If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 12, we're going to be in part two of what we started last week. It looks like we're going to have another part next week. Okay. All right. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 18 through 24. Again, reading out of the NASB.

For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them.

For they could not bear the command, if even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would help us and guide us. May your word take center stage, protect this pulpit, Lord God, that your sheep will hear your voice and follow you and you alone. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I've shared with you many times that I started ministry probably earlier than I should have.

At age 19, my former discipler, he encouraged me to go to this church. His friend was planting a church and wanted to go help out. So I became a youth pastor at 19, just out of, again, just to be obedient to my discipler. And then I've been in ministry since.

And there's a lot of things that I did as a young youth pastor. You know, I was a youth pastor, I think, from 19 to about 24, 25. And then I went to the college ministry, and then after that, the young adults, and then we ended up planting this church.

And there's a lot of things that I did early on that I probably would not do now. And one of the things that I remember very distinctly was I got a cassette tape. Those of you guys remember what cassette tapes are. And the tape basically was a recording of a demonic encounter that this live radio program guy was having.

And so he wanted me to listen to it. And so I listened to it, and I said, "Oh, it's very shocking." And so I thought, "Oh, this would be a good idea to let the kids listen to it." And so I remember Elder Joe was also in the youth group at that time.

So I think he's the only one. You were there, right? Yeah, he was there. So he was one of the guys who got traumatized that day. So it just happened the night that I was playing that audio, it was raining and thundering. And it was up in the darker part of the church, Irvine Baptist, that I was at.

And then basically the recording is, it was kind of like that live Bible program, but Bible Answer Man. And so people would just randomly call in and ask questions. And so this young girl, I think she said she was maybe like 15 or 16 years old, she called and she seemed so disoriented.

And you could tell that in the beginning, they didn't know how to deal with her. And she said, "I don't know why I called. I just pulled over and something led me to call. And I'm not exactly sure where I'm calling. What is this?" In the beginning, it sounds like a prank call.

But as they are having this conversation, she started to say things like how she was raised in a satanic home and that her whole upbringing was to prepare her for this particular sacrifice. And so initially it sounded like, "Is this a prank call?" And again, this is all recording live on the radio.

And you could tell back and forth that even the hosts are kind of caught off guard not to know how to deal with her. And so they started to share the gospel with her. And then she said, when he mentioned the name Jesus, her response was shocking because she said, "Who is this Jesus, this man?

Does he want to have sexual relations with me?" And obviously it's blasphemous what she was saying, but the radio host is just caught off guard. And she said that's the only thing that she knew. So ever since she was a child, that this happened to her repeatedly. And all of this supposedly was to prepare her for some sacrifice that they were going to make.

Well, you can tell that the radio host is also kind of like trying to figure this out. Is this real? Is this a prank call? And in the middle of sharing the gospel with her, this is on live radio, her voice changes into a demonic voice. And there's dead silence for about 10 seconds because you can tell the hosts were trying to figure out, is this real or not?

And then the demon begins to speak. And so the recording is that encounter that they have. This was recorded. So I didn't even listen to the whole thing. I just thought this was pretty shocking. It's just that, in my wisdom, I thought this would be great for our youth group.

And at that time, I think Officer Joe was probably 13, 14 at that time. Yeah, something about that. So we had children as young as 12, maybe even younger, all the way up to 18. And at the end of the recording, it was maybe about 10, 15 minute recording.

At the end of it, they actually said when this happened. And it just happened to be exactly that same day, two years before. And it was two weeks before Halloween that she was being prepared as a sacrifice if all this is true. And so obviously, the kids were in shock.

Even I was in shock. And then thunder started to happen. The rain started falling. And then people were scared to death. And then it just happened that night. We were introducing Friday night prayer meetings. And so we had 110% attendance. And people were crying out to God. It was a great way to start the prayer meeting because people were scared.

And the reason why I say I probably would not have done that again because I found out way later that some of the younger girls were so scared that they couldn't sleep at night for months. And they didn't even tell me this until way later that they couldn't even wake up in the middle of the night because they were so scared of what they heard.

Now I tell you all of this not to say like, oh, the demons are real. Of course the demons are real. But the purpose of this story to tell you the story isn't that like, was that a prank? Was that real? But that's not really my point. It seemed very real.

But the point of my story is whenever we hear stories of demonic encounters, whether it's here or overseas, our immediate response is fear. But is that fear based upon what we've learned in scripture? Or is that fear based upon what we've been conditioned to think because of media? Now I personally don't think Christians watching scary movies is a good idea.

Because your frame of work of the spiritual world is being framed by the world. And so whatever you feel instinctively may be coming from you being exposed to certain things that is not biblical. And I think in a large capacity that this intense fear that people have that the spiritual encounter is not dictated by what we see in scripture.

It's by the world. And yet on the flip side, whenever we talk about encountering God, we talk about it so flippantly. God spoke to me. I went to God. I went to his presence. And not to say that none of that is true or it's wrong, but typically when we talk about God and his presence, we don't, there is no fear that's instilled.

We think of God as this holy grandfather that passes out candy. And he, of course he doesn't like sin, but he just kind of brushes it off. So my son died for you, cover for you. And then we live by these cliches. And so whenever we talk about the presence of God, there's no fear at all.

Just warm, fuzzy feelings. And yet when we talk about Satan, there's this trembling that is inconsistent with what we see in scripture. Until we have a proper view of who God is, other fears are always going to dominate us. In fact, I believe some of the greatest heresies that creeps into the church is coming through men who are more fearful of men than they are of God.

Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Why despite whatever pressures or persecution or whatever things may come as a result of it, fear of God is what causes us to stay on the narrow path. In fact, the scripture says in Romans chapter three, verse 10 and on, Apostle Paul gives a description of the fall of mankind and what sins that they are guilty of.

And he, I'm going to just read a portion of it. It says, "As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There's none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together, they have become useless. There is no one who does good.

There is not even one." And he goes on and on. And then he concludes that section by verse 18 by saying, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." And so the reason why he puts it that way is all the things that he mentions in the previous verse, he says the base reason behind why they are doing that is because they don't fear God.

They don't know who God is, so they don't understand the consequence of their sin. And as a result, they can live in compromise. They can live in rebellion. But if we, you know, think about the spiritual encounter, there's greater, there should be, ought to be a greater fear of God than any fear we have of the demons.

In fact, the Bible teaches that whenever the demons can counter Christ, do you remember how they reacted? They got on their knees begging for his mercy. Son of man, have you come before time to torture us? And that's exactly what Jesus says. Fear, not someone who can destroy your flesh, but your flesh and your soul in hell.

In other words, fear God because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The whole purpose of Mount Sinai was to teach us to understand who God is and where we stand before God. The law was given to make sin utterly sinful. And the reason why he says that is because our natural state is we measure ourselves by ourselves.

And so, are you good? Well, what do you measure that by? I didn't murder anybody. You know, I never went to jail. So I'm a decent person because I do this or that. But the whole purpose of the law, he says, was to reveal just how desperate we are until we recognize that how disgusting sin is.

I don't know about you, but when I was back in high school, I learned for the first time what goes into hot dogs. And some of you guys probably learned it too. And then once you, when you first learn it, it's like, oh my God, you can't put that in your mouth anymore because, and since then I got over it.

But once you understand the disgusting nature of these things, you naturally want to stay away from it. And that's the reason why we are attracted to sin is because we don't recognize the disgusting nature of the sin until we recognize the destructive result of sin. That because of sin, the utterly sinful and what results from the sin until we recognize a dire need because of the sin.

So the whole purpose of Mount Sinai and the giving of the law was to reveal exactly where they stood before God. And not to simply put fear in them so that they can see and be brought to the cross and to beg that this is what I need. See, people who come to Mount Zion without recognizing and understanding Mount Sinai, it's like handing out, you know, it's handing out, you know, checks from the government, right?

The stimulus check. The purpose of the stimulus check is so that people who lost their jobs can't get groceries so that they can pay their bills. But for people who don't need it or don't realize that they need it, it's a down payment for a Tesla. You know what I mean?

It's down payment to take a trip. They're going to pass it out, so I'll take it. And so we don't recognize the value of it. It's just kind of used, not to live, but just to enjoy. So many Christians who have come to faith not understanding the necessity of the gospel and say, "Who wants Jesus?

I mean, who wouldn't want Jesus? He loves you unconditionally. And even if you sin, Jesus covers you. One saved, always saved. And if there's a possibility, even if there's 1% possibility that there really is hell and the gospel is just being passed out, I'll take it." And so what ends up happening is we take the grace of God and instead of recognizing what it is that we have received, the grace of God is given to us so that we can go to God, so that we can be reconciled with this holy God.

Instead, the grace of God is received so that I can live my life without the fear of hell. And so you throw out phrases like, "Oh, we have Christian liberty." So Christian liberty was given to us so that we can use that to freely evangelize, so that we can come together, the Jews and the Gentiles can come together without having this fear that we're breaking this law.

You've been given liberty to freely come and worship God. But an individual who does not recognize where we stand before God, grace is just a free ticket to do whatever you want. That's why it's absolutely necessary that we understand the terror of God so that we can grasp the grace of God.

In Hebrews 12, 18-21, the description of Mount Sinai, this is what it says. Remember what it says, we talked about this last week, "For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, and to a blazing fire, to darkness, to gloom, to whirlwind, and to a blast of a trumpet, and the sound of words, which sound was such so that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them, that his presence was terrifying, that even his voice when he spoke, they begged to stop speaking, for they could not bear the command.

If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, 'I am full of fear and trembling.'" So his presence and giving up the law cause terror. In Revelation chapter 4, 1-3, there's a description of Mount Zion, and this is what it says.

"Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven." It's the same voice that they heard in Sinai, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of loud thunder, just like it's described in Hebrews, and yet the result was very different.

"And the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they sang a new song before the throne before living creatures and the elders." You notice how the same voice of God that thundered created terror, begging to tell Moses, "Please do not, tell Him to stop speaking to us directly." And we're terrified of Him, and yet in Revelation, in Mount Zion, they hear the same voice, the same sound of thunder, and it leads to joy and celebration.

And it's the same voice. How does one mountain cause terror and the other mountain breaks out in singing? See, that's the gospel. How that same person could go to Mount Sinai and then come to Zion, and one leads to terror and one leads to celebration, is where the Bible describes the gap of the cross.

Without understanding that tension, without understanding how we cross this, is what causes the superficial worship. Why people are bored with their faith because they took the grace of God like just free candy being passed out. See, Mount Sinai is the path. The same God who caused the terror is the same God that causes joy and worship.

So it's important that we understand how we got here. Mount Zion, he says, is not a place where you can touch. There was and is a physical place. So where Solomon built his temple was on the Mount Zion, this physical place. The city of David was called the city of, was Mount Zion.

The whole city of Jerusalem oftentimes is referred to as Mount Zion. Mount Zion is a reference to where God made his dwelling. But he said it's not a physical place. He's not referring to any of those particular sites because he says it's a mountain that cannot be touched. It's a heavenly Jerusalem.

In other words, it's another word for heaven. And so the way that the Bible described Mount Zion, he says in verse 22, it is the city of the living God, a heavenly Jerusalem, meaning it is a permanent dwelling of God. In Psalm 132, 13 to 14, it says, "For the Lord has chosen Zion.

He has desired for his habitation. This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell for I have desired it." Now the distinction between Mount Zion and Mount Sinai was Sinai was a theophany, meaning that God from heaven decided to make contact with man. So temporarily he came and revealed a portion of his glory, not his full glory.

In fact, remember the picture that I showed you of Mount Sinai where it's just blackened because of his presence and his glory, the fire? Well it's blackened, but it's not there. He just made a mark. But that's not where his glory resides. And that glimpse of his glory, his temporary showing of himself, created this terror for sinners.

And yet Zion is a permanent place where he habits, habitats forever in his full glory. So how can you possibly, if imitation to Zion or Sinai created this terror just by his glimpse of his glory, how can a sinful man possibly be invited to Zion? Again that's where the tension lies.

And that was the whole purpose of the giving of the law is to create this tension. I need to live. Well where do you go to live? You have to go to that God because he's the author of life. He's the one who has the Sabbath. So if we want to find eternal rest, he's the one that we need to go to.

Well how do I go to him if that God that I need to go to is at Mount Sinai? See that's what Zion is. And the nation of Israel understood this paradox, this tension. You remember when the Israelites were coming out and they're going into the desert and it didn't take them long for them to start grumbling.

Soon as they felt like the Egyptians were coming, they said, "Why did God bring us out here?" Even after all the miracles, they go to the other side, they say, "Oh I'm so thirsty, we might as well die. It was better in Egypt." And so they just would complain and complain and God burns in his anger and he tells Moses, "If I go with them, I'm going to kill these people.

I'm not going to be able to withhold my anger toward them." And so Moses begs him, "If you do not come with us, we will die out here." And so there was this tension that if he dwells in the midst of us, we can die because of his presence.

But if he doesn't go with us, we will die because his presence is not with us. So there was this constant tension of we need you here, but we can't have you too close. So if you basically study the Old Testament history of Israel, it's God's presence drawing near to Israel and every time he comes, he gives them strict, scary revelation that the only way that you're going to live is if I'm in the midst of your presence.

So he comes from Mount Sinai to the tabernacle, to the temple, and he gives them very strict restrictions. Remember the book of Leviticus? He says, "I'm going to dwell in your midst, but the only way that you and I are going to have any kind of relationship is you got to follow these rules.

You have to recognize who he is and if you come to my presence in a nonchalant way, you will die." And that's exactly what happens. They die. But you know their history. Over and over again, they sin, commit sin against God. So in the book of Ezekiel, God has had enough.

And so his glory begins to be withdrawn from the nation of Israel. So there's this scene in Ezekiel chapter 10 where the Spirit of God is in, it comes to the Holy of Holies and it begins to move to the threshold, the outer court. And at the outer court, it rests, almost as if it is reluctant to leave.

And then from there, he goes up to the hilltop, looking over Jerusalem and the temple, reluctant. And it was a scene of God's Shekinah glory leaving not just the temple, but Israel because of their sins. And as a result of that, the protection for Israel is gone. And as soon as that happened, the Babylonians come and they destroy them, take them into captivity for 70 years.

The prophets tell us the 70 years of captivity happens because they specifically disobeyed God's command for the Sabbath. So every one of those 70 years represents a year that they disobeyed God in keeping the Sabbath. So they understood, if God is in our midst, we are in trouble, we're terrified.

But if he's not in our midst, we are destroyed by our surrounding. And so this constant juxtaposition. So the Pharisees had an idea that we don't want this, we need him. Even though we're terrified of him, we need it in our presence. And so the Pharisees, basically their initial intent was that we're going to keep the law perfectly.

And even the word Pharisee basically means holy, to be set apart. And that's why I said, you know what, instead of just keeping the Sabbath, we're going to be meticulous about the Sabbath. We want to make sure that by keeping the Sabbath, that we're going to invite God's spirit back.

That was their intention. So their relationship with God is described in the book of Hosea, where it's kind of like, you know, a boyfriend who cheated against his girlfriend. And then he comes back begging, "I'm never going to do this again." And then the girlfriend takes him back, and then, you know, a couple months later, he does the same thing.

And this cycle is repeated over and over and over again. And he means it, but then he can't control himself. And that's how it's described in the book of Hosea, between the relationship of this prophet and Gomer. And he says, "This is what our relationship looked like, that I kept on being gracious to you, gracious to you, but you would continue to prostitute yourself over and over again." So by the time we come to Christ and His revelation, it was to bring us to the point to recognize that we are helpless, even with the best of intention.

And that's what Paul is describing in Romans chapter 7, a relationship with the Jew and the law. In Romans chapter 7 verse 13, he says, "Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be. Rather, it was sin. It wasn't the law, but the sin that was residing in me, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment, sin would become utterly sinful, to bring us to the point where we are desperate for the cross." And then if you look at Romans chapter 7 verse 19 and on, he describes, I'm just going to summarize, he says, "What I want to do, I do not do.

What I don't want to do, I keep on doing." And then leads to verse 25, "Oh, what a wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? As an unconverted Jew, I have no power to obey these commands, to bring Him so that sin would become utterly sinful.

Oh, what a wretched man that I am!" And so the purpose of Mount Sinai was to bring us to this point, in verse 24. I am ruined, like Isaiah says. I'm undone. If God is the one that I need to run to, to have life, and yet the greatest terror is also in Him.

How do I go to Him? That's verse 24. And that's where chapter 8 comes in, "There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death, for what the law could not do." And all the law did was reveal what you should be doing, what you could not do, which is what he was explaining in chapter 7.

He has set you free, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. He doesn't say God will do or He will continue to do, He says He did. And that's exactly what Jesus meant when He was being crucified on the cross. And when He says it is finished, He's not saying that His earthly life is done.

He's saying that everything that He had decided, what God had planned, and was carrying it out for the salvation of mankind, so a sinful man can come through Sinai to get to Mount Zion, it is done. That's what He means. God did. Seeing His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.

And that's why He says at the end in verse 24 that Jesus' blood speaks better than Abel's blood. What does it mean that Jesus' blood is more articulate than Abel's blood? What does that mean? Well, if you go to Genesis chapter 4 verse 9 through 10, and you know the context, right?

Cain ends up killing Abel because of his jealousy that God receives his blood sacrifice over the other stuff that Cain brought. Because he was jealous, he ends up killing him and God seeks him out. And in verse 9 it says, "Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' God knowing full well that he has already murdered his brother, and he said, 'I do not know.

Am I my brother's keeper?'" Doesn't that reveal everything about him? He just murdered his brother. All knowing God asks him, "Where is your brother?" He's like, "What are you asking me? Am I my brother's keeper?" So you can see the sinfulness of Cain just by the way he answers that.

And God says, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground." What does that mean? What is his brother's voice? Abel's blood crying out for justice. That's what he's saying. Abel's blood. You committed murder and his blood is crying out for justice.

So when he says the blood of Christ speaks a better word than Abel's blood, he's saying Abel's blood cries for justice, but Jesus' blood cries for mercy and grace. That's the deliverance. See, you and I, again, recently in a generation, and it's not just this generation, every generation, because you cannot live without justice.

Justice basically is righteousness. You and I cannot live without righteousness. There's no law. Nothing wrong is done. There has to be correction. So otherwise, you can't live. But the problem is when sinners cry out for justice, the first person to get the punishment for that is the one crying for justice.

I remember years ago when we were doing construction on the other building, not this building, but the building that we had prior, and we hired a Chinese contractor, and he had a bunch of workers there, and I could tell that their English wasn't that great. One day I showed up to work, and I saw a pool of blood on the ground where supposedly the sanctuary is supposed to be.

And my Chinese is just good enough to go to the bathroom and find something to eat, but beyond that, I can just pick up words here and there. But I could tell there was some kind of a fight, and I found out that one of the workers got mad at the other guy, and he took up a wrench, and then he basically poked him on the face.

So I said, "What's going on? This is crazy." And so the guy who got poked in the face, I mean, the blood had already stopped bleeding, but I could tell where he got punched. And the other guy was outside just roaming around, but he was still there. But the guy was angry, and he said, "No, apology is not enough.

Look at this." And so he's saying this in Chinese, obviously, and then one of the guys was interpreting this for me. And so he said he wanted to call the police. So I said, "Okay," and then called the police. So the police come, and he's trying to take report, but all of a sudden, as soon as the police come, no one speaks English.

Everybody's playing dumb. And so it was kind of weird, because I know you speak English. I just talked to you in English. I know that guy speaks English. I mean, he's broken English, but he speaks enough. But all of a sudden, it became quiet, but the guy who was wronged, he demanded, it's like, "I want the police," and the police came, and they called the ambulance.

The ambulance came, but his English really was not good. And so after a while, you could tell that the officers who were there was the coastal Mesa police officers. So something's fishy, right? All of a sudden, nobody speaks English. No one wants to help, and everybody's kind of avoiding us.

So he kind of caught wind that maybe these guys are here illegally, right? And so I was like, "Oh, shoot. They're going to get in trouble." And the officers were very nice, and he didn't want to get them in trouble. So he got a interpreter on the phone from the department and started speaking Mandarin to the guy who was in the ambulance, and basically, "Tell him," he said, "If we take this to the police and we take this to the court, they're going to want to see your papers." And I know exactly what he was talking about.

And then he gets on the phone, and then she speaks to him in Mandarin, and all of a sudden, he hangs up the phone, he takes everything off, and he jumps off the ambulance, and he was gone. And so the officer looked at me, just smiled, just like, "Yeah, that's what I thought." And then they just, just nice enough, and he just left.

And obviously, we know what happened. As much as he wanted justice, he couldn't take it to court, because he knew that if he stood before the judge, that he would be judged before the other guy. They ended up working this out, right? They ended up, like, the guy started giving him money, and so they just, one guy just, the guy who caused the damage ended up leaving, and he got paid, and so they were able to work it out in that way.

But the point that I'm trying to make is, sinners cannot stand before a holy God demanding justice, because justice means you get what you deserve. You cannot live without justice. But the problem with mankind is that as much as we need justice in order to live, that this justice is going to destroy us.

That's a tension that the whole world lives under. God is the only author of life, and yet if we go to the author of life, we will be destroyed. But the Bible says, "He didn't bring us to justice." Justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve.

Where we deserve to be destroyed, and God has mercy on us. You get pulled over, you're going 105 miles per hour, the police says, "I'm not going to give you a ticket." That's mercy. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. They pull you over, they decide not to give you a ticket, and they give you a $30 gift certificate to Chick-fil-A.

That's grace. Small grace, but that's grace. So justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. And so in the New Testament, God didn't just carry out justice. He absorbed the justice of God, that we will be spared from hell that we deserve.

But He didn't leave us there. He raised us up as co-heirs with Christ, so that when we are in heaven, in the presence of this Almighty God that would bring terror to sinners, they break out into worship. See, when sinners come to Christ not recognizing what it is that we have in Christ, they get bored because they receive the grace of God like it was just free candy.

It was just being passed out. It's like, "Oh, I'll take it. Oh, raise your hand, come down the aisle. Oh, okay, I'll take it, just in case." There's so many people in the church, it's harder, it's more sacrifice for them to leave the church because they grew up in the church.

They have to forsake relationships. Their community is based around Christianity. So it's hard for them to leave the church. So they stick around, yet never fully grasping what they have in Christ. They're never true worshipers. They're attenders of the church, but they're not true worshipers of God because worship is something that is inspired because of what you recognize that you have in Christ.

But a nominal Christian only understands the superficial stuff on the outside, the benefit. So therefore, he's in the church, but he does not know Christ, and yet he never truly worships. It doesn't produce joy. It's just obligations. It's the law that I need to obey. We're not attracted to Christ.

See, the Bible says that we are in eternity with Christ in Zion because he's the new mediator in a new covenant. As Moses was mediating between Israelites and God, even he himself was terrified. And yet Christ stands as our mediator forever in eternity by his blood, sprinkled, cleansed. This is the Son of God we're talking about.

The Son of God did that for us. He didn't just snap his finger and say, "You know what? I'm going to save you from hell." The Son of God absorbed the justice that you and I deserved. And this is what we celebrate. When we do not recognize this, we just come to church, check off the things that we're obligated to do, and yet there's no joy in our lives.

You notice that he doesn't say, "We will come to Zion," but he says, "We have come to Zion. We have come." Salvation is the ultimate fulfillment of what he already started. So we don't live in misery until we get to heaven. That life is restored now, here, but not fully fulfilled yet.

So the greatest evidence of true salvation is the worship that God inspires because of what he has done. You know, you and I live in one of the richest places in the world. Even if you live in a one-bedroom apartment in the worst neighborhoods in this area, in Orange County, you're still living in the most expensive place in the world.

And I'm not just talking about in our generation, in all the generations put together. The kind of access that we have. Boba is a luxury that poor people ... Go to Africa and ask them, "You want to get some boba?" I say, "Boba? What's boba?" "Well, I got to go garage sale." "Garage sale?

What's garage sale?" "Internet." "Huh? I heard of it." And yet, more than not, people live in want. I don't have enough. Because we get on the internet, or we come to church and we compare ourselves with people who have a bit more than we have. And though we are rich beyond the imagination of the rest of the world, we live every day thinking, "Only if I had a little bit more." But we do the same thing spiritually.

The Bible says that everything that you and I need for a life of godliness has been given to us in the knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ. Everything that you and I need has been given to us in the riches of His glory, and yet most Christians live their lives thinking, "Only if I had more.

Only if I had better community. Only if I had better teaching. Only if I had better this and better that." Not realizing what it is that we have in Christ. So instead of worshiping, we crumble. You see, if we don't realize what we have been saved from in Sinai, we come to Zion and we're bored.

And sad to say, this is the state of our generation. Christians who profess the right things with their mouth, but bored in their walk with God. So worship is an obligation. Discipleship is an obligation. Sharing is an obligation. Prayer is an obligation. What do I have to do to help me belong to this community?

Yet what does Jesus say? There's going to come a time where He's not going to be asking, "Are you worshiping in this mountain or that mountain?" But He's seeking people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. Let me conclude with this because this is one of my favorite passages.

And those of you who've been in our church for a while, you know, I've read this so many times, but I'm going to read to you again. It's this whole drama of the gospel that is portrayed in the book of Revelation chapter five. In verse one it says, "I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals." Well, this book he's referring to in other passages in Revelation is referred to as the book of life.

And the book of life basically is who can be at Zion. That's basically what it is. Who can be in the presence of this holy God? And he says, "And I saw a strong angel proclaim with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open up the book and break its seal?'" In other words, who can take a look, who can be added to this?

No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. "Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it." In other words, oh, what a wretched man.

There's no hope. No one can open it up. Verse five, "And one of the elders said to me, 'Stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome, as so as to open the book and its seven seals.'" So he says the lion of Judah is coming.

He is able. No one else is able but the lion of Judah, and clearly he's referring to Jesus. The lion of Judah is the Messiah that's going to come. He says he will come. And so John turns his head to look for the lion of Judah in verse six, "And I saw between the throne with the four living creatures, the elders, a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth, and he came and took the book out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

When he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are prayers of the saints, and they sang a new song." Man, the lion of Judah, he turns to look for the lion and he sees the lamb because we could not go to the lion.

He came as a lamb and covered us with his blood. And it is this picture that is portrayed for us that causes them to break out in worship and singing a new song. This is a description of the church. This is a description of the church. People who have seen the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ can help themselves.

But to break out in worship, not because it's time to worship, not because they prepared a great set, not because we heard a great message, but because we're before a great God. Why would you do this for us? Why would you send your only begotten son? I know my sins better than you do.

I can pick any period of my life, even after I became a Christian, that I would have easily been disqualified. And you know your sins better than anybody else. You know what you do in secret. You know the compromises that you fall into. You know how easily you get entangled with this world.

You know how much you hated God because he didn't answer your prayers and things didn't work out the way you wanted to. And yet he continues to invite us to come. Why would he do that? Why would he do that? That's the church. Church filled with people who have no answer to his love.

And so we sing a new song. A song that can never be inspired by anything in this world. No amount of young love, no amount of love and treasures in this world that would inspire you like the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the Zion that he's referring to. And that's why we need to understand Sinai because his invitation is to Zion.

I actually want to sing a new song with you. It's not a new song. It's actually an old song. In fact, everything I know is old. Amazing Grace written by John Newton. Former slave trader by his own admission was worst of sinners. And I think humanly speaking, we could agree.

He lived his adult life doing horrendous things for slave trading. And on one of his journeys, the boat hits a storm and the ship's about to sink. As he's in the water, he begs God for mercy. If you save me from this, I will repent and serve you. And that's exactly what happens.

Doesn't happen overnight, but he kept his promise. He repents. He lets go of the slave trade. In fact, he lives the rest of his life fighting slave trading because he understands the evil of slave trading. He's the man behind William Wilberforce who fought against slavery in England. And so he writes a song, Amazing Grace, to basically as a testimony of his life.

It starts, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound." We say that word, Amazing Grace, so often, but we don't take enough time to actually ask, is it really amazing? Is it just words that we say? I think when he penned it, he knew. He knew how amazing that he would save a wretch like me.

We may look at that and say, well, I never traded slaves and I didn't do anything to deserve to go to jail, but in the presence of this holy God, our testimony is no different. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was loved, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. I mean, it's so profound. The fact that he recognized the terror of God was the grace of God. And it was that same grace that relieved him from that fear that he can get to Zion. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.

Maybe many of us can remember the first hour we believed, how much he meant for us. We broke out into songs, but so many years of being concerned for life, raising children, so many years have gone by, and we can't confess that that's where we are now. The precious did the grace appear the hour I first believed.

Remember the height from which you had fallen, repent and do the things that you did at first. And it's a call back to our first love. The Lord had promised good to me. His word my hope secures. He will my shield portion be as long as life endures. He's our mediator.

He protects us. His blood covers us. And we've been there 10,000 years, Zion, bright shining as the sun. We've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. That this new song is never going to get old. Is never going to get old 10,000 years and we've just begun.

And this is a man who understands God's grace. This is why it's so important for us to recognize the full counsel of God. That we know what it is that we have in Christ so that we may worship him in spirit and in truth.