Hebrews 12 - Sinai/Law

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

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My name is Mike Abendroth. It is Friday. I don't know what day of the week it is.

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I mean, Friday, I know that, but I mean, what's the ordinal number? Number eight,

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May 8th. Remember when you were a kid, if you're my age, I'm almost 60, when it was

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May 1st, do you remember doing the May Day baskets, going to people's houses in the neighborhood?

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I think it's the opposite of ring and run, right? You'd go to somebody's house, make a little basket ahead of time, and then leave it at their doorstep.

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And I don't think we rang the doorbell. I think we just set the May basket on their porch, on their deck, on their front step, and then we ran.

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I don't know if we hid after that to watch if they liked our May basket or not.

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I'm not exactly sure. I guess you can't do that now with viruses and all that other stuff, or maybe you can.

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I'm not exactly sure. Anyway, my name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio, a ministry. Fascinating week for me this week.

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I was very encouraged. I got to talk to about 60 Indian pastors and theology students a couple days ago.

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I think it was scheduled for about 90 minutes, maybe two hours, and we went for about three hours. I was talking about the gospel, law of gospel, the ground of our salvation is

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Christ's work. There's fruit and evidence and testimonies to that, which are good works. We talked about preaching.

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We talked about enthusiasm in the pulpit and passion. Yesterday, I was on a radio show called

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Back to the Reformation about assurance, and then now today I'm in my own studio,

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Bethlehem Bible Church building, and we are in West Boylston.

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I think it's supposed to drizzle. I wanted to go on a bicycle ride today, but it's drizzling, and tomorrow morning we're supposed to wake up.

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We're supposed to wake up to snow. Anyway, I want to talk to you a little bit about comparing and contrasting.

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So many times I've thought of words like compare and contrast, and I've never really looked at definitions because I thought

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I knew what they meant. If I were to ask you the difference between compare and contrast,

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I wonder what you'd say. Compare and contrast. So I looked it up because I wanted to be precise in my comparing and contrasting.

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Oh, before I forget, we are still planning to go to Israel February 24th next year, 2021.

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We'll see how that all works out, but we might as well plan ongoing and work backwards.

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Compare and contrast. Compare online said, in relation to reading, refers to the process of identifying the similarities and differences between two things.

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So you're going to compare what are the things that are the same and what are the things that are different. Contrast. Kind of sounds like a

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Sesame Street deal. Romper Room. Were you ever in Romper Room? I knew kids that were in Romper Room, but I don't think

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I was ever asked. So compare similarities and differences. Contrast identifying only the differences between two things.

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So aren't you glad you turned in no compromise ready today? By the way, it is a Facebook live program as well. If you ever want to be on Facebook live to watch,

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I think you have to be part of the no co group. FYI. Anyway, contrast identifying only the differences between two things.

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You say, well, why would anybody want to compare or to contrast? One of the things that this type of argument yields is you'll have to pay attention to detail, right?

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Do we do that in our society today? Probably we are not very detail oriented. This is a good way to try to teach and have people retain memory and retain information.

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Retain memory. I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. How do you retain your memory?

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I have no idea. Come on. I'm almost 60. And it helps with comprehension. And so that's why people do this kind of compare and contrast.

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Anyway, if I had to ask you, what are some of the contrasts in the Bible? Looking at things a different way.

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Did you know there are regular contrasts in the Bible? And sometimes it shows up as kind of two ways.

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There's two ways and there's differences in those two ways. For instance, Deuteronomy 30,

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I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I've set before you life and death, blessing and curse.

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So there are differences between life and blessing and death and curse. So that you choose life,

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Deuteronomy 30 says. How about Jeremiah 21? You shall also say to this people, thus says the

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Lord, behold, I have set before you the way of life and the way of death. So there are two different ways, life and death.

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Psalm 1, you probably know very well, Psalm 1 6, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

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So there's two different ways. John is online. Hello, brother, back to you. How about when

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Elijah was on Mount Carmel? How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, follow him.

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And you'll see that set out in literature, Christian literature, Hellenistic literature, and also

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Jewish literature. There's two different ways. And of course, even our Lord Jesus Christ said, enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction.

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And those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life.

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And there are few who find it. And there's this comparison, there are these contrasts found in the

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Bible. But if I had to pick one contrast in all the Bible, that is to me the most amazing, the most vivid, it's found in what chapter?

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Well, probably since you know what I've been doing on No Compromise Radio lately is teaching through the book of Hebrews.

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And to me, the quintessential contrast, the

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Mount Everest of contrasts is in Hebrews chapter 12, two mountains, two covenants, two approaches to God.

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One is deadly and one is full of joy. So I don't know if you have a Bible or you just want to listen to me for a while.

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We're going to look at Hebrews chapter 12 and the contrast between the Sinai covenant and the new covenant entitled

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Zion here in Hebrews chapter 12. If I read this to you slowly, you would get the picture literally.

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And so I think that's what I'm going to do. The way the language is, you could tell this is a sermon preached to a congregation.

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And remember, there are people that want to go back to Judaism. And so he wants to try to paint the picture to say, don't go back to Judaism.

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It would be a very bad thing to go back to Judaism when the mediator of the new covenant is here.

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Moses was the mediator of the old covenant. You now have Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.

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Don't go back. What would you go back to? And even though the old covenant was prescribed by God, now that there's a fulfillment to that old covenant, which is called the new covenant, going back to the old covenant doesn't mean you're going back to the

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Bible and you're being biblical or scriptural. It's going back to any other type of works righteousness system.

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And therefore, when I think of Jewish friends of mine and they want to be under the old covenant,

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I would love to be able to sit down and talk to them about this contrast between the two mountains,

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Sinai and Zion. And just listen to this as I read it, because it is dramatic even in its

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English. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 18 through 24, two sentences, two covenants, two approaches to God, two destinies.

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Here's the negative side. Here's what you shouldn't go back to. For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg so that no further messages be spoken to them.

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For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.

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Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear.

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That's the first covenant. That's the first way to approach

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God. That's the old covenant. Now we turn to the second sentence, which is good news.

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Would you like to have some good news today? Listen to this even as I read it. But you have come, contrasting, we have not come, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living

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God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels in festal gathering.

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I don't know what that means. We'll talk about that later. And to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God, the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

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Two sections, two sentences, two mountains, two covenants, two destinies, two approaches to God.

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One leads to tragedy, old covenant, new leads to joy. This is amazing.

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The new covenant is told by the author of Hebrews, by this preacher.

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It's so much greater because of Jesus. Now that Jesus has arrived, he's at this particular point, let's just say it's mid 60s

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AD, since he has come, since he has lived and died and it was raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the father, right?

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Hebrews chapter one, verse three, Hebrews chapter eight, verse one. Since he's there, why would you go back to gloom and doom and darkness and fear and trembling?

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Why would you go back to law keeping? The law was good, but it was given so that you might realize there's no possible way

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I could earn my own salvation. There's no way I could obey the sum of the law, loving

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God with all my faculties and loving my neighbor as myself. The law is good and holy and right, but it doesn't save, it condemns.

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It shows you your need of the savior. Why do you need Jesus unless you know you're sinful and you can't obey the law?

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God is going to judge people, right, on that day. And you want to make sure that you're in the new covenant, right?

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And you want to make sure that when you see this contrast, that it becomes so obvious to you that you don't have any kind of hybrid, right?

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There's no way to split the middle and you're like, do you want old doom and gloom and perfectly keep the law? Or would you like to have joy, festival, gatherings, happiness, new covenant, mediator

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Jesus forgiven because he kept the law and died for your law keeping and now is alive.

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This is a key section for Hebrews. And by the way, it's a key section for all of life because you can take a look at the old covenant and the new covenant and basically size up every single religion in the world.

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And you've got a works -based religion, and that is every religion but Christianity.

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And there is an aspect of the works -based religion in Christianity, but it's not your works.

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It's the Lord Jesus' works. I mean, if you ask the people the question, are you saved by works, it's a trick question, right?

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The answer is yes. But those works better be perfect, therefore they have to be Jesus' works.

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He positively obeys the law and then he negatively, on the negative side, he pays the penalty.

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He's not negative, but the penalty is negative. And so he upholds the law and then he also dies for those who broke the law.

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So there's a positive side to the precept of law keeping and a negative side, a penalty side.

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Here, this passage is a good reminder that if you want to earn your way to heaven, you're never going to make it.

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It's going to be gloom and doom and darkness and tempest. And on the other side of the story, if you'd like to get to heaven, there's one who has earned that for you.

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Well, that's the contrast here in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 18 through 21 is the first sentence.

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And then 22 to 24 is the second sentence. Now, every time you study the Bible, you should be thinking about flow and context.

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And he has just got done warning people about apostasy. Because as he's telling people about Jesus, the elder brother, and Jesus, the great high priest, and Jesus, the faithful priest, and Jesus, who's better than Moses, and Jesus who now allows you to go to God, throne of grace, and Jesus who prays, and Jesus who has sanctified you, and Jesus who has perfected you, and Jesus who is at the right hand of the father for you.

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All this talk about Jesus, this pastor knows there are people sitting there in the congregation who aren't Christians.

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And so he therefore says, if you're not going to follow Jesus, there's going to be hell to pay, literally.

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You're going to have to pay for your sins yourself. Every sin is going to be paid for either by you or by the

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Lord Jesus. And therefore he says, like a good pastor, by the way, if you're sitting in the congregation and you turn your back on the

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Lord, you apostatize, you fall away like Esau, there's no hope for you. And so in verses 15, 16, and 17, he talks about Esau, who is really the anti -type of Jesus in one sense.

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He's the opposite of, I shouldn't say anti -type, sorry, he's the anti -Jesus. He's an anti -Christ in the small

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A meaning. As I just discussed this, think about it. Jesus runs the race to the end,

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Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. Esau quit running, didn't want to run anymore, didn't want to run to obtain the grace of God, to use that colloquial phrase.

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What about Jesus? He ran with joy all the way to the end. What about Esau? Well, the text says he becomes bitter and it causes trouble and defiles.

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And then you think about the Lord Jesus and what he does. He denies himself and what does

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Esau do? He does what apostates do. He becomes sexually immoral. He doesn't act like there's a transcendent reality, that there's an eternity and he lives for today.

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By the way, if you're a Christian and you sin, I would ask you this question because some people

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I know are very, well, what if I committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and what if I'm sinning too much, what if I'm an apostate?

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Dear Christian, do you still want to run the race even though you stumble? Okay, well, if the answer is yes, then you're not an apostate.

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How about if you, do you want to cause bitterness in the church and trouble and defile

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Christ's bride, the local church? Oh, of course I don't want to do that. Well, you're not an apostate. Do you realize there's a tomorrow, there's a day after, there's eternity, there's a transcendent reality besides just today, eat, drink, for tomorrow we die and then that's it.

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We're like dogs. Do you think there's something more unlike Esau? Oh, yes, well, then you're not an apostate.

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While you may sin, and of course I sin, apostasy has gradations and when

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Christians sin, they're not committing apostasy. You will be chastened, obviously, right, but you're not going to be kicked out of the family of God.

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The author here doesn't want you to make a mistake and essentially, as you're an apostate, to go back to Sinai.

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Don't follow Esau to Sinai. I guess that could be like a new song. Maybe we should make a little poem out of that. Don't follow

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Esau back to Sinai. By the way, if you're a

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Christian and you see others who just want to give in and are given over to bitterness and then just give up to sexual immorality and profane, ungodly, unholy living, it'd be good to come alongside of them.

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Actually, that's what the text commands. See to it, right, that you're like an episkopos. You're like an overseer.

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You're scoping people out to try to help them and that's what he wants. So we got here two mountains and two destinies and really almost two sets of seven.

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If you go through this passage, you're going to see seven descriptors of the Old Covenant and seven descriptors of the

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New Covenant. And you say, why is seven the perfect number? Well, it might be the perfect number, but that's just the way it worked out here.

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Seven and seven, two sets of seven. And let's take a look at Sinai, doom and gloom.

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If you want to go back to a performance -based, I obey, therefore God loves me,

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I suggest you don't do that. By the way, that's how evangelicals talk and act all the time.

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I am in my faith and I stay in, but I got to do the right thing or else I might be kicked out or God might be angry with me or if I don't do enough works and somehow

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I'm not in. There's a little principle in the Reformation called sola fide. And you might want to just go back and study sola fide.

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Here's a good way to keep trusting in Jesus. Remember what the Old Covenant demanded. So you don't want any of that.

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You don't want any of the law that goes around with the Old Covenant that demands that you perfectly obey.

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It demands that you entirely obey. It demands that you exactly obey.

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It demands that you perpetually always obey personally, not somebody for you, not a priest or something.

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No. Don't go back to the Old Covenant because it's just law, law, law, doom, gloom, everything else.

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What's the first thing he says? If you've not come to a mountain. Now, mountain's not in the Greek, but we get the idea that it's a comparison of two mountains that may be touched.

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As you kind of walk through Hebrews chapter 12 verses 18 and following, there's scary things going on with your senses and with this darkness and doom and gloom and tempest.

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But the really scary part, listen up, you'll be glad you tuned in for this. The really scary part is when

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God talks. It's one thing to just see the mountain and see all the fire and brimstone and see

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Sinai. You can transport yourself back to Exodus chapter 19. The scary part is when

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God is speaking. That's the scary part. So that's what we're going to kind of lead up to as we've got all this blazing fire type of talking.

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He says, what you want to use Erwin Lutzer's kind of language, trapeze into the presence of God.

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You think that's a good thing? I hear lots of praise songs about, I want to know you and your presence and be like you and see your face.

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I don't know. I don't listen to that many new ones. I did like the Lutheran satire with Clint Eastwood reading modern praise songs.

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That was funny. You can get that on YouTube. But wait till you finish this show first, then you can go do that. To be in the presence of God without a mediator, without Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, is something that you don't want.

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Matter of fact, that's hell. To be in the presence of God without a mediator is actually hell.

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You can get a flicker of that in the garden in Genesis chapter 3, where Adam and Eve sinned and were naked and they tried to hide themselves in the cool of the day.

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No, that's in the spirit of the day. That's the way it's translated, judgment day. They were afraid to be in the presence of God with sin.

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Of course, in Revelation chapter 14, we come to find out that God is everywhere. We know that in other doctrines from other places as well, rather.

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It's not like God isn't in hell. God's everywhere. He's omnipresent, is he not?

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But if you're in the presence of God without a mediator, there's only this kind of doom and gloom and fear, and therefore, you want to avoid that.

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You notice all this language here, fiery, blazing, gloom, darkness.

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There's not really much on how God looks, right? This is kind of like the effects.

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This is kind of like you're tucked in the cleft of the rock and you're just kind of getting a look at this because this is about all we could really take.

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And of course, as unbelievers, they can't take it at all. There's a mountain. Do you notice there's fire, a blazing fire?

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Again, this just should remind you of that thick cloud flashing in Exodus chapter 19, where Moses had to go up and the camp is trembling and there's smoke filling and fire is a good picture of how

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God descends upon the mountain in fire, Exodus 19, 18, Deuteronomy 4, the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens, darkness, cloud, and thick gloom.

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Deuteronomy 33, at his right hand on Sinai was flashing lightning for them.

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And you just imagine that scene and here's what you should think, awesome, not in a good way.

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You should think fearful. You should think full of awe, not in a good way.

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This is the presence of God. He is holy. He is holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy.

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So much so, what's the text say? If some kind of animal walks over there, innocent animal, a non -thinking animal, an animal without a conscience walks over there, it's dead.

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It's so dead. And this is exactly right. Terry is saying about worldly wise men telling

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Christian to go back to legality. I just read that section the other day about, I think he's got a nephew who is simpering named civility.

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And I thought simpering, Hey, yeah, by the way, you don't have to try to get your burden off by looking to the cross.

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Why don't you go back to morality and civility and these, you know, the mayor there will help you to use

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XTC's language, the mayor of simpleton. Why don't you go back there and then you see

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Sinai. So if you want to go back, that's crazy. Oh yeah.

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Stephen saying, send down your fire Lord. These praise songs.

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I don't want the fire to come down Lord. Oh, that's scary. Anyway, this whole idea is supposed to connote and denote holiness.

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You should be afraid to go back to that. Don't be like Esau. Don't be like an apostate. This ominous, threatening, sinister mountain demands perfection because God is perfect.

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And therefore don't think you can saunter in to the presence of God. Now with fire and darkness and tempest and trumpet, did you know in the old

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Testament, every one of those is regularly linked to the presence of God.

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Judges 13, flame went up toward heaven from the altar. The angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar.

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Did you know darkness in first Kings 8, Solomon said, the Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

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Tempest Nahum chapter one, his way is in the whirlwind and storm.

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He is slow to anger and great in power and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. Trumpet associates the end times, right, where the

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Lord will gather up his people and manifest himself. This language here, fire, gloom, tempest, trumpet, you should be thinking, oh, he's writing to the

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Hebrews and he's trying to tell them, oh, this is the presence of God. You don't want to be in the presence of God without a mediator.

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Well, the time has gone past. I'm already past my time here for the regular show slot, so I'm going to come back in just a couple of minutes for another

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Facebook live. If you're not a Christian, uh, there's no way you can stand before God on that day because you'll be exposed.

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So therefore, uh, the mediator of the new covenant, the Lord Jesus, gentle and lowly in heart, he's called in Matthew chapter 11, uh, calls you to receive all the benefits of the

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Lord Jesus, not by working, but entrusting by believing in this great

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Lord and savior the risen King. So trust in him. I'll be right back. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.