week and live accordingly. (59:14)

Let’s pray. God, we need this perspective to permeate our minds. God, I pray that there would be very few in this auditorium right now that checked out on all this and slept through it. I pray that most of us would have engaged. I pray that a high percentage of us would not only have engaged intellectually on this topic, but I pray that it would percolate in our minds, penetrate our thinking, and ultimately affect our choices this week. We are people that have, because of the grading of our lives, been found wanting. As a matter of fact, so bad was our sin that we should have no access ever to fellowship with our Creator. And yet, God, in your grace, as our sin was crying out for justice, you sent your son, the God Man to pay for sin in human form. You had to put on human flesh yourself. And Jesus Christ, you had to come and live among us; not only rack up the credit of righteousness, but you had to take on the penalty of sin, and your life became our propitiation, the satisfaction of divine justice, so that today we sit here. And it’s sobering. We weren’t purchased by money. We were redeemed and purchased by the blood of Christ, that because of his death we get to go free. And not only free, we get to become inheritors. We get to get all of the blessing of the firstborn. And it’s not something that we can waft in and out of. Our names are recorded in heaven, in the registry, as it were, of Zion, in the Lamb’s book of life as the New Testament puts it. God, let us celebrate that security. Let us even, with one last song in our service, be able to sing with a real sense of joy and celebration at the supra-circumstantial realities of our Christian life, that no matter what’s going on in our bodies, our checkbooks, our health, our homes, that ultimately if we are your children we are redeemed. We have hell cancelled, heaven secured, and full access to fellowship with you. That’s a good thing, worth rejoicing over, worth celebrating. May we do it so not only in our words and our songs, but in our lives this week. And I pray this all Jesus’ name, our Mediator. Amen.