A Tale of Two Mountains, Part 2 (Hebrews 12:18-24) | Worship Service

Good morning and welcome to Kootenai Church. We're glad that you're here today. Would you please stand as we begin our service this morning with a reading out of Psalm 93.

Yahweh reigns forevermore. Yahweh reigns, he is clothed with majesty.

Yahweh has clothed and girded himself with strength. Indeed, the world is established, it will not be shaken.

Your throne is established from of old, you are from everlasting. The rivers have lifted up, oh

Yahweh. The rivers have lifted up their voice, the rivers lift up their pounding waves. More than the voices of many waters, than the mighty breakers of the sea,

Yahweh on high is mighty. Your testimonies are very faithful. Holiness benefits your house, oh

Yahweh, forevermore. Let's sing Psalm 93, the Lord reigns. The Lord reigns, and he is broken, majesty and strength divine.

He has armed himself with strength and does with splendor fully shine.

The world is established firmly, it cannot be ever blue.

Your throne is established ever, from all ages you are

God. The seas have lifted up, oh

Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice. The seas lift up their pounding waves, much greater than their thunderous noise.

Mightier than the sea's great breakers, God the

Lord on high is born. Holiness adorns your house,

Lord, your lost and forever sure. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the

Lord. He is laid for your faith in his excellent word.

What more can he say than to you he hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus hath fled.

Fear not, I am with thee, oh be not dismayed, for I am thy

God and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand.

When through my retrials thy pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply.

The flame shall not hurt thee, I only desire thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus hath fled for repose,

I will not, I will not desert to his foes.

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I'll never, no never, no never forsake.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest strain, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely face,

I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. His oath, his covenant, his blood support me in the whelming flood.

When all around my soul gets swayed, he then is all my hope and stay.

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. He shall come with trumpet sound, oh may

I then in him be found. Just in his righteousness alone,

God lets me stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock

I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand.

You may be seated. Okay, so please turn in your

Bibles to Psalm 48. Psalm 48.

The pre -script reads a song, a psalm of the sons of Korah. Great is the

Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, his holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth is

Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great king. God in her palaces had made himself known as a stronghold.

For lo, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together, they saw it, then they were amazed, they were terrified, they fled in alarm, panic seized them there, anguish as of a woman in childbirth.

With the east wind, he break the ships of Tarshish. As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the

Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, God will establish her forever. We have thought on your loving kindness,

O God, in the midst of your temple. As is your name, O God, so is your praise to the ends of the earth.

Your right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad. Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments.

Walk about Zion and go around her, count her towers, consider her ramparts, go through her palaces, that you may tell it to the next generation.

For such is God, our God, forever and ever. He will guide us until death.

Will you stand with me as we pray? Let's bow our heads.

Our Father, you are a great God. You are exalted in the heavens, holy and righteous, good and wise, infinitely, infinitely wise in all of your workings of providence and the outworking of your sovereignty.

We thank you that you are a glorious God, worthy of our worship and worthy of our adoration and our praise.

And now we have gathered together here, which is our joy and our delight and our duty to worship you and to honor you and to praise your great name.

And we pray that you would strengthen us to do that as we reflect upon your word and upon your truth and upon all that you have accomplished for us in Christ, in our salvation, redemption, our adoption, and ultimately in securing our glorification with you forevermore.

We pray that our hearts would be filled with joy and delight and adoration, that you would unite our hearts together in worship and in praise.

And we pray that you would edify and equip and encourage us today through your truth. May our worship be pleasing to you.

May the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight. Be honored here in the hearts of your people as we reflect upon the goodness of our great

God in your works of salvation. In Christ's name, amen. Staying in the

Psalms, Psalm 139, 1 -6. It says, O Yahweh, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all of my ways.

Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Yahweh, you know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and you put your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high. I cannot attain it. We're going to sing a new psalm today called

Lord, You Have Searched Me, Psalm 139. And it's to the tune of Just As I Am. You have searched me and you know

Where 'er I rest, where 'er

I go You've searched my thoughts and know

My plans and all my ways are in your hands

From you I cannot hide, you can reside

O wondrous knowledge, awesome mind

Unfathomed and unmeasured

How your spirit be, where canst thou sleep?

Is your dwellest darkness cover me?

To you the darkness light shall be

If light about me be As night to you, both night to you

In Ephesians chapter 2 it says, And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved. We're going to end our music this morning by singing

Oh Great God. Oh great

God of highest heav 'n Occupy my lowly heart

Own it all and reign supreme Conquer every rebel power

Let no vice or sin remain That resist your holy war

You have loved and purchased me Make me yours forevermore

Was blinded by my sin Had no ears to hear your voice

Did not know your love within Had no taste for heaven's joys

Then your spirit gave me life Opened up your word to me

Through the gospel of your Son Gave me endless hope and peace

How to live a life

That's dependent on your grace Keep my heart and guard my soul

From the evils that I face You are worthy to be praised

With my every thought and deed Oh great

God of highest heav 'n Glorify your name through me

You are worthy to be praised With my every thought and deed

Oh great God of highest heav 'n Glorify your name through me

Now will you please turn to Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12 to verse 18

Hebrews 12 verse 18 and we're going to read Through the end of verse 24 Hebrews 12 beginning of verse 18

For you have not come to a mountain That can be touched Into a blazing fire

Into darkness and gloom and whirlwind Into the blast of a trumpet And the sound of words

Which sound was such That those who heard begged That no further word be spoken to them For they could not bear the command

If even a beast touches the mountain It will be stoned And so terrible was the sight

That Moses said I am full of fear and trembling But you have come to Mount Zion And to the city of the living

God The heavenly Jerusalem And to myriads of angels To the general assembly And church 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 Let's pray together before we begin

Our great God It is our desire to hear you In your word this morning We desire that our hearts

May be sanctified By the truth of your word That you would pierce us To our innermost being

With the truth of your word Who you are and what you have done for us In your son We pray that we would walk away from here

Changed by what we read And what we hear today We pray that you would grant to us

Understanding in these difficult things And give us the discernment That we need in order to Even examine our own hearts

And to bring our sin And our reproach before you So that we may be cleansed

And we may know the full forgiveness That is ours in Jesus Christ We ask your blessing upon this time

For that purpose In the name of Christ our Lord Amen I was having a conversation this last week

During last week's sermon And they said that sometimes They feel a bit sorry For the Old Testament saints

In what they encountered And what they knew about God And how they experienced

God Compared to the richness And the fullness that we enjoy As New Testament saints

And there was certainly something to that What they understood Was limited compared to ours

The revelation that they had Was less than what we enjoy And what we have available to us

And that is true When we think about the richness Of what we have in Jesus Christ And we compare that With the limited understanding

Of Old Testament saints And how they related to God We can only be thankful That we do not live under That Old Testament dispensation

We can only be thankful That we have the wealth of understanding And the depth of revelation

That has been provided to us Though they realized

And understood And had far less revelation And truth than we have today And though their relationship

With God was less clear And less certain than what we have And their understanding

Of redemptive truth Was limited compared to us What they did have Was entirely sufficient for them

To live God honoring And obedient and faithful lives What they had revealed to them

As he intended And for them to live In obedience to him It was everything that God Wanted to give to them

For that period of time So yes our understanding is less But what they had

And what they understood Was sufficient for them To live and walk in obedience to God The fact that those things

Are so much clearer to you and I Just means among other things That you and I Have a greater understanding

It means that with greater revelation Comes greater responsibility With greater understanding

Comes a greater necessity To make sure that we are Heeding the words in verse 25

Of Hebrews 12 That we do not refuse him Who is speaking For if those did not escape

When they refused him Who warned on earth Much less will we escape And we look at the event at Sinai From Exodus 19 and 20

If you weren't here for that You can go back and review That passage on your own We saw an intended contrast

In the text Verses 18 and verse 22 You have not come to a mountain

That can be touched Verse 22 but you have come To Mount Zion So there is a comparison here

Between two different mountains Sinai and Zion His law,

His terrifying presence, His holiness, His righteousness, His wrath, His moral and legal expectations for all of humanity.

And then Mount Zion, a different mountain which is symbolized by all of the spiritual realities described in verses 22 through 24.

The difference between these two mountains is that we have gone from Sinai, trembling before God's law, to Zion, rejoicing in His holy presence because of a third mountain,

Calvary, which stands in the middle of those, which takes away the demands of the law and atones for our guilt before God's law so that we can be brought into His presence, having our sins forgiven, and that we can enjoy

His presence forever and ever with the saints on Mount Zion. So last week we looked at the encounter at Sinai.

Today we're going to do something a little different. We're going to come back and beginning at verses 18 through 21, we're going to look at three contrasts here between these two mountains, three contrasts between Sinai and Zion.

And then starting next week, we're going to go through verses 22 through 24, and we're going to look at those seven blessings that are listed there.

What is this myriad of angels? What is the heavenly Jerusalem? What is this General Assembly mentioned in verse 23?

What is the Church of the Firstborn? Who is enrolled in heaven? Who are the spirits of the righteous made perfect, etc.?

So today we're going to look at two contrasts between these two mountains, and here are the two contrasts, two contrasts between these which really help set up and help us to understand the depth of the riches that we have been provided in Jesus Christ.

The first contrast is the physical with the spiritual, the physical with the spiritual. Second, there is a contrast here between the terror of the law and the assurances of grace.

And then the third contrast is between God as distant under the law, and then

God as near to us in Jesus Christ. The physical with the spiritual, the terror of the law versus the assurance of grace, and then

God at a distance under the old covenant, and God brought near to us under the new covenant in Jesus Christ.

Those are the three contrasts. Now there are a few other contrasts that are also here mentioned and intended, but these three will kind of stand as category headings, if you will, and we could sum up some other contrasts underneath of these three.

But if we just think in terms of these three categories and these three contrasts, then it will help us to see the author's intention here.

So let's begin first with the contrast between the physical with the spiritual. You'll notice in verse 18, if you have the

NASB or a translation that does this for you, you'll notice in that verse, verse 18, that the words, a mountain, are in italics.

For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind.

You'll notice if you have a translation that italicizes words that are not in the original text, that those words are italicized because the words for a mountain are not in the original text.

Those italics indicate words that were added by the translator for the purpose of making something clear in the text, something that is intended.

Now, obviously, the author does intend for us to understand a mountain in verse 18, since he describes that mountain down in verse 20, if even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.

And the description that he gives in verse 18, the blazing fire, the darkness, the gloom, the whirlwind, the blast of the trumpet, and the words with the command, etc.,

that all comes from Exodus chapter 19 and 20, which was at the scene of Mount Sinai.

So the author has in mind a mountain in verse 19, and the authors translate it, you have not come to a mountain that can be touched.

But again, the mountain is not mentioned in the original, so the sense is this, you have not come to that which can be touched.

You have not come to the physical. You have not come to the tactile, the tangible, that which can be seen by sight, that which can be handled with the hands.

That is not the covenant into which we have been brought. You have not come to that which is touchable. Instead, we've come to something that is untouchable, something that is intangible.

In fact, that would be a good way of summarizing some of the other contrasts here, the earthly with the spiritual, or the earthly with the heavenly.

Now, there is no doubt that what the author intends here is Sinai, and Sinai was the place where they witnessed and experienced all of the phenomena that are described in verse 18.

The whirlwind, the gloom, the darkness, the massive fire on top of that mountain, the trembling and the quaking of the land, that voice that made them terrified at Mount Sinai, they experienced all of that.

Those were things which could be smelt, things that could be seen, things that could be felt, things that could be heard.

Sinai was a very tangible experience, but you, in the new covenant, you have not come to the touchable.

You have not been brought to that which can be physically grasped. All of the experiences at Sinai were sensory experiences.

Sight, sound, feel, and smell. And then you contrast that with the Zion, and look down in verses 22 to 24.

Which of these can you sense with any of your five senses? The city of the living God? Can you see that now?

You can't see that now, have you? Can you? How about the myriad of angels? Do you see that?

Can you touch that? What does an angel smell like? Do you know? Do angels have scent?

You don't know that. The General Assembly, those enrolled in heaven, how many of you have seen the role that's going to be called at Beyonder when you're there?

Anybody seen that? You haven't seen that? You haven't touched that? You haven't heard that voice? You haven't seen the spirits of the righteous made perfect?

You have not seen Jesus? The eye of faith has beheld these things, but your physical eyes have not, and you haven't seen or smelt or felt the sprinkling of the blood.

Those are all spiritual realities. Those are all spiritual things that are true of the reality into which we have been brought, things that are not available to our senses.

So there are a number of contrasts, or a number of ways that we could describe this contrast. He is describing here the earthly with the heavenly.

Sinai was a earthly mountain, Zion is a heavenly mountain, or at least Mount Zion, which is a physical mountain on which

Jerusalem is built. One of the mountains upon which the city of Jerusalem was built is a physical reality, but in Scripture it stands for something beyond that.

It stands for a spiritual reality, and that is really what he is contrasting here. The physical with the spiritual, or the earthly with the heavenly, the tangible with the intangible, the temporal, the temporary, or the temporary with the eternal.

In other words, Sinai didn't last forever, did it? You can go to Sinai today, but you won't see the blazing fire and the smoke and hear the sound or any of that.

That was all a temporal and a temporary experience, sensory experience, but Zion, the realities in verses 22 to 24, these are eternal.

The blood sprinkled, which is better than the blood of Abel, signifies a spiritual and eternal reality, something that does not pass away.

If your name is enrolled in heaven, that is an eternal thing, that doesn't go away. Sinai vanished after a period of time, not the mountain, but the tangible and tactile experiences of it vanished after a period of time, but the spiritual realities were listed in verses 22 to 24, those continue and those are eternal realities.

He is contrasting the seen with the unseen. He is contrasting sight with faith.

Do not miss the fact that the argument of the author is that what you have, which cannot be touched, which cannot be heard, which cannot be smelt, and which cannot be felt is better than all of the old stuff which could be.

That's the argument. Don't miss it. What you have been given, things which cannot be detected by the senses, is better and not just marginally better, but far superior to all of those things which could be sensed with the senses.

You have not come to what can be touched. Instead, you have come to what cannot be touched, and what cannot be touched is greater, by far, by an exceeding measure than anything that could be touched under the old covenant.

We prefer sight to faith. We're creatures like that. We prefer sight to faith. We prefer, maybe not everybody in this room, but instinctively, humanity prefers the audible voice of God to the written

Word of God. You ask 90 % of evangelicals, would you rather have for you the book of Amos or an audible voice, and they'll take the audible voice 100 times out of 100, asking just your garden variety, garden variety evangelical.

But what we have been given, which is spiritual in nature, is greater than anything that we could be given, which is physical in nature, under the old covenant.

We would prefer to see the terror of blazing fire and smoke and thunder than to experience

God in the quiet solitude of prayer. You'd experience the sensational.

This is why, in fact, people in charismatic circles seek after lying signs and wonders and will follow after any televangelist charlatan who is willing to promise them miracles and sensational, spectacular events, just like happened in the

New Testament. They can make bank by promising people to do all kinds of miracles, just like in the

New Testament, because people want to see the angel feathers falling out of the ducts, the air vents, and they want to see gold fillings in their teeth, and they want to see limbs being lengthened, and they want to see people brought up onto the stage in a wheelchair and then stand up and walk across the stage before they collapse into another chair and have their healing announced before everybody on TV.

That's what we want to see. That's the instinct within us. We desire the tactile, the physical, over the spiritual realities.

This is why liturgy is so appealing to so many people, especially if you grow up in a church with all kinds of smells, all kinds of bells, all kinds of sounds, all kinds of things.

You'll notice that during our worship, we didn't have somebody walking around the perimeter of the sanctuary jiggling a little incense burner, or whatever you would call those things, bringing the right scent in here to bring in the atmosphere.

We didn't have anybody ringing bells, and chimes, and stuff like that to get us into the mood. There is something alluring about the things that we can see, and hear, and touch, and taste that are tactile.

And by the way, just as an aside, the Lord has not left us without anything that appeals to the senses, because every few weeks, we partake of the

Lord's Table, which is intended to give us something to touch, and to see, and to taste, and to feel that reminds us of His spiritual presence.

But compared to what we have under the Old Covenant, we got nothing. Under the

Old Covenant, they had all that, and this is why the Hebrew Christians of the first century would have been so inclined to go back to their

Old Testament Judaism, because they came out of the temple with the sacrifices, where they would go out, and they would grab their own lamb, and they would bring that down to the temple, and they would lay their hands on that lamb, and then turn it over to the priest.

And then they would watch as the priest killed that animal in their stead, and they burned the flesh, and they burned the incense, and the priest did his thing, and then audibly interceded for the people who had brought that sacrifice to him.

And those are all things that they could see and experience. They could smell the incense. They could smell the burning meat.

They could smell the blood. They could see it. They could feel it. They grabbed ahold of that lamb.

They did something. They brought it there to the temple, and then everything about their experience was appealing to those five senses.

And then they come out of that, and they come into Christianity, where we sit, and we sing, and we take the Lord's Supper. And that just...you

feel like a ship without a rudder. You feel like you're naked. I've been stripped of everything that's meaningful to me, everything that was proof to me of my standing before God.

And so the original audience would have had this question, how do I know that I am accepted before God if I haven't brought an animal sacrifice, and I haven't heard it bleat its last bleeding in my ears, and I haven't watched the priest do that, and then heard that priest intercede for me?

And the argument of the author of Hebrews is that another sacrifice which you never saw was offered by somebody you have never met in a place where most likely you have never visited, and he intercedes for you now in a place that you have never seen with words that you have never heard, and that is better than all of those physical things under the old covenant.

Far superior. So there's a contrast here between the spiritual and the physical.

The spiritual realities are as substantive and solid to the eyes of faith as the physical realities are to the eyes of flesh.

The believer is called to embrace by faith a sacrifice that he has never touched, he has never seen, and he has never witnessed.

And listen, you and I are called to bank the well -being of our eternal soul upon that sacrifice and to lay hold of it by faith.

That is superior to everything under the old covenant, that faith.

That is hard to grasp, isn't it? The author is saying, you've not come to that which can be touched. You have something far better, something which cannot be touched.

Second contrast is between the terror of the law and the assurance of grace. Between the terror of the law and the assurance of grace.

There is one word that you would use to describe Sinai, and it is terrifying. Look at verse 18. A mountain of blazing fire and darkness and gloom and whirlwind and the blast of the trumpet and the sound of words which was such that those who heard those words begged that no further word be spoken to them.

You remember we saw that last week in Exodus chapter 20. All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking.

And when they saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. And they said to Moses, speak to us yourself and we will listen, but let not

God speak to us or we will die. They had been warned about touching that mountain. They could not approach that mountain.

A boundary was set around it and the people could go no further. And any beast that wandered beyond that boundary and any person that stepped beyond that boundary was to be executed.

And the people who executed them, do you remember the instruction was they shall be stoned or shot through. You were not even allowed to touch the one who had transgressed

God's boundary around that mountain. Not only were you not supposed to go across the boundary, but anybody else did, you weren't to touch them.

You were to kill them and make sure that you killed them, executed them for that crime of crossing God's boundary without touching them yourselves.

You did not want to be defiled by somebody who had violated the boundary around that mountain. Everything about that mountain was terrifying.

They had been warned about touching the mountain. They had been warned about beasts going beyond it. They couldn't approach unto God to gaze upon him.

They weren't to look at him as a curiosity and try and just get a glimpse of him in some way. The people were at a distance and they were not allowed to approach and they were warned about approaching.

So everything about that mountain was terrifying, horrifying. The people stood at a distance and they trembled when they saw that.

Here's my question for you. Couldn't God have done that in a way that was a little less terrifying?

He could have done it in like a whispering voice. He could have just a little bit of smoke, like a campfire smoke, or even something as big as the pillar that had led them around in the wilderness and through the

Red Sea. God could have done something like that, pillar of fire or pillar of smoke. But everything about this was intended to instill in them fear.

They were to fear God. In a right way, they were to fear God. They were to understand the wording of Hebrews 10 .31,

it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. They were intended to stand at Sinai, at the base of that mountain where the law of God was given and to tremble before it and to say to themselves, this is the

God with whom we have to do. And if we violate this law that he has given to us, our sin would demand the justice of execution by his wrath.

That is what our sin demands. That's what they were to understand. And the people were fearful and should be fearful because violating of that law would mean that they would stand before that holy and righteous

God. So the effect of it was to thunder from Sinai and to show them

God's power, that he was to be feared, that he is holy, that he is righteous, that he is just, and to remind them that they are not.

That is the terror of Sinai. Now, if that is the terror of Sinai, imagine the terror on the last day when sinners and rebels will stand in the presence of that God made flesh.

And they see his eyes of flaming fire, a sword in his mouth, and he comes back to judge and to wage war.

What will be the terror of unredeemed sinners on that day? They will say, and they will use the wording of Revelation 6, they will say to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us in the presence of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the

Lamb, for great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand? Revelation 19, he will come on a white horse, and he who sat on it is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

Revelation 20, verse 11, then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.

When sinners realize that they have to stand before the one whose name they have blasphemed, and whose grace they have spurned, and whose righteousness they have sinned against, and they are without a sacrifice, and they're without atonement, and all they have in the courtroom of God's justice is the judge and themselves and their guilty record, with no payment for their sin, their terror will make

Sinai look like a birthday party with a party clown. They will be so terrified and so horrified that they will be undone, because Sinai is only a glimpse of the kind of judgment that is to come.

People cried out for a mediator in the presence of Moses. They said, let not the Lord speak to us, you speak to us.

We'll take your words, but we cannot bear that voice. And so it will be on the day of judgment when

Jesus Christ says the word, and all the dead, the great and the small, are raised and stand before him for that final judgment.

On that final day, there will be no defense attorney, no one to plead their case, and the sinner will be alone with their sin before the undiluted fury and wrath of a holy

God. This is why, if you have never trusted Jesus Christ for salvation, you must turn from your sin and repent and believe upon him for salvation, for there's coming a day when he will judge the living and the dead according to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And if you do not have a sin -bearer on that day, you'll stand there in his presence and give an account for every word you have spoken, every deed you have done, every thought you have ever considered.

And you will do so in the presence of one who is infinitely holy and infinitely righteous and knows your every deed from before you ever committed those transgressions or those crimes.

Sinai is a mountain of God's justice and judgment, and the law demands justice for our sin.

The law condemns us and it pronounces us guilty, but listen, it does something more than that, and it does something even worse than that.

The law not only pronounces us guilty, but the law demonstrates that we have no ability to keep the law or to make ourselves right in the sight of God.

The law offers no hope not only for justification, but the law offers no hope for sanctification either, to be made holy and righteous in his presence.

There's no ability. The law is powerless to do that. It is powerless to take away our sin. It is powerless to motivate obedient living.

It is powerless to pay the price for our previous sins, and it is powerless to motivate us and encourage us and empower us to live holy lives from this day forward.

The law can do none of those things. All that Sinai does is make us tremble in the presence of a holy

God. We need something more. We need a mediator. We need someone to stand between a holy

God and his righteousness and us and our sinfulness. We need someone who is able, in the words of Job, to lay their hand upon Yahweh and their hand upon us and to reconcile us together, because every one of us has violated this law.

We need a mediator. This is where, verse 24 comes in, we have been brought to Jesus and to the sprinkled blood.

He's the mediator of the new covenant, and we've been brought to this blood, which is sprinkled and speaks better than the blood of Abel. That is why there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

All the weight of our sin is taken away in Jesus Christ, and we are brought to Mount Zion, and we are brought there by the sacrifice of that mediator, the

Lord Jesus Christ, because of his righteousness. We needed somebody who was just to die in the place of the unjust.

Somebody who was righteous to stand in the stead of the unrighteous and to bear the wrath for all of their unrighteousness, and then to provide for them his own righteousness.

And this is what Jesus Christ has done in the gospel. And this is what justification is. It's the taking away of our sin and the giving us of his righteousness.

So that his perfect life is credited to our account, and our sinful, rebellious, transgressive life is credited to his account.

So he bears all of the wrath for our sin, gives us all of his righteousness, and this is all by grace.

So you and I have come to something that is greater, something that is beautiful, something that is righteous, something that's far better than anything provided under the old covenant.

That's the second contrast, and that brings us to the third contrast, which is the contrast between God as distant under the law, but near in Jesus Christ.

Distant under the law, but near in Jesus Christ. The purpose of all of that phenomena in verse 18 and 19, the purpose of it is intended to show that God was unapproachable.

God was unapproachable. Not unapproachable because of something in him, but unapproachable because of something in us.

We could not come to him. We could not approach unto him. People had to prepare themselves to even be at that mountain.

Do you remember what we looked at last week? No marital relations for three days after this. Prepare in three days you're going to see God. Wash your clothes.

Wash yourself. Cleanse yourself from your evil ways. There was to be repentance and humility. There was to be a consecration and a pursuit of holiness for three days, just for the people to look at the mountain, just for the people to be there for the giving of the law.

They weren't to approach unto God in any way because of the boundary that was around the mountain. So people and animals could not approach and anybody was to be executed who tried to approach or gaze unto

God. And then there was the warning in Exodus 19 that if the priest or any of the people came in and passed that boundary and wanted to approach unto

God, that God himself would break out against them. So holy was he, so righteous was he, that the mere infraction of his law by transgressing that boundary,

God himself would pour out his wrath and break out against the people. Such was his wrath.

Such was his distance from the people. Now why was God distant? Why was he unapproachable? Just had a lot of things going on, not really the time to meet with people, so he met with Moses and really couldn't fit anybody else in his calendar?

Is that why he's unapproachable? Was he unapproachable because he's just not a people person? Doesn't like hanging out with large crowds?

Is that why he was unapproachable? In Exodus 19 verse 3,

Moses went up to God and the Lord called to him from the mountain saying, thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel, you yourselves have seen what

I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself.

Brought you to myself. It's not that God is not a people person, didn't want people around, it's that God had brought this nation of people out to himself, but sin was a barrier and sin had to be dealt with on certain terms.

So that giving of the law not only revealed the holiness and the righteousness of God, but it also made a way by which people could approach

God, that is through a sacrifice. Man is sinful and because he is sinful he cannot stand before God.

Because of our guilt we shall not enter in, we cannot approach him, because his holiness is so pure and our sin is so polluting that that barrier exists for our own good and because God cannot have any unclean thing enter into his presence and so there was this distance under the old covenant.

But do you remember that God had made all of this into an object lesson and the entire law was part of an object lesson which demonstrated just how unapproachable

God was because of our transgressions and our sins. So a way had to be made for sin to be dealt with and so a remedy was provided and that was the day of atonement.

On top of all the other sacrifices and offerings that were part of the nation of Israel's law and their ceremonial law and their religious worship, there was that day of atonement and you remember what happened on the one day of atonement?

One day every calendar year only one man could go back to the place where God was between the cherubim on the ark over the mercy seat, that's where God was and the visible manifestation of that behind the veil inside the tabernacle and only one person got to go back there on one day of the year and his instructions were very specific.

You offer the sacrifice, you bring the blood back behind the veil and you apply it to the mercy seat to make atonement for the sins of my people.

That whole drama was intended to show that our sin separates us from God and God made provision for all those sins to be taken away.

It had to be by the blood of a sacrifice and through a high priest who would apply that blood over the broken commandments inside the ark of the covenant.

The symbolism there is rich and all of it was intended to show that God is distant, that he is far away in terms of our sins have alienated us from him and now in the new covenant because of the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel, you and I have been brought near but now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Colossians 1, you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds and yet now he reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.

Everything under the old covenant, everything that you could touch reminded you I am a sinner and I cannot approach that God.

Blood must be shed to pay the price for my approach unto God but now in Jesus Christ you've been brought near, you've been reconciled, now you've come to the city of God, now you've come to the heavenly

Jerusalem, now you've been welcomed into the presence of angels and not the angels that met at Sinai that were mediators of that old covenant that thundered from heaven but now you have been brought into the company of angels and you have come to God the judge of all and now we don't fear judgment, now we don't fear wrath.

Why? Because the condemnation has been taken away for all who are in Jesus Christ. Now we have come to these spiritual realities,

God is at Zion, God is approachable and at Zion we come to him freely, we come to him fully, we come to him without condemnation, we come to him without shame, we come to him without reproach.

Why? Because all of our condemnation and shame and reproach and sin and wrath has been borne by another so now in the cup of God's wrath there is no wrath to pour out on you if you are in Christ Jesus.

None. Because the full price of your sin has been paid in Jesus Christ because God loved you that much and before the foundation of the world he chose you in Christ that he might display in you and on you the riches of his grace for all of eternity.

You being dead in your trespasses and sins, unable to please God, unable to approach him at a distance, alienated from his grace, has demanded that you do nothing to make up for your sin, to pay back that price or to bear that wrath but instead he has sent another the

Lord Jesus Christ who came into this world and lived a perfect life and has borne that wrath in your place, in your stead, in full forever and now the price has been paid and the wrath has been poured out every last bit of God's wrath to the sin of his elect has been poured out on Christ so there is nothing left for you to drink.

Nothing. That's good news. Now there is nothing for you but grace, nothing for you but love and now you're welcomed in, arms wide open, the veil torn in two, the gates of heaven thrown open, the entryway proclaimed and you are commanded and you are told and you are encouraged to draw nigh unto him and come unto him.

Be saved all ye ends of the earth. Jew, gentile, man, woman, slave, free, doesn't matter. Come unto him and be saved.

Atonement has been made. There is payment in Jesus Christ sufficient for the sins of any and all who will trust in him and if you will come to him you will find your sins are taken away completely.

So now what do we do? Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19. Brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10 19 through 22. Let us draw near in full assurance of faith, full confidence.

God welcomes you in, he brings you in, he draws you near, he removes the barrier that separated you from him and then he welcomes you not as a not as a slightly hostile judge but as a father who is longing and welcoming his children to come into his presence and how long can you stay there?

As long as you want. And on Zion in the new heavens and new earth in his kingdom when we finally step into his presence, guess what?

It's nothing but the unmitigated presence of God for all of eternity. It is nothing but endless joy.

It is nothing but perfect peace, perfect love, perfect fulfillment without any thought at all to that which separated us from him in the beginning that will never enter into his mind in terms of his relationship with us.

And we will remember all of our sin and the weight of it and we will praise and honor and glorify him forever because he has taken it away.

The riches in Jesus Christ, he has removed the terror of the law and he has given us the assurance of grace.

He has brought us near to God who once were far off, the God who was before because of our sins separated from us.

That is the riches of what we have been given that we cannot touch. Is that better or worse than all the stuff you could touch?

Far better. You haven't come to that which is touchable. You come to something far greater, something which cannot be touched, something that is timeless, something that is eternal, and something that will last forever.

Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for the riches of our salvation in Jesus Christ. This passage reminds us of just how glorious your grace is, how infinite your love for us is, how good the new covenant is.

It reminds us of what Christ's blood has purchased for us, reminds us of your grace to us and your mercy in calling us to salvation.

So we thank you for your glorious love, your glorious grace, which has paid the price for sinners that we may have eternal life with you.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we here thank you for these glorious realities and we pray for any here who do not know

Christ, who have never repented of their sin and trusted in him. May they see the terror of the law for what it is, that which calls for their judgment and the execution of your wrath.

And may they come to Jesus Christ and find in him the full payment for their sin, repenting and trusting in his sacrifice, that you may be glorified by gathering in all those for whom

Christ has died and giving him the full reward for his sufferings. Be praised and honored today, we pray in our hearts and our minds.

And may these truths ring in our hearts this week as we go from here, we ask in the name of Christ our Lord and all

God's people said. Please stand and let's end our service this morning and sing my savior's love.

Be enough to echo for his sacrifice.

How worthy is the Lamb of God, beyond all might or skill of pen.

Still we confess and train towards such mystery and magnificence.

My savior's love, my savior's love.

What could compare, what some could tell, my savior's love.

What tune could carry on its wings, the beauty of that final breath.

What words dare paint the awesome scene, when God stood in the stead of man.

When Jesus Christ, the radiant one, took on the shadows of our hate.

Then rose again just as the sun, with light and power and fullness great.

My savior's love, my savior's love.

What could compare, what some could tell, my savior's love.

And when in death his tongue is still, my song of life has reached the end.

Though as a flower I may wilt, this everlasting truth will stand.

No death or life could separate me from the love of Christ my

Lord. This is my hope's assurance to age, my song will be forevermore.

My savior's love, my savior's love.

What could compare, what some could tell, my savior's love.

My savior's love, my savior's love.

What could compare, what some could tell, my savior's love.

My savior's love, my savior's love.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit brothers, amen. Have a great week.