You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Hebrews 12:18, 22.
Starting in Hebrews 12:18 the writer goes back to a topic every Jew was familiar with…Moses and the people at Mount Sinai who arrived three months after leaving Egypt… God told Moses to prepare for His appearance [Ex. 19:11].
Exodus 19:11 …be ready for…on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. You are to set boundaries for the people all around: ‘Be careful that you don’t go up on the mountain or touch it. Anyone who touches the mountain…whether animal or person, is to be put to death.
Mt. Sanai was the place where Moses would receive the 10 commandments and where he would catch a glimpse of God’s presence…Moses ascended Mt Sinai a total of eight times to meet with God…it was on his sixth trip up the mountain that God gave him the 10 Commandments.
What was the purpose of recanting this scene…why the need to share with them an event they were all familiar with? …under the threat of persecution, they were tempted to abandon Christ to return to their Jewish faith.
Beginning in verse 18, the writer once again goes back to the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old Covenant…the author uses the metaphor of two mountains, Mt. Sinai representing Jewish life under the law and Mt. Zion, which is the destination and dwelling place of God and His people, to point out the difference in relationship to God under the Old and New Covenants.
If you’re familiar with that story you know the scene on the mountain when the people arrive…Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the LORD had come down personally with fire…lightning flashes…storms…and earthquakes… because God’s holy presence had come to rest there.
It was so frightening that the people said we don’t want to hear God speak any more…Moses we’ll trust you to tell us what He said…in fact…even Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling [Heb. 12:21].
This is one of the passages in the book of Hebrews that we classify as a warning passage…the major thrust of Hebrews…really the whole Bible…is written to believers…but periodically there is a recurrent warning to unbelievers.
The true meaning was for those Jewish believers who were being tempted to return to trusting in the Torah…but this story has an application to every person in this sanctuary…the application for us is to run our race to completion…don’t look back…stay focused…finish strong in our efforts to enter into God’s rest.
There are a number of warning passages in the book of Hebrews…they are specifically addressed to the Jewish person who understands the gospel but for one reason or another did not accept Jesus as Savior.
These warnings have an application to us today…for the people:
…who do understand the claims of Christ but blatantly refuse to accept them.
…who do understand enough of the Bible to be responsible for their decisions
…but for some reason hold back from really committing themselves to Jesus.
The problem for these Jewish listeners was because under the old covenant there was no public instruction…no such thing as ‘Sunday school’… synagogues were used principally for the reading of the law and the prophets…hardly anything was offered for the continual instruction for the common people.
Few people ever spoke to God or were taught by Him…in fact between the last chapter in Malachi and the first chapter in Matthew is over 400 years of silence …God speaking to no one…hence the importance that every person instructs his neighbor.
But under the Gospel dispensation no longer do we need someone to teach us the elementary things about God because they will all know me from the least to the greatest…What’s that mean? TWO THINGS:
FIRST…primarily speaking of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a guide and teacher for those who are saved (John 16:7–11) …every Christian has direct access to God Himself…God teaches us through the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us… (1 Cor. 2:10;16, 1 John 2:20,27)
BUT to think that by just reading the Bible I’ve now become some kind of Biblical scholar…or He’ll equip you by giving you some supernatural automatic understanding of the Bible is foolishness.
SECONDLY…because I accept John Wesley’s definition of Prevenient Grace, I believe the grace of God is active and present in every person’s life…it’s a gift…a gift that stirs up within every person a desire to know God and empowers them to respond to God’s invitation to be in a relationship with Him…a gift that is always available, but that can be refused.
Exactly what Paul says in Romans…no person who has ever lived can honestly say…I don’t know who God is…because the knowledge of the Lord is engraved on the minds of everyone because God has revealed Himself to everyone.
For unbelievers God speaks through what is called general revelation …every human being has enough knowledge of God to be held accountable before God.
That which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood by what has been made, so they are without excuse [Rom. 1:19-20].
So literally all people from the least to the greatest have a knowledge about God.
No one needs to be taught about God…no one really believes creation just happened.
So why is it that people do that…have the evidence of God and refuse to believe? …Hebrews gives five warnings which are actually reasons why people don’t respond to Christ in a positive way.
Reason number one is neglect…the warning in chapter 2:3–How shall we escape having neglected so great a salvation…that is the way it reads in the Greek… ‘having neglected’ …that word is an aorist participle…meaning something that’s been occurring in the past…it introduces the circumstances under which an action occurs.
The circumstance is you missing out on salvation…the action causing you to miss out on salvation is you neglecting who Jesus is.
For these people who are neglecting Jesus…it’s because He has never been a part of their life…been living just fine without Him all these years…why should I make such a dramatic change now.
For people today who think they’ve been doing fine all their lives without Jesus …might want to reevaluate that…especially with regards to eternity.
That’s the first reason people don’t come to Christ when they know the truth… they just never get around to it…too busy…doesn’t seem important…maybe later…here’s the warning:
…after the age of 14 there is only a 15% chance of becoming a Christian
…after the age of 30 it decreases to just a 10% chance of becoming a Christian. http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/ages.htm
When Timothy writes that God desires…or His ‘will’ is that all men to be saved …that word in the Greek means a wishfulness that can be rejected.
Second reason is unbelief…some people believe but they don’t believe…they believe in an historical Jesus but don’t believe in Him as their Savior … “I sort of believe and I guess it’s true but I haven’t really settled it in my mind”.
That’s the warning in chapter 3:12 … take care that none of you from an unbelieving heart falls away from the living God.
So you have some people who don’t make a real commitment to Christ because they neglect to do so…and some people because of unbelief.
The third thing…all of these are interrelated…people who never come to Christ because of what you might call tradition…it’s a matter of the way they’ve always done things.
He discusses this in chapter 5:11 through chapter 6:6 …with Church tradition being the most prominent…with respect to the Jews he says you better not hang on to those old traditions…all those elements of Judaism you better let go of.
Nothing wrong with tradition…there is beauty in tradition…BUT…when years and centuries of tradition and church doctrine are believed over scripture… you’re choking out the working of the Holy Spirit.
The Supreme Court regularly reviews court cases to determine if they are in line with what they believe the founding fathers would have intended…laws are often changed because they become outdated…BUT…when the church decides it needs to review the meaning and application of the Bible to make it more relevant to today’s lifestyles…there are serious consequences.
God is very adamant about adding or removing anything from the Bible [Rev. 22:18-19].
So, there’s the possibility of not coming to Christ through neglect…not coming to Christ through unbelief…and not coming to Christ because you’re hung up with some of your old ways and traditions
Example…at the care home we observed the Lord’s Supper…one lady refused because she was Lutheran…have no idea what that had to do with anything.
The fourth warning comes in chapter 10…another reason why some people withhold from committing themselves to Christ is what you could call impatience.
What do you mean by that? …the best way to say it is they never see all the promises that Christianity offers coming to pass and so they question the legitimacy of the promises in the Bible.
If God is so good…why is there sin…wars…abuse…why is everything the way it is? …he discusses that in chapter 10:25 through the end of the chapter.
Some people draw back because when they look at Christianity it doesn’t solve all their problems…they get impatient with the claims of Christianity and so they fail to commit to it.
Or…since I’ve become a Christian, things haven’t gotten any easier for me…if anything…they’ve gotten more difficult.
If you’ve been with us in our study of Hebrews you know that life can be more difficult being a Christian…if your decision to become a Christian is based on the idea of living problem free…it’s not going to happen.
So far there’s been neglect…unbelief…tradition…and impatience…then there’s number five…the one we’re talking about in our text today…the fifth thing that keeps people from coming to Christ…fear.
When these Jews looked at Christianity what they saw was persecution…under the threat of persecution they were tempted to abandon Christ to return to their Jewish faith… anybody living in the first century who took a good look at Christianity saw persecution.
When a Jew became a Christian, they immediately got ostracized from their family…they suffered…in addition to the difficulties they experienced because of the Jews and the Romans…some figured I don’t need this frustration in my life.
Then…you have people telling you that now that you’re a Christian…there will be times when God’s going to discipline you through trials and testing…now that you’re a Christian God’s going to work on you to mold you and refine you …again…why do I need to add additional frustration in my life?
There’s more to being a Christian that just being one by name only…living a Christian life is not easy…many figure the price is too high…too demanding …too restrictive…in addition… “I don’t want to become a Christian and then have God dogging my every step” …not realizing He does it because He loves you… because you’re His child.
Now having said that, he goes on in verse 22…here’s the whole thrust of the passage in one sentence…there are two kinds of religions in the world: the religion of works…represented by Mt. Sinai and the religion of grace represented by Mt. Zion.
When people fail to come to Jesus, they’re on Mt. Sinai
Sinai is the mountain of fire…smoke and thunder.
Sinai confronts us with commandments, judgment and condemnation.
Sinai was unapproachable.
Sinai reminds us of death,
Sinai is Divine punishment
Sinai represents trying to earn God’s favor through doing things…never knowing if God is truly happy with them…as a result…living their life being fearful…frightened…and uncertain of the future.
But when people trust Jesus as their Savior, they’re on Mt. Zion.
We have not come to a place of flaming fire…darkness…and gloom…we’re not to be fearful…being on Mt. Zion allows us to be in God’s presence.
Zion presents us with forgiveness, atonement and salvation.
Zion is Divine love.
Zion is life eternal.
Zion is accepting Jesus and God’s grace.
Question is…where are you living…on Mt. Sinai trying to earn acceptance of God by keeping laws and doing things…or on Mt. Zion…free from the demands of the law…where obedience is done out of love…not out of fear.