WWUTT 1887 Offer Service with Reverence and Awe (Hebrews 12:25-29)

Reverence, Awe, and the Unshakable Kingdom

You must offer service unto the Lord with reverence and awe. Yes, we are friends of God through faith in Jesus Christ, but he is still God, and we must tremble before him when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ. For he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com.

Hey, once again, it's Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. I do not have much of a voice today, and that's part of the reason why this episode was posted so late, because I didn't have a voice when it came time to record.

I may not be able to fill out the whole 20 minutes, but we'll see how long I can hang on. We've got just a portion of Hebrews chapter 12 to finish up. So I'm gonna begin by reading verses 25 to 29 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord. See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him, who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from him, who warns from heaven.

And his voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, yet once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven. Now this expression, yet once more, indicates the removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. This is a very reverent passage here, drawing the hearer's attention to the greatness of God.

And though he is our friend, just like it was said of Abraham, he called him a friend of God, just like Abraham was a friend, yet he still revered the Lord. He knew God was God, God in heaven. God is God and I am not.

But there he is, enthroned over the entire universe, he who created all things and can destroy all things just as quickly as he made them, if not quicker. So he who reigns over all and is judged over all, we need to recognize his sovereignty, his supremacy.

And knowing this of God, the preacher says in verse 25, see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. Now it's important here to recognize that him is in reference to God, capital H. See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

If you'll remember the section that we looked at yesterday, which was from Exodus. You know, we're going back to Exodus in verses 18 to 24 with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. They heard the word of God coming from the mountain.

They saw the terrible and frightening sight of what it was like when he descended upon that mountain. Smoke went up from the mountain like a furnace. There was lightning and peals of thunder and the blasts of trumpets as angels resounded their voices, speaking those things which God spoke.

And it was through the voices of angels saying what God was saying, that Israel received the law. And that terrified Israel. And you're just talking about something that happened at a certain locale. We're just talking about Mount Sinai and the Sinai Peninsula.

They're on that small portion of the globe. God is enthroned over the entire universe. And yet he condescends himself to come down on Mount Sinai to speak to the children of Israel. This people descended of Abraham, whom he called out of Egypt.

They just saw God manifested in this way and it terrified them. They were not able to escape the judgment of God when they rebelled against him in the wilderness. So what makes us think that we'll be able to escape?

See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. The Israelites heard him speak from Mount Sinai. We are hearing him speak now through his word, through the Bible. How does God speak to us? He speaks to us through the Bible.

How do we speak to God? Through prayer. So this is our communication with God. We speak to him by praying to him. He speaks to us when we read his word. As Justin Peters is so fond of saying, if you wanna hear from God, read the Bible.

If you wanna hear him out loud, read the Bible out loud. And so this is God speaking. When we hear the word of God, we are hearing God. Now this is the preacher, of course. There's a preacher who has been delivering this message that we've been reading in Hebrews.

That preacher is most likely Paul. It has been written down perhaps by Luke. So he's taking the message that Paul preached, wrote it down in this form so that many more Hebrews and of course the church altogether could hear these things and understand them.

So the reference to do not refuse him who is speaking is not the preacher. What the preacher is saying, as this was an apostolic message, what the preacher is saying does indeed come from God. So you're hearing.

Though you're hearing the voice of a preacher, though you're hearing my voice right now. What is being spoken is from God's word. It is from the Bible. Even what I say, what I add to this as far as commentary goes, like as I'm explaining these things with commentary, I'm not adding to the Bible.

But as I explain this with commentary, you need to test my words. How do you test them? You test them according to scripture. So it's from the scriptures that we hear the word of God. When the apostles preached in the Holy Spirit, they were preaching Christ.

They were preaching the word of Christ. So the preacher being an apostle has the authority to stand in front of his audience and say, you're hearing him speak because it's the word of Christ through him.

See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth. Now, here's another thing to notice about the pronouns. If those, talking about Israel, did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth.

That's a lowercase h-i-m. That's not in reference to God. That's in reference to whom? Moses. Moses warned them on earth, but they didn't listen to him and they perished in the wilderness. You know, when you go to Numbers 21 and you read the story of when Yahweh sent the fiery serpents into the Israelite camp because they grumbled against God.

They complained about the food and the manna in particular in the wilderness, even though God had just given them victory over the Canaanites. They complained because they didn't have food and water. They did have food and water.

They just didn't like the food and water that was given to them. So it says that we have no food and no water and we hate this cursed food. So you hear just how illogical the Israelites had become. They were being given food, but they didn't want that food.

So they were saying, we have no food. And it says there in Numbers 21 that when the people complained, they did not just complain against God. They complained against God and Moses. So they refused Moses, who was a mouthpiece of God.

What God told Moses to say, that's what Moses said to Israel. Remember, we talked about this yesterday, that when the Israelites were there at the base of Mount Sinai, it terrified them to hear the voice of God.

So they went to Moses and said, let's go back to the arrangement where you go talk to God and then you tell us what he said, because we can't handle this. Our brain's gonna melt out of our ears. So they were content with just receiving God's word through Moses, but then they refused Moses.

And when they refused Moses, who was a prophet of God, they were refusing God. Remember, Jesus says in Matthew 5, that when they hate you and they persecute you, rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

When people hate us, they're doing exactly the same as those people who hated the prophets. So we get to join the league of prophets in that sense, when we are hated by those who hate God. So the people refused Moses who warned them on earth.

If they refused him who warned them on earth, verse 25 goes on to say, much less will we escape, who turn away from him who warns from heaven. Now this comes back to chapter two. Remember what we read there in Hebrews 2 .2, for if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and that's a reference again to the law that was given at Mount Sinai that came from the voices of angels.

If the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, it was perfect, could not be changed. Jesus himself said, not even a stroke of the pen will pass away from the law until all of these things are fulfilled.

So if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable and every trespass and disobedience received a just penalty, those who broke the law, they received a just penalty. Verse three, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

That salvation first spoken by the Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard. First spoken by the Lord is Christ. Jesus, when he was here on earth, spoke of this salvation and it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will.

So it was confirmed that this message came from the Lord. Of course, it was heard through Jesus Christ when he was on earth, but then others that would receive it, especially among the Gentiles and those Hebrews that lived outside of Palestine, they had this confirmed to them.

They didn't hear Jesus speak, but they had it confirmed to them through the signs and wonders that the apostles did. So they knew that the word that the apostles spoke was the word of God because it was confirmed through the miracles that they performed, the signs and wonders that they did.

The message has been confirmed. We have no excuse to reject it. So how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? This message, this completed word, how Christ has come to fulfill the law and the prophets, this was not known to those people in the Old Testament.

They were not able to escape when they broke the law, so how will we be able to escape if we neglect the gospel? If we reject the grace and mercy of God poured out through Christ, his son whom he gave and sacrificed on a cross to be the propitiation for our sins, and we would reject that, how will we escape judgment?

Those who have rejected the message of the cross, the mercy and grace of God demonstrated through Jesus Christ. So we have this warning given here, see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking, for if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven.

And it's through the Holy Spirit that he is warning us even now. If a person hears the gospel, if they hear a good presentation of the gospel, they're also gonna hear about their sin and that God's wrath is coming against that sin, that Jesus is gonna return to judge the living and the dead.

Even at the Areopagus in Acts chapter 17, in Athens there in front of the Greeks, Paul even mentioned that. It's amazing the number of preachers that I will hear refer to Acts 17 as the way that we should handle the gospel or do evangelism, and yet those same preachers, I don't ever hear them talk about judgment.

That was the emphasis of the message in what Paul said there. This God is known and he has made himself known and that he is gonna judge the world in righteousness through this one whom he has raised from the dead.

Talking about judgment right there, that was the very proclamation that caused the people to go, oh, that's ridiculous, resurrection from the dead. So even Paul warned about the judgment. There is a warning of judgment when a good presentation of the gospel is given, there's a warning of judgment.

And if the sinner's heart is quickened, then they will be convicted and recognize I'm under that judgment. So that their heart is conditioned to hear the hope of the gospel that is in Jesus Christ. He who died, rose again, ascended into heaven is coming back to judge the living and the dead.

If you put your faith in him, you will not perish in that judgment. But you have now and will have forevermore everlasting life by faith in Jesus. That's the warning that comes in the gospel. There's the message of the promise, the message of hope, absolutely.

But that message only sounds good when you know the bad news. That all have sinned and all deserve the judgment of God. Then the good news is great news that God has sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The wrath of God is satisfied in Jesus Christ. And we receive all of the benefits, the blessings of his grace by faith in Jesus. Verse 26, and his voice shook the earth then. Yeah, we just read about that.

How the entire earth was trembling. Well, I'm speaking locally, of course, but the earth was trembling when God spoke from Mount Sinai. His voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised saying yet once more, I will shake not only the earth.

And in this instance, the whole earth, but also the heaven. This is an Old Testament reference to Haggai 2 .6. How many references to Haggai do you see in the New Testament? Well, here's one of them right here.

Yet once more, I will shake not only the earth, God's judgment that is coming to shake the earth, he will also shake the heavens. As Peter puts it in 2 Peter 3, that the heavens, even the heavens will pass away with a roar.

Now that's not in reference to the holy heaven where God sits enthroned. That's in reference to the sky. It will be not just the earth that will pass away in the judgment, but even the heaven. I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.

And yes, of course, we're gonna live in the new heavens and the new earth. But understand that when we read those passages, there's a certain eschatology out there that will say a reference to new heavens and new earth means we're still gonna be populating this earth as it is just like fully restored or something to that degree.

It gets purified by fire, but then we're repopulating the whole thing. It's not going to be that way. And I don't really understand how that eschatology reaches that. There's a couple of eschatological views that would side with that perspective that we just repopulate this earth.

Paul states clearly in 1 Corinthians 15 that the mortal cannot enter into immortality. First, the mortal has to put on immortality in order to enter that next realm in which we're going to live. So it's not the same.

We have new bodies, of course. We have, and that's gonna be at the return of Christ when our dead body is gonna be raised back to life, reunited with our soul, and we have an incorruptible, imperishable body.

Now, what a day that will be, but it's so difficult for us to comprehend what that will be like because we live in the finite now. We live in corruptible bodies right now. I'm having a hard time holding onto my voice talking about a body that is wasting away that will fail us eventually.

We will die. Our souls, if we are in Christ, will go to live forever with God. And on the day that Christ returns, even our dead body will be resurrected and be made like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself, as said in Philippians chapter three.

Whatever that existence is going to be like, the reason why it's so difficult for us to understand words that are said about that next existence, living in that heavenly realm, is because our finite minds are not able to grasp it.

We don't understand it. So that's why those things are often confusing, and it's why we squabble and fight over, no, heaven's going to be like this or the end times are going to be like that because in our finiteness of the present, it's difficult for us to wrap our minds around and make sense of these heavenly concepts.

Speaking of heavenly things, Jesus said to Nicodemus, if I've told you earthly things and you do not understand, how will you understand if I tell you heavenly things? We do have heavenly things explained to us in scripture, but they're difficult for us to understand because it's hard for our finite minds to be able to grasp it.

But we know the promise and we know that it's given and we continue to hold fast to Christ. It's certainly good to read those things and talk them through, but having enough grace to recognize that we don't even understand the half of it.

So be gracious to one another. As Paul said to the Thessalonians, encourage one another with these words. So we go on in these final three verses here, verse 27. Now this expression yet once more indicates the removing of those things which can be shaken.

So we're talking about physical things, talking about the physical heaven and the physical earth, those things which can be shaken as of created things so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

The new heavens and the new earth, the new Jerusalem. It's referred to that way as the new heavens and the new earth, but it's not necessarily this present earth that we live on recreated. We can argue about it.

I mean, there certainly is a recreation that's happening there. Jesus saying, I am making all things new, but it's not that existence is not gonna be like this existence. That's really all that I can say about it.

But for sure, what we've read here in Hebrews is that those heavenly things are permanent. Those are eternal. These things that we live in right now, these are temporary. And so we look toward the eternal.

We anticipate, we long for that eternal place where we will live with God forever. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude. Amen, we should live lives of thankfulness.

As R .C. Sproul, as I've heard him say, the Christian should be the happiest person on the planet because no matter what comes our way, no matter what afflicts us or affects us, we know that I will be forever with God in glory.

Death has nothing on me because I worship the one who has conquered death, who has promised me a place with him. Where he has gone, there I will also be. So yeah, all these things that happen to me on this earth, it's hard right now, but I'm holding onto Christ and I'm not letting go.

And we show gratitude for those things that God has done for us, which guarantees us for and seals us for that day, as said in Ephesians 1, sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption. Let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe.

There's that word that sort of qualifies this section. This is a very reverent section. We are to have reverence and awe of God for who he is, what he is doing, what he has done for us. When we're thankful to God, when we're grateful to all that he has done and all that he has given, which the depths of that, we can't even quantify that on this side of heaven.

Not even the half of that has been told, but we are rejoicing and praising God for all that he has guaranteed us in his son, giving us the greatest thing that God could give us, his son to die for us and ascend to heaven and guarantee us an inheritance with him.

We become fellow heirs of the kingdom of God with Christ. But we must show, we must offer an acceptable service and sacrifice. We must offer acceptable service. That's the language used there, so I'm sticking with that.

We must offer an acceptable service unto God with reverence and with awe. We do this out of a grateful heart for we recognize, verse 29, that our God is a consuming fire. Remember what I said yesterday about Moses.

There were all these people in Israel that said, we're just as good as Moses. We deserve what he has, and they did not understand exactly what they were demanding for even Moses trembled at the very sight and sound of God.

Knowing that he is a consuming fire, and so let us have such reverence and awe before the Lord as well. Consider Isaiah 66 too. The Lord says, for my hand made all things, thus all things came into being, declares Yahweh.

But to this one, I will look. He who has created the entire universe says this. To this one, I will look. To him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word. And the God who made the universe, his favor is on you when you humble yourself before the creator of all.

Living as Humble and Grateful Sacrifices

Heavenly Father, thank you for these reminders. May we put them into our lives. We live lives of holiness in this present day. Romans 12, one, in view of God's mercies, present your bodies as living sacrifices unto the Lord, for this is your spiritual act of worship.

As we present ourselves holy and pleasing unto you, may we live as living sacrifices unto you today. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .tt .com.