well i'd invite you to turn uh in two places in your bibles today uh we are concluding hebrews chapter 12 and then chapter 13 uh next week just a few sermons left in the book is very wonderfully practical stuff um it's that next verse that talks about entertaining um strangers for you may not realize that you're entertaining angels underwears we'll look at all that um and then of course um The marriage bed is to be kept pure. There's all these wonderful, great practical applications to everything he said in chapter 13. But today we conclude chapter 12 dealing with really what he has circled back to wanting, and obviously a big issue with the author, it is the issue of worship. So we're going to look at the context from which this comes. I want you to turn first to Exodus chapter 19 as we began that last week. He is working with Exodus chapter 19 right before this grand worship service that was planned in the wilderness. And I want you to think about one thing. As you're hearing this, we're going to read from verse 9 all the way to the end there. And I want you to think of what was said in Hebrews by the author last week. They could not endure the order that was given to them. The order of worship. so that's what he says they could not that this is this is exactly what that is so i think it's important that we hear it this morning beginning at verse 9 of exodus chapter 19 and the lord said to moses behold i'm coming to you in a thick cloud that the people may hear when i speak with you and may also believe you forever when moses told the words of the people to the lord the lord said to moses go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day so we talked about clothing and dress last time this had to be your absolute best not a speck of dust on it for on the third day the lord will come down on mount sinai in the sight of all the people you shall set limits boys and girls think yellow tape okay limits for the people all around saying take care not to go up into the mountain or to touch the edge of it whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death no hand uh no hand shall touch him but he shall be stoned or shot whether beast or man he shall not live when the trumpet it sounds a long blast then they shall come up to the mountain so moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people and they washed their garments and he said to the people be ready for the third day do not go near a woman no sex with your wife but before this this three day period i want total focus total concentration on the morning of the third day there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, his worship, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. It's very important for today's emphasis in Hebrews on shaking. And the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. And the Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses, go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look, and many of them perish. And let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them. And Moses said to the Lord, the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai for you yourself warned us saying set limits around the mountain and consecrate it and the Lord said to him go down come up bringing Aaron with you but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord lest he break out against them so Moses went down to the people and told them and God spoke all these words you know that part and at the very end at verse 18 now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking the people were afraid and trembled and they stood far off and said to Moses you speak to us and we will listen but do not let God speak to us lest we die Moses said to the people do not fear for God has come to test you that the fear of him may be before you that you may not sin the people stood far off while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where god was now over to our text today hebrews chapter 12 which is engaging this and we read verse 18 page 1197 for you have not come to what may be touched a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them for they could not endure the order that was given them if even a beast touches the mountain that shall be stoned indeed so terrifying was the sight that moses said i tremble with fear but you've come to mount zion to the city of the living god the heavenly jerusalem to an innumerable angels in festal gathering into the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel and now our text see that you do not refuse him who's speaking for if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven at that time his voice shook the earth but now he has promised yet once more i will shake not only earth but also the heavens this phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that are shaken that is things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and let us offer to god acceptable worship with reverence and awe for our god is a consuming fire and there ends the reading of god's word well it's always challenging to address certain issues in the church because of the need for constant reformation that's just what we have to deal with it we constantly need to be reforming ourselves and we need to be reforming in the church back to the word of God the reality is is that we all come to a view of something based on presuppositions that we all have maybe the way we've been raised maybe the things we've been taught and how we have been culturally conditioned to do something practices are often mainstreamed into the church culture and assumed to be right just because everyone else may be doing it and that's just not the case that's just not the case i mean the whole bible testifies against that sort of thinking you might think of elijah up on mount carmel when god's people had been so infected with baal worship how did that even happen that they would be infected with Baal worship so synchronized into Israel's worship that he would have to say, listen, no more. Choose you this day. Why are you faltering between two opinions? If Baal is, you know, God, worship him. If the Lord is God, worship him. It was all an issue of worship that had been syncretized together. And remember, Elijah was drawing lines. One of the great practices where this is true that we struggle with and i say this pastorally today i understand this is over the issue of of our worship it's such a sensitive issue we looked at last time it's a very sensitive issue and i recognize that i i understand that as i said last time the reason the prophets faced the most opposition in israel in their ministries were because when they had to call out and say thus saith the lord this is idolatrous this is false the people were furious at them there was great pressure put on those prophets and some of them ended up in dungeons for it some of them ended up killed for it because they went after israel's false worship i mean that's if you have any knowledge of jeremiah any knowledge of isaiah you can't help but come to that conclusion Ezekiel's the same. So any of us should have a care, all of us should have a care for a standard that God has set. Is there a standard? Can we know the standard? That's a really important question. And why does it matter so much? And what's at stake? Is the worship of God really that serious of an issue? and what we have come to today i think is the great corrective in the new testament on this issue um what we see on this issue and the great propensity that we have and and what we fight against him on comes out right here this is what our natural hearts fight god on and and this is important then to listen carefully to what he's saying i would even suggest today that the maturity of somebody's faith and whether there is growth in the Christian faith comes down to this issue. Is there a passion and is there a conviction for the glory of God and his holiness? That's the issue. Does it trouble you when it's profaned? Or do you even know how to recognize that see that that's the kind of thing that he's pressing us with today i understand the struggle living in a church world where there's no uniformity of practice on anything and that people generally think that if somebody's sincere if somebody means well it is true worship somebody reminded me of reverend camiga's sermon on uzzah touching the ark and that new cart that it was put on and that Reverend Cambaga years ago spent all this time talking about the construction of the new cart. I'd love to hear that sermon if any of you have it. How much work went into making a better cart that would transport the ark because the cart that they had just wasn't very good. They needed a better cart for this holy utensil. And then Uzzah just put out his hand to stop it from falling down the mountain. And God struck him. Why? Because his holiness was not considered at all. Even David was confused about this. I get, listen, let me say pastorally, I get that today we will come off with these convictions and you're worried about this. I'm concerned about it too, that we're going to come off as arrogant. I understand that. We're afraid that we're going to come off that way as if we're doing it perfectly. That is your sort of great concern because we're not really like many people in the way we do things in the church world. We're radically different in practice. I understand it. I'm trying to be pastoral in reaching and saying, I get it. I understand the fear that because we have convictions on these things we will come off as judging everyone else i want you to know it's not my interest that's not that is not my interest at all um to stand back and you will hear nothing in this sermon today that's going to judge everyone else my concern is for us as a pastor my concern as a pastor is to have people at the escondido urc who are not swayed by everything under the sun but have strong conviction on these issues because as Moses said the congregation that day when Nadab and Abihu were struck down you get it in a sense in the original when he said after it happened and two sons were struck down and nobody had taken the holiness of God seriously Moses said this is what I've been telling you guys nobody's been listening to me by those who come near to the lord i must be regarded as holy he said that was the issue well that's what's before us today in hebrews we have this passage that controls new covenant worship before us he is moving to our responsibility as those who are not kept far away it's really amazing isn't it you would think right that if we are all the more close to god in the new covenant that requires something it doesn't require carelessness or even casualness and that's what he's going after today the hebrew christians were just they said this is for the birds this spirit worship we don't see christ we don't they don't have images of him we don't have power in this there's nothing tangible we want mountain touching experiences mountaintop experiences touching experiences that's where he starts you've not come to the mountain that may be touched i want a touching experience i want a physical tangible experience of god this doesn't cut it for me. This listening to Jesus. So they wanted to go back to something that could be handled. They wanted to go back to the mountain. They wanted the mountaintop. And that's why he drew the powerful contrast last time. They hadn't really considered what happened. They had been listening to the rabbis they hadn't really considered exodus 19 and what happened when they got to the mountain that's why i read it for you today that was an order of worship no one could endure i mean sunday best sabbath best not a speck i told you last time i could never even say these things today everyone would get offended that order was terrifying he said god was so holy when he came down on that mountain it was a death experience for them and that's what what he explained when they came to the mountain worship of god it was awful they were completely to be dressed there was to be no involvement with their wives there was the trumpet sounded so loudly that their body started convulsing and shaking as even and then he said i want archers set up everywhere and if anyone comes near the mountain you shoot and you kill and everyone begged don't let god speak don't let god speak don't let him speak to us lest we die it scared moses to death the author of hebrews says do you know what happens when you're worshiping now this is the shock of this you're now in spirit right before the face of god all the angels are all around us right now in spirit you're joined with your the spirits of your loved ones who are already dead but they're with the lord so you want to join with your dead loved ones the best place you're going to do it is in worship they're here right now so he said they have no sin they're just waiting for their bodies and you're in the presence of most importantly your mediator you've come to jesus the mediator of the new covenant so if that's true that we're in the presence of god and that we're not kept far it was scary far off in the old covenant what does that mean for the new covenant somebody said to me the other day you know i just think worship's about having fun how did we ever adopt that kind of thinking this fun time you get that six days a week don't you it's a false understanding of what's happening as we gather around the throne of grace the the idea has always been proposed as i said before the god of the old testaments the wrathful god the mean gods the marcy night heresy and the god of the new testaments the nice squishy god the sort of teddy bear in the sky one that we can clap for and root on who's just there all for us and this passage is helping us with this i that's why i said if you're going to go to a passage in the new testament that says well where do we go to to deal with worship here you go um this is this is the passage christ sacrifice brought us before the face of god in worship in spirit and in truth that's what's happening and i'll come back to just in a moment what that requires of us so what he wants us to think about is who we're coming before how we are to think about worship and how we are to conduct ourselves and i'm convinced you know this is so important because i'm convinced this is how for all of our pragmatism i'll come back to this thought this is how you're going to win a new generation because they see that it's substantive it's meaningful haven't we learned yet that the other stuff doesn't keep them so here we are verse 25 this is where he begins see that you do not refuse him who speaks how do you elevate a church's view of corporate worship how do you take it off the charts how do you have heaven-shaking worship well you have to make people appreciate what's happening one of the great problems in our day is simply this we're not that impressed with the lord i had somebody say that to me last week you know the issue really is we're just not impressed with him anymore i'm sure some of you walked out of here last week thinking that's really amazing we're worshiping with the spirits of of our dead loved ones you were encouraged by that you were comforted by that but what passed right by you was you've come to jesus and god the judge of all that's not impressive as it should be and this is what he's concerned about what is demanded of us when we come our feet are are standing on holy ground. Moses was commanded to take off his shoes. Here's our great responsibility. Don't refuse him who's speaking. See, that's the first great responsibility. Pay attention. He's been saying this the whole book. He said it back in chapter 2. Pay attention carefully to him who's speaking to you. You say, wait a minute. Well, this is where it really challenges us today. It's just Pastor Gordon. I get it. I get it. You know, it's just Pastor Gordon. Well, I have a lot of faults. I do a lot of quirky things. I can get in the way. I know that. You guys are very patient with me. I am so thankful for you. I can't believe how patient the Escondido URC is. But we have a decision to make on this issue. You know, I have brothers and sisters here from Hanford. I used to sit behind them and worship. They knew i was a little kid and now he's in the escondido you are so how'd that happen paul said to the bereans the bereans were commended because what they did when they listened to the a pastor speak was they went back to the scriptures to see if what was said was so that's why they were commended it wasn't just that they bought hook line and sinker pastor gordon's message it was that they went and searched the scripture because they wanted to see and they believe that what the pastor was saying if it's from god's word it's true well when paul spoke of the christian ministry he said we are ambassadors of christ god himself is pleading through us be reconciled to him when they got to sinai they got a glimpse of his holiness and they begged don't let god speak you catch that they harden their hearts at sinai to the lord he says when you come to worship guess who's speaking to you when when and and he says don't refuse him who speaks. Jesus, through his word, is speaking to you from heaven right now. You say, how do I know that? How could you ever know if the pastor speaking to you is speaking the truth or just his own ideas, or whether it's heavenly speech or earthly speech? How would you no well paul said to pastors under the inspiration of the spirit preach the word in season and out of season convince rebuke exhort with all long suffering and patience then he said this here's what's going to happen the time is going to come always has been here that people will not want to endure doctrine and because they have itching ears they don't want to endure doctrinal teaching and preaching they won't want it and he says what they're going to do is turn their ears away from the truth so he was saying listen to him who's speaking you have to be discerning but the propensity of your hearts will be i don't want anything hard i don't want anything too pressing on my life i don't want the holiness of god i'm going to turn to something that's light and easy and careless tailored to my desires he says will happen in the christian ministry what would that look and sound like well we have surely have the benefit of preaching good news i think my greatest calling in this life is to preach to you the gospel and to announce forgiveness i i love doing that i want you to know that's where my heart is but you understand that to make that appreciated you got to cover hard territory which means you got to go over the soil of your hearts and you got to pull out sin and you've got to pull out idolatry. Nobody likes doing that. We all, by nature, can do that because we're good with the law. But it's not what you like. But what I could do is take away all offense and all sin and add nothing serious and everything's about ear-tickling, everything's about making it light, everything's about earthly things. And could you ever judge that as refusing to hear Jesus speak? When would you? dr goffrey said something yesterday at the ligand ear conference he said pragmatists in worship should be challenged that really if they're pragmatists it's not working because the evidence is and this is across the line that's why i i just it's evident across the line turning worship into pragmatism is an exit strategy out of the church because you're not going to win people by lighting it and dumbing it and ear tickling. You're not going to win people that way. It's an exit strategy. So how do you know who's speaking the truth and who's not? When Jesus was challenged with this, the Pharisees came to him and said, ah, you are you. You have no credentials. remember what jesus said here's how you know if anyone wills to do god's will you shall know concerning the doctrine whether it's from men or whether it's from god and whether i speak on my own authority here it is he who speaks from himself seeks his own glory if i wanted to seek my own glory i would only give you what pats everyone pats me on the back four and I'd never press you. But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is the true one. What is the goal of the ministry? It's to lead you to Jesus, to hear him. You're going to know whether something is true by the aim of it. If it's about making the church a business to get your money and be praised all the time and and be ear tickled all that that's a business for for earthly glory but if it's there to convict you and to bring you repentance in your life hear me to bring you to repentance in life and to lead you to the holy god of israel in the gospel and it's not purposely shallow and that's a that's the lord that's the lord paul said many are peddling the word of god for gain there's nothing heavenly in the speech so that's the discerning aspect of this that you've got to you come to i don't like preaching hard things but i know and i know ear tickling wins a lot of people but we are are we discerning enough to know the difference and to value a certain kind of speaking that's what he's pressing us with at the end of the day what false worship is is a it's a tool to do what israel did that day don't let god speak with us you hear me don't let god speak with us we don't want to deal with him we don't want to listen to his voice keep us far we'll do worship our way that that's what that was and he's saying no you you my new covenant brothers and sisters Consider who's speaking to you. You're brought to Jesus. And he has a goal of giving weary sinners the gospel. But you see concern here is many are turning to different voices in the earth when they had the greatest revelation of God, the Son. In these last days, Hebrews said, God has spoken to us through his Son, Hebrews 1. That was the beginning of the book. And so his concern is right here. For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth. You're not on earth anymore in this speech. How much more will we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven? You've been brought right to him by the blood of Jesus. That's what's happening. Our responsibility is greater than theirs. Because we're directly in the presence of God today. He is so pastorally concerned for them. See, and I think any pastor has to be concerned on this issue. He reminds them of what's soon going to happen. He said, listen, that voice that day shook Sinai, didn't it? It shook the whole earth when their bodies trembled and convulsed. But he says here, he quotes Haggai, and he says, listen, yet once more i shake not only earth but also heaven that's that's a verse what does that mean he explains it yet once more indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken as of the things that are made that the things which cannot be shaken may remain When I was in Central Valley, I was in Hanford, we would go over to one of the farmer's places and they would have these big shakers and they'd shake the walnut trees. And it was terrible because I didn't have to pick all those things up. It was so much work, I remember, as a kid. Whenever I saw that shaking thing come in, I was like, here we go. And the farmer would pay us a quarter a bucket, I think, at that time. Here's what he's saying. God shook down the old covenant. Do you see the temple today? It's gone. He shook down the old covenant to bring you right to Him in spirit and your bodies are going to be raised soon to be physically there, united with spirit. Shaking here is a metaphor for judgment. God is going to shake this world one more time in judgment. God is going to shake off this earthly order forever. Everything that does not endure will be shaken away. So our homes, our money, our achievements. He's concerned about what will not be shaken away. William Lane says he's passionately concerned for the members of the church. And that's what I am for you. Lane says, a pending final test is coming. He's concentrating his concern not on the future of the world, but on the future of the new covenant community, you. Which stands before the threat of divine shaking and the promise of divine given unshakability, which means he's so concerned that none of them are shaken away in judgment. Them, people. People who are not listening to Jesus. People who are not repenting and believing the gospel. He wants them to be unshakable on that day. He wants them to be firm and strong. and that's the plea here don't any of you be shaken away in judgment for not listening to him especially on this issue isn't interesting it's couched in this issue of who god is in his attributes and holiness and character it's my concern for my family it should be yours for yours when i prayed my whole way through i don't think i'm a great father i don't think i've done a lot of things well I don't care if they're greatly successful by the world's standards I don't care if they make a lot of money I don't care if it'd be nice if they go to the greatest colleges at the end of the day that's not my great heart I don't want them shaken away I've prayed that none of them leave this earth until the voice of Christ has penetrated their heart and given them life. That's why the church matters. Because that's what we're doing. That's why worship's so important. How do you get this into people's heads? That's what's happening. He's making an unshakable people through the worship and hearing the word. When I see people who can take it or leave it, I wonder if they've been regenerated yet. Are they born again yet? you must be born again to enter the kingdom of god to be born from above actually which is the contrast he's making so i close with this what is the appropriate solution it's the great therefore of the book i think since we're receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken god's kingdom can never be shaken away here's the response be grateful there's really good news given to you here you know what god's done for you and his son he's forgiven all your sins he's cast them as far as the east is from the west and he's given you a place in his kingdom forever the pastor doesn't just want to preach about judgment trust me That's the last thing I want to preach about. I want you to enjoy forgiveness. I want you to know God's steadfast love. I want you to know He'll cover all your sins. And that's why He wants you to listen to His Son. For all He's done for you. What He's asking of us is to be grateful for all this and to reframe your thinking on the church. Because naturally, this has been our fight. Reframe your view of worship. Value it. It matters to Him. Yeah, it's not about dress codes. Okay. They couldn't even endure that order. The proper way of worship is this. It's barely basic, isn't it? But important. You should be grateful to worship God acceptably. There is a standard. There's a proper way. There's proper worship. I hope, does that make me sound arrogant for saying that? I want you to enjoy it the way you should. How? When you come up to the house of the Lord, come with reverence and awe. Reverence means reverent submission to Him. Consider who you're meeting with. Consider whose face you're being come before. Consider what it costs to get you here. Holy reverence for Him. And be eager to listen to Him from heaven speak to you. You're coming before the King of heaven and earth. That demands and that deserves our honor and our respect. For God has not changed, it says. In His being, He is holy. He is a consuming fire. He has not changed. He's dangerous in that holiness. And if you want to come up to His presence and enjoy a sheltered covering in Christ, live by faith, believe the promises, trust what He's done for you, and in gratefulness worship Him the way that He wants to be worshipped. As the old psalm says, God is in His holy temple, but all the earth keeps silence before Him. Let us then be a people who worship Him in spirit and in truth. Amen. Heavenly Father, thank you for helping us today and bless this truth to our lives and hearts. And I pray, Lord, that it would change us to be grateful worshipers who respond the way that you want to be worshiped and to care a lot about that. Thank you for the sacrifice of your son that we might even be here today. We bless the name of the Lord. Give us grateful hearts. Let us hate sin, love righteousness, and lead thankful lives since you've justified us by faith. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.