A Tale of Two Mountains a sermon in the series Hebrews: An Epistle of Encouragement A sermon delivered Sunday Morning, June 8, 2002 at Oak Grove Baptist Church, Paducah, Ky. by S. Michael Durham 2002 Real Truth Matters Hebrews 12:18-29 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) 22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. 27 Now this, Yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire. The author of Hebrews sets up once again a set of comparisons. He has done this throughout the book. He begins the comparison in the very first verse of Hebrews and does not stop. In verse one the comparison is with how God spoke in the Old Covenant with how He speaks in the New Covenant. The writer tells in the opening verse that in the Old Covenant He spoke by men and angels, but in the New Covenant He speaks by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Here in chapter twelve the writer once again compares and contrasts the Old Covenant with, the New. Let me remind you that in order to encourage the Hebrew Christians this contrast was important. Many unconverted family members and friends had taunted them accusing them of becoming heretics in leaving the faith of Judaism. The contrast showed them the superiority of Christ and the covenant He instituted with His blood. He tells them in chapter eight and verse six, But now hath he (Christ) obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. And now the writer continues this contrast in chapter twelve.
What is a covenant? I think it is good that we revisit this definition. A covenant is a binding agreement between two or more parties. God has in redemptive history established two covenants, one with Old Testament Israel, and the New Covenant with all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The author shows us the difference between these two agreements. Notice the contrasts between the covenants as a contrast of mountains. The Old Covenant is described as a burning mountain, which is referring to Mt. Sinai when God came down upon the mountain to give Moses and Israel that covenant. The New Covenant is described as Mt. Zion, or in other words, the New Jerusalem. Visible and Tangible vs. Invisible an Intangible The first contrast between the two is that one is visible and tangible and the other isn t. Verse eighteen says, For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched... He says For ye are not come. Who is the ye referring to? The Christian. The author is addressing the Christians to whom he was writing, and it is addressed as well to us who are converted. Only a Christian is admitted into the blessings of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is only for the regenerate and redeemed, unlike the Old Covenant when unregenerate souls participated in it as well as regenerate. Now it is true men may say they align themselves with the New Covenant of Christ and profess to have accepted this High Priest who has offered the sacrifice of Himself once and for all for sin. They may join themselves to a New Testament Church and enjoy its ordinances. They drink of the cup of the vine and they pull themselves up to the table of Christ as do all believers. But the kingdom of Christ is not a tangible and visible kingdom. It is spiritual and so are all those who live under the New Covenant and participate in its grace. The author in the eighth chapter and verse eleven has already cited the Old Testament Scriptures to teach us that only the genuinely saved are in the New Covenant. And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. There will be no need for one member of the New Covenant people to evangelize or teach another who Christ is because all in the covenant know Christ personally and experientially. Why is this so different than the Old Covenant? It is because of the promise of the next verse. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more (Hebrews 8:12). The Old Covenant did not guarantee the removal of sin and unrighteousness. It could cover the sin with the blood of bulls or goats but not justify the one offering the sacrifice. Thus many,
and indeed the majority, of the Jews were never redeemed from their sins. They may have been redeemed from Egypt, but they were never redeemed from sin. Are you in the Covenant of Christ? Has the blood of the Lamb of God been applied to you and your sin? Have you experienced the Redeemer s love and had your heart sealed in that love by the Holy Spirit? All those in the New Covenant have had this experience and need no one to tell them that God loves them, for they have the inner witness of the Spirit that they are the children of God. This is why we do not baptize infants as others do. Many have made the mistake thinking that the New Covenant was like the Old in this regard, having both regenerate and unregenerate souls in it. Thus they baptize infants as those under the Old circumcised babies. But the kingdom of Christ is not a physical kingdom on this earth. It is spiritual, as all that are in it are spiritual, born of the Spirit, born from above. Thus, our Lord s command, Ye must be born again. Only the child of God by the Spirit, and not by religion, comes to this Mt. Zion. The ye is the redeemed. The first covenant came into being with a very visible display of God s power. The text continues in verse eighteen and nineteen, For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more (Hebrews 12:18-19). What a sight to have beheld as God, the Holy One, came down on that mountain. The Old Covenant came in a very visible and demonstrative manner. But the New Covenant comes to each one, who will believe, in a much quieter fashion. It is an inward change that takes place. Oh, quieter does not mean less powerful. Far from it! The new birth is as dramatic as the shaking of old Mt. Sinai, but again, it is not visible this inner working of the Holy Spirit in the heart. You should not expect a certain feeling or demand dramatics if you need salvation. This is a dangerous thing. There are some who think one must feel a certain emotion or have a certain visible response to this inward work of God saving a soul. I have heard men speak suspiciously of some who did not weep when they believed upon Christ to the saving of their souls. But the Bible does not say a word that a man must weep when God forgives him and makes him a son. Some believe they must be under some spell-binding and intense feeling of their guilt. Again, there is no word of this in the Scriptures. Oh, yes, a man or woman must know the conviction of sin and must acknowledge their guilt before God, and every one that is born of the Spirit will do so. But the intensity of such conviction may not be as much in one as it is in another. Do not make this the test of faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved! This is the standard and test of conversion. Have you believed? Believing is a quiet thing that happens in the heart. Oh, for some it may become a demonstrative thing but the saving occurs in the heart and that, you and I cannot see.
But neither am I advocating an emotionless conversion. That too is wrong to insist upon and has become the ruin of evangelicalism. The moment when God humbles the sinner and causes him to personally know the love of God is going to bring with it emotions. Thus, I do not see how a man can be truly converted and feel nothing. To feel nothing must mean you have received nothing as well. We have all too often given the impression that conversion was nothing more than walking forward in a meeting or that it is the same thing as making a decision. How wrong! Both things can be done without any emotion. A decision can be in the mind only, nothing more than an intellectual response to a sermon. The inner work of the Spirit may go on under the cover of the invisible, but it does not go on unnoticed or unfelt. It is my point to say we must not insist on a certain emotion or insist on a certain intensity of emotion. Neither must we remove all emotion. Salvation begins and comes in the inner chamber of a man s soul. This we cannot see. This is all our Lord explained to Nicodemus concerning the new birth. He said to the religious leader, The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit (John 3:8). Frightening and Joyless vs. Godly Fear and Joy The second contrast is the Old Covenant was a covenant of fear and without joy. Whereas, the New Covenant is a covenant of joy and godly fear. We will talk more about godly fear when we come to verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine. In verse twenty-one even Moses was disturbed by what he saw. And so terrible was the sight, [that] Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. Moses had seen the bush that burned, and he had witnessed the awesome judgment of God on Egypt. He lifted his rod and a sea parted. But now the fearsome holiness of God descends upon a mountain and Moses trembled and was afraid. I cannot imagine the horrors of God s manifested presence if Moses was afraid. The Exodus account tells that great lightening attended this sight of God descending upon Mt. Sinai. Jagged bolts of light attacked the atmosphere and left in their vacuum the collapsing of air that was so loud that it must have sounded as if the sky were going to collapse on top of them. The sound alone would have been enough to cause the steadiest of nerve to flinch. The Old Covenant was indeed frightening and without joy to the violators of it. The Old Covenant Law promised either life or death, and for the vast majority it meant death. In fact it was death to all, even Moses. It requires complete and perfect obedience. However, the problem was not with the law for the Bible says the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good (Romans 7:12). The problem is with man. Man cannot keep the law. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans assures us of this fact of man s inability in chapter eight and verse three, For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh... What is it that the law could not do? It could not save us because the flesh is weak. The flesh s weakness is its propensity, its desire to rebel. The problem with mankind, and it is a problem with you and me until God changes us, is that we are resistant to God s law of righteousness. Again, Paul in chapter eight of Romans says in verse seven, Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. The natural mind of man is carnal, meaning of the nature of flesh, and it is natural to this mind to resist God. In fact, Paul makes it certain that it is not in the nature of any human being to serve God when he adds the words, neither indeed can be. And so the Old covenant bound its subjects in joyless defeat. I cannot pass this section of our text and not plead with you who are basically moral and of a kind nature. This is the greatest obstacle you face in coming to Christ and truly being converted. You do not see the dilemma of mankind, much less feel it. You see yourself as being good and keeping the commandments of God. You insist that when you were a child or teenager you asked Christ to come into your heart, not because you really believed and felt you were a sinner condemned, but because you believed this was what was required of you to become assured of heaven. But this is exactly the problem with that line of thinking, it is requiring you to do something to effect or bring about your salvation. This is not the attitude of the truly repentant and humbled. Salvation is never, ever, described in the Bible as something you do. Salvation cannot be brought about by you fulfilling your part of the deal and then God will do His. You may ask, But doesn t the Bible command us to believe, repent and confess Christ? Yes, it does, but not as if it were something you could do without the Holy Spirit s help. Believing, repenting and confessing are not intellectual decisions alone. And if they are, they are merely exercises and works of the flesh. They that are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:8). The sinner whom God has convicted and who is abased in his sin always sees himself as, first, undeserving. He sees clearly that even in areas where he had thought himself blameless, he is guilty of sin. He sees the true nature of his heart and how that his heart is a cesspool of vileness. He hears the thunder of the law crashing over his heart, and he knows that not only has he transgressed the law but also that he could never keep it perfectly. He feels the deadness of his heart which up to now his flesh had hidden from him. Am I not describing you? The powerful and persuading God has lifted the blindness, and now you see your soul as you have never seen it before. You know hell is not just a place you will one day soon go, but is even now in your heart. This is a work of God and only God can do this work in the soul of a sinner. Second, the sinner whom God has abased knows that he is unable to save himself. It is this fact that causes him to flee to Christ for mercy. He knows his own hands are too feeble to open the gate of heaven. There is nothing he can do to earn God s forgiveness. He understands that he could not be saved if he prayed a thousand prayers and wept an ocean. Saying I m sorry will not lift the burden he feels weighting his soul. He rightly concludes there is nothing he can do but plead for heaven s mercy. But third, something is given to the humble of heart. In a moment, not of the sinner s choosing, an authority is supplied and with that authority the knowing that his sins are forgiven and that Christ is his personal Savior. Are you surprised by the word authority? Well, you shouldn t be. It is the wording of Scripture. In John chapter one and verse twelve it says, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
The word power is a Greek word that means the power coming from the position of authority. It is often translated authority in other places in the Bible. This authority is conveyed to the sinner who has experienced the knowledge of his sin and helplessness. But John goes on to show the origin of this authority to become the child of God in the next verse. He says, Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13). Herein is the difference of the Old and New Covenant. The Old Covenant could not conceive one child of God; it could not birth one son. But the New Covenant conceives and produces these called the children of God. Salvation is truly the wonderful work of God. That is why in contrast the New Covenant is a covenant of joy. The birth of a child is a blessed and happy event. There is great joy in the home receiving a new family member. The New Covenant produces such a joy. God s family is a happy family. In verses twenty-two and twenty-three our writer says, But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. The sound of that refreshes the ear and the heart. There are no frightening sounds, no terrors, just serenity and joy. Heaven is a joyful place. The phrase to the general assembly means a festive gathering or joyful assembly. Jesus said that the angels rejoiced in heaven over a sinner being converted. Can you imagine the joy that will fill heaven when all the saints of God will be gathered there? Thus, we who are in the New Covenant experience the joy of heaven. But not just in heaven. This joy is something we now experience. Surely heaven will be nothing more than a fuller measure of the joy we now have in knowing Christ. The Old Covenant was a burden not a joy. There is no joy in a law which a man cannot keep. You object and say, The Psalmist says, I delight in thy law, O Lord. Yes, but this was a regenerated man speaking. When a man is converted he can enjoy the law of God and love it. His joy is a result of being freed from the penalty of the law. This is the joy of the New Covenant. We have been freed from the penalty of the law. It is true that an unconverted, but religious man may say that he delights in the law, but not for the reason that the saved man delights in it. The religious unconverted can delight in the law s morality. He can delight in it seeing it as a means of approving his self-righteousness. Or he can take joy in it believing it to be the means to salvation. In other words, it shows him what he must do to inherit eternal life, much like the young rich ruler who came to Jesus. But he cannot joy in the law if he should see it as an exposer of his condemnation. If the Spirit of God shows a man the thunder and lightening of the law and his failure to keep it, why he will have no joy but fear. Oh, but the Kingdom of God is joy! Listen to our Savior s words of greeting when we arrive in heaven, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will
make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Matthew 25:21). Heaven is the place of the joy of God. I tell you, you don t know anyone who can enjoy himself like the Lord God. He is not as so many think Him, somber, dismal, and miserable. Oh, far from it. The Bible says He does all his good pleasure, as well as, all is done for his good pleasure. The New Covenant is a bequeathing of God s infinite joy and gladness to us, His inheritance. A Ministry of Death and Condemnation vs. A Ministry of Life and Righteousness The third and final contrast between the two mountains, which represent the two covenants, is seen in verses twenty, twenty-three, and twenty-four. The Old Covenant was a ministry of death and condemnation while the New Covenant is a ministry of life and righteousness. First, the Old Covenant as the bearer of death and condemnation. In verse twenty the author says of the Old Covenant s giving on Mt. Sinai, For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart. The mountain of Sinai had become the throne of God. The mountain was holy with God s presence. Every rock, tree, and shrub was filled with the glory of God. Thus God commanded Israel that no man was to touch the mountain and if an animal should touch it, it was to be killed. All who touched it were immediately given death without parole or pardon. This illustrates what we have just explained about the law. It could not save, and therefore, it could only condemn. The law could not help one person. It could not save one sinner. But it was not designed for this purpose. It was given that we might understand our sinfulness. It was a constant reminder of God s glory and that we have all come short of it. The law is the reflection of God s holy nature. It tells how perfect and good God is, and that He expects the same from us. But we, on the other hand, are not like God, although we think we are. We somehow have made the mistake of thinking that God s righteousness is like ours, that He will be fair and equitable like you or I would be. If we do more good than bad then the good will overcome our sin. That sounds fair doesn t it? But God is beyond fair, He is righteous and holy. He is absolute perfection and such perfection cannot suffer or abide with the least breach of holiness. Have you ever sinned? You say, That s a silly question. We have all sinned. Exactly the words of Scripture, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). And with your sin you incur and rightly receive the condemnation of God. What is condemnation? It is the very opposite of righteousness. Righteousness is the same as being acceptable with God. Therefore, condemnation is being wholly unacceptable with God. To be righteous is to receive God s approval and blessing, but to be condemned is to receive God s disapproval and judgment. Because of your inability to obey the law of God you are disapproved of and already under His judgment. God even now looks upon you with disgust and disapproval. You cannot think for one moment that God can maintain His own righteousness and associate Himself with you.
And yet I find this is the main thinking of most religious people today. They have refused a free giving of salvation because they think they can somehow earn it by their own goodness. They think that God judges righteousness just like they do. But this is just not possible. If God were to judge goodness and sin as you do, He could not be righteous Himself. It is here that the greatest sin is occurring in churches, making God to be like man. Hear the word of God, God is not a man (Numbers 23:19). He is infinitely better than you or I and does not think about sin and goodness as we do. Here is God s word about sin, The soul that sinneth it shall surely die. Ah, do you think because you have sinned much less than another, that that makes you acceptable? Foolishness! Have you ever sinned, albeit ever so little, you have violated the holy nature of God. You are now dead in your sins and trespasses. Goodness, morality, and kindness cannot resurrect a corpse. A ceasing or quitting of sin and starting to be religious will not bring new life. The law has been violated, and first offenders and repetitive felons all receive the same death. Death is death. You cannot be any more dead than dead. Have you sinned? Then you are dead and all your goodness cannot resurrect you. You need new life. This new life is the promise of the New Covenant. It is a ministry of life and righteousness. This is the author s point in verses twenty-three and twenty-four. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. All of this speaks of life. Notice the words, firstborn, heaven, made perfect, and blood of sprinkling. These are not words of condemnation but of righteousness and life. This new covenant, which every true believer is a part of, is a result of the mediation of the death of Christ. Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling. The blood of sprinkling is Jesus blood, and here is the life of Christianity. Christ willingly gave His blood, His life, that we who trust in the efficacy of His blood might not have to give our own blood as payment of the penalty for breaking God s law. It is clearly a case of substitution His life in place of ours. This is the contrast that the writer of Hebrews is making. The Old Covenant requires death and judgment, but the New Covenant brings with it the fulfillment of death and judgment, not in us but in Christ Jesus. Therefore, the author is once again saying that to have life you must not revert to a system that in the end will always produce death. To try to obey some external law, whether it is the Ten Commandments, some church s regulations, or your own code of standards is certain death. It is to be doomed to endless gloom and fear. Live by your own strength and you will die. The Bible says, For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live (Romans 8:13). To live after the flesh is to live by your own hand, your own standard of righteousness. The Scriptures speak of the Jews, For they being ignorant of God s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3). You too are ignorant of the righteousness
of God if you believe in your own goodness. What is the righteousness of God? It is even Christ Jesus and His substitutionary death on the cross. The only hope of salvation is to be included in the New Covenant. You must be a party to this agreement God has made with Christ and all who believe in Him. It is very simple. If you live by the mandates of the first covenant, which is, keep every law and do not violate it in spirit or deed and you can live. Break it in the very least of the commandments and you die. The New Covenant says that Christ has fulfilled the righteousness of God and the law so that we might be given His life and obedience. It promises to put a new heart in us that loves God, to cleanse us of all of our sins, and to put in us a non-ending desire for God and His glory. This is repeated in Paul writings to the Corinthians. He says, Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory (2 Corinthians 3:6-9). The Old Covenant was glorious and to all who broke it death. The New Covenant is even more glorious. The voice that now speaks is from heaven. The voice is not the voice of Moses. It is the voice of Jesus Christ the Lord. If they who heard Moses and did not obey did not escape judgment, then much more those who will not obey Christ will not escape. Verse twenty-five of our text reads, See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more [shall not] we [escape], if we turn away from him that [speaketh] from heaven: His message is clear if you will not obey Him who speaks from heaven, then you will be judged and judged more severely than they who would not obey the Old Covenant. If you do not become party to the New Covenant which is the ministration of the Spirit, you will die. It cannot be stated any clearer than that. So I ask you, which covenant are you a party to? How does one become a party to the promises of the New Covenant? That too is easily answered. Humble yourself and look to Christ who bled and died for sinners. Trust that His death is not only sufficient to cancel your debt to God s law but that it is your exact payment on your behalf. Would you kneel at the mountain called Calvary and accept this Savior Christ Jesus who is your sacrifice for your sin? I plead with you, forsake the mountain of the law with its terrors and death and come to a hill called Mt. Calvary where Jesus suffered and bled and died. The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus blood that it speaks, better things than that of Abel. What does our Lord s blood speak to us today? It shouts from the mountain tops to the valleys, For
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more (Hebrews 8:12). It speaks to the conscience, The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:7). Believe it, my friend, and let its joy fill your heart. Ask God to heal your deafness so that you might hear even now. Believe this voice and reject it not. To reject this voice is to reject your eternal salvation from the judgment to come. It will come. Death will come to your home and it will invade your body and to the grave you will go. The New Covenant is the covenant of promise, joy, and life. Become a party to its promise and live! Amen.