The Final Shakedown, Part 2 (Hebrews 12:26-27) | Worship Service

And good morning. Welcome to Kootenai Church. We're glad you're here this morning. Would you please stand. We're gonna read a call to worship out of Psalm 2 this morning and it says. Why do the nation's rage and the people's meditate on a vain thing.

The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and against his anointed saying let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs the Lord mocks them.

Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his fury saying but as for me I have installed my king upon Zion my holy mountain. I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh. He said to me you are my son today.

I have begotten. You ask of me. And I will surely give the nation's as your inheritance. And the ends of the earth is your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like a potter's vessel.

So now Oh Kings show insight take warning. Oh judges of the earth serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice. With trembling kiss the Sun lest he become angry and you perish in the way for his wrath may soon be kindled.

How blessed are all who take refuge in him. We're gonna sing this morning. Why do the nation's rage. Psalm 2.

Turn out in your Bible to the book of Exodus please Exodus 14 the scripture reading as you do that. I'll just remind you of a couple of announcements coming up. We have a membership class on October 21st.

If you are interested in more information about becoming a member and what that involves and what the church is about. Then we'd welcome you to attend that not making any commitments but you will get information about what we believe and how we do church.

And then second there is a movie night coming up on October 17th and we're gonna watch the essential church which if you've never seen that that is a fantastic movie. It will make you angry and then encouraged and then resolute all in one hour and a half.

It is the story of John MacArthur and his stand against the unjust COVID restrictions and unlawful edicts in the state of California and how they triumphed over that as well as some lessons from the past from church history of that.

It's not the first. This is not our first time to the rodeo and we know this is not going to be there last time to the rodeo. So you should probably get steeled in your own heart and mind as to what is ahead and what our response should be and that movie will do a good job of doing that for you.

And then we have a harvest dinner coming up on October 22nd and then a Reformation nights coming up on October 28th as a Saturday night. And if you would like to help out with that preparing that Reformation night celebration it's for really geared for the kids in the church.

Then please talk to Amanda Hammond about that. Exodus chapter 14. Our scripture reading we're gonna begin at verse 30 and then we're actually gonna read through chapter 15. Chapter 14 verse 30. This is after the Lord drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea the Exodus.

Exodus 14 verse 30. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord and said I will sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song.

He has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise him my father's God and I will extol him. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has cast into the sea and the choicest of his officials are drowned in the Red Sea.

The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand O Lord is majestic in power. Your right hand O Lord shatters the enemy. And in the greatness of your excellence you overthrow those who rise up against you.

You send forth your burning anger and it consumes them as chaff. At the blast of your nostrils. The waters were piled up. The flowing water stood up like a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.

The enemy said I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall be gratified against them. I will draw out my sword. My hand will destroy them. You blew them with your wind. The sea covered them.

They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you among the gods. O Lord who is like you majestic and holiness. Awesome and praises working wonders. You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them in your loving kindness.

You have led the people whom you have redeemed in your strength. You have guided them to your holy habitation. The peoples have heard they tremble. Anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed.

The leaders of Moab trembling gripped grips them all. The inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them by the greatness of your arm. They are motionless. A stone until your people pass over.

O Lord until the people pass over whom you have purchased you will bring them and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance. The place O Lord which you have made for your dwelling. The sanctuary O Lord which your hands have established the Lord shall reign forever and ever.

The horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea on them. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea.

Miriam the prophetess Aaron's sister took the timbrel in her hand and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing. Miriam answered them sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted. The horse and his rider he has hurled into the sea just a moment before I ask you to stand as we pray.

I chose that scripture reading long before Hamas decided to do what they're doing in Israel way earlier in this week and probably Josh chose Psalm 2 before any of that has happened. But this is a reminder because in the message today I'm going to be preaching on the subject of God shaking the nations and the judgment that is to come upon the entire world.

So these events that are going on in our world should help. I think inform that and we will. I will try during this message. So I didn't prepare this message with the modern events in mind. I'm going to take it as a providence from God that some of the things that we're going to cover in the passage today will help frame some of our understanding of these things.

What I want you to notice here is that it is appropriate and right and biblical and inspired for God's people to praise God for his righteous judgments and to rejoice when the wicked perish. That is not an unbiblical sentiment there's a biblical sentiment.

The whole premise of that psalm of praise in extolling God was the fact that he triumphed over his enemies and destroyed the wicked. It is appropriate to pray for that and it is appropriate to thank God when it happens.

So we stand with me as we pray. Let's bow our heads our father. Our world is in turmoil the nation's rage and they plot together against you and against your anointed and all of these happenings the earthquakes the nation's rising up against nation Russia and Ukraine Hamas and Israel China and Taiwan.

None of these things escape your notice they are all part of your appointed plan. We can trust you in the midst of them and know that you are working out your eternal purposes in and through all of the events that you have allowed to transpire that you have caused to transpire.

These are events that will usher in and bring in the coming of Christ. For that is the ultimate end of all of creation the complete dissolution of all things and a new heavens and a new earth judgment upon all of the nations and the return of our King.

And we long for and look forward to the return of that King. For it is only then that we shall have peace anywhere let alone worldwide. We long for that day and we look forward to it because you have fixed our hope and our eternity in heaven and by heavenly things you by your grace have caused us to look to you and to trust in you.

And we know that that trust and that confidence will is not in vain and will not be disappointed. And so we pray that in the midst of all of these afflictions and trials that you would be protecting all over the world your people those whom you have redeemed and purchased.

We pray that you would protect them protect the innocent. We pray that you would crush the plans of evil men and even crush those who are doing evil now. We pray that their plans their purposes may come to nothing.

But you would turn their evil intent upon their own heads and destroy the wicked and use just actions of governments to do that very thing. To protect innocent people and to establish law and to protect people is our desire and our longing.

For we know that many people are suffering even now as we sit here in comfort and peace and tranquility we sometimes think that we have a right to these things and that these things will always be the case.

But we have no guarantee of any peace in this world only that we may look to the prince of peace and know that it is in him and in our eternal destiny that all of our hope resides. And so we pray that you would work out your purposes secret and sovereign and hidden providential.

We would see good come out of these things that you would as you execute judgment in this world Lord accomplish your eternal purposes for the glory of your name and the good of your people. And we pray for the coming of our King even so come quickly Lord Jesus and all God's people said.

Psalm 90 verses 7 to 12 it says for we have been consumed by your anger and by.

Your wrath we have been dismayed you have set our iniquities before you our secret sins in the light of your presence for all our days have declined in your fury we have finished our years like a sigh.

As for the days of our life they contain 70 years or if due to might 80 years. Yet their pride is but labor and wickedness for soon it is gone and we will fly away. Who knows the power of your anger and your fury according to the fear.

That is do you so teach us to number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom. We're gonna sing this morning to a conclusion of our music service from everlasting Psalm 90.

And summer filled the earth from ever we dwell beneath the stars in ancient sky tears are nothing is our wisdom of your Lord and now turn in your copy of God's.

Word to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. We're gonna begin reading at verse 25. We'll read through the end of verse 29 Hebrews 12. Verse 25 see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking for 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.

This expression yet once more denotes 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 receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and all.

For our God is a consuming fire. Let's pray my father it is our desire today that you would use your word the power of your Holy Spirit to comfort our hearts to encourage us to equip us to think biblically about your judgments and what lies ahead.

And we pray that through our meditation upon your word that you would sanctify us by your truth and draw near to us now in our time of meditation and study together we ask this in the name of Christ our Lord.

Everything that can be measured or experienced by your senses is destined to pass away. Everything everything we touch everything you taste everything you feel everything you smell everything that is otherwise experienced physically in this world will pass away.

It is passing away because nothing around you that you interact with is eternal as we're talking about the spirits of the just made perfect other believers. But physically speaking everything in this world and about this world is going to pass away.

And sometimes that is hard for us to grasp because we tend to think that the things that we experience in this world are everlasting. They seem everlasting to us because as long as we have existed these things have existed right.

They were here before we got here and they're here while we're here. And then when we are gone they're here after we're gone. So if something has existed for as long and the entire duration of of our existence then what could be more eternal and everlasting than that.

Something that preceded us something that will go on after us and something that is here the whole time that we are here. If they existed before we were here then it kind of looks to us like they will exist for as long as anything exists after we are gone.

And so we are deceived in a sense by our senses into assuming or at least acting in some cases as if everything in this world is everlasting and eternal and will always be here when in fact it it won't.

All things have a beginning. That by the way is the definition of a thing something that has a beginning. God is not a thing because God didn't have a beginning. If God had a beginning he would be a thing.

But God is not a thing. Therefore he has no beginning. God is the creator of all things and all things have a beginning and all things that have a beginning also will have an end. Kings will come and kings will go.

Nations will rise and nations will crumble. There was a time when Babylon was not and then Babylon was and now Babylon is not again. So all things come into being all things go out of it being the same can be said not just a Babylon but also Edom and Moab and Persia and Greece and Rome and hundreds of other nations.

And if you were born at the height of the Babylonian Empire and you had been there to experience and live your entire life under the the military genius of Nebuchadnezzar and the financial success of that the world's greatest kingdom at the time you would have you would have thought well the Babylon was here before I got here.

And now I am enjoying all of this and certainly it's going to last forever. I mean who in the world could possibly conquer Nebuchadnezzar and take all that he has built. Who could subdue Babylon. Mighty Babylon back.

That's what Nebuchadnezzar said. Right right before his sanity was taken away from him. Look at this this Babylon that I have built he had visions of grandeur. Charles Spurgeon said this looking back through history you will observe many periods of tremendous shakings the records of which are indelibly engraved upon human memory.

An empire has been piled up by conquest and cemented by policy and power. Monarchs of gigantic mind have been sustained by armies of indomitable valor and great dynasties have been established whose reign promised to be as enduring as the Sun.

But God has shaken and the diadem has fallen and the kingdom becomes desolate. Babylon sat as a queen and said I shall see no sorrow but she became desolate and her palaces crumbled into a heap of ruins.

The power of Persia wore the aspect of permanence and proudly claimed universal dominion. But the iron rod of Alexander broke it in pieces as a potter's vessel. Nor could the Macedonian Empire long continue but soon gave place to the mightier power of Rome which with all its valiant legions lasted but its time.

And then like a bowing wall fell headlong to the ground even as a moment's foam dissolves into the wave that bears it and is lost forever. So dynasties republics empires all pass away as a dream. When one awakes their image is gone forever.

Close quote. We want to believe that the American dollar will always be the reserve currency of the entire world and it will be as valuable tomorrow as it is today. We all want to believe that our investments are always secure that they will always increase in value and that when we retire they will be there to provide for us the standard of living to which we have always wished to become accustomed.

We want to believe that our borders will always be drawn in the exact same place that they are today. The borders will mean something that this country that existed when I was born will exist long after I die and pass away from the scene.

We all want to believe that there are things in this world that cannot be shaken that cannot be undone that cannot be destroyed. That there are things in this world that are not subject to the tipsy turvy turmoil that plagues all of creation.

That's what we want to believe. But the promise of scriptures that eventually it will all pass away. It's all going away. That's not just a hopeful reflection on the future that is a promise that God has made it will all pass away.

The coming cataclysmic judgment that will fall upon this world will bring an end to everything that is ultimately that is not ultimately eternal. And that is that is the result of God's final future judgment.

Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. Everything that is not eternal will be taken away so that only that which is eternal remains and that is the subject of our passage here in Hebrews chapter 12.

In verse 25 we saw that God's past pattern of judgments against sin and disobedience is a motivation for obeying him now. That is a pretty good track record. What he's done in the past he will do in the future.

So verse 26 and 27 speak of God's final future judgment against sin and disobedience. God continues to judge sin and he will do so in the future. And ultimately all of his past judgments against sin and all of the present judgments against sin they will all ultimately culminate in one final shaking one final judgment that will destroy everything that is created and consume all of it by fire so that you and I who have trusted in Christ may be ushered into and receive an unshakable kingdom.

A kingdom which cannot be shaken. That is what our passage is teaching us. We looked at verse 26 last week and noted that that is the caps there in your verse in your translation or a quotation from the book of Haggai.

And we spent our time going through the prophecy of Haggai to see its significance for the author of Hebrews and the parallels there with with the condition of these original Hebrew readers of this epistle.

Verse 27 is a commentary on verse 26 as he is explaining what verse 26 in Haggai is referring to. So let's read together verses 26 and 27. This is the promise of God's future judgment. Verse 26 and his voice shook the earth then.

That's referring to Sinai mentioned in verses 18 to 21. 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. This expression yet once more notice he's offering a commentary on a citation.

Verse 26 denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain in verse 28. Therefore since we receive 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.

There are three features of this coming judgment that are described in this passage. First it is promised second it is final and third it is cataclysmic. It is a promised final cataclysmic judgment. Now we are speaking or I am speaking I should say today you're listening.

I'm speaking just to be clear but I'm speaking of the final judgment that is to come. These are eschatological issues dealing with issues of the end time the events of the end times. So I know that going into this we have some post-millennial and all millennial people who here who do not necessarily share my eschatology.

So I will give you grace as you hold your nose through most of this sermon as we do deal with the order and nature of end times events I will I will give you grace as you hold your nose. For this I ask the same in response to you.

I ask that you give me grace as I teach you biblical eschatology. So plenty of grace to go along. I show you grace. You show me grace. And we'll all get along. Okay. The judgment that is described here is promised verse 26.

And his voice shook the earth end. But now he has promised saying yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven. This is a promise of God. It's given in the Old Testament in the book of Haggai.

And because it is something that God has promised it is an unalterable promise meaning that God's very reputation is on the line whether as to whether or not he keeps or doesn't keep that promise. If God does not judge all of creation and all sin then he would be unjust.

He would be unrighteous. There's not a single sin that has ever been committed that will not be judged either on the sinner who commits that sin or on the head of the substitute who stands in the place of the sinner to bear that wrath on the sinners part.

But all sin will be judged. Every last crime that has ever been committed is going to receive the full justice that is due to it. Because God's character his nature is on the line. He must judge sin. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Psalm 89 verse 14. Isaiah 45 says. I have sworn by myself the word has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness and will not turn back that to me. Every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance.

Every last person will swear allegiance to Jesus Christ. Not every last person will be will be saved. But every last sin will be judged. There will be a thorough vetting and a thorough undoing of all of creation as sin is dealt with in its entirety.

Because sin cannot ultimately triumph wickedness and evil cannot ultimately triumph. God's reputation is on the line. Every word of God shall come to pass. No promise of his will fail. Not the ones we like and not the ones we don't like.

We're familiar with the promises we like. I will never leave you nor forsake you. He will supply all of your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. If you believe in him you will never perish but have eternal life.

Those are the promises we like. Those are the promises that fill us with the warm fuzzies. Those are the ones we we stitch on the on the pillow that we put on the couch and we put on the calendar that we hang on the wall.

Those are the promises that they get there. But how about the ones that say I will judge every last sin. I will shake all of creation. That the present heavens in the present earth. This is what I would like to see.

I would like to see a calendar with a beautiful picture of some sunset and then written across the bottom of it. 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 7. The present heavens in the present earth are being kept by the Word of God for the day of the judgment upon wicked men.

And then it will all be consumed with fire. We should do that as like a fundraiser or something. Create those that kind of calendar. The same virtue in God's character that has secured your salvation are the same virtues of God's character that ensure the damnation of the wicked.

Because he is just he will not punish you for your sin. If you have trusted in Jesus Christ is justice will not allow. It would be unjust for God to pour out his wrath upon his son so that he pays the penalty for your sin.

And then for God to turn around and take all that wrath and pour it out on your head. It would be unjust for God to condemn a single sinner who has trusted in his son one sinner for whom Christ has died.

It would be unjust for God to throw that sinner into hell if Christ his surety his substitute his wrath bearer his sin bearer has been punished in his stead. That would be a violation of God's justice for God to do that.

Likewise it will be a violation of God's justice if he allows one sinner who has no substitute to escape the damnation that is due to them for their sin. That would be unjust. God would be unfaithful if he were to not save the one who is trusted in his son since he has promised that all who trust in his son will not be turned away will not perish but that he will save them and sanctify them and secure them forevermore.

So God would be unfaithful to his word if he were to cast even one believing and trusting one who's trusted in his son into damnation just as it would be unfaithful for God would be unfaithful to his word for him to not punish the wicked for the sins that they have committed.

So every last sin must and will be punished. The promise of full and final judgment upon this creation is as certain as any other promise that God has made. And it would be easier for you to put out the Sun with water balloons than it would be for you to keep God from fulfilling his promise to judge this world.

It is that certain it must and it will happen and it cannot happen otherwise. I got two verse six that says the Lord of hosts once more once more in a little while I'm gonna shake the heavens and the earth the sea also and the dry land.

Hey guy chapter 2 verse 21 speak to his irrevocable governor of Judah saying I'm going to shake the heavens and the earth. I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations.

And I will overthrow the chariots and their riders and the horses and their riders will go down everyone by the sword of another. And by the way this is intended to be a comfort and consolation to the believer.

The judgment of God should console us. It should comfort us when you read in Psalm 37 that the wicked will not inherit the land but instead the wicked will perish. They will be judged and they will go away and their memory will be forgotten.

But the righteous will inherit the land. That is intended to comfort you. When you read in Psalm 73 where Asaph asked why do the wicked perish. And the answer to that is God gives the wicked those blessings sorry those riches not as a blessing but as a curse because he is lifting them up so that their fall may be greater and their destruction may be more severe and their judgment more demonstrable.

That is why God is doing that. When you read that that is not intended to make you feel sorry for the wicked it is intended to comfort you. The imprecatory Psalms that speak of God turning the design of the wicked back upon themselves that so that they receive the judgment that they try and inflict upon other people.

That is intended to comfort believers. The Exodus judgments that fell upon Egypt. That was a comfort and a source of praise to the to the Israelites. And they sang God's praises for the judgments that fell upon Egypt.

I remind you what we read earlier Psalm sorry. Exodus 15 verse 9. The enemy said I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall be gratified against them. I will draw out my sword.

My hand will destroy them. That's the wording of Pharaoh. It's the enemy who said this. You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you among the gods.

O Lord. Who is like you. Majestic in holiness awesome in praises working wonders. You stretch out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. And they praised at that when Paul wanted to comfort the Thessalonians for the affliction that they were enduring.

Here's what he wrote to them. 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1. We ought always to give thanks to God for you brethren as is only fitting because your faith is greatly enlarged and the love of each one of you toward one another grows even greater.

Therefore we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which indeed you are suffering.

For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed.

For our testimony to you was believed. This was a comfort to the Thessalonians. God Paul says to them it is only right. It's only just it's only appropriate that God would afflict those who afflict you.

So how are the Thessalonians to respond to that. Paul's reminder. Those who are persecuting you who are afflicting you were who are seeking to destroy you. God is going to destroy them in eternal fire in eternal flame.

It's only the just thing for God to do. Those people who are afflicting you he will afflict them. They will get what is coming to them. How are the Thessalonians to respond to that. You see this is precisely the point at which possibly well intentioned but certainly virtue signaling Christians want to clutch their pearls and say oh that wouldn't be right for us to rejoice at such news.

Paul intended them to rejoice at that. How do you comfort those who have endured a great conflict of sufferings have been imprisoned for their faith and had their possessions seized as these early Hebrews had we find that out at the end of chapter 10.

How do you comfort them except to remind them one of these days God is going to shake all of creation and he is going to destroy the wicked. And he is going to usher his people who have trusted in him into an eternal and unshakable kingdom.

And you will receive the reward. We don't clutch our pearls and say I can't take joy or delight or comfort in that. Instead we say praise be to God. For when he judges the wicked we will give him praise and honor and glory.

And it will not be in the least bit begrudging now. This does not mean that we should hate the wicked. This does not mean that we should seek to do them harm. It does not mean that we should laugh at their destruction or take personal joy from their pain.

But it does mean that we can glorify God for his just judgments. It means that we can rejoice when his justice is vindicated and his name is made great and the wicked perish. When God destroys the wicked from amongst society.

It should be the natural inclination of the believing child of God to say thank you Lord for your just judgments. I would long for that wicked person to repent and come to faith in Christ. Yes that is true.

I would long for them to to do that in order that they may stop doing their wickedness. But if my two options are the wicked persist in their wickedness or God judges them and stops their wickedness by ending their life I will choose the second option.

That is better for all other people. It is better for human flourishing. It is for the glory of God's name. That is the type of judgment that is promised and you and I can rejoice in it because we are rejoicing in the vindication of God's holiness and his righteousness.

And it is even appropriate I think to pray in precatory prayers where we are asking God to end what is wicked even if that means destroying the wicked among us as he would do in his justice and his perfect timing so that the innocent may be spared and the righteousness may flourish and that the wicked may take notice.

Those are appropriate and holy sentiments. A second this judgment is promised. Second the judgment described here in verse 27 is final. You see that phrase in verse 27. This expression yet once more the author quotes what he just quoted back in verse 26.

He says it denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things. So when the author says yet once more he is not saying that there is only going to be one more divine judgment after the Babylonian exile.

Remember that was the context in which Haggai was writing. They had come out of exile and they were back into the land that Haggai is reminding them. Look there's coming a future judgment and he says yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.

So the author quotes that and then says this yes once more is signifying that the destruction that Haggai was talking about was not just one random judgment that was to come sometime in Israel's future.

He is describing not just another judgment but the final judgment. It's yes once more in the sense that yes one final time there is going to be a shaking and this shaking is going to be the greatest shaking ever.

There would be not one more judgment after Babylonian exile but many more judgments. And there have been other judgments by the hand of God. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD was a judgment from the hand of God.