May 19, 2025 • 31 mins
In this sermon on Hebrews 12:18–29, Pastoral Resident Kenneth Dyches leads us into a powerful reflection on the awe-inspiring contrast between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. He unpacks how the author of Hebrews uses these two mountains to show the radical difference between the old and new covenants — one marked by fear and trembling, the other by joyful access to God through Christ. Kenneth emphasizes that, as followers of Jesus, we are not approaching a place of terror, but a kingdom that cannot be shaken, where grace invites us into reverent and awe-filled worship.
Kenneth calls us to examine what it means to live as citizens of this unshakeable kingdom — to respond to God’s voice with faith and obedience, and to embrace worship marked by reverence and wonder. This message urges the church to hold fast to the hope we have in Christ, whose blood speaks a better word and who invites us to live with confidence in His enduring reign.
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Rev. Dr. Damein Schitter (00:07):
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damian.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Raquel West (00:22):
Pray this prayer of illumination with me.
Heavenly Father, your word istruth.
By your spirit, give us ears tohear and hearts to believe your
word with joy, through JesusChrist, our Lord, amen.
Today's scripture comes fromHebrews 12, 18 through 29.
(00:44):
Today's scripture comes fromHebrews 12, 18 through 29.
For you have not come to whatmay be touched a blazing fire
and darkness and gloom, and atempest, and the sound of a
trumpet and a voice whose wordsmade the hearers beg that no
further message be spoken tothem, for they could not endure
the order that was given.
If even a beast touches themountain, it shall be stoned.
(01:07):
Indeed, so terrifying was thesight that Moses said.
I tremble with fear, but youhave come to Mount Zion and to
the city of the living God, theheavenly Jerusalem, and to the
innumerable angels in festalgathering, and to the assembly
(01:28):
of the firstborn who enrolled inheaven, and to God, the judge
of all, and to the spirits ofthe righteous made perfect, and
to Jesus, the mediator of a newcovenant, and to the sprinkled
blood that speaks a better wordthan the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse himwho is speaking?
(01:49):
For if they did not escape whenthey refused him who warned
them on earth?
Much less will we escape if wereject who warns from heaven.
At that time, his voice shookthe earth, but now he has
promised yet once more.
I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.
(02:10):
This phrase yet once moreindicates the removal of things
that are shaken, that is, thingsthat have been made in order
that the things that cannot beshaken remain.
Therefore, let us be gratefulfor receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, and thus letus offer to God acceptable
(02:33):
worship with reverence and awe,for our God is a consuming fire.
This is God's word.
Thanks be to God, you may beseated.
Kenneth Dyches (02:53):
Good morning.
Some of you in here run longdistances and do that
competitively, called marathons.
I don't understand how you dothat.
I do like cardio, you know,just running on a treadmill and
I've been doing it for a whileand I look at the clock and I
realize three minutes have goneby and I'm like I can't do this.
I just can't do it.
(03:13):
So good on you all who are ableto do that.
But I want to tell you a littlebit about Meb Keflizigi.
So, meb, he actually was a, oris an, immigrant.
He immigrated here back in 1999as a 12-year-old and he
eventually became an Americancitizen.
(03:35):
But he's known for his prolificmarathoning career.
He's won a few world-renownedmarathons.
He's also a silver medalist inthe Olympics.
He's prolific at what he does.
In 2014, he ran the BostonMarathon, and that was
significant because the yearprior was the terrible tragedy
(03:56):
of the bombings of that marathon, and so when he came into that
marathon, there was aweightiness and a significance
to it.
As an American, he reallywanted to represent Boston,
represent America, represent thevictims of that bombing, but an
American hadn't won the race in31 years.
On top of that, meb was 38,which is considered well past
(04:21):
your prime in marathoning andmost people were saying that
they didn't think that he hadanother great win marathon in
him.
So he came into that race witha lot of detractors a lot of
detractors within and withoutundoubtedly doubting in himself
that he could win that race.
But he came into the race andas he was running the race he
(04:43):
made a bold move.
About eight miles in he decidedto separate from the rest of
the pack and run alone.
At one point he had as much asa minute distance between him
and the racers behind him.
So he was running really welland he said that as he was
running his muscles werescreaming in pain, right, and he
(05:03):
was ready to drop.
But he kept praying and prayingto God.
He was carrying the victims.
He actually had a bracelet withtheir names on him, so he was
carrying them also close to hisheart because he had written
them on his race bib.
And as he was running hecontinued to pray and ask God
for strength to continue.
As he got near the end of therace, he began to hear the crowd
getting louder and he realizedthat someone was closing in on
(05:26):
him.
Someone had closed that gap inthe last leg of the race, and as
he got closer, he could hearthe crowd getting louder and
louder and louder, and hedecided not to turn back because
he didn't want to stumble, hedidn't want to get distracted,
he just wanted to run the racethat God had given him.
So he continued to pray and toask the Lord for strength, and
(05:47):
Meb did win that race, just byseconds.
He beat the younger Kenyan thatwas right behind him, and so
this story of Meb winning thisrace is a reminder of what he
was doing.
He was not only running the racefor himself.
He realized that God is the onewho had put him in that race.
(06:08):
God was the one who was holdingthe victory, whether it was him
or someone else.
He was aligning himself withthe purposes of God and drawing
upon not his strength, but God'sstrength, not listening to his
flesh, which was screaming athim to stop the race, but
listening to the voice of Godand depending upon him.
We need to do the same.
We have voices that, as we arerunning our races, our
(06:33):
detractors from within and fromwithout that invite us to run
our races in our own strength,to run them or to listen to the
flesh and just quit to go afterthe things that we want sinfully
in our flesh on our own.
But Meb had an unshakable faithbecause he depended upon the
Lord, and the Holy Spirit,through our preacher earlier in
the same chapter, invites us tolay aside every weight and run
(06:54):
with endurance the race that isset before us.
And so God is inviting us todayto that same thing, to an
unshakable faith through whichwe will be able to endure, not
by our own strength, not by thestrength of our flesh, but by
depending upon the Lord.
And so you might ask well, whatrace are we in?
(07:15):
And so there's difficulties inall of our races, whether it's
raising children and just theday-to-day grind of trying to
love and care for themselflessly, as they go through
their own trials at every age,as they go through sickness and
as we try to love and care forthem.
It might look like a job thatyou show up to every day, that
you don't love, that you'reready to quit, but you don't
have another one lined up.
(07:36):
You don't love your boss, youcan't work with your coworkers.
You come home disappointed.
It might look like findingcommunity.
Maybe you've been looking forpeople to walk alongside you in
the faith journey for a longtime.
You want to be seen and knownand loved.
You want to be people torejoice with, people to grieve
with, but it's been a struggleto find that and you're not sure
(07:57):
why.
Maybe you're going to begraduating soon, or maybe you
recently graduated.
You're looking for a job beforeor after college and those
things are just immensepressures.
You're not sure what that jobis going to be.
You're not going to show if youmeasure up to your parents'
expectations.
You're not sure where yourincome is going to come from.
Maybe you're in a health crisis, whether it be you or someone
else.
Maybe family or friends orspouses have been unfaithful and
(08:17):
turned away from you and you'rejust grieving and you don't
really know or understand why orwhat's going on.
In the midst of all of thosethings, we have three choices.
We can depend on our ownstrength.
We can try to push through anddo what we are able to do, or we
can just give up.
We can just pursue the passionsof the flesh.
We can give in to the lies thatwe believe.
(08:39):
We can go whichever way ourheart ends up leading us, or we
can turn to God, as Meb did.
We can turn to him and offerhim all that we have and say we
can't do this on our own, we'renot able to, and trust that
whatever his plan is is good,that he is with us and that he
strengthens us.
See when our heart, mind andbody scream I can't do it, I'm
(09:01):
not enough, and the voicesaround you condemn you.
There is good news, becauseJesus's blood speaks a better
word.
My main points today are that,because Jesus speaks a better
word, we can look back to Sinai,we can look forward to Zion and
we can look up to God.
So my first point is becauseJesus's blood speaks a better
(09:22):
word, we can look back to Sinai.
Go ahead and look at verses 18through 21 in our chapter today
Hebrews 12, 18 through 21, whichreads for you have not come to
what may be touched a blazingfire and darkness and gloom and
a tempest and the sound of atrumpet and a voice whose words
(09:43):
made the hearers beg that nofurther messages be spoken to
them, for they could not endurethe order that was given.
If even a beast touches themountain, it will be stoned.
Indeed, so terrifying was thesight that Moses said.
I tremble with fear.
This is referencing back toExodus 19, as God's people, who
(10:06):
have just been delivered out ofEgypt and seen incredible
miracles at the hand of God, arenow coming to his presence on
the mountain.
And let me just read you Exodus19, 16 through 20.
On the morning of the third day,there were thunders and
lightnings and a thick cloud onthe mountain and a very loud
trumpet blast, so all the peoplein the camp trembled.
Then Moses brought the peopleout of the camp to meet God and
(10:29):
they took their stand at thefoot of the mountain.
Now Mount Sinai was wrapped insmoke because the Lord had
descended on it in fire.
The smoke of it went up like asmoke of a kiln and the whole
mountain trembled greatly.
And as the sound of the trumpetgrew louder and louder, moses
spoke and God answered him inthunder.
The Lord came down on MountSinai to the top of the mountain
, and the Lord called Moses tothe top of the mountain and
(10:52):
Moses went up, and so it's nosurprise that everyone is
trembling.
Right, this is like a hurricanemixed with an earthquake, mixed
with every other naturaldisaster you can think of.
This is terrifying, and it'sterrifying because when a holy
and just God speaks to a sinfuland unjust people.
They are rightly terrified.
(11:13):
See, it wasn't just the lightshow, right?
It wasn't just the smoke.
It wasn't just the earthquakes,right?
Many of us in Florida, we gothrough hurricanes all the time.
We live through it.
Sometimes we do hurricaneparties.
We drink while we are partyingtogether and waiting for it to
go by.
So it's not just the physicalcircumstances that are
terrifying, it's what theyrepresent.
(11:33):
That they know is real thatthey stand before a holy God and
that the consequences of beinga sinner in the presence of a
holy God are death andseparation forever.
And so Moses quaked.
And yet it makes me wonder whywe don't quake.
We come in here every Sunday andwe believe that we come
spiritually into the presence ofGod.
(11:54):
We believe that and we knowthat we are sinners and that he
is holy Moses himself, the modeof deliverance for God's people,
who by his own hand saw thewaters parted right.
He quaked with fear as he cameto the mountain.
Paul tells us in Romans 3 and 6why this is.
Paul tells us that no one trulyseeks for God or does good.
(12:17):
He tells us that the law wasgiven to hold the world
accountable to that fact, thatat the end of the day,
everything we do, even when wedo good, is truly only for our
own benefit.
And so the law reveals our sinand three, he tells us the wages
of sin is death.
And so Israel.
When they receive the law, wesee what happens is that they
(12:39):
try to live it out in their ownpower or they fully reject God
and turn away, and they're justconstantly in that cycle, unable
to fulfill the law.
And so how we know we are doingthe same thing, with either
running in our own strength orrunning away from God, is by
asking when blank happens, whatdo I do?
And you can think ofcircumstances you're in, you can
(13:01):
think of anything that you'regoing through.
But when that happens, what doyou do?
If the answer is not listen toGod's voice through the
scriptures, through prayer,through the body of believers
and mature counsel and throughsubmitting to the church, then
you are either running away ortrying to run in your own power,
and you will collapse.
God will hold us accountable toall of our sins, to all that we
(13:26):
do.
That is not in his strength forhis glory, and so this is an
invitation to tremble as we comeinto God's presence.
There is good reason to tremble.
There is sin in our own lives.
I don't think anybody in herewould say that they love God
with all of their hearts, soulsand strength.
Day in and day out.
We are reminded as we look atSinai, the depth of our sins and
(13:49):
, at the final, unless youbelieve that you have prayed a
prayer right, that you come tochurch, that you lead in City
Kids, that you serve, that youare reading the scriptures day
in and day out, and so thismessage is not for you, remember
that there will be many who getto heaven and who say Lord,
lord, and who have done greatworks in his name, and Jesus
will say I never knew you.
There will be many more that doindeed enter the kingdom of
(14:11):
heaven and yet see so much oftheir lives burned up because so
much of it was lived in theirown strength, looking to idols
rather than God.
We look to Zion to rememberthat we serve, or rather Sinai
to remember that we serve a holyGod who says mine over every
inch of our lives.
(14:33):
It's said that some people whowork on Wall Street can work up
to 110 hour work weeks.
That's nuts.
And there's stories in anarticle I read recently where
some of these workers werereporting on their experiences,
and one guy.
He said he worked a whole yearon one project and one day he
took 25 minutes away just to gograb dinner and when he got back
(14:55):
his boss yelled and screamed athim because he needed to be at
his desk the whole time heworked on this project.
Another story was a banker whowent to HR and said hey, we've
been working 20-hour days everyweek, and then just a few weeks
later he was diagnosed with afailed pancreas after collapsing
at home from exhaustion.
Doctors said they believed theorgan failure that was linked to
(15:18):
the banker's heavy workload wasto blame.
I think a lot of us are workinglike these analysts, right,
we're giving all of ourselves,whether it be to your work, to
your family, to the church, towhatever it is that you're
pursuing after right, we'regiving all of ourselves, whether
it be to your work, to yourfamily, to the church, to
whatever it is that you'repursuing after right, we give
all of ourselves to those things.
But eventually we will collapseif we are running in our own
strength.
We will collapse if we'rerunning after the wrong things.
(15:41):
And so how can we stop runningin our own strength.
Well, that brings me to mysecond point, that as we look
back to Sinai, we also lookforward to Zion, because Jesus'
blood speaks a better word.
Go ahead and look at verses 22through 24 with me.
Verse 22 says but and that's abig but and I like big buts and
(16:04):
I cannot lie but that's becausethis but is leading us to Zion.
Right, this is good news we areabout to hear.
We've looked back and now we'relooking forward, and so it's
worth acknowledging thistransition in the text.
So, verse 22,.
But you have come to Mount Zionand to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, andto innumerable angels in festal
(16:28):
gathering, and to the assemblyof the firstborn who are
enrolled in heaven, and to Godthe judge.
And so here our author gives usseven sublimities, which are
beautiful realities, of what itmeans to be a child of God.
(16:52):
First he says Mount Zion, thecity of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem.
This is to live and dwell inthe presence of God.
This is what Adam and Eveencountered in the garden before
there was sin and brokenness inthe world.
This is what God is slowlybringing us into, into the new
heavens and new earth for allwho are in Christ, which is a
reality, in which there will beno more pain and no more
(17:13):
suffering and every tear will bewiped away, where we will dwell
with our God forever.
Right, this is what will be,but we know that those of us who
are in Christ can alreadyexperience this in part.
Now we also come to theinnumerable angels and festal
gathering.
See, back at Sinai, there wereangels blowing those trumpets
that terrified Israel, right,that terrified God's people.
(17:35):
But now, in Christ, we come tothose innumerable angels in
festal gathering in a party.
Right, they're just up theregoing.
Right, it's like, it isexciting.
This isn't just like floatingon clouds and like drinking Mai
Tais.
This is like.
This is a joyful gathering atthe wedding feast, right, and we
come to the assembly of thefirst born, which is all who are
(17:57):
in Christ.
Although our brothers andsisters in Christ we will see
again in heaven in the next life, we will be with them forever.
We will be and belong to thefamily of God.
If you long for belonging, youhave it.
In Jesus Christ, we come to theGod, the judge of all, which
previously would have ustrembling right, would have us
(18:17):
in terror because of our sin.
But when we come to him infullness, jesus will have
declared by his blood that weare righteous, right.
We forever will have our sinswiped away, we will be before
him and we will have a place inhis kingdom.
We also come to the spirits ofthe righteous made, perfect,
right.
So all those in the hall offaith, moses and Abraham.
(18:39):
They will be with us, they willbe our brothers and sisters.
We will walk with them in thelight of God's face.
In beautiful community we willsee unity in diversity amongst
God's people.
We're a diverse people made inthe image of God's face.
In beautiful community we willsee unity in diversity amongst
God's people, where a diversepeople made in the image of God
will also have perfect unity,something we long for now but we
cannot have in fullness untilwe get to the new heavens and
new earth and we come to Jesusright, the leader and perfecter
(19:02):
of our faith.
God become man, who for our sakedied and endured the pain of
the wrath of God, that we mightknow him forever.
So how do we come to all ofthose things?
Well, hebrews, chapter 9,verses 13 through 14, bring out
how we, as defiled persons backin the Sinai covenant were
(19:26):
sprinkled with the blood ofgoats and bulls, right, and so
this was according to the law.
But it wasn't for the purposeof cleansing them then and there
.
It was to show them the depthof their sins, that they needed
to come to God.
Right, they needed to look toSinai and to the law to remember
that we in and of ourselvescannot do this.
We need to trust on God'spromises to sanctify us, to make
us new, to bring us to Zion,and so that's what they were
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intended to do.
We need to depend not onourselves but on God's work.
And so we see that, through theblood of Christ, a better word
is spoken over us.
The Old Testament roster offaith opened with Abel's
acceptable sacrifice and deathearlier in Hebrews.
But the cause of his death, hisbrother's violence, was not
mentioned.
Now we hear an echo of God'saccusation against Cain.
(20:13):
The voice of your brother'sblood is crying to me from the
ground.
Its cry was for avengingjustice, but Jesus's blood
intercedes for mercy andforgiveness.
And what does it declare?
It declares that we arejustified.
And what does it declare?
It declares that we arejustified.
The Westminster ShorterCatechism defines justification
this way.
Justification is an act of God'sfree grace, unmerited love and
(20:37):
favor upon us, wherein hepardons all our sins and accepts
us as righteous in his sight.
Only not on our righteousness,but the righteousness of Christ
imputed to us, placed upon usand received by faith alone.
Justification means rest right.
We no longer have to strive tobe acceptable to God.
(20:58):
We no longer have to strive tomake sure everything in our
lives works out the way we needit to work out.
We have a good God who has goodpurposes for us, who, in Jesus
Christ, has claimed us as hischildren and we know we are
forever righteous in his sight,forever belong to his kingdom
and we'll be with him in the newheavens and new earth.
Justification means rest, so wecan look back at Sinai right
(21:19):
and know the depth of our sin,but look forward to Zion and not
in fear run the race, but injoy.
In John 16, 22 through 24, jesusis about to go to the cross,
and so he's talking with hisdisciples and they're confused,
and so he says so also.
You have sorrow now, but I willsee you again and your hearts
(21:40):
will rejoice, and no one willtake your joy from you.
In that day you will asknothing of me.
Truly, truly, I say to youwhatever you ask the Father in
my name, he will give it to you.
Until now, you have askednothing in my name.
Ask, and you will receive that.
Your joy may be full.
See, for those in Jesus, theother side of death is
(22:01):
resurrection, and not justresurrection but fullness of joy
with a good Father.
You know my children.
We preach the Bible to them, wepray with them, but you don't
really know what sinks in untilthey say something that is like
profound, but with childlikefaith, and you're like what in
the world?
And so the other day so Lucaand Holland both do this.
(22:23):
But the other day Holland heardLauren and I talking about just
the long day we've had and thethings that we're stressed about
and kids are always listening,you know.
And later she says to Lauren Iprayed for you that you would be
full of joy and be happy, thatyou wouldn't be sad anymore.
(22:45):
And she said she prayed to God.
You are a good God who loves meand my mommy.
One day we will die and be withyou.
It's okay that we will diebecause we will be with you.
Just the beauty in thatchildlike faith.
That's the faith that Jesusinvites us into when he declares
(23:07):
over us that we are forgivenand that we belong to his
kingdom, which is unshakable.
When you believe that evendeath can't shake you, you have
that childlike faith, and so Iinvite you to come as a child of
God, which leads me to my thirdpoint and conclusion, because
Jesus' blood speaks a betterword we can look up.
Let's look at verses 25 through29.
(23:28):
Letter word we can look up.
Let's look at verses 25 through29.
See that you do not refuse him.
Who is speaking?
For if they did not escape whenthey refused him, who warned
them on earth?
Much less will we escape if wereject him.
Who warns from heaven.
At that time, his voice shookthe earth, but now he has
promised yet once more.
(23:48):
I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.
This phrase, yet once more,indicates the removal of things
that are shaken, that is, thethings that have been made, in
order that the things thatcannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, let us be gratefulfor receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, and thus letus offer to God acceptable
worship with reverence and awe,for our God is a consuming fire.
(24:13):
There's a lot that can be saidon those verses, but I wanna
invite us to look at verse 28.
Because of the blood of Jesus,we can look up in worship, in
gratefulness and acceptableness.
And this is in the context ofhis last words in this chapter,
which is our God is a consumingfire.
And that's a reference back toExodus 20.
(24:34):
See, in Exodus 19, they come upto the mountain right.
They are beholding the God whois a consuming fire.
But in Exodus 20, god gives hislaw, the Ten Commandments, and
the first two commandments areexplicitly about his worship.
You shall have no other godsright and you shall not make any
idols in any other image.
And he says why is that?
(24:55):
Because I, god, am a jealousGod.
And when we hear the wordjealousy we often have a
negative connotation.
But the Bible has no negativeconnotation, especially in
relation to God.
John Frame, a renownedtheologian, puts it this way.
He says God's jealousy is apassionate zeal to guard the
exclusiveness of a marriagerelationship.
God's jealousy, he says, isalways directed against idolatry
(25:17):
.
By nature he deserves anddemands exclusive worship and
allegiance.
John Owen, a church father,calls this God's vehement
burning affection right.
This is God's vehement burningaffection that we would be with
him in fullness, that we wouldlove him with all our hearts,
mind, soul and strength, so thatwe can receive all of his love,
(25:40):
his steadfast love, hisstrength for us, that we can
dwell with him in fullness inthe new heavens and new earth,
but as full as possible now.
That is his vehement, burningaffection for our worship, not
just for the sake of us givinghim something, but for the sake
of us receiving the greatgoodness that he has for us.
Another commentator says bothvisions must be held in blessed
(26:03):
tension within our soulsconsuming fire and consuming
love.
Right worship is full surrenderto that love, to the vehement
consuming fire of God's love.
All ourselves and ouraffections are owed unto God and
he desires them for our sakes.
And yet this can feeloverwhelming.
How the heck do we love Godwith all of our hearts, souls
(26:25):
and strengths?
We know the ways we fail inthat every day and it can be
defeating.
And the way to it is throughgratefulness.
We've been given.
Gratefulness is to understandthat we've been given a gift
right.
We have been declared justified.
We have received the promisesof God.
We didn't do anything to earnthose.
God has given them to us andinvited us to look upon his son,
(26:47):
jesus Christ, and receive them.
We've been justified in hissight, we have belonging in the
kingdom of heaven, and so welook with gratefulness on what
God has already given us Hisvehement, burning affection and
steadfast love.
His chesed, pursues us nonstop.
We see, this is the story ofthe Bible of God's people.
God constantly pursuing hispeople, regardless of the sins
(27:09):
that they are in, regardless ofthe ways that they turn away,
regardless of their idolatry.
He is always pursuing us.
His love is at the doorknocking and always ready to
enter.
Gratefulness is the key to anunshakable faith and right
worship.
We cultivate gratefulness.
Are you ready?
Through postures of greatfullness?
(27:30):
See what I did there.
We need to be filled with thefullness of God.
God is offering us himself, tous in Jesus Christ in
relationship, and he invites usto be filled with his fullness.
And in order to do that, we doneed to look back to Sinai.
We need to invite God to exposeour brokenness, our sins and
our great need for him, and thento offer those up to him daily
(27:54):
and allow him to cover them withthe blood of Jesus.
Go to him and ask for what isours right, which is to
experience the justification,the righteousness, the
sublimities that God offers allhis people in Jesus Christ.
We need to, then, look forwardto Zion, to claim that as our
own and to seek God and all ofthe things that he has given us,
his instruments of mercy, thechurch, community, the
(28:17):
scriptures, prayer.
He's available to us and hedesires that we engage him
everywhere we can and we mightbe filled with his fullness, not
for the sake of those thingsthemselves, but to encounter and
receive from him.
And then we can look up inworship, and in right worship,
because we are grateful for aGod who has already given us all
of these things.
And so we can invest our livesin what is shakable, right, day
(28:42):
in and day out.
We can just kind of go throughour lives and not really
consider what's going on in ourday go to work, feed our family,
do things that are good in onesense but ultimately will be
shaken and sifted, and the newheavens and new earth.
Or we can invest in what isunshakable by looking to God.
For all that.
We need Meb Keflasigi.
(29:03):
So he ran with the names of the13 bombing victims on him, he
carried them with him and he wonthe race, but only for a
perishable crown.
Jesus, he also runs the racefor us and the joy set before
him when he endured the crossJesus was unshakable, and the
names he carried were also ofthose who were dead.
But in reaching the end, jesusactually raised them from the
(29:25):
dead.
Jesus has run the race for us,brothers and sisters.
He has and is carrying you nowand he will complete the work
that he started.
In Isaiah 40, verses 9 through11, we see an image of this
which says go on up to a highmountain.
O Zion, herald of good news,lift up your voice with strength
.
O Jerusalem, herald of goodnews, lift up fear, not Say to
(29:50):
the cities of Judah behold yourGod who is running to you.
Behold your God.
The Lord God comes with mightand his arm rules for him
running to you.
Behold your God.
The Lord God comes with mightand his arm rules for him.
Behold, his reward is with himand his recompense is before him
.
He will tend his flock like ashepherd.
He will gather the lambs in hisarms.
He will carry them in his bosom, near his heart, and gently
(30:11):
lead those that are with young.
Give the God who loves you withburning affection, all of
yourself, and you will findyourself full of joy and not
fear, and you will find yourselfunshakable in his hands.
Pray with me now, lord.
We do come.
We come to the living God.
(30:34):
We know you are here with us now.
We know that there is much inour lives that you declare mine,
that we have not yet given overto you.
We know you are here with us now.
We know that there is much inour lives that you declare mine,
that we have not yet given overto you.
We know that that grieves you.
And we know that you havealready covered us in the blood
of Jesus, when we believe, byfaith, that you have died for
our sins and you've risen to newlives so that those who belong
to you would know the unshakablekingdom would receive it.
(30:56):
And so, lord, we ask by yourSpirit, give us faith to believe
, help us to draw near to you,Help us to surrender all of our
lives, all of our sin andbrokenness.
We declare to you that we arein need, o Lord, we are not
enough, but you and Jesus Christ, through your blood, have
covered us and declared that weare justified, righteous,
(31:16):
forgiven.
Thank you, we look forward tothe new heavens, new earth and
the joyful party that we willhave with you in heaven.
We pray that you'd help us tokeep that before us.
We pray this in Jesus' nameAmen.
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damian.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Raquel West (00:22):
Pray this prayer of illumination with me.
Heavenly Father, your word istruth.
By your spirit, give us ears tohear and hearts to believe your
word with joy, through JesusChrist, our Lord, amen.
Today's scripture comes fromHebrews 12, 18 through 29.
(00:44):
Today's scripture comes fromHebrews 12, 18 through 29.
For you have not come to whatmay be touched a blazing fire
and darkness and gloom, and atempest, and the sound of a
trumpet and a voice whose wordsmade the hearers beg that no
further message be spoken tothem, for they could not endure
the order that was given.
If even a beast touches themountain, it shall be stoned.
(01:07):
Indeed, so terrifying was thesight that Moses said.
I tremble with fear, but youhave come to Mount Zion and to
the city of the living God, theheavenly Jerusalem, and to the
innumerable angels in festalgathering, and to the assembly
(01:28):
of the firstborn who enrolled inheaven, and to God, the judge
of all, and to the spirits ofthe righteous made perfect, and
to Jesus, the mediator of a newcovenant, and to the sprinkled
blood that speaks a better wordthan the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse himwho is speaking?
(01:49):
For if they did not escape whenthey refused him who warned
them on earth?
Much less will we escape if wereject who warns from heaven.
At that time, his voice shookthe earth, but now he has
promised yet once more.
I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.
(02:10):
This phrase yet once moreindicates the removal of things
that are shaken, that is, thingsthat have been made in order
that the things that cannot beshaken remain.
Therefore, let us be gratefulfor receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, and thus letus offer to God acceptable
(02:33):
worship with reverence and awe,for our God is a consuming fire.
This is God's word.
Thanks be to God, you may beseated.
Kenneth Dyches (02:53):
Good morning.
Some of you in here run longdistances and do that
competitively, called marathons.
I don't understand how you dothat.
I do like cardio, you know,just running on a treadmill and
I've been doing it for a whileand I look at the clock and I
realize three minutes have goneby and I'm like I can't do this.
I just can't do it.
(03:13):
So good on you all who are ableto do that.
But I want to tell you a littlebit about Meb Keflizigi.
So, meb, he actually was a, oris an, immigrant.
He immigrated here back in 1999as a 12-year-old and he
eventually became an Americancitizen.
(03:35):
But he's known for his prolificmarathoning career.
He's won a few world-renownedmarathons.
He's also a silver medalist inthe Olympics.
He's prolific at what he does.
In 2014, he ran the BostonMarathon, and that was
significant because the yearprior was the terrible tragedy
(03:56):
of the bombings of that marathon, and so when he came into that
marathon, there was aweightiness and a significance
to it.
As an American, he reallywanted to represent Boston,
represent America, represent thevictims of that bombing, but an
American hadn't won the race in31 years.
On top of that, meb was 38,which is considered well past
(04:21):
your prime in marathoning andmost people were saying that
they didn't think that he hadanother great win marathon in
him.
So he came into that race witha lot of detractors a lot of
detractors within and withoutundoubtedly doubting in himself
that he could win that race.
But he came into the race andas he was running the race he
(04:43):
made a bold move.
About eight miles in he decidedto separate from the rest of
the pack and run alone.
At one point he had as much asa minute distance between him
and the racers behind him.
So he was running really welland he said that as he was
running his muscles werescreaming in pain, right, and he
(05:03):
was ready to drop.
But he kept praying and prayingto God.
He was carrying the victims.
He actually had a bracelet withtheir names on him, so he was
carrying them also close to hisheart because he had written
them on his race bib.
And as he was running hecontinued to pray and ask God
for strength to continue.
As he got near the end of therace, he began to hear the crowd
getting louder and he realizedthat someone was closing in on
(05:26):
him.
Someone had closed that gap inthe last leg of the race, and as
he got closer, he could hearthe crowd getting louder and
louder and louder, and hedecided not to turn back because
he didn't want to stumble, hedidn't want to get distracted,
he just wanted to run the racethat God had given him.
So he continued to pray and toask the Lord for strength, and
(05:47):
Meb did win that race, just byseconds.
He beat the younger Kenyan thatwas right behind him, and so
this story of Meb winning thisrace is a reminder of what he
was doing.
He was not only running the racefor himself.
He realized that God is the onewho had put him in that race.
(06:08):
God was the one who was holdingthe victory, whether it was him
or someone else.
He was aligning himself withthe purposes of God and drawing
upon not his strength, but God'sstrength, not listening to his
flesh, which was screaming athim to stop the race, but
listening to the voice of Godand depending upon him.
We need to do the same.
We have voices that, as we arerunning our races, our
(06:33):
detractors from within and fromwithout that invite us to run
our races in our own strength,to run them or to listen to the
flesh and just quit to go afterthe things that we want sinfully
in our flesh on our own.
But Meb had an unshakable faithbecause he depended upon the
Lord, and the Holy Spirit,through our preacher earlier in
the same chapter, invites us tolay aside every weight and run
(06:54):
with endurance the race that isset before us.
And so God is inviting us todayto that same thing, to an
unshakable faith through whichwe will be able to endure, not
by our own strength, not by thestrength of our flesh, but by
depending upon the Lord.
And so you might ask well, whatrace are we in?
(07:15):
And so there's difficulties inall of our races, whether it's
raising children and just theday-to-day grind of trying to
love and care for themselflessly, as they go through
their own trials at every age,as they go through sickness and
as we try to love and care forthem.
It might look like a job thatyou show up to every day, that
you don't love, that you'reready to quit, but you don't
have another one lined up.
(07:36):
You don't love your boss, youcan't work with your coworkers.
You come home disappointed.
It might look like findingcommunity.
Maybe you've been looking forpeople to walk alongside you in
the faith journey for a longtime.
You want to be seen and knownand loved.
You want to be people torejoice with, people to grieve
with, but it's been a struggleto find that and you're not sure
(07:57):
why.
Maybe you're going to begraduating soon, or maybe you
recently graduated.
You're looking for a job beforeor after college and those
things are just immensepressures.
You're not sure what that jobis going to be.
You're not going to show if youmeasure up to your parents'
expectations.
You're not sure where yourincome is going to come from.
Maybe you're in a health crisis, whether it be you or someone
else.
Maybe family or friends orspouses have been unfaithful and
(08:17):
turned away from you and you'rejust grieving and you don't
really know or understand why orwhat's going on.
In the midst of all of thosethings, we have three choices.
We can depend on our ownstrength.
We can try to push through anddo what we are able to do, or we
can just give up.
We can just pursue the passionsof the flesh.
We can give in to the lies thatwe believe.
(08:39):
We can go whichever way ourheart ends up leading us, or we
can turn to God, as Meb did.
We can turn to him and offerhim all that we have and say we
can't do this on our own, we'renot able to, and trust that
whatever his plan is is good,that he is with us and that he
strengthens us.
See when our heart, mind andbody scream I can't do it, I'm
(09:01):
not enough, and the voicesaround you condemn you.
There is good news, becauseJesus's blood speaks a better
word.
My main points today are that,because Jesus speaks a better
word, we can look back to Sinai,we can look forward to Zion and
we can look up to God.
So my first point is becauseJesus's blood speaks a better
(09:22):
word, we can look back to Sinai.
Go ahead and look at verses 18through 21 in our chapter today
Hebrews 12, 18 through 21, whichreads for you have not come to
what may be touched a blazingfire and darkness and gloom and
a tempest and the sound of atrumpet and a voice whose words
(09:43):
made the hearers beg that nofurther messages be spoken to
them, for they could not endurethe order that was given.
If even a beast touches themountain, it will be stoned.
Indeed, so terrifying was thesight that Moses said.
I tremble with fear.
This is referencing back toExodus 19, as God's people, who
(10:06):
have just been delivered out ofEgypt and seen incredible
miracles at the hand of God, arenow coming to his presence on
the mountain.
And let me just read you Exodus19, 16 through 20.
On the morning of the third day,there were thunders and
lightnings and a thick cloud onthe mountain and a very loud
trumpet blast, so all the peoplein the camp trembled.
Then Moses brought the peopleout of the camp to meet God and
(10:29):
they took their stand at thefoot of the mountain.
Now Mount Sinai was wrapped insmoke because the Lord had
descended on it in fire.
The smoke of it went up like asmoke of a kiln and the whole
mountain trembled greatly.
And as the sound of the trumpetgrew louder and louder, moses
spoke and God answered him inthunder.
The Lord came down on MountSinai to the top of the mountain
, and the Lord called Moses tothe top of the mountain and
(10:52):
Moses went up, and so it's nosurprise that everyone is
trembling.
Right, this is like a hurricanemixed with an earthquake, mixed
with every other naturaldisaster you can think of.
This is terrifying, and it'sterrifying because when a holy
and just God speaks to a sinfuland unjust people.
They are rightly terrified.
(11:13):
See, it wasn't just the lightshow, right?
It wasn't just the smoke.
It wasn't just the earthquakes,right?
Many of us in Florida, we gothrough hurricanes all the time.
We live through it.
Sometimes we do hurricaneparties.
We drink while we are partyingtogether and waiting for it to
go by.
So it's not just the physicalcircumstances that are
terrifying, it's what theyrepresent.
(11:33):
That they know is real thatthey stand before a holy God and
that the consequences of beinga sinner in the presence of a
holy God are death andseparation forever.
And so Moses quaked.
And yet it makes me wonder whywe don't quake.
We come in here every Sunday andwe believe that we come
spiritually into the presence ofGod.
(11:54):
We believe that and we knowthat we are sinners and that he
is holy Moses himself, the modeof deliverance for God's people,
who by his own hand saw thewaters parted right.
He quaked with fear as he cameto the mountain.
Paul tells us in Romans 3 and 6why this is.
Paul tells us that no one trulyseeks for God or does good.
(12:17):
He tells us that the law wasgiven to hold the world
accountable to that fact, thatat the end of the day,
everything we do, even when wedo good, is truly only for our
own benefit.
And so the law reveals our sinand three, he tells us the wages
of sin is death.
And so Israel.
When they receive the law, wesee what happens is that they
(12:39):
try to live it out in their ownpower or they fully reject God
and turn away, and they're justconstantly in that cycle, unable
to fulfill the law.
And so how we know we are doingthe same thing, with either
running in our own strength orrunning away from God, is by
asking when blank happens, whatdo I do?
And you can think ofcircumstances you're in, you can
(13:01):
think of anything that you'regoing through.
But when that happens, what doyou do?
If the answer is not listen toGod's voice through the
scriptures, through prayer,through the body of believers
and mature counsel and throughsubmitting to the church, then
you are either running away ortrying to run in your own power,
and you will collapse.
God will hold us accountable toall of our sins, to all that we
(13:26):
do.
That is not in his strength forhis glory, and so this is an
invitation to tremble as we comeinto God's presence.
There is good reason to tremble.
There is sin in our own lives.
I don't think anybody in herewould say that they love God
with all of their hearts, soulsand strength.
Day in and day out.
We are reminded as we look atSinai, the depth of our sins and
(13:49):
, at the final, unless youbelieve that you have prayed a
prayer right, that you come tochurch, that you lead in City
Kids, that you serve, that youare reading the scriptures day
in and day out, and so thismessage is not for you, remember
that there will be many who getto heaven and who say Lord,
lord, and who have done greatworks in his name, and Jesus
will say I never knew you.
There will be many more that doindeed enter the kingdom of
(14:11):
heaven and yet see so much oftheir lives burned up because so
much of it was lived in theirown strength, looking to idols
rather than God.
We look to Zion to rememberthat we serve, or rather Sinai
to remember that we serve a holyGod who says mine over every
inch of our lives.
(14:33):
It's said that some people whowork on Wall Street can work up
to 110 hour work weeks.
That's nuts.
And there's stories in anarticle I read recently where
some of these workers werereporting on their experiences,
and one guy.
He said he worked a whole yearon one project and one day he
took 25 minutes away just to gograb dinner and when he got back
(14:55):
his boss yelled and screamed athim because he needed to be at
his desk the whole time heworked on this project.
Another story was a banker whowent to HR and said hey, we've
been working 20-hour days everyweek, and then just a few weeks
later he was diagnosed with afailed pancreas after collapsing
at home from exhaustion.
Doctors said they believed theorgan failure that was linked to
(15:18):
the banker's heavy workload wasto blame.
I think a lot of us are workinglike these analysts, right,
we're giving all of ourselves,whether it be to your work, to
your family, to the church, towhatever it is that you're
pursuing after right, we'regiving all of ourselves, whether
it be to your work, to yourfamily, to the church, to
whatever it is that you'repursuing after right, we give
all of ourselves to those things.
But eventually we will collapseif we are running in our own
strength.
We will collapse if we'rerunning after the wrong things.
(15:41):
And so how can we stop runningin our own strength.
Well, that brings me to mysecond point, that as we look
back to Sinai, we also lookforward to Zion, because Jesus'
blood speaks a better word.
Go ahead and look at verses 22through 24 with me.
Verse 22 says but and that's abig but and I like big buts and
(16:04):
I cannot lie but that's becausethis but is leading us to Zion.
Right, this is good news we areabout to hear.
We've looked back and now we'relooking forward, and so it's
worth acknowledging thistransition in the text.
So, verse 22,.
But you have come to Mount Zionand to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, andto innumerable angels in festal
(16:28):
gathering, and to the assemblyof the firstborn who are
enrolled in heaven, and to Godthe judge.
And so here our author gives usseven sublimities, which are
beautiful realities, of what itmeans to be a child of God.
(16:52):
First he says Mount Zion, thecity of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem.
This is to live and dwell inthe presence of God.
This is what Adam and Eveencountered in the garden before
there was sin and brokenness inthe world.
This is what God is slowlybringing us into, into the new
heavens and new earth for allwho are in Christ, which is a
reality, in which there will beno more pain and no more
(17:13):
suffering and every tear will bewiped away, where we will dwell
with our God forever.
Right, this is what will be,but we know that those of us who
are in Christ can alreadyexperience this in part.
Now we also come to theinnumerable angels and festal
gathering.
See, back at Sinai, there wereangels blowing those trumpets
that terrified Israel, right,that terrified God's people.
(17:35):
But now, in Christ, we come tothose innumerable angels in
festal gathering in a party.
Right, they're just up theregoing.
Right, it's like, it isexciting.
This isn't just like floatingon clouds and like drinking Mai
Tais.
This is like.
This is a joyful gathering atthe wedding feast, right, and we
come to the assembly of thefirst born, which is all who are
(17:57):
in Christ.
Although our brothers andsisters in Christ we will see
again in heaven in the next life, we will be with them forever.
We will be and belong to thefamily of God.
If you long for belonging, youhave it.
In Jesus Christ, we come to theGod, the judge of all, which
previously would have ustrembling right, would have us
(18:17):
in terror because of our sin.
But when we come to him infullness, jesus will have
declared by his blood that weare righteous, right.
We forever will have our sinswiped away, we will be before
him and we will have a place inhis kingdom.
We also come to the spirits ofthe righteous made, perfect,
right.
So all those in the hall offaith, moses and Abraham.
(18:39):
They will be with us, they willbe our brothers and sisters.
We will walk with them in thelight of God's face.
In beautiful community we willsee unity in diversity amongst
God's people.
We're a diverse people made inthe image of God's face.
In beautiful community we willsee unity in diversity amongst
God's people, where a diversepeople made in the image of God
will also have perfect unity,something we long for now but we
cannot have in fullness untilwe get to the new heavens and
new earth and we come to Jesusright, the leader and perfecter
(19:02):
of our faith.
God become man, who for our sakedied and endured the pain of
the wrath of God, that we mightknow him forever.
So how do we come to all ofthose things?
Well, hebrews, chapter 9,verses 13 through 14, bring out
how we, as defiled persons backin the Sinai covenant were
(19:26):
sprinkled with the blood ofgoats and bulls, right, and so
this was according to the law.
But it wasn't for the purposeof cleansing them then and there
.
It was to show them the depthof their sins, that they needed
to come to God.
Right, they needed to look toSinai and to the law to remember
that we in and of ourselvescannot do this.
We need to trust on God'spromises to sanctify us, to make
us new, to bring us to Zion,and so that's what they were
(19:50):
intended to do.
We need to depend not onourselves but on God's work.
And so we see that, through theblood of Christ, a better word
is spoken over us.
The Old Testament roster offaith opened with Abel's
acceptable sacrifice and deathearlier in Hebrews.
But the cause of his death, hisbrother's violence, was not
mentioned.
Now we hear an echo of God'saccusation against Cain.
(20:13):
The voice of your brother'sblood is crying to me from the
ground.
Its cry was for avengingjustice, but Jesus's blood
intercedes for mercy andforgiveness.
And what does it declare?
It declares that we arejustified.
And what does it declare?
It declares that we arejustified.
The Westminster ShorterCatechism defines justification
this way.
Justification is an act of God'sfree grace, unmerited love and
(20:37):
favor upon us, wherein hepardons all our sins and accepts
us as righteous in his sight.
Only not on our righteousness,but the righteousness of Christ
imputed to us, placed upon usand received by faith alone.
Justification means rest right.
We no longer have to strive tobe acceptable to God.
(20:58):
We no longer have to strive tomake sure everything in our
lives works out the way we needit to work out.
We have a good God who has goodpurposes for us, who, in Jesus
Christ, has claimed us as hischildren and we know we are
forever righteous in his sight,forever belong to his kingdom
and we'll be with him in the newheavens and new earth.
Justification means rest, so wecan look back at Sinai right
(21:19):
and know the depth of our sin,but look forward to Zion and not
in fear run the race, but injoy.
In John 16, 22 through 24, jesusis about to go to the cross,
and so he's talking with hisdisciples and they're confused,
and so he says so also.
You have sorrow now, but I willsee you again and your hearts
(21:40):
will rejoice, and no one willtake your joy from you.
In that day you will asknothing of me.
Truly, truly, I say to youwhatever you ask the Father in
my name, he will give it to you.
Until now, you have askednothing in my name.
Ask, and you will receive that.
Your joy may be full.
See, for those in Jesus, theother side of death is
(22:01):
resurrection, and not justresurrection but fullness of joy
with a good Father.
You know my children.
We preach the Bible to them, wepray with them, but you don't
really know what sinks in untilthey say something that is like
profound, but with childlikefaith, and you're like what in
the world?
And so the other day so Lucaand Holland both do this.
(22:23):
But the other day Holland heardLauren and I talking about just
the long day we've had and thethings that we're stressed about
and kids are always listening,you know.
And later she says to Lauren Iprayed for you that you would be
full of joy and be happy, thatyou wouldn't be sad anymore.
(22:45):
And she said she prayed to God.
You are a good God who loves meand my mommy.
One day we will die and be withyou.
It's okay that we will diebecause we will be with you.
Just the beauty in thatchildlike faith.
That's the faith that Jesusinvites us into when he declares
(23:07):
over us that we are forgivenand that we belong to his
kingdom, which is unshakable.
When you believe that evendeath can't shake you, you have
that childlike faith, and so Iinvite you to come as a child of
God, which leads me to my thirdpoint and conclusion, because
Jesus' blood speaks a betterword we can look up.
Let's look at verses 25 through29.
(23:28):
Letter word we can look up.
Let's look at verses 25 through29.
See that you do not refuse him.
Who is speaking?
For if they did not escape whenthey refused him, who warned
them on earth?
Much less will we escape if wereject him.
Who warns from heaven.
At that time, his voice shookthe earth, but now he has
promised yet once more.
(23:48):
I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.
This phrase, yet once more,indicates the removal of things
that are shaken, that is, thethings that have been made, in
order that the things thatcannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, let us be gratefulfor receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, and thus letus offer to God acceptable
worship with reverence and awe,for our God is a consuming fire.
(24:13):
There's a lot that can be saidon those verses, but I wanna
invite us to look at verse 28.
Because of the blood of Jesus,we can look up in worship, in
gratefulness and acceptableness.
And this is in the context ofhis last words in this chapter,
which is our God is a consumingfire.
And that's a reference back toExodus 20.
(24:34):
See, in Exodus 19, they come upto the mountain right.
They are beholding the God whois a consuming fire.
But in Exodus 20, god gives hislaw, the Ten Commandments, and
the first two commandments areexplicitly about his worship.
You shall have no other godsright and you shall not make any
idols in any other image.
And he says why is that?
(24:55):
Because I, god, am a jealousGod.
And when we hear the wordjealousy we often have a
negative connotation.
But the Bible has no negativeconnotation, especially in
relation to God.
John Frame, a renownedtheologian, puts it this way.
He says God's jealousy is apassionate zeal to guard the
exclusiveness of a marriagerelationship.
God's jealousy, he says, isalways directed against idolatry
(25:17):
.
By nature he deserves anddemands exclusive worship and
allegiance.
John Owen, a church father,calls this God's vehement
burning affection right.
This is God's vehement burningaffection that we would be with
him in fullness, that we wouldlove him with all our hearts,
mind, soul and strength, so thatwe can receive all of his love,
(25:40):
his steadfast love, hisstrength for us, that we can
dwell with him in fullness inthe new heavens and new earth,
but as full as possible now.
That is his vehement, burningaffection for our worship, not
just for the sake of us givinghim something, but for the sake
of us receiving the greatgoodness that he has for us.
Another commentator says bothvisions must be held in blessed
(26:03):
tension within our soulsconsuming fire and consuming
love.
Right worship is full surrenderto that love, to the vehement
consuming fire of God's love.
All ourselves and ouraffections are owed unto God and
he desires them for our sakes.
And yet this can feeloverwhelming.
How the heck do we love Godwith all of our hearts, souls
(26:25):
and strengths?
We know the ways we fail inthat every day and it can be
defeating.
And the way to it is throughgratefulness.
We've been given.
Gratefulness is to understandthat we've been given a gift
right.
We have been declared justified.
We have received the promisesof God.
We didn't do anything to earnthose.
God has given them to us andinvited us to look upon his son,
(26:47):
jesus Christ, and receive them.
We've been justified in hissight, we have belonging in the
kingdom of heaven, and so welook with gratefulness on what
God has already given us Hisvehement, burning affection and
steadfast love.
His chesed, pursues us nonstop.
We see, this is the story ofthe Bible of God's people.
God constantly pursuing hispeople, regardless of the sins
(27:09):
that they are in, regardless ofthe ways that they turn away,
regardless of their idolatry.
He is always pursuing us.
His love is at the doorknocking and always ready to
enter.
Gratefulness is the key to anunshakable faith and right
worship.
We cultivate gratefulness.
Are you ready?
Through postures of greatfullness?
(27:30):
See what I did there.
We need to be filled with thefullness of God.
God is offering us himself, tous in Jesus Christ in
relationship, and he invites usto be filled with his fullness.
And in order to do that, we doneed to look back to Sinai.
We need to invite God to exposeour brokenness, our sins and
our great need for him, and thento offer those up to him daily
(27:54):
and allow him to cover them withthe blood of Jesus.
Go to him and ask for what isours right, which is to
experience the justification,the righteousness, the
sublimities that God offers allhis people in Jesus Christ.
We need to, then, look forwardto Zion, to claim that as our
own and to seek God and all ofthe things that he has given us,
his instruments of mercy, thechurch, community, the
(28:17):
scriptures, prayer.
He's available to us and hedesires that we engage him
everywhere we can and we mightbe filled with his fullness, not
for the sake of those thingsthemselves, but to encounter and
receive from him.
And then we can look up inworship, and in right worship,
because we are grateful for aGod who has already given us all
of these things.
And so we can invest our livesin what is shakable, right, day
(28:42):
in and day out.
We can just kind of go throughour lives and not really
consider what's going on in ourday go to work, feed our family,
do things that are good in onesense but ultimately will be
shaken and sifted, and the newheavens and new earth.
Or we can invest in what isunshakable by looking to God.
For all that.
We need Meb Keflasigi.
(29:03):
So he ran with the names of the13 bombing victims on him, he
carried them with him and he wonthe race, but only for a
perishable crown.
Jesus, he also runs the racefor us and the joy set before
him when he endured the crossJesus was unshakable, and the
names he carried were also ofthose who were dead.
But in reaching the end, jesusactually raised them from the
(29:25):
dead.
Jesus has run the race for us,brothers and sisters.
He has and is carrying you nowand he will complete the work
that he started.
In Isaiah 40, verses 9 through11, we see an image of this
which says go on up to a highmountain.
O Zion, herald of good news,lift up your voice with strength
.
O Jerusalem, herald of goodnews, lift up fear, not Say to
(29:50):
the cities of Judah behold yourGod who is running to you.
Behold your God.
The Lord God comes with mightand his arm rules for him
running to you.
Behold your God.
The Lord God comes with mightand his arm rules for him.
Behold, his reward is with himand his recompense is before him
.
He will tend his flock like ashepherd.
He will gather the lambs in hisarms.
He will carry them in his bosom, near his heart, and gently
(30:11):
lead those that are with young.
Give the God who loves you withburning affection, all of
yourself, and you will findyourself full of joy and not
fear, and you will find yourselfunshakable in his hands.
Pray with me now, lord.
We do come.
We come to the living God.
(30:34):
We know you are here with us now.
We know that there is much inour lives that you declare mine,
that we have not yet given overto you.
We know you are here with us now.
We know that there is much inour lives that you declare mine,
that we have not yet given overto you.
We know that that grieves you.
And we know that you havealready covered us in the blood
of Jesus, when we believe, byfaith, that you have died for
our sins and you've risen to newlives so that those who belong
to you would know the unshakablekingdom would receive it.
(30:56):
And so, lord, we ask by yourSpirit, give us faith to believe
, help us to draw near to you,Help us to surrender all of our
lives, all of our sin andbrokenness.
We declare to you that we arein need, o Lord, we are not
enough, but you and Jesus Christ, through your blood, have
covered us and declared that weare justified, righteous,
(31:16):
forgiven.
Thank you, we look forward tothe new heavens, new earth and
the joyful party that we willhave with you in heaven.
We pray that you'd help us tokeep that before us.
We pray this in Jesus' nameAmen.
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