This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day five of our look at Hebrews chapter 12. We're going to look at a
good section of scripture today as we look at the last half, really, of this
great chapter. And it really talks to us about where you and I live now as
followers of Jesus and what it means to live our life in Christ, in God's
presence.

And it gives us the picture in doing that of a mountain that we live on, Mount
Zion. Let me read these verses and then we'll talk about what it means to live
on Mount Zion. Beginning with verses 18 to 24, let's go down through 24, "You
have not come to a mountain that can be touched, that is burning with fire, to
darkness, gloom, and storm, to a trumpet blast, or to such a voice speaking
words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them,
because they could not bear what was commanded if even an animal touches this
mountain, it must be stoned.

The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, 'I am trembling with fear. ' But
you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living
God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to
the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven.

You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made
perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood
that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. " These are powerful verses
that really are comparing two mountains, Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. Now, Mount
Zion is named here, Mount Sinai is what's in verse 18, this mountain that
couldn't be touched, this burning of fire, this darkness and gloom and storm.

You can read about it in the book of Exodus, Sinai and Zion. Physically, Sinai
is in the desert on the way to the promised land. Zion is a hill just outside of
Jerusalem, one of the high points of that whole nation.

Spiritually, Sinai was where the law was given and Zion is the city of God, the
place of promise, the place of grace. And personally, as you read these verses,
Mount Sinai was a place to not touch, to stay away from, but Mount Zion is a
place into which you're welcomed. But when you read in the book of Exodus about
Mount Sinai, it seems like a high point of the relationship of God and man.

I mean, they've gone through the Red Sea, they've had these experiences, they
all of a sudden come to this mountain and there is darkness, there is gloom,
there is lightning, there is power that's seen there, such power that no one can
even touch it. And without a close look at the New Testament, you might be
tempted to say that's where followers of God need to go to truly experience
God's presence, go to Mount Sinai. But here in Hebrews, we're taught that
although you can learn about the law for Mount Sinai, and you can see God's
power on Mount Sinai, that's not where we live.

We live in Mount Zion. And you look in these verses, you see the contrasts
between Zion and Sinai. They're really the contrasts between law and grace.

Two powerful contrasts here. First, Sinai was an unapproachable mountain, Zion
is a living city. Back in Exodus 19 verse 12, they were told, "Put limits,"
Moses was told, "Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them,
'Be careful that you do not go up to the mountain or touch the foot of it.

Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. '" It was a big keep
out sign, caution tape, not just caution, but stay away, danger. A mountain that
carried the death penalty for even touching it.

That's not where we live. We live in Mount Zion, a heavenly city, a new
Jerusalem. The law presents us with an unapproachable God, but grace in Christ
causes us to be able to live in the presence of God.

That's where we live. And so because of that, there's this other contrast.
There's the contrast of Sinai being a place of terror and Zion being a place of
joy.

In these verses, we read about Sinai, darkness, gloom, whirlwind versus Zion,
rejoicing angels, thousands upon thousands, the church set free, the spirits of
people who are brought to perfection in Jesus. Where would you rather be, Sinai
or Zion? Well, we get to live in Mount Zion.

The law inevitably pushed mankind away from God, and grace inevitably draws us
towards him. And when you accept his grace, this is the place that you live.
It's the contrast between words that are too terrible to hear and Moses full of
fear.

On the other side, you have Mount Zion where there's Jesus, Jesus mediating a
new promise, Jesus saving us through his blood. The law makes men and women
afraid of God because we know we deserve punishment. We know we don't deserve to
be in God's presence.

Grace gives us assurance before God because we know Jesus has given us what we
don't deserve, through his blood, through his promise. And so we can live in
joyous relationship with the judge of all mankind because Christ is our
mediator. He's our go-between.

And so based on that, the fact that you and I, we live on Mount Zion, what are
we supposed to do about it? Verses 25 to 29 talk about that. Here's what you do
about it.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when
they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less shall we if we turn
away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time, his voice shook the earth.

But now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth, but also
the heavens. " The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be
shaken, that is, created things, so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be
thankful.

And so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming
fire. These are verses that simply talk to us about how to live on Mount Zion.
And three things to do, three simple things in these verses.

First, don't refuse him who speaks. Listen to the one who's speaking. If they
missed it at Sinai and suffered in the desert for a generation because of that,
how much more shall we suffer if we miss it when it comes to what God's doing in
eternity?

Don't miss the message of God's grace. And only what's behind this is he talks
in verse 26 and 27 about shaken and unshaken. What's behind this is what you're
building your life on.

The question is, are you building your life on what will be shaken or on what's
unshakable? And what will be shaken or what's unshakable? This word "once more"
means he's only going to shake it one more time.

And then everything that's shakeable, it's going to be gone. He won't need to
shake it anymore because all the shakeable stuff, it'll be shaken loose. Am I
living my life for what's going to be shaken loose?

It reminds me of Jim Elliot's famous quote, "He is no fool who gives up what he
cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. " Am I building my life? Am I spending
most of my time on things that are going to be shaken loose someday?

Don't refuse him who speaks, who's speaking to you right now. Live your life for
what's going to last. Second thing is, just these two words, be thankful.

You want to live on Mount Zion? You want to live in this place of joy? Be
thankful.

There's no joy without thankfulness. There's really no faith, hope, or love
without thankfulness. Thankfulness is one of the keys to living the life that
God has given us to live.

Ungrateful people do not live on Mount Zion. They live more on Mount Sinai. They
live more in the place of legalism.

They live more in the place of trying to prove themselves. Grace causes you to
be grateful. Grace draws it into you.

And gratefulness actually leads you more and more to God's grace, so be
thankful. Don't refuse him who speaks, who is speaking to you right now. And
then do a third thing.

Worship God with reverence and awe. You worship God for who he is, and because
of who he is, how could you not have reverence? How could you not have awe?

The creator of the universe, the one who is above and beyond what I could
possibly imagine, he connects with me through Jesus. I'm able to connect with
him. There's a depth of reverence and awe there that's beyond words.

There is a picture here, though, of it. God is a consuming fire. That's from
Deuteronomy 424, that God is a consuming fire.

It's interesting. That was just after talking about following idols. And then it
says God's a jealous God.

He's a consuming fire. The fire of his judgment is going to burn away all the
idols. So you trust in him.

It's going to consume all that's temporary. Sometimes people read this and they
get scared. God's a consuming fire.

He's looking to burn me up. Now this is about the shakeable and the unshakeable.
This is about what's going to last.

I can worship God with reverence and awe because he's going to burn away all of
the pain, all of the evil. It's going to be done away with someday. All that can
be shaken will be shaken.

It'll be done away with. And what will be left? What will be left is what we
read about.

You've come to God. You've come to Jesus. You've come to thousands upon
thousands of angels rejoicing forever and ever.

You've come to believers, followers of Jesus from Old Testament and from New
Testament who because of their love for him are going to be worshiping him
forever. I describe it here on earth and I have to admit I can't understand all
the joy that's going to be in it in heaven. For me on earth to understand all
that it means to worship him together with all those people for eternity, every
once in a while I might get a taste of it.

But we're not there yet. We don't quite understand the joy of it yet, but when
we get there we will understand it and that's where we will live for eternity,
for eternity. So let's do what we talked about just a moment ago.

Let's thank him. Our Father, we thank you. We thank you that we live in the
grace of Jesus.

We thank you in the grace of Jesus. We can stand in a place of joy. We can stand
in a place of thankfulness.

We can stand in a place of worship before you. We don't have to stand in a place
of fear. We can stand in the place of your presence and we are thankful.

We thank you in Jesus name, amen. Well next week we end our study of the book of
Hebrews together with chapter 13. Chapter 13 is a most practical of chapters at
the end of this most theological of books.

Don't miss chapter 13, our last in the book of Hebrews, this next week.