Sermon for Sunday July 24th 2022: 'A Kingdom to outlast the years' (Hebrews 12: 18-29; please read Psalm 145)
Chances are that you cannot remember, but the focus of the last two sermons (from Hebrews and Jeremiah) centred on the unchanging (immutable) character of our God in an ever changing world. Of Jesus Christ it is said, he is the same today, tomorrow and always. Some things never change, including the refusal of God’s people to listen to His instruction.
Whatever is said of God in the Old Testament… with reference to His Person and character… has not changed and never will change.
Some years ago this church did a sponsored public bible reading in support of Open Doors and their worldwide work with persecuted Christians. Over 6 days we read aloud six prophets (197 chapters) and prayed for six countries. The people for whom we were praying and the cause for which we were raising awareness and funds simply could not (cannot) do this. Own a Bible or read one out loud? You could end up imprisoned and/or dead! Why would oppressive (persecuting) people ban the owning or reading of God’s Word? It did occur to me that the OT was Jesus’ own Bible. He quoted from it, relied on it; he taught from it. We should.
It also occurred to me as we read about the Assyrians and Babylonians that kingdoms come and kingdoms go; that here we are, millennia later, part of/speaking of, God’s kingdom which is eternal, ultimately powerful over all earthly empires (including those today) which turn to dust and rust. That’s not a message the enemy wants to hear.
Why have you come here today? Pause for a moment to think. Now hear these words…
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
This passage describes the way the LORD once asked his people to worship Him at Mount Sinai. The writer to the Hebrews is warning the churches against going back to the old dispensation. Relevant in its time that mountain was dark and dreadful and dangerous and burning with fire. It was shaking and so were the people. The experience (of approaching God) was one of overwhelming terror – but it was God’s Word that made them tremble. It is often God’s Word that is too hard for us! The people did not want to hear. “Moses, you go and speak to God; you go listen to Him – for us!”
The people had impressive and substantial proof, not only of God’s existence, but of His majesty, power, and holiness. In spite of their immediate impact on the Israelites, these awesome manifestations of God’s power and holiness did not produce hearing faith or obedience…
They still murmured and grumbled and rebelled against God. While they were still at the base of Mount Sinai and Moses was still on the mountain, they had Aaron fashion a golden calf, which they worshipped just like the surrounding nations.
Is any of that relevant; is any of this about us? Of course it is! The writer to the Hebrews thinks it is: 25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?
You see, God still speaks to us. But do we want to hear what He says? Ministers don’t have a “hotline” to God. They probably just read more of God’s Word where God’s Voice is heard.
God’s people are often handicapped – because they have selective hearing. They don’t want to hear the hard-bits! He may speak to us about our lives and our attitudes; he may be calling us to make changes. It might shake us up! He may need to warn us. When Jesus wrote to the churches He always ended his letters by saying, Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Jesus said, “My SHEEP hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.” (John 10:27)
Someone suggested (rightly) that our lives are (sometimes) too loud for us to hear the Shepherd speaking. Because He often speaks in that ‘still, small voice’ (in the silence that Elijah knew); because there is that quiet, inner testimony of the Holy Spirit, according to Calvin, we are unable to hear the Master’s Voice over the competing voices around us.
Jesus spoke of the world (it's cares) crowding out and choking the Word that He wants us to hear. It’s still the case…
Perhaps it’s because God wants his people to listen that most of what He says and does comes in the less-than-spectacular. So closeness is needed – to hear. Times of quiet are needed.
But just in case we should become too fearful, be encouraged in the hearing of these words and what they mean:
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
We have access to God through Jesus and His blood, no matter who we are or where we are. We have a Mediator, a Great High Priest! We can stand before God with confidence and assurance – He made new life possible through His Cross; and He has made a future heaven possible for me. He took the fear of condemnation away and shaking away.
We will not be able to stand before God and we will never get into His kingdom on the basis of our merits. You wouldn’t go into a fire without protection.
I heard it said recently that we approach God “wearing the asbestos suit of Christ’s righteousness!” “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31), but we need not fear the consuming fire of God’s wrath if we are covered by the purifying blood of Christ.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”
The passage started with fire (v. 18) and ends that way (v.29) … He is still a consuming fire. We should never regard our God with sentimentality or easy familiarity – he is still holy and always the JUDGE – make no mistake! But what makes us thankful, worshipful, what should fill us with awe and wonder and reverence is the fact that there are now far fewer limits to the closeness we can have with God. It is our choice if we turn away; it is our choice if we listen and hear.
When all else in heaven and earth is no more, there is a “kingdom that will outlast the years”; a Voice that will span the years, speaking life, stirring hope – bringing peace to us – a Voice that sounds until he appears – for He lives…”
One day, when everything is shaken up; when the earth and the heavens are folded up like a sheet, one thing will remain firm – the new (everlasting) Covenant (Relationship) with God.
For those that trust God-in-Jesus-Christ – they need not be in craven fear about God’s wrath or judgment by fire. It will be the fire of God’s love warming our hearts and all that will be destroyed is the dross of our lives! Why do we come here, to Sion? We come to meet the God of Sinai.
In the meantime let us worship God with reverence and fear and joy and thankfulness. To worship is to encounter God, to hear God’s voice, to be transformed by God.
True worship does not leave us as we are, at ease with illusions of our own power and significance. Rather, it makes us aware of the impermanence of all human lives and their temporary kingdoms as we bow in awe before the permanence, might, and splendour of our God who is still a consuming fire.
In the meantime, hear the unchangeable Word of the Lord.
We hear the words of the Psalmist who knows the God who is at once immanent and transcendent
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
MFR