The Sherman text, Hebrews chapter 12, I’m sorry, verse 18, Hebrews 12, 18 to 29. Hebrews 12, 18 to 29. Please give your full attention, this is the word of our God. for you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, darkness and gloom and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice whose words may the hearers beg that no further message be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stolen. Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. but you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all the earth, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenants, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse. him who is speaking, for they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, yet once more I will shake, not only the earth, but also the heavens. This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of all things that are shaken, that is, things that have been made. in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. The word of the Lord. Great God, Heavenly Father, we come again before you this morning at this time now. Anticipation and expectation as you speak to us from your word, Lord, we bask in the privilege of knowing your presence, of being in that presence as we worship together now. We thank you for this, your word. We thank you that you have preserved precisely what you would have us to have, Lord, so we praise you for this. are listening. And all God’s people said, amen. I want to come again, the beginning-ish of a new year, right over a few Sundays in. But I wanted to begin by looking once more at this key part of our Christian life, in corporate worship. Corporate worship. It’s good to regularly be revealing what we believe, So I wanted to take the Lord’s Day, this Lord’s Day, at the beginning of this year, after several extremely disruptive and disorienting years, and get it to reset for us, maybe for the first time even, what Hebrews means, what the author of Hebrews means when it says acceptable worship, acceptable worship. And I wonder if you’ve ever thought about what that is. What is acceptable worship, or well-pleasing worship, is how it’s translated in some English Bibles. Or even if there is such a thing. You give much attention to this. If there’s such a thing as acceptable worship. Because our culture, and many in the broader church, don’t really think in those terms. It would be hard for us to say that any worship is unacceptable. But is there such a thing as unacceptable worship? Are there types of worship, that is, that even though those involved are well-intended, would be unacceptable? Well, if you look at this passage on Hebrews 12, we have to conclude, particularly Hebrews 12, 28, that there is acceptable worship. We’re encouraged, we’re admonished, we’re told that this is what we’re to do. And there is unacceptable worship. Because if no standard exists for us to determine what is acceptable and unacceptable worship, it ends up coming down to what? To what we feel like doing, right? Our personal preferences. And this is a popular view, by the way, right? Just being heartfelt. That’s the key thing. It’s the only criteria, right? Be sincere. And the truth is, it’s not really a disagreement, this discussion, between what instruments are acceptable or the age of the hymns. It’s an issue that is much bigger than that, much bigger than that. We can get bogged down in this issue, for sure, in these particulars. But they’re more downstream, really, from what is important. So that’s the important question. What does God accept as acceptable from us in corporate worship? That’s the question. What is acceptable worship? We could, of course, spend lots of time looking at different kinds of worship or our own personal histories and preferences and experiences. We could get into all the details of it. of the so-called years of the worship wars, I don’t know if you’re familiar with that phrase. But instead of that, I think it’d be helpful for us to look at Hebrews 12 and see what we can learn about worship from what the text is actually saying, what God expects and accepts in worship. Just what is it that we’re doing? What are we to do in worship? You’ll see that the corporate worship of God’s people is altogether amazing and awesome. It’s a glorious thing. And I fear too often many of us think little of worship. I think little of worship. Not only the time that we give to it, for the grandeur of what’s going on, the magnitude of what’s happening in worship. So I pray that as we look at this text and we reorient ourselves to this glorious gift of God and corporate worship, the worship together as the body of Christ to the Lord, that we will indeed praise and worship him in this very moment. As we look at this issue of worship, we will worship him as we do so. And that’s what we want, because that’s what he wants from us. for us to worship and praise and exalt him as he serves us with truth and with his grace and mercy. And so just to reframe what’s going on here, you’re probably all familiar with the book of Hebrews. Hebrews is that book that’s all about the superiority of Jesus. It’s about the superiority of the person of Christ, in the priesthood of Christ, in the superiority of the privileges of Christians. The privileges that we have are altogether superior. Jesus is giving those to whom he’s writing a warning. It’s a warning. And the core of what that warning is is related to the worship of the church. The church is made up mostly of Jewish Christians, to the letters given. The church there is made up of these Christian believers from Jewish background. And many of them are leaving to return to Old Testament worship. They left the court, worshipped in the church, and returned to Old Testament, Jerusalem, temple, sacrificial worship, with priests and all. And this is what they knew, this is what they grew up with, this is what they’re familiar with, this is what they preferred. And this is the temptation that they had to go back to Old Covenant, physical form and focus of worship. And so in Hebrews, there’s a danger. I don’t know how many of you realize this, but many have identified Hebrews as a whole as a sermon. That it’s a sermon. Can you imagine a sermon of that length? Most of us can in our days, right? But many scholars have seen this as indeed a sermon. And again, as I said, the author here, or the preacher, is pleading with them not to go back to the old, not to return to temple worship. He’s telling them that Christ is superior. He has fulfilled all that that stood for. You don’t go back to the picture when you have the thing, right? God’s giving them something better. In fact, all of that old way was what? It was preparatory. It was pointing towards Christ. So don’t leave Christ. Go back to the pointer. And in fact, what God offered us in Christ, as we know in Christ Jesus, the worship that he has given is superior to the old covenant. Why? Because Christ is the culmination of all those pointers. and our worship of him is superior to that old covenant’s worship. And if that’s true, and it is, it’s really a no-brainer that if a new covenant worship is superior to an old covenant, that that which God ordained, even though it was planned obsolescence, if that’s true, how much more is anything that man could come up with? How much inferior is that? it’s very clear that new covenant worship is superior to the inventions of man. And so let’s now get into our text and we’ll see that as we look at it, we see Hebrews giving a number of reasons why this is the case, why new covenant worship is superior. And he gives us some grounding as we do so. We look to figure out, to answer our question, what is acceptable worship? And we see in the text, Acceptable worship is what? There’s a number of things that it describes, that it gives to us. We have that one in the back of your literature there. But we see that acceptable worship is what it must have appropriate place, must be in the appropriate place, must have the right people, and must have the right posture in worship. Place, people, and posture. And so Hebrews first discusses what the place, right? What is the place of worship? Acceptable worship must be in the right place. And we see in verses 18 to 22 this very thing. And the author in this discussion, this text, begins with a comparison, right? Two different gatherings, right? He’s laying out for you two different gatherings. God’s word is so rich and so full, sometimes we miss simple propositions. But we see here that there’s a comparison between two church assemblies, right? So look what it says here in 18, verses 18 and 22, right? We see these two things. Verse 22. says you have not come to a mountain that may be touched. Numbers 22. But you have come to a mountain. It’s Mount Zion. And he’s talking about, in verse 18, right, what is he saying? He’s, you’ve not come to a mountain that may be touched. What does that mean, that may be touched? And of course, when we look at this passage, we see that it’s pretty clear that he’s talking about Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai, right? And about Israel as they were gathered in the wilderness at this time. Remember, they came and they gathered to enter into covenant with God on the mountain. And it’s clear that it was a physical mountain and it could be touched, a physical mountain. But the warning there at the time was do not touch it. Remember, do not touch it. That’s why we read the corresponding verses in the Old Testament. And here it’s Hebrews, right? So even if a beast touches it, it will surely die, it says. But for certain, there was a mountain that was touch, touchable, visible, and physical. And Hebrews is saying, that’s not the mountain you’ve come to. It says it’s a heavenly mountain that we need to grasp by faith. He says, you have not come to a mountain that cannot be touched. And then he describes the mountain. Burning, blazing fire, darkness, gloom, tempest. He’s describing Sinai and that event in Israel that they saw, remember, and experienced in the wilderness. And he tells Hebrews, this isn’t your reality. This is not your worship as the assembled people of God. You, New Testament Christians, are not like them at that mountain. You are a corporate assembly. You’ve come to a mountain, but it’s a different mountain. Hebrews gives us a comparison between these two church assemblies. There is one church assembly at Mount Sinai in the wilderness, and then there’s this church assembly of the New Covenants. in Hebrews, right? And they are gathered on a different mountain. They’re at Mount Zion. And it says we’re no longer at Zion, but instead we’ve come to this rich mountain of grace in the New Covenants. And so they come, like we come, to Mount Zion, says verse 22. And we come to nothing less than, it says, Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Of course, this is three different places. It’s three ways of describing the same place. But he calls the same place by three terms, Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. And he says, you come to this one place, this one assembly, and you see in the Old Testament, Zion is just another name for the city of Jerusalem, as we read our Old Testament. And we see this throughout. the old so the author of Hebrews is he tells them that they shouldn’t go back to the physical place Jerusalem physical Jerusalem because they’re currently in Jerusalem the heavenly Jerusalem so he’s juxtaposing these two he says to go back to that physical city Jerusalem will be lost they want to go back to the to temple worship. And the author of Hebrews is one in that they were really concerned about Jerusalem, about Sinai. They’re already there. It is theirs, even now. It’s not the place down in Palestine. And this instructs us all, because the author says, you’re not at Sinai, you’re in Jerusalem. And the Jewish Christians were not trying to go back to Sinai, you see. They weren’t trying to go back and return to the mountain where the Ten Commandments were given, right? They wanted to get to Sinai. I’m sorry, it was not to get to Sinai. They wanted to get back to Jerusalem, where the Temple was. Because in their mind and their experience, that was the goods. That was where they needed to be. But notice the author equates Sinai and physical Jerusalem. He puts them together. And this is very interesting. And he says that they’re the same place when you compare them to the true Jerusalem. They seem to be the same place. You’re talking about these physical things. That’s not what it is. There’s a heavenly that needs to be your focus, the heavenly Jerusalem. And this isn’t, just to clarify for us, because we can get dizzyingly lost in what’s going on. But in Galatians 4, right, we Similar comparison, right? So if you’d like to turn to Galatians chapter 4, it might be helpful to see this. We’re just going to look at verse 25. It’s early text, good. But it says, it’s Galatians chapter 4, verse 25. Paul says, now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. And then what? She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, where she is in slavery with her children. Right? You see that? Paul says Agar is a type of mountain. She’s Mount Sinai. That’s the mountain. And he tells us where that mountain is. It’s in Arabia. And then he says, now that mountain corresponds to what? To present Jerusalem, the physical present Jerusalem, whose children, he says, are in slavery even now. All right, so he says, Sinai is physical Jerusalem, and all physical Jerusalem’s children are in bondage because they have not received Messiah. And so Paul, he takes Sinai and physical Jerusalem, and he makes them parallel, right? He combines them together. And Paul continues, and he goes on in that passage, and he says that the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is the mother of us all. Speaking of the church, and so regarding true worship, what’s Paul saying? He says that that is no longer Sinai, physical Jerusalem. Those aren’t the place for true worship. When we think in our minds, in our collective database, in our memories about worship, one of the verses that we think of for paths is this statement in the Gospel of John, you’ll remember, John chapter 4, when Jesus is in discussion with this woman at the well. She asks him a question about worship. In the proper place for acceptable worship, remember. So what does Jesus say? He says, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither this mountain nor Jerusalem will you worship the Father. But the hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him. And then the verse that we remember, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. 21 and follow spirit and truth and you see he makes this connection right it’s not that mountain it’s not Jerusalem right you’re no longer he says going to worship at this mountain nor in Jerusalem the hour is coming and now is he says where that’s all changed it’s not a physical mountain here on earth but instead he worshipped what in the Jerusalem that is above Hebrews 12 22 calls this Jerusalem heavenly Jerusalem Heavenly Jerusalem. It’s the same Jerusalem, by the way, you may be making another connection in your memory, that the book of Revelation tells us will come down on that last day. There’s, of course, Revelation 21, verse 10 says that He carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain, and He showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Right? It’s amazing. And so the author of the Hebrews is saying, that’s where you are right now. That’s where you are. And as a corporate assembly, when you come together to worship in the church, he’s telling them, you don’t need to go down to Jerusalem because you’re really in Jerusalem, the true Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem. Where is it? It’s up in heaven where God is. That’s where you are when you are gathered as God’s people together to worship. This is an amazing thing. It’s an amazing thing, and it’s very emphatic. It’s very focused and emphatic in scripture. In worship, we are drawn into heaven itself, even now. This is the wonderful reality of it. We talked about the already and the not yet. We are already, this is true of us. And of course, we’re awaiting the consummation of these things, when we’ll be in full reality. But we’re there even now. When we see things like this in scripture, we should be challenged, right? We should think, do I believe that? Do I believe that about words? How much more would my life be changed if I truly believed that? What would be different about my life, my approach to my week, the liturgy of life, my rhythm of life, working and focusing towards the high point of that week, the first day of the week, when we come for corporate worship? Our family worship, together as a family, should be the highlight of our day. But the highlight of our week is corporate worship, together meeting with God as a foretaste. glorious thing. And we believe it. Because it’s hard for us really to let that sink in and detach from the rest of our lives. Because we’re so grounded here, so earthy people. Our minds have a hard time thinking that it’s true. And we think, well, is that what’s going on on Sunday at church? It sure looks like we’re in a little brick church in Fort Wayne with limited parking and small bathrooms. But what we read here is that when we answer God’s call to come to worship, we aren’t simply here. We’re not simply here. Rather, we’ve been called up into heaven itself and are assembled in the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem. I know it’s very hard to comprehend that truth. It’s very hard. We’re physically minded. We’re physically tethered. But know for certain, brothers and sisters, know and trust and believe God’s Word tells us here that when you are beat down from life in a pilgrim lane, and when you’re weak from the journey, and you’re weak from the world, and from the devil, and from your own flesh, know that Lord’s Day by Lord’s Day, He calls you to come, and He blesses you, and you experience a foretaste of glory in worship together with God’s people, right? He calls you to taste a small sample week by week. And so by it, he does what? He strengthens us. And he refreshes you. How could it? How could we at all think that this is boring, right? How could we all think that this is a drag and this is a strain on our lives? This is glorious, right? We come and we’re filled. We’re sent back out into the world, refreshed, enlightened, vivified. So acceptable worship, we see here, first of all, is in the right place, right, the right place. That is the heaven of Jerusalem. Glory itself, so we need to grasp that this heavenly worship, because what it tells us next intensifies the glory of what’s going on in worship, right? So it’s not just a place, the right place, the heavenly city. But secondly, is the right people, right? So with the right people in the right company, right, acceptable worship. This is verses 22 to 24. We’re drawn into glory and corporate worship, right? To the heavenly city as we come, that’s the place. And who is there with whom we worship? And who is there? Verse 22, and you come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and then it says what? And to innumerable angels in festal gathering. innumerable angels. It says you’ve come to myriads, thousands upon thousands, is what that means. And it says not only should you not go back to the physical Jerusalem, but when you gather for corporate worship, you’re surrounded by thousands, myriads of angels. That’s a hard thing for us to grasp as well. We’re so monodirected to physical things. But this is happening in the past, right? Look at what the text says. Verse 22. You’re in heaven in Jerusalem, you come to that, and to innumerable angels, confess the gathering. Right, this is the same group of angels that you read about in Revelation 5, John was taken up in the heaven, remember, and he was shown what it was like in glory. He says in Revelation 5.11, he said he heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. How many is that? 10,000 times 10,000. Thousands upon thousands. This is what Hebrews is saying here. That the vision that John saw of all these angels surrounding the throne, when you come here to worship together the body of Christ, that is where you are. That’s where you are. Hebrews tells us. And then notice what kind of gathering it is. What kind of gathering it is. It’s not a dirge. It’s not a memorial, somber thing. This is a gathering of angels, what? It’s a festal gathering, festal, celebratory gathering, right? Joy and praise, festal. Not a common word we use much today, but that’s what it means, celebratory. And we see in the revelation of the song that they sang, remember the song, it says, worthy are you, O land that was slain, to receive glory and honor and power and blessing. They’ve taken up in song about this slain and risen Christ who now rules in their midst. Hebrews is telling us here that the church, right, as the church, that is where we are called to. Worship. Worship. So worship. You’ve been caught up into having your part of this scene right now. Believe it. It is true. It’s the testimony of God’s word to us. Angels are truly present in our midst. So true and right worship is with the right people. And the first of those right people that we encounter, Hebrews tells us in chapter 12, we read about these myriads of angels. And then next he goes on to say in verse 23, we are also with the assembly of the church of the firstborn, And we read here in Hebrews that the same language from the discussion regarding those gathered at Sinai. There are parallels there as well. Of course, you may know that the word for church is ekklesia, right? We get the word ecclesiology, right, or ecclesiastic, right? It’s the word, ekklesia, and that’s what Israel is. And when they’re assembled at Sinai, that’s what they’re called. So when you read the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, we’re at Deuteronomy 4, Exodus 19, Israel is called just that, the ekklesia in the wilderness. Those who are called out, and they’re also called what? They’re called God’s firstborn son, and God’s firstborn son. Remember when God speaks to Pharaoh, this interaction between Moses and Pharaoh, God says, let Israel go, you remember, for he is my son, even my firstborn son. The Lord tells Pharaoh about Israel, my firstborn son, and so it’s important for us to understand what’s going on in the book of Hebrews, right? The context is keen, and it helps us understand, and we’re required to understand that, right? These Jewish Christians are being tempted to go back to old ways, right? To revert back to old covenant worship. And they’re afraid that they’ve, in moving away from that, they’re afraid that they’ve thrown off their birthright. And then there are some who are doubting that Christ is, in fact, away. They’re doubting the veracity of this. And so they’re wanting to return to worship in the temple, return to Jerusalem. Because they know, they think that it’s safe. And Hebrews is telling them, that’s not where the gathering of the firstborn is. The firstborn is not gathered in temple worship in Jerusalem. And the preacher in Hebrews is saying, whoever gathers together in this assembly, is God’s church, right? His assembly, His firstborn sons, those who are enrolled in heaven. In the dividing wall, you recall all of the systems and structures set up in the old covenants, regarding worship, the regulations, and the cleanliness, and for those who could come, those who couldn’t, and everything that had to be done, right? In this dividing wall, you remember. that separated them has been abolished, Hebrews says elsewhere, right? And there’s no longer those who are far off, right, the Gentiles, and those who are near the Jews, right? Hebrews 2, verse 11 in the Bible talks about this very thing. Why? Because that wall has been obliterated. It is no longer. Rather, all who come and gather become part of the assembly of the firstborn. And so we gather, brothers and sisters, not only with Christians in this room, but with all the saints who presently worship, right? We gather, we worship in the spirit, and all of God’s people who are caught up into that same assembly as well. And then notice what else it says. Who else is there? It says myriad of angels, and then all the saints, and then who else? God, and God. It says, who is the judge over all? God is there, and he’s called judge in this assembly. He prescribes these various terms to describe God, correct? He doesn’t prescribe his attributes or other titles. He says judge is there, and God is judge, right? Why so? It’s because that’s what God is, right? He’s present in our midst on his throne as father, yes, but also he comes as judge. He is there as judge to show who you are, and to show who are his and who are not his. So God is there, the judge. And then the next Hebrew says, we see the spirits of just men made perfect are there, right? Again, this curious phrase, an interesting phrase. The spirits of just men made perfect. Of course, this is all true believers throughout history, right, throughout history. From the Old Testament all the way till now, God says they’re gathered there as well at the assembly in heaven. And then also it says what? Christ is there, that the mediator, Christ is there. Praise God that he is there. That’s why the judge being there is not so terrifying for us who belong to him, who he is our father. Because Jesus, the mediator, is there. And God sees you, who’s trusted in him for your life, dear Christian. He sees you clothed in the spotless perfection of that mediator, Jesus. And then Hebrews says what? He says, we’ve come to the spring of blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. And remember this incident as well. Many of you probably perhaps have begun a new reading at the beginning of the year, and you’re likely in Genesis, or you’ve just read through Genesis. And this is that incident, right? Abel, it’s when God came and judged Cain, his brother. And he said, I’ve heard the blood of your brother crying out. And what was he crying out for, do you remember? Justice, right, for justice. Justice against the sin when Cain murdered his brother Abel. Christ’s blood is there in his assembly, and it speaks something better than that. It speaks for something better on our behalf as the people of God. Not merely justice, but what? Grace, grace. And it was the Lamb who received the justice. He took the penalty that we deserved. And that’s why it is a joyous, and that’s why it’s delightful and wonderful that we can come, that we can be there boldly before the face of God to judge. Because of Christ, our mediator in blood, that sealed, secured who we are in Him. And so according to the scriptures, the church is gathered in the heavenly city of Jerusalem right now. That’s the place. Right now, and right now the people we are gathered together with, myriads, thousands of angels, all the saints who’ve come and gone in history, and the saints still on earth, currently worshiping together with us. We are together. God the judge is there, and with him, our mediator, Jesus. And it’s the blood of Jesus that speaks on our behalf. Grace for you, dear Christian, grace for you, because it was justice for Christ. which we’ve come at a glorious thing, indeed, a wonderful thing. Isn’t it staggering when we think about this? Isn’t it amazing? It’s awesome. It’s awesome. It’s incredible. This is a reality of worship, brothers and sisters. And so in your prayers and in your meditation and preparation regarding worship, right, has this truth settled into your minds and heart as you do so? I used to have a flurry throughout the week, just this rush and stagger in. I know that we do that so often, it’s so easy, because we’re weak and foolish people and forgetful. But let’s not forget, right, we’re reminded in God’s Word about what’s going on. And we ask, do we trust God’s Word here when it tells us about these things, that they are true? Or do we think, oh, if this were only true? It is true. Revelation says it’s true. Grasp by faith the reality of this. Trust what God is telling us and embrace it as a certainty. You truly are there, even as you are here. So this is a reality of this glorious assembly to which we’ve come. And the author’s telling them, all of those things that you want to go back to, all of them, they are pathetic and weak and dismal compared to the reality of what and where you now are as the assembly as the assembled church in worship together. And so all that pointed to what we have in Christ, and he is here with you, along with all the rest. And these things drive out this longing and desire to go back to what is familiar, but what has been done away with. And these things also drive what? They drive what we do in worship. They drive our order of worship in our liturgy. We don’t just throw things together because we want to be different, or we want to be old-fashioned, or we don’t want to be contemporary in worship. Don’t we do things, right? It’s no insignificant thing that when we come to God’s church to worship Him, we consider these things, the grandeur of them, right? We’re not trite in irreverence, right, in worship. Why? Because this is what’s going on. So you gather people that corporately with the church universal and have it on Earth, right? In all of God’s angels before him, his glorious picture on the throne of Christ on the throne seated next to him. That’s the same. And if that’s true, and again, it is. It’s reflexively, it’s reflexive and natural that we would change our focus from ourselves, right? And any other thing and put our focus on Him. That’s why it’s such a fraud and offensive and gross when we’re self-focused, ourselves, right? I don’t want to focus on myself. I’m gross and dirty and a sinner. We’re focused on the Lord, who He is. He identifies who you are as His people. So we put that focus on him, away from us and on him. Our worship will certainly be affected by these things that we believe, right? There’s a saying that our belief drives practice, right? And so what we believe will affect what we do. And so the type of worship that is acceptable, as we derive it from Hebrews here, will be informed and affected by the place of worship and the people in worship. and both Hebrews both demands proper and acceptable worship. And it identifies it as well, right? Demands it as it identifies it as well. And so then lastly, what we see here, right? In regard to this question, what is acceptable worship? It’s worship with the right posture, right? The right posture of heart. At 29, we see this, and that posture that Hebrews tells us is the driest acceptable worship, is worship that is joyful, full of gratitude, with reverence and awe. Reverence and awe. This is acceptable worship. And we see this in our text. After telling us where we are and who we are with, Hebrews tells us, verse 28, Let us be grateful. Be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship. And then he defines it with reverence and awe. We’re not to be trite. We’re not to play games in regard to the Lord and our worship before him. The church, this church in Hebrews is being warned not to refuse God, not to reject him. Don’t go back to inferior worship. All this stuff was set up by the Lord, intended, designed, implemented by him, but it was plain obsolescence. Don’t go back to that. Christ can’t say you’re no longer going to have to worship like that. He’s telling them. There’s something better for you. Something better for you. Back at Sinai, it was very grave thing, right, for those who refused and rejected God. And now that way is inferior. We’ve come to the superior way, to the better way. Hebrews is saying if you neglect Him, if you refuse Him now, Now, the final has come. Notice also, this is not a sentimental softening of God. That’s from the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. It may be for believers. It’s a false understanding of who God was, or as God changes. The Old Covenant of God is Sinai. They think he was mean. He was just a meanie. The New Testament covenant, the New Covenant of God is nice, right? It’s not the testimony in Scripture. Not the testimony in Scripture. Ask Ananias and Sapphira if the New Testament of God was just a nice guy. It’s not that God was dangerous, and thankfully now he’s just nice, right? Verse 28, God is still a consuming fire. Consuming fire, not to be trifled with. And the same God who’s on Sinai is here in our midst. The reason we’re not undone and crushed with fear is because Christ is here. Christ, our mediator. This is what Hebrews is telling us. That’s why the warnings, and this is why there are warnings given, and this is why we offer acceptable worship. God is who God is. We should perform our worship. And we see that it’s informed by reverence and awe because of who God is, the character of God. Because God has not changed. He is still consuming fire. And so we come with joy. We come with joy because what? You’re forgiven. You’ve forgiven your sins. We come with fire. We come in gratitude because of all that He’s promised to you. But when you come, we come out with reverence in awe. Reverence in awe. So we often think grace is something that has domesticated God, right? somehow, God is still the judge of all and he’s still holy, he’s unchanging. When you come before him, you come before him as he is, holy, perfect, pure. And the only possible way and reason that we can come at all before him is because Jesus our mediator is there, praise God, because his blood was shed for us and was raised catapult us to greater reverence, to greater awe, to greater thanksgiving, and joy, rejoicing, and praise. So are you grasping all of this? As we reflect upon what Scripture’s telling us here, we slow down. Are you grasping the reality of this? Because the more we do, we can never think, as I said, the church is a boring thing. And if you young children be thinking about this, right? It’s glorious and wonderful thing. And we can come before the Lord. Or you can come with your parents before the creator of the universe, right? And all this flattering glory because of Jesus. Reflect upon that and you’re changed forever. And when people, when you as young children and me as adults actually see and grasp this, Right? What happens? We find that our heart is warm and we want to be here. We want to be here. Take part of what’s going on. So brothers and sisters, this is great and glorious. And this great and glorious reality should drive us to think about the way that we enter into worship. Drive us to prepare ourselves. Drive us to sing with all of our heart and see that joy and gratitude as of who he is, because truly, truly, what you can only see by faith is actually taking place, actually taking place. If God would just reveal to you what was here, right, it surely would change the way that we worship at church, even us who take it seriously, right, and think deeply about these things. So he has shown us by his word, brothers and sisters, What that is, we have to accept it by faith. The faith that he’s given us strengthens. And the means of grace. We could go on, but let us just focus on these three things from Hebrews. The place that we are brought to in worship. The people that we are with in worship. And the posture we are to have in worship. All because of who God is. And it should amaze you. It should amaze you that God wants you to take part in worship before him. It’s amazing that he wants to take part in that at all. That should truly blow your mind. It should blow your mind. And so let us, brothers and sisters, by faith, grasp what is truly going on when we come as his people in worship, corporate worship. Let us, as a result, come with hearts full of joy for what Christ has done for us. It’s all about the gospel. is Christ accomplished your salvation. And he is seated at the right hand of God the Father in glory. Your sins have been dealt with. If you belong to him, you are in him. That’s who you are. That’s what your identity is. Your sins fully and finally are dealt with. And that should drive you to rejoice, right? If you have yawning indifference to that reality, you need a heart check, brothers and sisters, right? To drive you to rejoice, right? We were purchased for the price and are now living sacrifices to God. And we come with full reference in awe. God has come to do business with you when you come to worship on the Lord’s day, to feed you through his word, and then feed you again at table, and to know once again that you are at peace with him. There is peace between you. So believe by faith, dear Christian, and come again and again. and joy and awe and reverence that accords this great holy God, for He is a consuming fire. Praise Him that all that was needed to escape the punishment due to you was provided for powerfully, completely, once and for all by the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen, let’s pray. Father, we Once again, your power and your love, Lord’s grace, the gift you’ve given to us, we delight to give you praise. We want you, we thank you rather, for your providence, for your control in our lives, that you were strong even as we are weak. For our beloved Savior who gave his life for our sins and rose again for our justification. Glorious and deep veins, but they are also very simple on saloon. I pray We pray together that you would help us to understand believe these simple propositions That our pride that our Savior came to give his life for us We pray Lord that you would come to strengthen us to protect us us to walk in Christ in this Pilgrim land or even as we’re exiles away from our true home in heaven And Lord, credit you to strengthen us. Help us to know and believe and trust in your strength. And that while we are indeed foolish and people and forgetful, you are wise and you are powerful and strong. And you remember, Lord, thank you that you know it’s my name. And as you call this to yourself, help us to know indeed that you’re working in us, your sovereign will. And we ask, Lord, that you would continue to bless this church. Father, we pray that you would make continue with the stability of us here. We pray this for your glory, that we would continue to be a witness in this city, this place that you’ve planted us. Lord, we ask a place in our hearts of longing for your name to be spread in this city and around the world, or to delight in your way to live faithful lives. Lord, we pray that you would with joy, according to your will, hearts of gratitude. Give us strength. Strengthen all of us to show that love, that reality, that light and love and grace that we’ve been shown. Lord, help us to invite others to come to hear your mercy and holiness and to hear the gospel and be confronted with Jesus, the only hope for life in this world and the next. We pray, Lord, for the unique sufferings that we’re going through as individuals, or we’re being mistreated, or we pray that we would know that your love and presence is always with us, or we would know that love and presence in and through the difficulties that we go through. You know everyone, Lord. We ask that you would grant us relief. We grant mercy and freedom to those who suffered. If it’s your will, Lord, we pray that you would heal and restore those of us who suffered. But Lord, whatever your perfect will, we ask to draw us close unto you, that we would abide our suffering well as witnesses in this world, knowing that this is not all that there is. And that we would know that we have a perfect, loving, gentle Lord who cares for us beyond all comprehension, more than we could ever know or imagine. the parents, the strength, the fidelity and consistency, Lord, and then the even passion to raise your precious children who you place in their care faithfully. more than they would have the joy of having a mutual, their mutual savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray for all here, young or old, married or single, Lord, we pray that you would help us all to find our fullest satisfaction, not in any station in life, not in any physical belongings, Lord, but our satisfaction in Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray that you would drive out, help us to drive out anything that would compete with him for that alone. Lord, be merciful unto us. Strengthen us spiritually. Conform us, we pray evermore to the image of our king, your son, Jesus Christ. For it’s in his name that we ask all these things. Amen.