We turn in our Bibles to Hebrews chapter
12, the twelfth chapter of the Epistles of
the Hebrews, beginning with verse 18.
Hebrews 12 at 18.
I'd say it's a real joy to be
back at Yosemite.
Never any hardship to come back to this
beautiful spot in God's creation, and especially in
the context of Christian fellowship.
We trust that it'll be a time of
blessing to all of our hearts.
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 18.
For ye are not come unto the mount
that might be touched, and that burned with
fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
and the sound of a trumpet, and the
voice of words, which voice they that heard
entreated, that the word should not be spoken
to them any more.
For they could not endure that which was
commanded.
And if so much as a beast touch
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust
through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses
said, I exceedingly fear and quake.
But ye are come unto mount Zion, and
unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of
angels, to the general assembly and church of
the firstborn, who are written in heaven, and
to God the judge of all, and to
the spirits of just men made perfect, and
to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh
better things than that of Abel.
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh.
For if they escaped not who refused him
that spake on earth, much more shall not
we escape, if we turn away from him
that speaketh from heaven.
I was thinking of this passage of Scripture
in connection with our meeting tomorrow morning when
we gather together to remember the Lord.
This passage tells us that in Christianity we
do not come to a scene of judgment
and darkness and tumult, but we come to
a place of extraordinary privilege and majesty and
dignity.
And I think there's a danger of us
losing sight today of what a privilege it
is for us to draw near to God
in worship as a company of his people.
As I understand collective worship, our bodies will,
true enough, be down in the auditorium tomorrow
morning at 10 o'clock.
But that is not really the place where
we worship.
We pass by faith from Yosemite National Park
into the throne room of the universe.
By faith we stand in the presence of
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
By faith we have audience with the King.
And it's no mean privilege for a mortal
being this side of eternity to meet in
such august company.
This passage of Scripture tells us that as
we pass into the heavenly sanctuary, we're surrounded
by innumerable hosts of angels.
Hosts of angels whose tongues have never been
unloosed to sing redemption's story like ours have
been.
Angels who look on, who see the church,
and learn great lessons of God's wisdom, love,
and grace from his dealings with us.
The angelic host in heaven views a company
of people, saved by grace, coming into the
presence of the Lord.
And then, of course, there are some of
the saints of this church dispensation who've already
passed into the presence of the Lord.
And they're there at this present time.
Their spirits, the personalities are there, though their
bodies are still in the grave.
They've passed into that scene of endless bliss
where the song of the Lamb has begun.
And it's our portion to meet with them
there and to present the sacrifice of our
praise to God tomorrow morning.
And then it says that God himself is
there.
God, the Judge of all.
Dear friends, I wonder if during the week
that we have been conscious of the fact
that each Lord's Day we stand in the
presence of God.
Infinite in holiness and purity, the sovereign of
all the universe, we stand in his very
presence.
What must such a scene be?
I wonder how you picture it in your
mind.
The importance of it is that we don't
come into such a place without preparation.
We don't come into such a place with
sin and defilement.
We come into such a place and such
a privilege as judged believers.
Some time ago an operation was going on
in the hospital.
The doctor was there working with nimble fingers.
The nurses were passing the instruments to him
as he called for them.
And as one of the nurses was passing
an instrument to the doctor, it accidentally touched
the light fixture.
And the doctor hurled it aside.
Why was that?
Dear friends, contamination.
That's why.
Contamination.
When I think of the care that's used
in an operating room today, when I think
of a believer standing before God by faith
in his very presence, it makes me realize
how we must be careful not to come
before him contaminated by the filth and defilement
of the way, but come as purged worshipers
into his presence, having judged that which is
sinful and displeasing to him.
Then it says that as we gather in
the heavenly sanctuary, the Old Testament saints are
there too.
The spirits of just men made perfect.
The men of this world have never stood
in such a place of privilege.
To think that we pass by faith into
the presence of God, of the angelic host,
of those who've gone before the church dispensation,
and now of the worthy saints of the
Old Testament dispensation.
They're there as well.
Those who look forward to Calvary by faith,
we who look back to Calvary by faith,
we meet with one common song on our
lips.
Then, dear friends, Jesus is there.
Jesus is there.
Is Jesus the mediator of a new covenant?
I can imagine the ripple of excitement that
would go through the conference if word got
out that you were going to have audience
in the White House this coming week.
If word got out that you had received
an invitation to appear before Queen Elizabeth in
another month, I can imagine that that would
be a choice morsel of conversation during the
conference days.
Dear friends, there's something better than that.
There's something better than that.
To be able to stand by faith in
the presence of the Lord Jesus and cry
out, Worthy, O Lamb of God, art thou,
that every knee to thee should bow.
It's awfully easy for us to get a
wrong sense of values, to put importance on
things that don't count and to forget the
things that really do count.
Are we aware tonight that on the morrow
we'll be standing in the heavenly sanctuary, in
the presence of the crucified, risen, ascended, glorified
Lord Jesus Christ?
What are you going to say to Him?
Oh, you say, I'm a sister, I won't
be able to say anything.
Well, I'm sure the sisters are able to
say things too to Him.
I'm sure He's waiting for that kiss, that
kiss of love, waiting for that tribute from
your heart.
And then it says, And we come to
the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things
than that of Abel.
Now, I don't think it's at all necessary
for us to think tonight in terms of
literal blood in the heavenly sanctuary.
No necessity of it at all.
It simply means that the value of Christ's
blood is there.
The efficacy of His blood is there, and
it's blood that calls out not for vengeance,
as in the case of Abel, but calls
out for grace.
Now, we mentioned before that such an audience
certainly requires preparation, requires preparation of heart.
I remember when Queen Elizabeth was flying to
this country, there was a long article in
the newspaper about the airline stewardesses who were
selected to serve on the flight.
They weren't just taken off a regular run
and put on the Queen's run.
These girls were taken aside.
They were groomed.
They were trained.
They were told how they would behave in
the presence of the Queen.
Everything about them was subject to instruction, to
the closest scrutiny.
Dear friends, if it is true that we
come to meet with the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Christ Himself,
when we gather to remember Him, this requires
the greatest preparation.
It requires preparation of soul.
Sometimes I think that we have the naive
idea that when we gather together to remember
the Lord, our spiritual temperature automatically jumps several
degrees.
And such an idea is absurd.
My spiritual temperature tomorrow, when I meet to
remember the Lord, will be what it has
been during the week.
And if I've been feeding on the leeks
and onions and garlic of the world during
the week, I cannot expect that I'll be
in the Spirit on the Lord's day.
Then I think that sometimes, because we do
allow for the liberty of the Holy Spirit
of God in our meetings, that we have
the idea that we can come together and
that the Spirit of God will automatically give
us something on Lord's Day morning and more
or less push us to our feet and
give us the word to say.
But you know, it isn't true.
It just isn't true.
If I haven't been feeding on the word
of God during the week, I have no
reason to expect that the Spirit of God
will give me some word on Lord's Day
morning.
But I certainly believe that the brethren should
be very much exercised during the week over
some precious thoughts of Christ for the Lord's
Day.
It may be when you gather with the
other Christians to remember Him that that might
not be the strain of the meeting at
all.
And in such a case, of course, one
would remain silent.
But it may very well be that the
portion that the Spirit of God gave you
during the week would be the very theme
of the meeting on Lord's Day morning.
And in that case, it certainly would be
of the Spirit to share it with those
who are there.
And then, you know, I think that if
we're really conscious of the privilege that is
ours as we gather to remember the Lord,
it will affect other areas of our life,
not only our spiritual preparation, but even such
things as the way we dress and our
reverence in the presence of the Lord.
Last night, I was taken to a restaurant
in San Francisco.
And the people in front of me were
turned away from that restaurant.
They weren't allowed to enter because of their
attire.
And you know, I've seen people gather to
remember the Lord with that attire, but people
were turned away from an ungodly restaurant.
I'm sure if we were invited down to
the White House, we'd be careful how we
went.
Aren't you?
Shall we do for man what we would
not do for Jesus Christ?
Dear friends, I think if I were a
sister, when I gather together with the Christians
to remember the Lord, that I would be
careful to veil my glory.
I think I would be careful that no
other glory would be seen on that occasion
but the glory of my blessed Savior.
And I think I would be careful to
be there on time.
I do indeed.
The Lord Jesus is supremely worthy of our
very best.
Dear friends, it's real.
It's not something to be cast aside lightly.
It's real.
And I think if I'm in the consciousness
of the privilege that is mine, I'll be
there on time.
I'll be there on time because He is
there.
Because He is there.
You know, sometimes we can fall into very
slipshod habits about the things of the Lord,
how it must grieve His heart.
People remain away from meetings because of the
least inconvenience.
And other Christians thank God go when it's
the hardest to go.
I like what David said, when Arunah offered
him the threshing floor.
He said, You take it free, King David.
David said, I will not offer unto the
Lord that which cost me nothing.
He said, Well, I'll go to the meeting
if it isn't raining.
I'll go to the meeting if I don't
have a headache or something like that.
I will not offer unto the Lord that
which cost me nothing.
He knows.
He knows when there's a special sacrifice connected
with gathering to meet Him.
Dear friends, I think that perhaps a word
is in order on the whole subject of
reverence in the presence of the Lord.
In London, England, there's a wax museum.
And as you enter into the grand salon
of this wax museum, the great of the
world are around you in wax.
Almost any great dignitary that you could mention,
you'd see him there.
Almost as lifelike.
You almost expect him to breathe.
But you know, there's a very interesting phenomenon
in connection with that wax museum.
No one, whoever enters that grand salon, speaks
above a whisper.
It's a strange thing, isn't it?
It's a strange thing.
Do you know, I noticed that this past
week called for the very sad funeral of
a beloved brother.
Do you know, I noticed when people entered
into that room, the body lying there in
the casket, nobody spoke above a whisper.
Nobody did.
Dear friends, must I say tonight that sometimes
we show reverence for a wax dummy or
for a dead corpse that we do not
show for the Savior.
If the Bible means anything at all, it
means that when we do gather together as
the people of God, we gather in His
very presence by faith.
Not to a scene of judgment true, but
to a scene of grace, a scene of
privilege, but a scene of responsibility as well.
And I trust that as we do gather
together tomorrow, to remember the Lord that we
might do so with a real consciousness of
His presence.
Not as if He were there, but because
He is there.
Two of our hymns express very well, it
seems to be, the great truth of collective
worship.
And I think it would be nice to
leave our meeting tonight with the words of
these hymns in our ears and in our
hearts.
I'm sure you know both of them.
One of them is this, The veil is
rent, Our souls draw near Unto a throne
of grace, The merits of the Lord appear,
They fill the holy place.
His precious blood has spoken there Before and
on the throne, And His own wounds in
heaven declare The atoning work is done.
It is finished, here our souls have rest,
His work can never fail, By Him our
sacrifice and priest We pass within the veil.
Within the holiest of all, Cleansed by His
precious blood, Before the throne we prostrate fall
And worship Thee, O God.
And the other hymn that often comes to
me as a wonderful description of true worship
in the Spirit is that lovely hymn, Gazing
on the Lord in glory, While our hearts
in worship bow, There we read the wondrous
story Of the cross, its shame and woe.
Every mark of dark dishonor Heaped upon the
thorn-crowned brow, All the depths of thy
heart's sorrow Told in answering, Glory now!
On the cross alone forsaken, Where no pitying
eye was found, Now to God's right hand
exalted, With thy praise the heavens resound.
Rise, our hearts, and bless the Father, Feastless
songing here begun, Endless praise and adoration To
the Father and the Son.
And as we do gather together to remember
the Lord, May we do so in spirit
and in truth, Punctually, reverently, And with hearts
overflowing With praise and worship to Him For
His name's sake.