Be reading from Hebrews 12/14 through 29.
Pursue peace with everyone and holiness without.
Without it, no one will see the Lord.
Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and
that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and
defiling many. And make sure that there isn't
any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his
birthright in exchange for a single meal.
For you know that later when he wanted it to inherit the
blessing, he was rejected, even though he sought it with tears,
because he didn't find any opportunity for repentance.
For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing
fire, to darkness, gloom, and storm, to the blast of a trumpet
and the sound of words. Those who heard it begged that
that not another word be spoken to them, for they could not bear
what was commanded. If even an animal touches the
mountain, it must be stoned. The appearance was so terrifying
that Moses said, I am trembling with fear.
Instead you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, a festive
gathering to the assembly of the first born whose names have been
written in heaven. To a judge who is God of all, to
the spirits of righteous people made perfect, And to Jesus, the
mediator of a new covenant, And to sprinkle the blood which says
better things than the blood of Abel.
See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks.
For if they did not escape, when they rejected him who warned
them on earth, even less will we turn away from him who warns us
from heaven. His voice shook the earth at
that time, but now he has promised yet once more.
I will not shake only the earth, but also the heavens.
This expression yet once more indicates the removal of what
can be shaken, that is, created things, so that what is not
shaken might remain. Therefore, since we are
receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful.
By it we may serve God acceptably with reverence and
awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
This is the word of God. How many of Y'all have been
without power a lot recently this last week?
Some of you Decatur folks. Yeah, some of you.
This isn't a knock on Decatur utilities, Clint.
When people bash them, I think of you so.
So we have had a lot of thunderstorms and wind this last
week. Last Sunday afternoon we were
on, they had moved my son's baseball practice to an indoor
facility. And so we were on the way there
and right as we pulled into the parking lot, the sky just
absolutely opened up. And so we're like running and
we're trying to, you know, not get too wet.
And then we're running right by this dumpster.
And it like takes the the lids of the dumpster, which had a
bunch of water on them and just like, you know, flung it all
over me. I'm soaked, you know, it's just
blowing Everything Everywhere. And then on the way home, we're
taking the same route. And we just noticed, I mean,
there are limbs down everywhere. Some of the smaller trees are
split and some of you guys. Have been seeing that going on
in our world here in Alabama. Bad weather is that type of bad
weather anyways, is something that we have to deal with
regular enough that we're familiar with it.
I grew up in Oklahoma and so that was an area called Tornado
Alley and I was pretty familiar with bad weather as well.
I can remember pulling over on the side of the road when I was
in high school and just watching a tornado, you know, go by and
you're like, well, there it goes, you know?
And anytime you look at the pictures of destruction that a
tornado or a bad thunderstorm leaves behind, one thing that is
always untouched is the concrete foundations.
You can have whole neighborhoods wiped out and you can see the
drone footage, but you can still see the footprint of what once
was because the foundation is there.
And when I think of the word unshakable, this is the type of
image that comes to mind. The concrete foundations are
surrounded by earth and rocks. They're embedded in the earth,
sometimes even feel like it's cheating to call it unshakeable.
It's like of course it is, but that's the point when a house is
being built. Before walls can ever be framed,
or before a roof can ever go up, there has to be a foundation
poured. And the hope is that the home
that is built on a solid foundation can withstand much
more than a house that is not. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus
uses this analogy when he talks about those who build their
lives on his message and his truth versus their own logic.
And this is what he says in Matthew Chapter 7, verse 24.
He says, therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and
acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the
rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose,
and the winds blew and pounded that house.
Yet it didn't collapse. Because its foundation was on
the rock. But everyone who hears these
words of mine and doesn't act on them will be like a foolish man
who built his house on the sand. The rain fell.
The rivers rose. The winds blew and pounded that
house and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.
The pastor of Hebrews explores a similar metaphor when he talks
about the Kingdom of God that we've been given.
He tells us that what we have received in Christ is
unshakable, that no matter what comes your way, no matter what
is thrown, your direction, that the Kingdom that you've been
given cannot be removed. It can withstand the worst of
times and the strongest of foes, even death itself, because Jesus
brings us an unshakable Kingdom. Good morning again, Church.
Thank you for being with us. As I said earlier, my name is
Joel. I get to serve as one of the
pastors and elders here, specifically the pastor for
preaching and oversight. And that just means that I get
to handle the bulk of the preaching ministry along with
bringing direction to the various ministries of New Eden
Church. And honestly, I'm just grateful
to be a part of what God is doing here.
And yeah, as you can tell, we're continuing in our series through
the book of Hebrews. We are looking at Chapter 12
today. We're going to be in verse 14
and we're going to work our way, as you heard read all the way
through the end of the chapter. We'll be in the CSB version.
If you want to follow along on your phones, Bibles, whatever.
We'll also have the scripture on the screen here for you as well.
So if you'll remember, our preacher throughout this whole
book has been reminding us of the supremacy of Christ.
That in all things and in everything, Jesus is better.
We've just been reminded at the beginning of Chapter 12 to fix
our eyes on Jesus, who is the pioneer and perfector of our
faith. And so, in light of the reality
of what Christ has accomplished, the preacher begins to exhort us
to run well. Because what we have received
and what we will receive in Christ is worth the pursuit.
This passage is easily broken down into four reminders that
the preacher gives us. He's going to remind us in
verses 14 through 17 of a communal race.
In verses 18 to 24, he's going to remind us of a present
reality in verse 25 through 27. He's going to remind us of a
future revealing and a verses 28 through 29 he will remind us of
a grateful response. And so let's start by looking at
the first of our four main reminders, a communal race.
Let me read verse 14 for us again.
It says pursue peace with everyone and holiness.
Without it, no one will see the Lord.
If you remember last week, he ended our time together with
reminding us to strengthen weary hands and weakened knees.
And we remember that this was a thing that we're supposed to do
together to care for each other. And then he tells them to pursue
peace with everyone. Now one interpretation of this
could take this as meaning that everyone you come into contact
with, you are to pursue peace with.
And there are other scriptures that call us to that here
though. I believe what this is saying is
it's meant to be understood that together with the church, with
everyone you are to pursue peace and holiness.
It is this idea for the church to run this communal race well,
and we see that evidence by the next three things he tells us to
watch out for. He says be on guard, watch out
that no one among you. It is this communal call that we
are looking out for our brothers and sisters.
In contrast to the voice of Cain that cried out and my my
brother's Keeper, we recognize that the gospel calls us to say
I am my brother's and sister's keeper.
And the reason we care about this communal race that we are
called the link, arms and run together is because without it
no one will see the Lord. Now, this is not meant to say
that if you don't measure up and become holy enough, then you're
not going to make it to see God. That would literally go against
the entire message of Hebrews. So, So we have to understand
that's not what he's saying. It is simply encouraging this
pursuit to live in the reality of the peace and holiness that
Christ has already accomplished on your behalf.
If you are in Christ, the reality that you live in is you
are right now. United in peace with other
believers. Whether you feel like it or not,
that is the reality Christ has done, and you have also been
made perfectly righteous and holy.
Now there's a sense in which this isn't fully realized until
Jesus returns. And so we recognize we live in
the already. Not yet.
But if if that's the reality that we live in, why not begin
to live out of that? Why wait till eternity to
experience the union, The union with brothers and sisters?
And the holiness that God has granted us, the past reality of
our justification and the future reality of our glorification,
meet in the present to spur us on in our journey of
sanctification. It's also reminding us that the
means of grace that God has given you to live out what Jesus
has accomplished is the Church. And the church is a mess.
I'm the first one to admit it. It's got baggage.
It's got brokenness. But your brothers and sisters
around you is the means by which you are kept and sustained until
the end, until we see the Lord like it is a gift to you, and
you are a gift to your brothers and sisters.
Some of you need to hear that you need the Church, and some of
you need to be reminded that the Church needs you.
Christ will complete the work, and He chooses to do it by
everyday, ordinary communion of the Saints.
This is a miracle. If you're wondering what God's
doing in the world, look around and I know it.
It might not make the news, and it might not seem miraculous,
but just the ordinary every day, caring for each other, going to
battle against sin together, picking each other up,
strengthening weary hands, and weakening.
And so He cares about this. And so he warns against some
attitudes and ideas that could keep us from experiencing that
reality in the church. He mentions what he knows the
church at Hebrews, and so he's mentioning specific dangers for
the church he's writing this letter to, preaching this sermon
to. But some of those same ideas
might be dangers for us in our midst.
The first thing he says, he says to see to it.
Make sure that no one among you fall short of the grace of God.
What this means like like we hear that and sometimes we're
like, oh, does that mean I can fall from the grace of God?
What he's saying is that we should never fail to continue
giving each other the good news of the life, death, the burial
and resurrection. We don't assume, and he didn't
assume, that just because someone was visibly a part of
the church that they had actually experienced.
The grace of God. And it would be a travesty if
someone made their home among the New Eden family and they
missed out on God's grace because we spent more time
talking about our hobby horses or our preferred political
stance or our favorite sports teams.
Like, you can talk about those themes things, but what is the
constant drum beat? Is it the grace of God or is it
one of these other things? I've heard it said this way and
this is a reminder for me all the time.
Don't assume the gospel. We should be a church that
relies so deeply and heavily on Jesus that it is impossible for
someone to be among us, even for one Sunday, without having to
face the question of whether or not Jesus really did live, die,
was buried, and rose again. If you could attend New Eden
Church just as this kind of cultural idea for for five
years. You know, it helped.
You have a better week and you, it's just kind of something you
do in the South, right? Like if that can happen and
you're not confronted with the reality of the resurrection of
Jesus and the radical grace of God, then we've missed it.
We're not a church. We're a Country Club with the
decently cool building, right? Like that's we're missing it.
We are responsible. Make sure that no one misses the
grace of God. We speak the truth over and over
and over, and if you came in this morning for a different
reason than hearing the good news of Jesus, I want to say you
are welcome. I'm not kicking you out the
door. That's not my point.
But I do want you to see that at the end of the day, what all we
have to offer is not some new set of rules.
Not a charity, a place to give your money to, or some
guidelines and principles to help you have a better life.
All we have to offer you is simple and radical.
Grace upon grace upon grace. That's it.
Cards on the table. Full transparency.
This is where we want to stake our flag.
Because if you miss out on that, you miss out on everything.
So he challenges us with this, and then he goes on to remind us
that we're running a communal race that guards against the
root of bitterness springing up in our midst.
We're told that this root of bitterness can creep in and
begin to defile many among us. And so, so the encouragement
both for you and your own heart and then the the friends around
you that you have relationship with when we begin the sense of
bitterness. And some wrongly motivated anger
that wells up in our hearts. We're willing to talk about that
and put it on the table and have that conversation.
It can happen quickly. I've been there.
Maybe I've been treated wrongly or poorly.
Maybe I've grown frustrated with how something was done or not
done, and I can begin to see that person, or maybe that group
of people with a lens that is incredibly and overwhelmingly
negative. I I put them in their box.
They're in their bucket. Nothing's going to change my
mind, right? And don't get me wrong, like, I
want to be clear that we have the freedom to exercise godly
discernment. OK, if we can objectively see
that there's unhealthy patterns. Or maybe authoritarian
leadership, right? I've even seen authoritarian
authoritarian leadership use this idea of bitterness to shut
down someone who's just exposing sin and bring it to light,
right? There's nothing wrong with that.
That's not a bad thing. But.
We are talking about something here, OK?
And we do have to be on guard against allowing unfettered
bitterness to consume us. It does cause trouble and it
does the file many and the answer is it's putting it in the
lights. And hey, you said something that
that bothered me. Can we can we talk about that?
And I'm amazed because most the time it's either a
misunderstanding or maybe God is using you to bring light to to
that situation and bring awareness to someone.
For me, I can. I don't know what it is for you,
but I can only tell it's bitterness, not discernment, OK?
Because those are two different things.
I can tell it's bitterness when it's normally full of sarcasm,
anger and defensiveness. OK, that's what I normally know.
It's more bitter when it's normally just like objectively.
Like, I think that was wrong. I I disagree with that.
Like there's nothing wrong with discerning right.
And so kind of just just be on guard against that.
And I found having a simple conversation can go a long way.
And then lastly, we're called to make sure that immorality and
irreverence doesn't run rampant in our midst.
And he gives us this Old Testament example, right?
We've just seen a bunch of positive Old Testament examples
from Hebrews 11 and now we get one of Esaw.
He is this negative example and he's called irreverent because
he sold his birthright for a single mill.
So if you know the story, Esaw sold his birthright.
He was hungry, came in from the field.
And and the idea here is that he exchanged the eternal something,
and in his case it was maybe not eternal, but it was something
that was given to him. And he exchanged that for
immediate gratification. And the challenge to us is that
will we trust what seems good or feels good in the moment and
ignore what God has to say about our lives, that that this path
or this choice leads towards death.
But we say, well, it feels good here.
It's said it's pleasurable for a season.
Right. So this is in contrast to Moses,
who chose to suffer with the people of God and and not enjoy
the fleeting pleasures of sin. Right?
But he saw did, and our author warns that this is dangerous
territory. He tells us that later on, even
when he saw from it from earthly logic, he realized that selling
his birthright was a bad idea. He found no place to repent.
Now, does this mean that he saw wasn't sorry?
No, he was sorry. We're told that he even shed
tears when he wanted back the blessing.
But the IT that he was seeking when he shed tears over it, the
IT he was seeking. There is not that he was seeking
repentance with tears. He was seeking the birthright
with tears. He was only sorry that he missed
out on the earthly pleasures of the birthright.
And the irony and sadness here is that if he saw had been truly
repentant. He would have got something much
greater than an earthly birthright.
He would have He would have received a heavenly one and
found his name enrolled among the first born who have names
written in heaven. The idea here is not to scare
you into thinking that if you make one mistake, you'll never
find a chance to repent. That's not it.
But it is sitting with the gravity that there are times,
and we've probably all come to these.
Forks fork in the roads in our life or maybe we've had someone
close to us come to these where people are faced with these
pivotal moments of of will I follow God or follow man?
And these can be pivotal moments that can set our lives on a
trajectory of running from God or to him.
And and at the core of this is, what do we trust and how will we
as God's people? Continue to preach the good news
of Jesus so that we might spur each other on to choose what God
has to say over what man has to say.
How will we in those moments with those people that we love,
plead with compassion and humility to turn to God and not
from him? And then I think this is
important too, because there will be times where where you
will choose self wisdom over God, wisdom and part of not
being like Esau is finding a place for confession and
repentance. Will you be like David who for a
long time just ran away from God year and a half?
Or will you eventually come to the place that David did and and
respond in true confession and say God against you and you only
have I sinned because we have it clear in scripture that God will
not cast out anyone who comes to him.
God is after that contrite heart.
That's what he wants. That is the only person that God
will not despise. But when we bear down in pride
and say, that might not have been the best decision, but you
know what? I really am only sorry that I
got caught, and I'm really only sorry that I have to deal with
the earthly consequences of it. But I don't really care that I I
send against God. Do we surrender in humility?
It's one of the reasons as a church we we corporately pray
confessions of prayer together. What that is is, is agreeing
with God and saying, you know what your way is best.
And I need to corporately be reminded of that because
sometimes my heart doesn't believe it, sometimes my heart
believes my logic and my way. And so together we confess that
we are utterly dependent on God. Sent Corinthian 710.
Paul said it like this to the Corinthian church.
He said godly grief produces a repentance that leads to what?
Salvation without regret, which is wild.
The grief of God frees you from regret, not places more on you.
The godly confession frees you, but worldly grief produces
death. It enslaves you and leads you to
the grave. The godly confession and grief
leads us to salvation. The worldly grief doesn't deal
with the root issue, and so we're placed with this caution.
OK, but with all of these cautions, the main thrust of
what he's saying is this. Choose eternal, lasting
pleasures over earthly, fleeting ones.
And to make this clear, he paints probably the most vivid
contrast and picture we get in all of Hebrews.
He shows us what is offered to us in Christ and what is offered
to us if we choose our own way. That's what verses 18 to 24 do
for us. We saw the communal race and now
we see a present reality. In verses 18 to 21 we have this
crescendo. He's already told us all
throughout Hebrews how how useless the law is and saving
sinners, how it only leads to death.
And here we get reminded that without Christ, the best hope
you have is Mount Sinai. He doesn't say its name, but for
the hears they would have known exactly what he was talking
about. All the descriptors listed would
have brought in the minds of the listeners visions of the
mountain where the law was given to the people through Moses,
this place called Sinai, he gives some descriptors.
He says it's of an earthly substance.
It can be touched. It's it's of the earth, and on
the earth, he says that it was destructive.
It's this blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a storm.
It was unapproachable. God's voice was announced with
the trumpet. It was distant and removed and
booming and loud and and impersonable.
The people themselves, they begged, I don't want to hear
anymore of the law. We can't.
We can't take it. It was unattainable.
The law that was given, they knew that it couldn't be kept,
that the best of their efforts was simply filthy rags.
And because of this, he tells them, even Moses, your revered
hero, he was scared to death. He was terrified, right?
God's chosen servant to deliver the law through was scared to
death. This is this crescendo of
Hebrews, if you haven't got it by now.
There is a vivid picture of the law and the Old Covenant, and
it's terrifying and it only leads to death.
He wants to expose for his hearers the absolutely fruitless
endeavor of trying to measure up and live under the law.
Like Paul, he says, You who want to live under the law, do you
hear it? Is that really what you want?
And he does this by showing them the destructive nature of the
Old Covenant. And he's saying it's not worth
it. All this stuff he's been saying,
Don't be like Esau. This is what it leads to.
Let me give you a clear picture of the two paths.
And he says, you who are in Christ, you have not come to
that, but you have come to something much better.
And I love that He says it in the present tense.
He says, you have come. This is the full reality now.
You have not come to Mount Sinai.
You have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God.
It is alive for the listeners. They would have known that Mount
Zion was seen as the centerpiece of worship of God's place, this
Mecca of meeting with God. It's where God's presence dwelt,
and the preacher takes this idea and gives it a new meaning.
This Mount Zion is not a physical place.
It's a person and his name is Jesus.
And this eternal Mount Zion stands in utter contrast to
Mount Sinai. Everything that Mount Sinai was,
or was it Mount Zion is the opposite.
Sinai was earthly. Zion is eternal, A heavenly
Jerusalem. This doesn't mean it's not
tangible and real. It just means it's it's eternal
and everlasting. It's the God space and it's
filling all the earth. Whereas Sinai was destructive.
Zion is cleansing and brings hilly.
And he said you have come to people made perfect and
righteous. It is approachable.
He says that those you have come to you it is it is full of the
first born whose names are written in heaven.
This is identity. Unlike Esau, who sold his
birthright for a meal and lost out, those who trust Christ have
received an eternal birthright. You have access to God, who is
the just a judge of all that's not meant to scare you.
If you are in Christ, that is saying that God is the one who
justifies and has declared you righteous.
So who cares what the accuser says?
The judge of all has declared you perfect.
Be encouraged. We are made clean This mountain,
Zion. This new covenant Kingdom is
attainable and up close It wasn't a distant word thundered
from a mountain. The word himself came down, made
his home among us, took on flesh and blood and every bit of of
suffering you face and weakness you face as a human.
He experienced it, and he didn't come with the blast of a
trumpet, but with the cry of a baby.
This mountain, I love it. It's the opposite of fearful.
It is joyful. Do you understand that?
He says. It is a festive gathering.
This is a party like Jesus brings the better wine.
Let's celebrate and dance and shout and sing because that's
what we've been invited to do. A myriad of angels like the best
guest ever. There's laughter and eternal
pleasures forevermore. It's not just this somber thing
like, yes, we'll sit and grief, but there is a day coming where
it will all be made new and we can experience that in the
present now. It's not just the future
reality. See, because of the work of
Christ, this is offered to each of you.
And I love this, this final crescendo of Mount Zion and
first born names in heaven. And to God, who's judge of all
in this festive gathering, a myriad of angels and all these
beautiful benefits of being in Christ that are incredible.
But what does the crescendo end with?
What is it that we gain? Ultimately, you have come to
Jesus. That's the center of everything.
It's the one we long to be with, and it's the one we have access
to right now. He's the mediator of a new
covenant, the one who has shed his blood for you, and it speaks
over you. Better things than the blood of
Abel. The best the blood of Abel could
do was cry out from the ground for vengeance, justice.
But the blood of Jesus cries out for mercy and acceptance at the
foot of the cross. That's what it's all about.
Church, I told you. That's what we all All we have
to offer is Jesus every week. He lived the perfect life.
He pursued peace and holiness perfectly.
He allowed no root of bitterness to spring up in him, even as he
was rejected by his own, even as he wept blood and tears in the
garden and could have grown angry at God for calling him to
walk through the suffering. Instead, he says, Father, not
your will, but mine be done. He was unwilling to trade his
place as the first born, among many, as he's called, which he
knew meant death. And the enemy came and offered,
Hey, give up that birthright and you can have all of this, all
that the earth offers, much more than a bowl of soup.
But he stays faithful even in the tempter's face.
He said his face like a Flint towards Jerusalem.
He knew it meant pain and death, and he offers up his life as the
mediating sacrifice for sinners. His death is bringing about the
inauguration of a new covenant, and it is one based not on work
keeping that only brings death, but one that is based on the
grace and mercy of God that brings life.
Mount Sinai could not be approached, but Calvary's
mountain is open to all, and by his atoning death, he becomes
both the judge of all. He's just because he takes our
place, but he's also the justifier of the ungodly.
He takes the things we should have received because our law
breaking the gloom and doom and destruction of Sinai.
He takes in his own body and bears it and lays in a tomb.
The sky shakes. The sky grows dark.
The earth shakes and he breathes his last, but death and sin
could not hold him. On Easter morning, gloom gives
way to rejoicing. The stone rolls back and up from
the grave. He rose, and he triumphs over
his foes. And he wins for us the joys of
Zion by walking through Calvary's suffering.
And when we trust in him instead of artworks or the pleasures of
this age, his blood speaks over you, that you are made
righteous, you are adopted as sons and daughters, and your
name is written in heaven. This is the hope of the gospel.
This is the present reality. This is accessible right now
through Christ, for all who've repented and believed.
And this is what we plead for you.
If you've not accepted the free offer of grace, if, if, if
you've made it about what you can do and how much you can
bring to the table, we urge you and beg you.
That only leads to death. Just simple faith and trust in
Christ. We want you to exchange this
temporal life for eternal life. We don't want you to reject the
one who spoke to us by the life and death of His Son, because he
will return one day and he will reveal the hearts of men.
That's what verses 25 to 27 remind us of.
There's a call and a reminder of a communal race.
There's a present reality, but there's also a future revealing.
As sure as Christ arose from the grave, so will he return to
bring a new heaven and a new earth.
All the things we've longed for, the consummation of the the New
Jerusalem, the eternal Zion will be ushered in.
And all who are in Christ will be revealed to be righteous and
perfect and presented as a a bride for the best groom ever.
But we are also warned not to reject the glory of God as
revealed for us in the person of Jesus.
There is a promise that the earth will shake once more.
And the goal of this is not destruction.
The gold is purging. The gold is revealing, It is it
is to shake, to reveal who has built their house on a
foundation that cannot be shaken.
He says that the created things which doesn't mean all the
things that God created which it.
What this means is that things that men have built for
themselves, for their own kingdoms, that will be shaken
away and removed, and what will last, is the Kingdom of God.
Paul talks about it this way in his letter to the church at
Corinth. He says no one can lay any
foundation other than what has been laid down.
That foundation is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on the
foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or
straw, each one's work will become obvious for the day.
We'll disclose it because it will be revealed by fire.
The fire will test the quality of each one's work.
So here it's described as a fire and Hebrews is described as a
shaking. I don't think it's about making
it about whether which one of those is literally the point
here is that there will be a future revealing and it's easy
to hear this and think well man, I better get to work I better
start doing a lot and start building my house like.
But notice what's important. What he says will stand is what
it's built on right. You can from the outside it can
look great. You can't see the foundation.
You might look like you have an amazing ministry and you have a
great track track record in the sunny school.
Chart has all the stars by your name because you never missed
one. And it can be built on a
foundation and all that will be revealed for what it really is.
Build on Christ alone. You can't add to it.
You can only receive what he's done and simply reflect that and
image it to the world. This is not about getting it
right. It's making sure that you don't
miss out on God's grace because you think Christianity is
somehow about being good enough. You can grow up in the church
and know the songs and quote the scriptures.
If your faith is not in Christ alone, it is meaningless and
empty. As we've said multiple times,
it's not about the amount of your faith, that is about the
object. Who is it placed in?
But if you have, doesn't matter what else is going on, you
should be encouraged because the preacher of Hebrews, he gives
that warning. But then he wants to speak over
you with incredible confidence. Look at verses 28 and 29.
Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom that can not
be shaken, let us be thankful. The primary posture of the
Christian is gratitude. By it we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and all, for our God is a consuming
fire, he says. The Kingdom we have received
through Christ cannot be shaken. It is unshakable.
It is a firm foundation, and we receive it not based on any
merit we have or deeds we do, but only by the grace of God.
And this unshakable Kingdom we've received leads us to the
last thing we'll see a grateful response.
If this is all true, if everything that we've
proclaimed, if it really is a reality that we have received a
joyous, eternal Kingdom, then the only response of that is
gratitude and thankfulness. See, it is the gospel and the
gospel alone that transforms our hearts from the inside out.
It is the goodness of God that changes us.
He even says the only way we can worship and serve Him acceptably
is through this Kingdom that you didn't do anything to earn.
It is through grace alone. So if you think man God did a
lot for me, I better go do a lot for him That's going to get
tired and weary. But if you said, man, God did a
lot for me, thank you. Thank you for what you've been
giving me. Now what is it?
Here's my life. And from a new heart we begin to
live with gratitude, not out of duty, but out of delight.
Why would we not want to rule and reign with God as his
subject? He says, come partner with me.
And making this world new you who messed it up the first time,
Let's go. Like the father who's letting
his kid help him mow the lawn even though the lines are
crooked and straight. He's like, because I care about
you, let's go, I'll fix it. We get to partner with God in
our lives and our families and our churches and our communities
wherever we may go. We are simply building on the
foundation that has already been laid.
And we sit back and watch God of Work.
He'll take care of the results. He's the consuming fire again.
For those in Christ, this is meant to be encouraging.
You don't have to take on the role of judge and fight every
battle. He'll handle it.
We just walk in simple gratitude and obedience.
And the the preacher of Hebrews is going to get real practical
Hebrews 13, one through 6. We'll look at that the next
week. He gives us some clear examples
of what that means. Clear exhortations.
But as we run this race, let us not forget the foundation of our
lives. The one who ran before us, the
pioneer and perfector. Be encouraged, Church, the
battle is 1. You have received an unshakable
Kingdom. We're going to sing about it in
a minute, and you're probably going to hear me say something
like yeah or something. Because it's exciting.
You have received an unshakable Kingdom and no one can take it
away. So join the shout of festive
gathering, Feast on the life of Jesus and go in peace, knowing
that you have been made righteous by the blood of
Christ, who speaks a better word over your life.