Will you please turn to the book of
Hebrews, chapter 12.
We'll read from verse 12 through verse 29.
Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 12.
Wherefore lift up the hands that hand down,
and the failing knees, and make straight paths
for your feet, that that which is lame
may not turn aside, but that rather it
may be healed.
Pursue peace with all, and holiness, without which
no one shall see the Lord.
Watching, lest there be anyone who lacks the
grace of God.
Lest any root of bitterness spring up trouble
you, and many be defiled by it.
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person
as Esau, who for one meal sold his
birthright.
For ye know that also afterwards, desiring to
inherit the blessing, he was rejected.
For he found no place for repentance, although
he sought it earnestly with tears.
For ye have not come to the mount
that might be touched, and was all on
fire, and to obscurity, and darkness, and tempest,
and trumpet sound, and voice of words, which
they that heard, excusing themselves, declined the word
being addressed to them any more.
For they were not able to bear what
was enjoined.
And if a beast should touch the mountain,
it shall be stunned.
And so fearful was the sight, Moses said,
I am exceedingly afraid, and full of trembling.
But ye have come to Mount Zion, and
to the city of the living God, heavenly
Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, the universal
gallery, and to the assembly of the firstborn
who are registered in heaven, and to God,
judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect, and to Jesus, mediator
of a new covenant, and to the blood
of sprinkling, speaking better than able.
See that ye refuse not Him that speaks.
For a ghost did not escape who had
refused Him who uttered the oracles on earth,
much more we who turn away from Him
who does so from heaven, whose voice then
shook the earth.
But now He has promised, saying, Yet once
will I shake not only the earth, but
also the heaven.
But this yet once signifies the removing of
what is shaken, as being made, that what
is not shaken may remain.
Wherefore, let us, receiving a kingdom not to
be shaken, have grace, by which let us
serve God acceptably with reverence and fear.
For also our God is a consuming fire.
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, as we are before Thy
Word, we pray that we may be those
who tremble at Thy Word and obey Thy
voice.
We do commit this time into Thy hands,
and ask Thee to encourage us, and to
warn us, and to exhort us.
In the name of our Lord Jesus.
Amen.
This morning we come to the last exhortation
we find in the book of Hebrews.
We mentioned that Hebrews is a book of
exhortation.
Exhortation is to call attention to, to warn
against, and to encourage unto.
And in this book of Hebrews, we have
five distinctive exhortations.
And each exhortation is centered upon a theme,
a very important subject.
In the first exhortation it is centered upon
so great salvation.
The salvation that we receive from the Lord
is not a small one.
It is so great that it is beyond
description.
So the Bible calls it so great salvation.
We don't know how great it is.
So great.
And we know that it concerns with glory.
The second exhortation is centered upon the heavenly
calling.
We are called to be the house of
God, to be companions of Christ, and to
enter into His rest.
A heavenly calling.
And the third exhortation is centered upon perfection.
We are urged to press on to perfection.
Not be just babes in Christ, but be
full grown, grown ups in Christ Jesus.
That is the third exhortation.
And the fourth exhortation is centered upon life
in the holiest.
We are privileged to live a life in
the very presence of God.
Or to put it in another way, we
are so privileged that we can have God
as our home.
And we can be at home all the
time.
And now we come to the fifth exhortation.
And this fifth exhortation we find in the
last three chapters of the book of Hebrews.
Chapter 11, Chapter 12, and Chapter 13.
And this exhortation is centered upon the goal.
The price of the calling on high.
It is centered upon the better, the heavenly
country.
The holy city, the New Jerusalem.
It is centered upon the birthright and the
blessing of the firstborn.
It is centered upon the kingdom.
The kingdom that cannot be shaken.
And we find all these as the goal
that is set before us.
And because of such a goal, we are
encouraged and we are also warned about it.
Now in Chapter 11, you find it is
a chapter on faith.
Sometimes we call this chapter the arena of
faith.
And it is as if the Holy Spirit
has put us into that arena.
And let us view these men and women
of faith.
These men and women, as we find in
Chapter 11 of faith, their faith can be
summed up in this verse.
Verse 6, But without faith it is impossible
to please God.
For he that draws near to God must
believe that he is, and that he is
a rewarder of them who seek him out.
Without faith it is impossible to please God.
This is how important faith is.
And what is the faith that is talking
about in this chapter?
It is the faith that he that draws
near to God must believe.
Believe what?
Believe that God is.
Not in the sense that believe there is
God.
Because we have already believed that there is
God.
We have already believed in God.
But the faith here is we believe that
God is.
Or to put it in another word, that
God is the Great I Am.
We believe he is the I Am.
As we find in the Gospel according to
John.
And we also believe that he is a
rewarder of him who seeks out him.
Now this is not the initial faith.
But this is the more advanced faith.
The initial faith is when we begin to
believe in the Lord Jesus as our personal
Savior.
Now that is initial faith.
And we need to have that faith.
But it is supposed that we already have
it.
So here you find it is the more
advanced faith.
We not only believe that our Lord Jesus,
the Son of God, is our Christ, is
our Savior.
But we also believe that he is the
Great I Am.
And we believe that if we seek him,
we will be rewarded.
In other words, it is not a matter
of gift.
It is a matter of reward.
If we believe the Lord Jesus as our
Savior, we receive the gift of eternal life.
But that is a gift.
But after we believe in the Lord Jesus,
and we believe that he is the Great
I Am.
In other words, he is what he is.
He is all that he is to us.
He is everything to us.
Then you will find we will be rewarded.
These men and women, they have all received
revelation from above.
Because without revelation there can be no faith.
But you find that everyone mentioned in this
chapter, in the arena of faith, they all
have received some revelation from above.
And when God revealed himself to these men
and women, they responded with faith.
And through faith they turned their vision into
vocation.
Every one of them here you find they
have achieved something.
The achievement of faith.
And they have all been given testimony by
God.
That God was pleased with them.
But you know the strangest thing is, as
you read this chapter, in spite of the
fact that these men and women, they have
all achieved something for God by faith, and
they have all received testimony from above, and
yet the Bible says they have not received
the promise.
They have not received the promise.
Verse 39, And these, all
having obtained witness through faith, did not receive
the promise.
Now what is the promise?
They have received a lot of things.
They even received testimony from God.
That they had pleased him.
And yet the Spirit of God said they
did not receive the promise.
Why?
Because they couldn't.
Verse 40, God having foreseen some better things
for us, that they should not be made
perfect without us.
In other words, this promise must be something
corporal.
Corporate.
It is not something personal.
It is a corporate promise.
And it cannot be fulfilled individually.
It had to be fulfilled together.
These men and women of faith together with
us.
Now what is that promise?
If you read that chapter you will find
it is the promise that Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, they all looked forward to.
By faith Abraham left his native place, and
he obeyed God and followed God to the
place that was promised to him.
But during his lifetime he never actually received
the promised land.
He only bought a cave and a yearning
field for burial.
That's all he got.
And yet the Bible said he was actually
looking for something far more than Canaan.
God promised him Canaan.
That's true.
But through Canaan he saw the promise.
And the promise is the heavenly country.
If he thought of his old country he
could go back if he wanted to.
But he refused to go back.
He would rather be a stranger and sojourner
on earth.
Why?
Because he was looking for a better country.
A heavenly country.
A city with foundations which God is building.
And we all know brothers and sisters, this
city with foundations, as you read the Bible,
you know there is only one city with
foundations, and that is the holy city, the
New Jerusalem.
In Revelation chapter 21 and chapter 22 you
find this city has twelve foundations.
It is a city with foundations which God
has built.
And this is what these men and women
are looking forward to.
And dear brothers and sisters, in a sense,
this is what we are looking forward to.
Thank God we have an eternal home.
A place where God is all and in
all.
Because in that holy city, the New Jerusalem,
you find the glory of God just manifested
in that city.
It is all of God.
It is God's eternal home.
It is our eternal home.
And in that city, Christ is indeed all
and in all.
This is the goal that is set before
us.
But then you find in order to reach
that goal, as we are still in the
process of arriving that goal, it is as
if we are all being put on a
race course.
And that is what you find in chapter
12.
You know dear brothers and sisters, the moment
you are saved, you are put by God
on a race course.
And the end of that course, of course,
is to win Christ.
To know Him and the power of His
resurrection.
To be conformed to His image.
And to attain into the out-resurrection from
among the dead.
In other words, you find that every brother
and sister, as soon as we are saved,
God has put us on a course.
A course that we have to run.
And we mentioned last time that it is
an obstacle course.
Because it is not just a very smooth
one, but it is one that is filled
of obstacles.
And we have to overcome all these obstacles
in order to arrive at the goal and
gain the prize of the calling on high.
Brothers and sisters, salvation is never cheap.
It may be free, but it is not
cheap.
In order to save us, God has to
sacrifice His only begotten Son.
His spare, not His own Son, in order
to save us.
In order to save us, our Lord Jesus
gave up His life.
No one take His life from Him.
No one can.
He said, I lay down my life and
I take it up.
Our Lord Jesus laid down His life for
us.
Salvation is very expensive.
So expensive that you just cannot pay for
it.
And because it is beyond your payment, so
God gave it to you free.
But it is not cheap.
Dear brothers and sisters, after we have received
the Lord Jesus, and we are being put
in that race course, do you think Christian
life is cheap?
Not at all.
Christian life is very expensive.
It is costly.
Because we have to run an optical course
in order to arrive at the goal.
It is not for those who are fainthearted.
How should we run that race?
We have to lay aside every weight.
Now brothers and sisters, weight is different from
sin.
Sin is something that easily entangles us.
And in Hebrews chapter 12 you will find
we have to cast aside the sin that
easily entangles us.
And you notice the sin there is singular
number.
In other words there is the sin.
And the sin that easily entangles us in
our racing is the sin of unbelief.
The sin of unbelief.
We have to cast it aside.
And then lay aside every weight.
Now weight is not sin.
But it is weight.
In other words it may not be sin,
but it will weigh you down so that
you are not able to run well.
Have you ever seen a runner?
When he was going to run, he would
put on heavy boots, and he would put
on a fur coat, and he would put
on all kinds of weight.
No.
You will find a runner will strip himself
of everything that can be stripped, in order
that he may run.
Brothers and sisters, that is what we are
called to.
We are not only to lay aside, cast
away every sin, the sin that easily entangles
us, but we are to lay aside every
weight.
Anything that will slow us down.
It may not be sin.
It is the will maybe.
But we have to lay down in order
that we may run with endurance.
It is an endurance race.
Not a hundred meters dash.
Nor even a cross country.
It is a lifetime racing.
We are racing towards the goal.
And all the time we are looking away
from everything, but looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith.
You know, when you are running, and you
try to look around, it slows you down.
When you are running, your eyes is set
upon the goal.
That is all you set upon.
So dear brothers and sisters, as we are
running this race, let our eyes be fixed
upon the Lord Jesus.
It is a difficult race.
And because it is so difficult, only by
setting our eyes upon the Lord Jesus, only
by thinking about him, by considering him, we
are able to endure the race.
We think of our Lord Jesus, how he
ran, how he despised the shame, endured the
cross, for the joy that is set before
him.
We remember our Lord Jesus, how he fought
against sin even unto death, shedding of his
blood.
And brothers and sisters, we have not shed
our blood yet.
Let us take courage and press on.
It is true that the enemy is trying
every way to hinder us, to discourage us,
to stop us, to turn us aside.
It is true that we have to suffer,
but thank God, through the things which we
have suffered, we learn obedience.
And all the time we remember that our
Heavenly Father allows all these hardships and difficulties,
and sometimes problems that cannot be explained to
happen in our life course, it is all
because he is using all these to child
train us.
He wants us to grow up, he wants
us to develop, he wants to have his
own character being developed in us, that we
may be partakers of his holiness.
So brothers and sisters, do remember these, and
as you remember these, then lift up the
hands that hang down.
I wonder if there is anyone here whose
hands have already hanged down.
Lift up the hands that hang down, and
the falling knees, failing knees, make straight path
for your feet, pursue peace with all, and
holiness, without which no one can see God.
Dear brothers and sisters, in pressing on towards
the goal, the prize of the calling on
high, negatively, we need to lift up the
hands that hang down, strengthen the failing knees,
straighten our path, and positively we need to
pursue peace with all, and holiness.
You know, pursue, the word pursue is very
meaningful.
You do not pursue without any goal.
If there is no goal, you are wandering,
you are not pursuing.
If you are pursuing, you must pursue after
something.
And dear brothers and sisters, we are to
pursue.
Christian life is not a life of looting.
It is not a life of wandering.
It is not an aimless life.
Christian life is very purposeful.
We are pursuing after something.
As a matter of fact, we are pursuing
after someone.
We are pursuing after Christ.
And here you will find we are to
pursue peace with all, and holiness.
Now why is it that these two things
are especially mentioned?
Pursue peace and holiness.
Now the reason probably is, as we are
running this difficult course, you know, we may
be, we may feel it is so difficult,
so hard.
And we may begin to faint, and probably
we will begin to lose our peace.
In other words, as we are struggling and
striving, as we are trying to press on,
you know, sometimes our eyes get off from
the Lord Jesus, and we begin to look
at ourselves, and we begin to feel that
how strenuous we are trying, we are trying
our best, and yet with trying our best
we get nowhere, and we get so frustrated,
and we begin to lose our peace.
Lose our peace with God.
We may even begin to murmur against God.
Why is it that God makes it so
hard?
Or we may look at other people, who
seem to have a much easier time than
we are, and because of that we get
very jealous about it.
Or in the pursuing, we become so ambitious,
so competitive, we want to be above everybody,
and when we see somebody that has gone
ahead of us, oh we become very envious
and jealous of them.
Or if we run ahead of other people,
we begin to be very proud of ourselves,
and look down upon our brothers and sisters
who move so slowly.
We lose peace with our brothers and sisters,
and yet dear brothers and sisters, the one
whom we are pursuing is the Prince of
Peace.
In other words, in this pursuing it is
very easy to get lost, and yet the
very purpose of pursuing is to take on
the character of the one whom we pursue.
What's the sense of achieving if we
are not developing his character in us?
How easy it is when you see people
who are really pursuing as it were, and
they think that they have found the truth
or some truth, and they begin to be
so proud of themselves.
They begin to give people the feeling, we
are holier than you are.
They begin to look down upon their fellow
citizens, their brothers and sisters.
Dear brothers and sisters, is it worth it?
They lose the character of the one whom
they pursue, and what is it that they
get?
Little truth?
Some interpretation?
It's nothing.
It is the character, character of Christ that
has to be built within us in the
pursuing, because he is the one whom we
pursue.
So here you'll find pursued peace and holiness,
because his very nature is holy.
Our Lord is holy.
Holy means uncommon.
It is different.
It is not natural.
It is supernatural.
It is not you and me.
It is he.
It is all of him.
Dear brothers and sisters, that's what we are
pursuing.
We are pursuing after holiness, because without holiness
no one can see God.
You know the word holiness literally means holy
making.
Holy making.
In other words, we are to be made
holy.
We are to be made like him.
Or to put it another way, we are
to be transformed and be conformed to his
image.
We are to let him be our character.
Let him characterize us.
This is what holiness really means.
Not I, but Christ.
That is holiness.
And we are to pursue after that holiness.
That we may be made partakers of his
holiness.
That we may yield the fruit of peaceful
righteousness.
Isn't that wonderful?
Peaceful righteousness.
Now can there be a righteousness that is
not peaceful?
Sometimes people can be over-righteous and when
you are over-righteous it is not peaceful
at all.
But here you'll find it is peaceful righteousness
and holiness.
This is our goal.
And because of this you'll find a triple
warning.
Immediately following.
Watching.
Lest there be anyone who lacks the grace
of God.
Now the word lacks means falling short.
Watch.
Lest there be anyone fall short of the
grace of God.
Now isn't that wonderful?
That we all have the grace of God.
Now what is the grace of God?
The grace of God is on the one
hand, what he has called us to.
And the grace of God is on the
other hand, what he has supplied us with.
In other words, it is the grace of
God that calls us.
His grace calls us into all that he
is.
And then his grace supplies us with all
that we need to enter in.
Now that is the grace of God.
And the grace of God is here with
every one of us.
You are saved by grace through faith.
The grace of God is already here.
The grace of God has called us into
all that he is for us.
And the grace of God has supplied us
with all the energy, all the strength, all
the power that needs to enter into him.
It's all, it's all given to us.
All we need is by grace through faith.
In other words, believe.
Take it.
Respond to it.
Receive it.
And if you do not respond to grace
calling, and if you do not receive grace
supplying, then you fall short of the grace
of God.
In other words, the grace of God is
there, but you are not able to enjoy
it.
You fall short of it.
And if you fall short of it, there
is no excuse.
You cannot excuse yourself and say this because
I do not know what he has called
me to.
You cannot say because I haven't found any
supply from him.
No, he has already shown you, he has
already given to you, but you do not
receive it by faith.
There will be no excuse.
But thank God it is just fall short
of the grace of God.
It is not fall out of the grace
of God.
You know, in Galatians chapter 5 verse 4
is fall out of the grace of God.
Now that is serious.
Most serious.
But even if we should fall short of
the grace of God, in other words, you
do not arrive at that which God has
called you.
You become lazy.
You are contented with the little that you
have.
You belittle God.
You despise his calling.
And you do not reach out and rely
upon his grace that is sufficient for your
every need.
Now if you are doing that, you fall
short of the grace of God.
Be careful about that.
And then he said, lest any root of
bitterness spring up trouble you and many be
defiled by it.
You know it is very strange.
Usually those who fall short of the grace
of God will find the root of bitterness
in them.
You know, if you really embrace the grace
of God, you will find within you worship
and praise.
But when you fall short of the grace
of God, then you begin to blame God
as if it is all his fault.
The root of bitterness begins to arise within
you.
Now look at the history of the children
of Israel.
Because they did not apprehend the grace of
God, they turned against God and murmured against
God.
And you know, even in Matthew chapter 25,
that wicked servant, you know, because he was
lazy, he was wicked.
He did not want to work with the
talent that the master had given to him.
So he buried it.
And then when he faced the master, he
blamed the master.
He said, you are a hard master.
Now that is the root of bitterness.
But dear brothers and sisters, the problem is,
if the root of bitterness should arise in
your heart, you will find it will not
only affect you, but many will be defiled.
Why?
Because we are one body.
That's why it is cooperating.
We are running together.
It is a team record.
And you find that if any one of
us should be bitter, soon you will find
it will spread to the others.
Just like murmur, a little murmur somewhere, maybe
at the extremity of the camp, and gradually
you will find that murmur will travel, and
it travels faster than light, and it will
enter into even the center of the camp,
until the whole camp begins to cry.
Many will be defiled.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is a tremendous
privilege to be a member of the body
of Christ.
But you know, it is a very serious
responsibility too.
We are responsible not only for ourselves, but
we are responsible for our fellow members.
Be careful that we edify people and not
offend them.
And then the third thing is, lest there
be any fornicator or profane person that he
saw who for one year stole his birthright.
You know the word profane is the very
opposite of holy.
Profane simply means, instead of being set apart
for God, instead of being sanctified, instead of
being uncommon, we become common, we mingle with
the world, we love the world, we become
one of them.
That's profane.
Like Esau.
For the love of one meal, and that
is not a luxurious dinner, it is a
snack.
For the sake of a bowl of soup,
he stole his birthright.
And because he stole his birthright, he couldn't
get a blessing connected with that.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have a birthright.
Do you know the church is the assembly
of the firstborn, whose names are registered in
heaven?
Because our Lord Jesus is the firstborn, therefore
the church is the church of the firstborn.
We all have that firstborn right in Christ
Jesus.
We all are priests and kings.
We all have a double portion.
That is our birthright.
That is the blessing that goes with our
birthright.
But dear brothers and sisters, we may lose
the blessing of the birthright if we become
profane.
Instead of loving Him, Christ our Lord.
And thank God, we are further encouraged.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are not coming
to Mount Sinai.
We have come.
You know here you find a contrast.
A contrast between two mountains.
Mount Sinai and Mount Zion.
It is a contrast between law and grace.
What is Mount Sinai?
It is law.
And therefore you find the description of Mount
Sinai is, it is a mountain that can
be touched.
It is physical.
But whoever touches it, must be stoned to
death.
It can be touched, but you cannot touch
it, because it will mean death.
And it is all on fire, obscurity, darkness,
tempest, trumpet sound, voice of words.
In other words, it was a terrible sight.
So when the children of Israel saw this
terrible sight, when the law was given, they
so trembled and they begged Moses and said,
do not let God to talk with us.
Talk to you and let you tell us.
And even Moses said, it was so terrible
that he was in fear and trembling.
Brothers and sisters, this is what law is.
Law says thou shalt and thou shalt not.
And can you bear it?
Can you hear it without fear and trembling?
And when you touch the law you touch
death.
Isn't that true?
But thank God we do not come to
Mount Sinai.
We have come to Mount Zion.
And here you find Mount Zion of course
is not the Zion in Jerusalem below.
It is the Zion in Heaven.
We are coming to Mount Zion where God
reigns.
We are coming to the city of the
living God, heavenly Jerusalem, where God dwells among
His redeemed.
We are coming to myriads of angels, the
universal gathering.
Here you will find God has myriads of
angels ministering to those who are redeemed.
And praising God.
To the assembly of the firstborn who are
registered in Heaven, that is the church.
And to God, judge of all.
He is the judge of all.
And thank God we can stand before the
judge of all with holy boldness because of
the blood of the Lamb.
And to the spirits of just men made
perfect.
These may be the saints in the Old
Testament time.
They are spirits made just, of just men
made perfect.
And thank God we are coming to Jesus.
Mediator of a new covenant.
He is the mediator of the new covenant.
He gave us the new covenant.
Our Lord Jesus.
And we come to the blood of sprinkling.
Not only the blood poured but the blood
sprinkled.
In other words the blood applied.
We are coming to grace.
You know as you read you will find
He said we have come.
Ye have come.
We may think the holy city is still
in the future.
But dear brothers and sisters, even though one
day the holy city, the new Jerusalem will
descend from above and yet the Bible says
you have come.
In spiritual reality there is no time factor.
It is true one day the holy city
will come down from Heaven.
But spiritually we have already come.
We are already in the holy city.
We have already in grace.
We have already received grace.
Brothers and sisters do you not know that
we are children of grace?
Not children of law.
We are not under law but we are
under grace.
Not because it is grace and not law.
Therefore we can be careless.
You know it is very strange.
Our human mentality is very strange.
If we think we are under law we
know we have to be careful.
But no matter how careful you are you
violate the law.
But when you think that you are under
grace then you think you can be free
to do anything you like.
After all it is grace.
Now don't cheat yourself.
Because grace is so much greater than law.
Therefore your responsibility towards grace is so much
greater than to cheat that you refuse not
Him.
This speaks.
For if those did not escape who have
refused Him who uttered the oracles on earth,
much more we who turn away from Him
who does so from Heaven, whose voice then
shook the earth, but now He has promised
saying, yet once will I shake not only
the earth but also the Heaven.
Dear brothers and sisters, since we have come
to grace, to the grace of God, and
the grace of God is none other but
Christ, we have come to Him, we have
come to Christ, therefore let us not refuse
Him.
This speaks.
God has spoken.
He spoke in the past to our fathers,
through the prophets, in peace and peace.
But now He has spoken to us in
His own Son.
Brothers and sisters, God has spoken.
He has spoken to us in His Son.
Let us not refuse Him who speaks to
us.
Let us not excuse ourselves like the children
of Israel excuse themselves from hearing.
Let us not decline from hearing His voice.
If people refuse to hear Him who speaks
on earth, the Oregon God, that is Moses,
if people refuse to hear Moses, He will
die.
How much more if we turn away from
Him who speaks to us from Heaven.
Brothers and sisters, we are warned against turning
away from Him.
If we turn away from Him, then you
will find how serious that must be.
Let us, receiving a kingdom not to be
shaken, have grace, by which let us serve
God acceptably with reverence and fear, for also
our God is a consumable fire.
So here we are being exhorted and encouraged
again.
Let us not turn away.
Let us not decline.
Let us not refuse to hear Him.
But rather, let us, receiving a kingdom not
to be shaken, have grace.
Do you know that it is the good
pleasure of our Father to give us the
kingdom?
The Lord Jesus said in Luke chapter 12,
fear not little flock, and the little flock
means the church, because the church in comparison
with the world is a little flock.
Fear not little flock, for it is the
good pleasure of your Father to give you
the kingdom.
You know, it is the delight of our
Heavenly Father to give us the kingdom.
And that kingdom is a kingdom that cannot
be shaken.
Look at the kingdoms today.
All the kingdoms of the world can be
shaken.
Many have been shaken, many are being shaken,
and eventually all will be shaken.
But thank God, God has given us a
kingdom that cannot be shaken.
He has promised us.
He has given to us.
And because He has given to us a
kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have
grace.
Now, what do you mean by have grace?
If grace has not been given, you cannot
have it.
But if grace has already been given, why
not have it?
In other words, just rise up and take
it by faith.
Again you find a principle, by grace go
faith.
Grace has been given.
We have come to Mount Zion.
We have come to grace.
Grace has been given.
So dear brothers and sisters, let us rise
up and take it by faith, believing that
grace is for us.
Believing that He has called us to the
unshakable kingdom.
And believing that we have sufficient grace to
supply us, that we may enter into the
kingdom abundantly.
Believing that.
Let us take it by faith.
Let us serve God acceptably with reverence and
thanksgiving.
There is only one way to serve God,
and that is to glorify His grace.
You know, we cannot serve God in ourselves.
We cannot serve God by our own cleverness,
by our own ingenuity, by our own strength,
by our natural likeness, natural energy.
No.
It will be completely rejected.
The only way we can serve God is
serve Him by His grace.
So let us have grace by which let
us serve God acceptably.
This is the only service that you accept.
It has to be Christ.
Christ in you.
And let us serve with reverence and fear.
And that is our attitude.
In other words, we are always afraid lest
our own selves, our flesh, will intrude.
Lest we will stretch out the hand of
the flesh and be smitten.
That we may serve God in grace.
So brothers and sisters, you will find that
it is grace from the beginning to the
end.
It is all of grace.
It is grace, grace, amazing grace.
Everything is grace.
And grace is Christ.
He is our Lord.
And He is our Savior.
The God of peace who brought
again from among the dead our Lord Jesus
Christ.
The grace shepherd of the sheep in the
power of the blood of the eternal covenant.
Perfect you in every good work to the
doing of His will.
Doing in you what is pleasing before Him
through Jesus Christ.
To whom be glory for the ages of
ages.
Amen.
Here you find in verse twenty, God has
already demonstrated His grace in Christ Jesus.
He has brought again from among the dead
our Lord Jesus.
The grace shepherd of the sheep in the
power of the blood of the eternal covenant.
God has demonstrated, expressed and demonstrated His grace
in Christ Jesus and in all that Christ
has done for us.
And now He is going to do all
these through Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit
in each one of us.
That He may perfect you in every good
work, in the doing of His will.
Doing in you what is pleasing before Him
through Jesus Christ.
Not only Christ, what Christ has done on
Calvary's cross, but Christ in you, the hope
of glory.
And dear brothers and sisters, again, it is
all His doing.
So in other words you find in the
book of Hebrews, when all these wonderful things
before us, so great salvation, heavenly calling, perfection,
life in the holiest, goal and prize of
high calling, all these before us.
Remember, all these are what grace is calling
us to.
And at the same time, you find the
very same grace is in each one of
us to supply us with everything that is
needed for us to arrive at the goodness.
It is He who does it, not you.
All that you need to do is to
believe in Him and call on Christ.
So may the Lord bless you.
To Him be the glory for the ages
to come.
Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, how we do praise and
thank Thee that what Thou has done in
Christ Jesus and called us into is not
a small matter, but it is of such
tremendous magnitude that it is really beyond our
understanding.
But we praise and thank Thee that by
Thy Holy Spirit it is revealed to us,
and it is continually revealed to us.
And Father, we pray that we may not
be those who are all fainthearted, but we
may be of those who will rise up
by Thy grace and apprehend Thy grace by
faith.
That we may find that Thy grace who
calls us is the grace that supplies us.
And Father, we do pray that truly it
may be all unto the praise of Thy
glory.
In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.