back to index2021-07-18 Mount Sinai vs Mount Zion Pt 2
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 12, we're going to be in part two 00:00:10.480 |
It looks like we're going to have another part next week. 00:00:28.640 |
For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire and to darkness 00:00:35.320 |
and gloom and whirlwind and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound 00:00:41.440 |
was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. 00:00:46.180 |
For they could not bear the command, if even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned. 00:00:52.000 |
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling. 00:00:57.420 |
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 00:01:02.180 |
and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled 00:01:06.420 |
in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 00:01:12.100 |
and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better 00:01:21.700 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that you would help us and guide us. 00:01:25.860 |
May your word take center stage, protect this pulpit, Lord God, that your sheep will hear 00:01:38.140 |
I've shared with you many times that I started ministry probably earlier than I should have. 00:01:45.300 |
At age 19, my former discipler, he encouraged me to go to this church. 00:01:50.260 |
His friend was planting a church and wanted to go help out. 00:01:52.700 |
So I became a youth pastor at 19, just out of, again, just to be obedient to my discipler. 00:02:04.740 |
And there's a lot of things that I did as a young youth pastor. 00:02:09.020 |
You know, I was a youth pastor, I think, from 19 to about 24, 25. 00:02:12.580 |
And then I went to the college ministry, and then after that, the young adults, and then 00:02:18.260 |
And there's a lot of things that I did early on that I probably would not do now. 00:02:24.260 |
And one of the things that I remember very distinctly was I got a cassette tape. 00:02:32.260 |
Those of you guys remember what cassette tapes are. 00:02:35.420 |
And the tape basically was a recording of a demonic encounter that this live radio program 00:02:45.740 |
And so I listened to it, and I said, "Oh, it's very shocking." 00:02:48.500 |
And so I thought, "Oh, this would be a good idea to let the kids listen to it." 00:02:52.740 |
And so I remember Elder Joe was also in the youth group at that time. 00:02:59.580 |
So he was one of the guys who got traumatized that day. 00:03:02.780 |
So it just happened the night that I was playing that audio, it was raining and thundering. 00:03:09.780 |
And it was up in the darker part of the church, Irvine Baptist, that I was at. 00:03:15.120 |
And then basically the recording is, it was kind of like that live Bible program, but 00:03:20.860 |
And so people would just randomly call in and ask questions. 00:03:24.120 |
And so this young girl, I think she said she was maybe like 15 or 16 years old, she called 00:03:33.000 |
And you could tell that in the beginning, they didn't know how to deal with her. 00:03:37.180 |
I just pulled over and something led me to call. 00:03:43.520 |
In the beginning, it sounds like a prank call. 00:03:46.040 |
But as they are having this conversation, she started to say things like how she was 00:03:51.620 |
raised in a satanic home and that her whole upbringing was to prepare her for this particular 00:03:59.540 |
And so initially it sounded like, "Is this a prank call?" 00:04:04.120 |
And again, this is all recording live on the radio. 00:04:07.000 |
And you could tell back and forth that even the hosts are kind of caught off guard not 00:04:12.780 |
And so they started to share the gospel with her. 00:04:15.460 |
And then she said, when he mentioned the name Jesus, her response was shocking because she 00:04:24.340 |
Does he want to have sexual relations with me?" 00:04:27.100 |
And obviously it's blasphemous what she was saying, but the radio host is just caught 00:04:32.500 |
And she said that's the only thing that she knew. 00:04:34.780 |
So ever since she was a child, that this happened to her repeatedly. 00:04:39.540 |
And all of this supposedly was to prepare her for some sacrifice that they were going 00:04:45.060 |
Well, you can tell that the radio host is also kind of like trying to figure this out. 00:04:53.500 |
And in the middle of sharing the gospel with her, this is on live radio, her voice changes 00:05:01.260 |
And there's dead silence for about 10 seconds because you can tell the hosts were trying 00:05:11.600 |
And so the recording is that encounter that they have. 00:05:21.620 |
It's just that, in my wisdom, I thought this would be great for our youth group. 00:05:27.700 |
And at that time, I think Officer Joe was probably 13, 14 at that time. 00:05:33.580 |
So we had children as young as 12, maybe even younger, all the way up to 18. 00:05:39.020 |
And at the end of the recording, it was maybe about 10, 15 minute recording. 00:05:42.500 |
At the end of it, they actually said when this happened. 00:05:45.420 |
And it just happened to be exactly that same day, two years before. 00:05:50.780 |
And it was two weeks before Halloween that she was being prepared as a sacrifice if all 00:06:11.060 |
We were introducing Friday night prayer meetings. 00:06:19.500 |
It was a great way to start the prayer meeting because people were scared. 00:06:25.020 |
And the reason why I say I probably would not have done that again because I found out 00:06:29.100 |
way later that some of the younger girls were so scared that they couldn't sleep at night 00:06:35.940 |
And they didn't even tell me this until way later that they couldn't even wake up in the 00:06:40.260 |
middle of the night because they were so scared of what they heard. 00:06:44.700 |
Now I tell you all of this not to say like, oh, the demons are real. 00:06:50.740 |
But the purpose of this story to tell you the story isn't that like, was that a prank? 00:07:01.660 |
But the point of my story is whenever we hear stories of demonic encounters, whether it's 00:07:06.580 |
here or overseas, our immediate response is fear. 00:07:13.140 |
But is that fear based upon what we've learned in scripture? 00:07:18.620 |
Or is that fear based upon what we've been conditioned to think because of media? 00:07:23.780 |
Now I personally don't think Christians watching scary movies is a good idea. 00:07:31.140 |
Because your frame of work of the spiritual world is being framed by the world. 00:07:38.020 |
And so whatever you feel instinctively may be coming from you being exposed to certain 00:07:47.240 |
And I think in a large capacity that this intense fear that people have that the spiritual 00:07:52.420 |
encounter is not dictated by what we see in scripture. 00:07:58.260 |
And yet on the flip side, whenever we talk about encountering God, we talk about it so 00:08:08.660 |
And not to say that none of that is true or it's wrong, but typically when we talk about 00:08:14.540 |
God and his presence, we don't, there is no fear that's instilled. 00:08:18.660 |
We think of God as this holy grandfather that passes out candy. 00:08:24.820 |
And he, of course he doesn't like sin, but he just kind of brushes it off. 00:08:33.260 |
And so whenever we talk about the presence of God, there's no fear at all. 00:08:38.140 |
And yet when we talk about Satan, there's this trembling that is inconsistent with what 00:08:45.140 |
Until we have a proper view of who God is, other fears are always going to dominate us. 00:08:52.900 |
In fact, I believe some of the greatest heresies that creeps into the church is coming through 00:09:00.900 |
men who are more fearful of men than they are of God. 00:09:07.620 |
Why despite whatever pressures or persecution or whatever things may come as a result of 00:09:13.180 |
it, fear of God is what causes us to stay on the narrow path. 00:09:17.740 |
In fact, the scripture says in Romans chapter three, verse 10 and on, Apostle Paul gives 00:09:24.500 |
a description of the fall of mankind and what sins that they are guilty of. 00:09:29.500 |
And he, I'm going to just read a portion of it. 00:09:31.260 |
It says, "As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. 00:09:43.940 |
And then he concludes that section by verse 18 by saying, "There is no fear of God before 00:09:51.500 |
And so the reason why he puts it that way is all the things that he mentions in the 00:09:54.940 |
previous verse, he says the base reason behind why they are doing that is because they don't 00:10:02.580 |
They don't know who God is, so they don't understand the consequence of their sin. 00:10:06.640 |
And as a result, they can live in compromise. 00:10:10.540 |
But if we, you know, think about the spiritual encounter, there's greater, there should be, 00:10:16.340 |
ought to be a greater fear of God than any fear we have of the demons. 00:10:20.820 |
In fact, the Bible teaches that whenever the demons can counter Christ, do you remember 00:10:29.240 |
They got on their knees begging for his mercy. 00:10:32.100 |
Son of man, have you come before time to torture us? 00:10:38.460 |
Fear, not someone who can destroy your flesh, but your flesh and your soul in hell. 00:10:43.780 |
In other words, fear God because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. 00:10:49.380 |
The whole purpose of Mount Sinai was to teach us to understand who God is and where we stand 00:10:58.900 |
The law was given to make sin utterly sinful. 00:11:03.140 |
And the reason why he says that is because our natural state is we measure ourselves 00:11:20.980 |
So I'm a decent person because I do this or that. 00:11:24.700 |
But the whole purpose of the law, he says, was to reveal just how desperate we are until 00:11:35.660 |
I don't know about you, but when I was back in high school, I learned for the first time 00:11:46.260 |
And some of you guys probably learned it too. 00:11:47.980 |
And then once you, when you first learn it, it's like, oh my God, you can't put that in 00:11:51.420 |
your mouth anymore because, and since then I got over it. 00:11:55.620 |
But once you understand the disgusting nature of these things, you naturally want to stay 00:12:00.940 |
And that's the reason why we are attracted to sin is because we don't recognize the disgusting 00:12:04.820 |
nature of the sin until we recognize the destructive result of sin. 00:12:10.860 |
That because of sin, the utterly sinful and what results from the sin until we recognize 00:12:18.660 |
So the whole purpose of Mount Sinai and the giving of the law was to reveal exactly where 00:12:26.980 |
And not to simply put fear in them so that they can see and be brought to the cross and 00:12:37.500 |
See, people who come to Mount Zion without recognizing and understanding Mount Sinai, 00:12:46.300 |
it's like handing out, you know, it's handing out, you know, checks from the government, 00:12:55.380 |
The purpose of the stimulus check is so that people who lost their jobs can't get groceries 00:13:01.660 |
But for people who don't need it or don't realize that they need it, it's a down payment 00:13:10.300 |
They're going to pass it out, so I'll take it. 00:13:14.980 |
It's just kind of used, not to live, but just to enjoy. 00:13:21.500 |
So many Christians who have come to faith not understanding the necessity of the gospel 00:13:37.580 |
And if there's a possibility, even if there's 1% possibility that there really is hell and 00:13:41.740 |
the gospel is just being passed out, I'll take it." 00:13:45.180 |
And so what ends up happening is we take the grace of God and instead of recognizing what 00:13:51.220 |
it is that we have received, the grace of God is given to us so that we can go to God, 00:13:55.620 |
so that we can be reconciled with this holy God. 00:13:58.140 |
Instead, the grace of God is received so that I can live my life without the fear of hell. 00:14:06.140 |
And so you throw out phrases like, "Oh, we have Christian liberty." 00:14:10.720 |
So Christian liberty was given to us so that we can use that to freely evangelize, so that 00:14:18.300 |
we can come together, the Jews and the Gentiles can come together without having this fear 00:14:23.620 |
You've been given liberty to freely come and worship God. 00:14:28.140 |
But an individual who does not recognize where we stand before God, grace is just a free 00:14:37.900 |
That's why it's absolutely necessary that we understand the terror of God so that we 00:14:46.740 |
In Hebrews 12, 18-21, the description of Mount Sinai, this is what it says. 00:14:52.500 |
Remember what it says, we talked about this last week, "For you have not come to a mountain 00:14:55.220 |
that can be touched, and to a blazing fire, to darkness, to gloom, to whirlwind, and to 00:15:00.820 |
a blast of a trumpet, and the sound of words, which sound was such so that those who heard 00:15:05.780 |
begged that no further word be spoken to them, that his presence was terrifying, that even 00:15:12.500 |
his voice when he spoke, they begged to stop speaking, for they could not bear the command. 00:15:17.380 |
If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned. 00:15:21.340 |
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, 'I am full of fear and trembling.'" 00:15:25.660 |
So his presence and giving up the law cause terror. 00:15:31.140 |
In Revelation chapter 4, 1-3, there's a description of Mount Zion, and this is what it says. 00:15:37.820 |
"Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having 00:15:43.700 |
His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. 00:15:50.380 |
It's the same voice that they heard in Sinai, like the sound of many waters, and like the 00:15:54.860 |
sound of loud thunder, just like it's described in Hebrews, and yet the result was very different. 00:16:01.140 |
"And the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, 00:16:05.540 |
and they sang a new song before the throne before living creatures and the elders." 00:16:12.220 |
You notice how the same voice of God that thundered created terror, begging to tell 00:16:19.660 |
Moses, "Please do not, tell Him to stop speaking to us directly." 00:16:23.420 |
And we're terrified of Him, and yet in Revelation, in Mount Zion, they hear the same voice, the 00:16:28.620 |
same sound of thunder, and it leads to joy and celebration. 00:16:38.380 |
How does one mountain cause terror and the other mountain breaks out in singing? 00:16:46.380 |
How that same person could go to Mount Sinai and then come to Zion, and one leads to terror 00:16:52.460 |
and one leads to celebration, is where the Bible describes the gap of the cross. 00:16:59.640 |
Without understanding that tension, without understanding how we cross this, is what causes 00:17:11.200 |
Why people are bored with their faith because they took the grace of God like just free 00:17:21.460 |
The same God who caused the terror is the same God that causes joy and worship. 00:17:29.560 |
So it's important that we understand how we got here. 00:17:35.360 |
Mount Zion, he says, is not a place where you can touch. 00:17:41.300 |
So where Solomon built his temple was on the Mount Zion, this physical place. 00:17:48.000 |
The city of David was called the city of, was Mount Zion. 00:17:52.320 |
The whole city of Jerusalem oftentimes is referred to as Mount Zion. 00:17:56.320 |
Mount Zion is a reference to where God made his dwelling. 00:18:02.960 |
He's not referring to any of those particular sites because he says it's a mountain that 00:18:09.320 |
In other words, it's another word for heaven. 00:18:12.280 |
And so the way that the Bible described Mount Zion, he says in verse 22, it is the city 00:18:17.900 |
of the living God, a heavenly Jerusalem, meaning it is a permanent dwelling of God. 00:18:25.520 |
In Psalm 132, 13 to 14, it says, "For the Lord has chosen Zion. 00:18:38.480 |
Now the distinction between Mount Zion and Mount Sinai was Sinai was a theophany, meaning 00:18:44.880 |
that God from heaven decided to make contact with man. 00:18:48.780 |
So temporarily he came and revealed a portion of his glory, not his full glory. 00:18:55.080 |
In fact, remember the picture that I showed you of Mount Sinai where it's just blackened 00:18:58.920 |
because of his presence and his glory, the fire? 00:19:10.180 |
And that glimpse of his glory, his temporary showing of himself, created this terror for 00:19:19.520 |
And yet Zion is a permanent place where he habits, habitats forever in his full glory. 00:19:28.760 |
So how can you possibly, if imitation to Zion or Sinai created this terror just by his glimpse 00:19:37.340 |
of his glory, how can a sinful man possibly be invited to Zion? 00:19:48.200 |
And that was the whole purpose of the giving of the law is to create this tension. 00:19:57.480 |
You have to go to that God because he's the author of life. 00:20:04.020 |
So if we want to find eternal rest, he's the one that we need to go to. 00:20:07.480 |
Well how do I go to him if that God that I need to go to is at Mount Sinai? 00:20:17.800 |
And the nation of Israel understood this paradox, this tension. 00:20:24.160 |
You remember when the Israelites were coming out and they're going into the desert and 00:20:29.160 |
it didn't take them long for them to start grumbling. 00:20:32.360 |
Soon as they felt like the Egyptians were coming, they said, "Why did God bring us 00:20:39.320 |
Even after all the miracles, they go to the other side, they say, "Oh I'm so thirsty, 00:20:46.680 |
And so they just would complain and complain and God burns in his anger and he tells Moses, 00:20:51.680 |
"If I go with them, I'm going to kill these people. 00:20:55.360 |
I'm not going to be able to withhold my anger toward them." 00:20:58.640 |
And so Moses begs him, "If you do not come with us, we will die out here." 00:21:05.320 |
And so there was this tension that if he dwells in the midst of us, we can die because of 00:21:11.640 |
But if he doesn't go with us, we will die because his presence is not with us. 00:21:16.680 |
So there was this constant tension of we need you here, but we can't have you too close. 00:21:23.260 |
So if you basically study the Old Testament history of Israel, it's God's presence 00:21:29.260 |
drawing near to Israel and every time he comes, he gives them strict, scary revelation that 00:21:36.440 |
the only way that you're going to live is if I'm in the midst of your presence. 00:21:40.160 |
So he comes from Mount Sinai to the tabernacle, to the temple, and he gives them very strict 00:21:47.560 |
He says, "I'm going to dwell in your midst, but the only way that you and I are going 00:21:51.800 |
to have any kind of relationship is you got to follow these rules. 00:21:55.740 |
You have to recognize who he is and if you come to my presence in a nonchalant way, you 00:22:07.200 |
Over and over again, they sin, commit sin against God. 00:22:12.280 |
So in the book of Ezekiel, God has had enough. 00:22:18.700 |
And so his glory begins to be withdrawn from the nation of Israel. 00:22:23.120 |
So there's this scene in Ezekiel chapter 10 where the Spirit of God is in, it comes to 00:22:30.000 |
the Holy of Holies and it begins to move to the threshold, the outer court. 00:22:34.320 |
And at the outer court, it rests, almost as if it is reluctant to leave. 00:22:39.640 |
And then from there, he goes up to the hilltop, looking over Jerusalem and the temple, reluctant. 00:22:45.720 |
And it was a scene of God's Shekinah glory leaving not just the temple, but Israel because 00:22:52.780 |
And as a result of that, the protection for Israel is gone. 00:22:57.280 |
And as soon as that happened, the Babylonians come and they destroy them, take them into 00:23:03.640 |
The prophets tell us the 70 years of captivity happens because they specifically disobeyed 00:23:11.680 |
So every one of those 70 years represents a year that they disobeyed God in keeping 00:23:19.080 |
So they understood, if God is in our midst, we are in trouble, we're terrified. 00:23:24.680 |
But if he's not in our midst, we are destroyed by our surrounding. 00:23:32.840 |
So the Pharisees had an idea that we don't want this, we need him. 00:23:37.960 |
Even though we're terrified of him, we need it in our presence. 00:23:41.120 |
And so the Pharisees, basically their initial intent was that we're going to keep the law 00:23:47.920 |
And even the word Pharisee basically means holy, to be set apart. 00:23:52.100 |
And that's why I said, you know what, instead of just keeping the Sabbath, we're going to 00:23:57.200 |
We want to make sure that by keeping the Sabbath, that we're going to invite God's spirit back. 00:24:04.960 |
So their relationship with God is described in the book of Hosea, where it's kind of like, 00:24:11.320 |
you know, a boyfriend who cheated against his girlfriend. 00:24:15.640 |
And then he comes back begging, "I'm never going to do this again." 00:24:19.800 |
And then the girlfriend takes him back, and then, you know, a couple months later, he 00:24:25.040 |
And this cycle is repeated over and over and over again. 00:24:28.040 |
And he means it, but then he can't control himself. 00:24:32.140 |
And that's how it's described in the book of Hosea, between the relationship of this 00:24:37.600 |
And he says, "This is what our relationship looked like, that I kept on being gracious 00:24:42.800 |
to you, gracious to you, but you would continue to prostitute yourself over and over again." 00:24:47.600 |
So by the time we come to Christ and His revelation, it was to bring us to the point to recognize 00:24:56.040 |
that we are helpless, even with the best of intention. 00:24:59.760 |
And that's what Paul is describing in Romans chapter 7, a relationship with the Jew and 00:25:07.120 |
In Romans chapter 7 verse 13, he says, "Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death 00:25:14.720 |
It wasn't the law, but the sin that was residing in me, in order that it might be shown to 00:25:18.360 |
be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment, 00:25:23.360 |
sin would become utterly sinful, to bring us to the point where we are desperate for 00:25:31.480 |
And then if you look at Romans chapter 7 verse 19 and on, he describes, I'm just going to 00:25:35.760 |
summarize, he says, "What I want to do, I do not do. 00:25:40.360 |
And then leads to verse 25, "Oh, what a wretched man that I am! 00:25:43.080 |
Who will set me free from the body of this death? 00:25:47.400 |
As an unconverted Jew, I have no power to obey these commands, to bring Him so that 00:25:59.960 |
And so the purpose of Mount Sinai was to bring us to this point, in verse 24. 00:26:13.240 |
If God is the one that I need to run to, to have life, and yet the greatest terror is 00:26:29.400 |
And that's where chapter 8 comes in, "There is now therefore no condemnation for those 00:26:33.000 |
who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you 00:26:36.680 |
free from the law of sin and death, for what the law could not do." 00:26:41.080 |
And all the law did was reveal what you should be doing, what you could not do, which is 00:26:48.000 |
He has set you free, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. 00:26:53.760 |
He doesn't say God will do or He will continue to do, He says He did. 00:26:56.920 |
And that's exactly what Jesus meant when He was being crucified on the cross. 00:27:00.560 |
And when He says it is finished, He's not saying that His earthly life is done. 00:27:05.440 |
He's saying that everything that He had decided, what God had planned, and was carrying it 00:27:10.560 |
out for the salvation of mankind, so a sinful man can come through Sinai to get to Mount 00:27:23.560 |
Seeing His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned 00:27:33.080 |
And that's why He says at the end in verse 24 that Jesus' blood speaks better than Abel's 00:27:40.680 |
What does it mean that Jesus' blood is more articulate than Abel's blood? 00:27:46.720 |
Well, if you go to Genesis chapter 4 verse 9 through 10, and you know the context, right? 00:27:52.680 |
Cain ends up killing Abel because of his jealousy that God receives his blood sacrifice over 00:28:03.860 |
Because he was jealous, he ends up killing him and God seeks him out. 00:28:09.240 |
And in verse 9 it says, "Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' 00:28:15.080 |
God knowing full well that he has already murdered his brother, and he said, 'I do 00:28:28.360 |
All knowing God asks him, "Where is your brother?" 00:28:34.360 |
So you can see the sinfulness of Cain just by the way he answers that. 00:28:43.400 |
The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground." 00:28:59.120 |
You committed murder and his blood is crying out for justice. 00:29:05.940 |
So when he says the blood of Christ speaks a better word than Abel's blood, he's 00:29:12.000 |
saying Abel's blood cries for justice, but Jesus' blood cries for mercy and grace. 00:29:22.240 |
See, you and I, again, recently in a generation, and it's not just this generation, every 00:29:28.800 |
generation, because you cannot live without justice. 00:29:46.280 |
But the problem is when sinners cry out for justice, the first person to get the punishment 00:29:58.240 |
I remember years ago when we were doing construction on the other building, not this building, 00:30:04.640 |
but the building that we had prior, and we hired a Chinese contractor, and he had a bunch 00:30:12.920 |
of workers there, and I could tell that their English wasn't that great. 00:30:17.060 |
One day I showed up to work, and I saw a pool of blood on the ground where supposedly the 00:30:23.560 |
And my Chinese is just good enough to go to the bathroom and find something to eat, but 00:30:29.240 |
beyond that, I can just pick up words here and there. 00:30:32.360 |
But I could tell there was some kind of a fight, and I found out that one of the workers 00:30:35.840 |
got mad at the other guy, and he took up a wrench, and then he basically poked him on 00:30:44.960 |
And so the guy who got poked in the face, I mean, the blood had already stopped bleeding, 00:30:50.520 |
And the other guy was outside just roaming around, but he was still there. 00:30:54.920 |
But the guy was angry, and he said, "No, apology is not enough. 00:31:00.840 |
And so he's saying this in Chinese, obviously, and then one of the guys was interpreting 00:31:09.480 |
So I said, "Okay," and then called the police. 00:31:10.840 |
So the police come, and he's trying to take report, but all of a sudden, as soon as the 00:31:18.880 |
And so it was kind of weird, because I know you speak English. 00:31:23.440 |
I mean, he's broken English, but he speaks enough. 00:31:26.640 |
But all of a sudden, it became quiet, but the guy who was wronged, he demanded, it's 00:31:31.960 |
like, "I want the police," and the police came, and they called the ambulance. 00:31:35.160 |
The ambulance came, but his English really was not good. 00:31:38.860 |
And so after a while, you could tell that the officers who were there was the coastal 00:31:49.480 |
No one wants to help, and everybody's kind of avoiding us. 00:31:51.600 |
So he kind of caught wind that maybe these guys are here illegally, right? 00:32:01.520 |
And the officers were very nice, and he didn't want to get them in trouble. 00:32:06.480 |
So he got a interpreter on the phone from the department and started speaking Mandarin 00:32:12.620 |
to the guy who was in the ambulance, and basically, "Tell him," he said, "If we take this to 00:32:21.200 |
the police and we take this to the court, they're going to want to see your papers." 00:32:28.120 |
And I know exactly what he was talking about. 00:32:30.200 |
And then he gets on the phone, and then she speaks to him in Mandarin, and all of a sudden, 00:32:34.160 |
he hangs up the phone, he takes everything off, and he jumps off the ambulance, and he 00:32:40.360 |
And so the officer looked at me, just smiled, just like, "Yeah, that's what I thought." 00:32:44.960 |
And then they just, just nice enough, and he just left. 00:32:51.300 |
As much as he wanted justice, he couldn't take it to court, because he knew that if 00:32:57.000 |
he stood before the judge, that he would be judged before the other guy. 00:33:04.280 |
They ended up, like, the guy started giving him money, and so they just, one guy just, 00:33:08.520 |
the guy who caused the damage ended up leaving, and he got paid, and so they were able to 00:33:14.200 |
But the point that I'm trying to make is, sinners cannot stand before a holy God demanding 00:33:19.920 |
justice, because justice means you get what you deserve. 00:33:30.200 |
But the problem with mankind is that as much as we need justice in order to live, that 00:33:40.520 |
That's a tension that the whole world lives under. 00:33:44.640 |
God is the only author of life, and yet if we go to the author of life, we will be destroyed. 00:33:52.640 |
But the Bible says, "He didn't bring us to justice." 00:34:06.160 |
Where we deserve to be destroyed, and God has mercy on us. 00:34:10.400 |
You get pulled over, you're going 105 miles per hour, the police says, "I'm not going 00:34:23.280 |
They pull you over, they decide not to give you a ticket, and they give you a $30 gift 00:34:46.480 |
And so in the New Testament, God didn't just carry out justice. 00:34:50.760 |
He absorbed the justice of God, that we will be spared from hell that we deserve. 00:34:59.040 |
He raised us up as co-heirs with Christ, so that when we are in heaven, in the presence 00:35:04.760 |
of this Almighty God that would bring terror to sinners, they break out into worship. 00:35:12.480 |
See, when sinners come to Christ not recognizing what it is that we have in Christ, they get 00:35:18.680 |
bored because they receive the grace of God like it was just free candy. 00:35:30.640 |
There's so many people in the church, it's harder, it's more sacrifice for them to leave 00:35:34.360 |
the church because they grew up in the church. 00:35:40.800 |
Their community is based around Christianity. 00:35:45.720 |
So they stick around, yet never fully grasping what they have in Christ. 00:35:52.960 |
They're attenders of the church, but they're not true worshipers of God because worship 00:35:57.040 |
is something that is inspired because of what you recognize that you have in Christ. 00:36:03.980 |
But a nominal Christian only understands the superficial stuff on the outside, the benefit. 00:36:11.120 |
So therefore, he's in the church, but he does not know Christ, and yet he never truly worships. 00:36:27.640 |
See, the Bible says that we are in eternity with Christ in Zion because he's the new mediator 00:36:36.940 |
As Moses was mediating between Israelites and God, even he himself was terrified. 00:36:44.400 |
And yet Christ stands as our mediator forever in eternity by his blood, sprinkled, cleansed. 00:36:57.340 |
He didn't just snap his finger and say, "You know what? 00:37:00.020 |
The Son of God absorbed the justice that you and I deserved. 00:37:07.620 |
When we do not recognize this, we just come to church, check off the things that we're 00:37:14.060 |
obligated to do, and yet there's no joy in our lives. 00:37:18.720 |
You notice that he doesn't say, "We will come to Zion," but he says, "We have come to Zion. 00:37:26.020 |
Salvation is the ultimate fulfillment of what he already started. 00:37:30.360 |
So we don't live in misery until we get to heaven. 00:37:33.760 |
That life is restored now, here, but not fully fulfilled yet. 00:37:38.600 |
So the greatest evidence of true salvation is the worship that God inspires because of 00:37:47.620 |
You know, you and I live in one of the richest places in the world. 00:37:54.960 |
Even if you live in a one-bedroom apartment in the worst neighborhoods in this area, in 00:37:59.400 |
Orange County, you're still living in the most expensive place in the world. 00:38:03.960 |
And I'm not just talking about in our generation, in all the generations put together. 00:38:11.940 |
Boba is a luxury that poor people ... Go to Africa and ask them, "You want to get some 00:38:37.880 |
Because we get on the internet, or we come to church and we compare ourselves with people 00:38:44.520 |
And though we are rich beyond the imagination of the rest of the world, we live every day 00:38:58.760 |
The Bible says that everything that you and I need for a life of godliness has been given 00:39:02.160 |
to us in the knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ. 00:39:06.560 |
Everything that you and I need has been given to us in the riches of His glory, and yet 00:39:10.840 |
most Christians live their lives thinking, "Only if I had more. 00:39:24.800 |
Not realizing what it is that we have in Christ. 00:39:33.200 |
You see, if we don't realize what we have been saved from in Sinai, we come to Zion 00:39:43.680 |
And sad to say, this is the state of our generation. 00:39:48.840 |
Christians who profess the right things with their mouth, but bored in their walk with 00:40:00.460 |
What do I have to do to help me belong to this community? 00:40:06.100 |
There's going to come a time where He's not going to be asking, "Are you worshiping 00:40:12.140 |
But He's seeking people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. 00:40:18.880 |
Let me conclude with this because this is one of my favorite passages. 00:40:22.280 |
And those of you who've been in our church for a while, you know, I've read this so many 00:40:28.340 |
It's this whole drama of the gospel that is portrayed in the book of Revelation chapter 00:40:33.840 |
In verse one it says, "I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written 00:40:38.600 |
inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals." 00:40:41.600 |
Well, this book he's referring to in other passages in Revelation is referred to as the 00:40:47.280 |
And the book of life basically is who can be at Zion. 00:40:57.420 |
And he says, "And I saw a strong angel proclaim with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open 00:41:02.280 |
In other words, who can take a look, who can be added to this? 00:41:05.320 |
No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look 00:41:10.240 |
"Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to 00:41:23.160 |
Verse five, "And one of the elders said to me, 'Stop weeping. 00:41:26.240 |
Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome, as 00:41:31.760 |
so as to open the book and its seven seals.'" 00:41:38.940 |
No one else is able but the lion of Judah, and clearly he's referring to Jesus. 00:41:43.280 |
The lion of Judah is the Messiah that's going to come. 00:41:48.920 |
And so John turns his head to look for the lion of Judah in verse six, "And I saw between 00:41:53.600 |
the throne with the four living creatures, the elders, a lamb standing as if slain, having 00:42:01.900 |
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the 00:42:06.000 |
earth, and he came and took the book out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 00:42:10.300 |
When he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before 00:42:14.160 |
the lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are prayers of 00:42:21.360 |
Man, the lion of Judah, he turns to look for the lion and he sees the lamb because we could 00:42:37.880 |
He came as a lamb and covered us with his blood. 00:42:42.780 |
And it is this picture that is portrayed for us that causes them to break out in worship 00:43:03.280 |
People who have seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ can help themselves. 00:43:09.680 |
But to break out in worship, not because it's time to worship, not because they prepared 00:43:14.720 |
a great set, not because we heard a great message, but because we're before a great 00:43:37.440 |
I can pick any period of my life, even after I became a Christian, that I would have easily 00:43:44.600 |
And you know your sins better than anybody else. 00:43:56.520 |
You know how easily you get entangled with this world. 00:44:00.260 |
You know how much you hated God because he didn't answer your prayers and things didn't 00:44:19.680 |
Church filled with people who have no answer to his love. 00:44:29.680 |
A song that can never be inspired by anything in this world. 00:44:35.480 |
No amount of young love, no amount of love and treasures in this world that would inspire 00:44:51.600 |
And that's why we need to understand Sinai because his invitation is to Zion. 00:45:11.640 |
Former slave trader by his own admission was worst of sinners. 00:45:16.520 |
And I think humanly speaking, we could agree. 00:45:21.280 |
He lived his adult life doing horrendous things for slave trading. 00:45:28.280 |
And on one of his journeys, the boat hits a storm and the ship's about to sink. 00:45:39.040 |
If you save me from this, I will repent and serve you. 00:45:44.600 |
Doesn't happen overnight, but he kept his promise. 00:45:49.280 |
In fact, he lives the rest of his life fighting slave trading because he understands the evil 00:45:55.920 |
He's the man behind William Wilberforce who fought against slavery in England. 00:46:04.240 |
And so he writes a song, Amazing Grace, to basically as a testimony of his life. 00:46:12.080 |
It starts, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound." 00:46:17.200 |
We say that word, Amazing Grace, so often, but we don't take enough time to actually 00:46:32.560 |
He knew how amazing that he would save a wretch like me. 00:46:38.960 |
We may look at that and say, well, I never traded slaves and I didn't do anything to 00:46:44.120 |
deserve to go to jail, but in the presence of this holy God, our testimony is no different. 00:46:54.640 |
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. 00:46:57.800 |
I once was loved, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. 00:47:02.360 |
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. 00:47:15.240 |
The fact that he recognized the terror of God was the grace of God. 00:47:21.080 |
And it was that same grace that relieved him from that fear that he can get to Zion. 00:47:28.160 |
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. 00:47:34.640 |
Maybe many of us can remember the first hour we believed, how much he meant for us. 00:47:42.440 |
We broke out into songs, but so many years of being concerned for life, raising children, 00:47:49.400 |
so many years have gone by, and we can't confess that that's where we are now. 00:47:55.920 |
The precious did the grace appear the hour I first believed. 00:48:00.680 |
Remember the height from which you had fallen, repent and do the things that you did at first. 00:48:14.560 |
He will my shield portion be as long as life endures. 00:48:24.560 |
And we've been there 10,000 years, Zion, bright shining as the sun. 00:48:32.040 |
We've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. 00:48:36.800 |
That this new song is never going to get old. 00:48:41.560 |
Is never going to get old 10,000 years and we've just begun. 00:48:45.800 |
And this is a man who understands God's grace. 00:48:51.960 |
This is why it's so important for us to recognize the full counsel of God. 00:48:58.640 |
That we know what it is that we have in Christ so that we may worship him in spirit and in