Amen. Well, good morning to you. If you have your Bibles, and of course I hope that you do, I invite you to turn with me to the book of Hebrews. as we wrap up Hebrews chapter 12. There is a part of me that says that this morning, as we, of course, have systematically gone through Hebrews for a while now, this is not a Christmas message. This is, a part of me feels this is the opposite of a Christmas message. This is a very somber text. It's a warning. It's the fifth. It's the last of five warnings, as we'll see in just a second. But of course, everything, if you understand Christmas properly, is about Christmas, right? We can celebrate Christmas every week of the year. And hopefully, if I remember at the end, I'm going to come back and tell you why this is very much appropriate for this Christmas Sunday. So again, we're in Hebrews chapter 12 this morning, wrapping up chapter 12, and we said a little bit last week, although there's one more chapter, and for us that could mean three weeks up to eight weeks. We're not quite for sure how we're going to work through 13 yet. But as we said last week, 12 ends the theological thrust of Hebrews. Hebrews has been making so many beautiful theological points that point us to Christ and point us to the Lord and really help us understand who the Lord is and who we are in the Lord. And Hebrews 12 kind of wraps a lot of this stuff up, especially when it comes to these warnings. And it's been quite a while. We've been in Hebrews now for 60, this is week number 66. And the majority of these warnings were on the front about 12 to 20 weeks. The last time we were in a warning was in Hebrews chapter 10. And although that's only a page and a half over from where you are in your Bible, that was a minute ago. So I know you probably don't remember all these warnings, but I want us to kind of just real quick look at these warnings because Hebrews, as you said last week, it has a lot of themes and there are several themes. Last week we emphasized and highlighted the main theme of Hebrews, which is Jesus is Better. Very good for two or three of y'all. But Jesus is better. That's for the name of our series that we started so long ago it seems. But Jesus is better. The superiority of Christ in the book of Hebrews and in all of life and all of creation. That Jesus is better. Another theme of Hebrews, if you will, is a theme of warning. There are five very specific warnings. that the Holy Spirit gives the writer of Hebrews to give to his original audience, which is still applicable to us today, if not even more so than ever before. So these five warnings, just real quick, they are the danger of drifting, the danger of falling away, the danger of dulling, the danger of sinning, and we'll see this morning the danger of rejecting. Go with me to chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 2, First, a few verses there. It says, Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard, as we'll see again this morning, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles by the gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. And so the very first warning we see in Hebrews is this warning to avoid the danger of drifting away. And so we're going to see that these warnings, they escalate. So the very first one here is be careful not to drift away. Do not drift away from the Lord. Do not drift away from the things that we are rooted in Christ, the things that we know that have been declared to us by the very angels, have been declared to us by the Word of God, have been declared to us by those who have spoken this and those who have seen the Lord. And so it's a warning not to drift away. And then over in chapter three, starting in verse seven, we see this warning against the danger of falling away. And so we're not gonna read all of this, but you go from Hebrews chapter three, verse seven, all the way to the middle of chapter four, which is in verse 13. But it says, and we'll just stay there in three, seven, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. And so, and he continues on there through the next few verses and pick it up in verse 12. Take care, brothers, lest there be in you, in any of you, an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. And so it's this warning not to fall away. It's this warning not to, not just drift from the Lord, but don't fall away from the Lord. And we'll come back in just a second as to what this really doesn't mean. I mean you pick up in chapter five the third warning chapter five starting in verse eleven on through chapter six this warning continues. but it's this warning against what we in the church call apostasy. It says about this, we have much to say and it's hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to be teaching you again the basic principles, the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child, but solid food for the mature. and for those who have powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish those good from evil." And so it's this warning of being dulled. It's this warning of not growing in the Lord. It's this warning of becoming callous to the things of the Lord. And you can continue reading that in chapter 6. But then in the fourth warning, we see you've got to flip several chapters over to chapter 10. We're at most recently chapter 10 and the latter part of chapter 10 starting in verse 19. Well, we'll just kind of skip on down to verse 26 there. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Merry Christmas. This is a clear warning inspired by the Holy Spirit that's given to the early church, that is still given to us today. This danger of drifting and falling away, this danger of being dulled, and this danger of sinning. He says don't fall back into that way of life. Don't fall back into this way of life of sinning, intentionally sinning, deliberately sinning. And we trample again the blood of Jesus. And so we see this escalation. We see that it goes from this drift all the way to this deliberate sin where there's judgment and there's weight. And then it comes to Hebrews chapter 12. And we see this danger of rejecting. Let's just read the first part here. Hebrews chapter 12. We'll start in verse 25. See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, yet here's a promise of God, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, as we saw last week, but also the heavens. This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken. That is, things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. So here's this fifth warning in Hebrews, is this danger of rejecting God Himself. This danger of rejecting Christ and who He is. And so these warnings, they're important. Very often these are lumped together into their whole series on these five warnings found in Hebrews. And so we're kind of putting these back together this morning. But all these warnings of drifting, falling away, dulling, sinning intentionally and rejecting Christ, it is important to understand that these are not warnings that you will lose your salvation. This is not okay. If you do these things, you're going to fall away from the grace of God. As we walk through Hebrews, hopefully we've seen that. Hopefully we've seen the security we have in our salvation that was paid for by Christ. Nothing we did earns our salvation, therefore nothing we do can lose our salvation. Because He loves us so much. He loves us. He's given us these warnings similarly out of love because He loves His people. These are not warnings about how someone can lose their salvation. These warnings are meant to ensure that someone has truly been saved. The word we use often, they are litmus tests, if you will. They're internal checks to think through these things, to see if someone has truly been born again. Is the Spirit of God, does the Spirit of God dwell inside of them? Because if the Spirit of God dwells inside of them, the Spirit of God will never leave them. If they have been saved, nothing can ever change that. If they have been saved, if they've truly turned to Christ in faith and repentance. And so often, and I would dare say now more than ever, not that I know much about time has passed, but I know I feel like I know a good bit about the church today, especially in the American church. But this is where so many are. Has someone truly been born again? Have they truly turned to Christ, repented of their sins, and turned and trusted by faith in the Son of God? Or do they want to just come to this Christmas season to look at baby Jesus? Or do they receive Christ as King? So there is this danger of rejecting God. And this warning is clear that it's about rejecting Him, refusing Him. Verse 25, see to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. Well, who's speaking? In case you weren't here last week, verse 24, and to Jesus. He's talking about coming, it says, and coming to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. who is speaking the blood of Jesus, Jesus himself, do not refuse him who is speaking. For if he did not escape, for if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. And so it's this clear warning not to reject Christ. So how do we reject Christ? Look at briefly this morning. Rarely do you hear of someone who has been seemingly, I think it's an important word, who has at least perceived walking with the Lord and their living a Christian life seemingly. Rarely do you see someone go from that to this perceived walk with the Lord to, I hate God, right? I reject Christ. Rarely do you make that kind of jump. And that's why these warnings are so important. You do see people who seemingly love the Lord, who go to church, who have all the outward expressions of Christianity, outwards expression of being a disciple of Christ, but then they follow this path of drifting and falling away and being dulled and intentionally sinning, disregarding the blood of Jesus, and ultimately it comes to this place right here, that they reject Christ. They may not reject him so much specifically in word, but they reject him in deed. They reject Him in their heart, and they might as well reject Him in word. And it's not even a slow fade. And I think this is important. It's kind of helped me think through this a little bit differently. You know, we oftentimes think it's a slow fade away from Christ. And we think of when we think of it in those terms, it seems like one was once in Christ and then slowly went away from Christ. But they were never in Christ. They were never said they never had the Holy Spirit of God that dwelled inside of them. So it's not this slow fade, meaning that we are slipping away out of the hands of God. Instead, it is a gradual revelation. It is a gradual revelation that we realize that we are not His. That's all these warnings. We see this so much not just in Hebrews, but in the New Testament from Paul. That is this realization. Is someone truly in Christ? One of the main points of Hebrews is to give these warnings and blinking bright lights to say, beware. If this is you, if you find yourself drifting from the Lord, if you find yourself falling away from the Lord, if you find yourself being dulled, if you find yourself continually in sin and not having a spirit of conviction, then the ultimate danger is right here that you are rejecting God Himself. And so three clear signs, I think, are helpful to us this morning, helpful to us and to our friends and to those who may be listening. Three clear signs that a person is rejecting Christ. The first is this, that they are disobeying God's word. if you are deliberately disobeying God's Word, if you see a truth in Scripture that you know as a believer applies to how you live and how you think and how you structure your life and you disobey that deliberately, that is a sign of rejecting Christ Himself because the Word is not about Christ, the Word is Christ. So as we reject the Word, we are rejecting Christ. specifically not obeying a scriptural command that applies to a believer is disobeying God's Word. And I've heard it many times, and I'm sure you've heard it. Hopefully you've not said it, but I can't do this. I see God's Word. I see that it's clear. I see that it's true. Honestly, I even realize that it applies to me, but I just can't do that. And you're right. You can't do it. We can't go to God's Word and say, OK, here's the Old Testament list. Now here's the New Testament list. Let me live according to this and I'll find righteousness. But we can't live according to God's Word on our own. We can only do it with the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of us. So no, we can't do it. But if that's our excuse, if that's our justification for rejecting God's Word, if that's our justification for rejecting the truth of God's Word that's meant to shape how we live, that is us functionally rejecting Christ by disobeying His Word, by saying, this doesn't apply to me. Or what about all these other commands in Scripture that other people neglect? Proverbs 14, 12, a very familiar verse that many of us probably have committed to memory. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death and to destruction. So how do we reject Christ? By disobeying deliberately God's word. Secondly, how do we disobey Christ? By choosing another over Christ. Come with me to Matthew real quick. Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10, just one verse. I believe it's verse 37. We'll just start in verse 34. We haven't made it to Matthew in a while. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. A little side note. What? Jesus hadn't come to bring peace to the world? I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Why is this? Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. And so it's this very clear line in the sand that Jesus says, you cannot choose others over me. For God is a jealous God. And he can be a jealous guy because everything is about the glory of God. And he pursues his own glory and thus our good. But there are those who would choose their mother, their father, their brother, their sister. And it's just not limited to those four relationships, fill in the blank. The wife, the husband, the boyfriend, the girlfriend. They're whatever, fill in the blank of those that we would likely choose over Christ. And there are many times that people choose others over Christ. And when they do so, they are rejecting God. So three signs that a person is clearly rejecting God. One is they're disobeying God's word. Two, they're choosing another over Christ. And three, I guess it gets very specific. They disregard the counsel of their elders. Now, we're not going to spend much time here because we're going to do that in a few weeks. If you turn over one page or you may be on the right page, Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. And we'll unpack this a lot more in a few weeks, but one of the most sombering verses of Scripture for an elder of a church. And if you want a sign of someone who's rejecting Christ, because the elders don't, they're not in the church, they've not been established, they might sit and rule over the lives of others. That's not their call or our desire. But elders are called to love, in love to lead their people to treasure Christ. And so if you are rejecting the word of God, if you are disobeying it, if you are choosing others over Christ and you are disregarding men who have been called to point you to Christ, then likely Christ does not dwell inside of you. So this is how we reject Christ, by disobeying God's word, choosing another over Christ, and disregarding counsel of the elders that God has placed in our life. If we reject Christ, we make the ultimate revelation that we do not belong to him, that he is not ours and we are not his. And the writer of Hebrews here is very clear that those who do not belong to Christ cannot escape God's wrath. God will destroy all that is not devoted to Him. One more time, let's turn our attention to verse 25 through 27. see that you do not refuse him who is speaking for they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth and had this earthly warning and that can be a nod to the law to the old testament to moses it could be even those to hebrews chapter 2 those who have a normal lord who are speaking into their life but if someone on earth someone physical something that is created has warned you and you've rejected him Much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven Christ himself. At that time, his voice shook the earth. This is a reference to the last week's passage that's found in Exodus. in Deuteronomy, that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, and this is interesting, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. And I love it when Scripture dumbs it down for us. Because listen to the next words. This is what this means, it says. This is what this phrase, yet once more, indicates. The removal of things that are shaken. So you kind of get this picture, right? Like God shakes it up a little bit and things just kind of got loosened. He said, now he's going to shake it up even more and it's going to be destroyed. That is the things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. And there's this picture that whenever God destroys, that there will be little left. That's almost a silly analogy. We went last weekend. Went last weekend to Curry Farms to get our Christmas tree. We're late. You know, Erica was graduating nursing, did all of her stuff, so kind of everything was put on hold. All right, so finally we have a chance to go get our Christmas tree. We've been going to Curry Farms for probably about 10 years. And we get out there, we pull up, and there's Miss Curry herself. She greets us, and I'm just joking with her. I said, I'm there for a tree. Or she's joking with me. She said, well, we only have three left. I was like, only three, because I was kind of expecting that. She said, only three? And she thought I was an idiot. No, I'm just kidding. We got more than three. Well, we pulled up. There was about three in there. We pulled up to Curry Farms. Everything was laid waste. Every tree except about four were literally cut down and gone. And it was like, normally if you've been out to Curry Farms, it's always Christmas trees and people are out, you know, singing and having a good time. There was like 12 people and three trees. It was a barren wasteland of a Christmas tree farm. We found one. And as silly as of a connection it is, we see this picture of God laying waste that which is not His. That He shakes it, He removes it. His wrath comes against anything that is created. Anything that is not His, anything that is not devoted to God will be removed, not gently, but destroyed by the wrath of God. And that's not just things, that is people. That is anyone, anything that is not devoted to the Lord, that are not his, it says will be removed. This is a heavy warning. This is the final warning to those who are reading Hebrews. that says, look, may you find yourself in Christ. Because the invitation is to all who would come, that if you will come to Christ, if you will look to Christ in faith by the grace of God, repent of your sins and trust Him, then you are devoted to Him. Then you will stand. in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. In order for the things that cannot be shaken may remain. And you know, the things that cannot be shaken are the things that belong to God, are the things that are His, are those who are His, are those that He loves, those that He cares for, those that He has sent His Son to die for and redeem, to save, to keep and to protect. And so this isn't a warning to do your best to make it to the end, that you will be spared the wrath of God. It is a warning to say that if you are not found in Christ, this is your end. And then he has this big therefore. Therefore, because of all this stuff, because this is true, because of this final warning, because of this reminder of the reality of the wrath of God, Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. So there's two things here in this, therefore, there's two things that he is telling the people of God. Number one, therefore, let us be grateful. Why are we grateful? Because we belong to the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God cannot and will not, will never be shaken for it is God's. And Christ is King. And so we gather on Sunday mornings as a grateful people. This binds our hearts together. that as we come together as the people of God, that we come together as people that we are part of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And not just a future kingdom, even a kingdom now, as James prayed earlier, as we live in a very rocky world, right? We live in a very tumultuous time. Who knows what's happening as we're in this room right now in the world? Who knows? You may leave here and may all be burned down. Who would be surprised? Who knows what 2021 holds? It doesn't hold a better future. Because we live in a broken world and it's only getting more broken. It's getting more shaken. And so our hope is not in 2020 goes away and we have a better and a brighter future. But our hope is in Christ. Our hope that our world is not shaken, not because we have control of our circumstances. It's not because we get to raise this next year. It's not because we do this next year. It's not because we're healthy now. It's not because fill in the blank. It's because of Christ. That our world cannot be shaken in the midst of sickness. It cannot be shaken in the midst of difficulty. We can live in an unshaken state no matter what our circumstances because of Christ. And so as we gather as the people of God, we gather as an unshaken people. Now granted, we need to be reminded of that often, right? And that's part of the reason we gather, not just on Sunday mornings. We gather in community groups even more, because we can share what's happening in life. And we can share, man, it seems like the world's shaking. We can be reminded that, no, the world may be shaken up, but we are not. We gather as a grateful people that binds our hearts. We gather as a people who cannot be shaken. And we gather as those who individually and collectively belong to the kingdom of God. And that's what unites a church. It's not likes and interests. It's not where we live. It's not our location. It's not our income bracket. It's not our hobbies. but we gather as those who are individually and collectively belong to the kingdom of God. That we look forward to the day that we can walk out those doors and there is no more sickness, there is no more suffering, there is no more pain, because we'll be in the fully fulfilled and come kingdom of God. So let us be grateful, it says. And then it says, therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. So as we gather, one of the reasons we gather is to offer to God acceptable worship. That's why we have to be so careful that we sing the right songs, right, Ryan? And we sing it in the right tempo, and we have the right band up here. We got the fog machine ordered. They'll be here after the new year. No, that's not the acceptable worship. And we can laugh, and we can mock that, and we hopefully realize that's the people of God. What is the acceptable worship of God? It's a heart that is turned to Christ. recognizing that the heart has been turned to Christ because of Christ, not because we're good enough and we decided to follow Jesus on our own ability, but it's to have a heart that has turned to Christ, one that has not rejected the Lord, but one that has received the Lord. One that comes recognizing apart from Christ that we are broken and helpless and that we are in need of a Savior. Not just once, but every moment of our life that we need Christ. As we gather, we worship in one accord. We don't gather to worship as we please, but to offer an acceptable worship to the Lord. So let us be grateful. Let us offer acceptable worship to the Lord. And kind of going back to why ultimately this is a Christmas message. You know, it's easy for the world to receive baby Jesus. It's the time of the year that everyone, we love Nativity scenes and we love all these things and we love looking at Christmas lights and there's this something inside of us that it's easy to receive sweet baby Jesus. But the warning here is not to be careful that you don't receive sweet baby Jesus. But the warning here is that you don't reject King Jesus. And so as we celebrate Christmas as gospel-centered believers, as we celebrate Christmas as those who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, as we celebrate Christians as North Hills, as we celebrate Christmas as those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, Now let us remember, it's not just a baby that we're celebrating, but it's a king. And this king lowered himself to come as a babe, to come as an infant, to put on flesh, to dwell amongst us. because he loves us and did all of this because we are his. Let us be grateful and let us bring acceptable worship to him. Let us take seriously all that God has done for us in the person of Christ and what he is yet to do for us in the person of Christ. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I thank You for this morning. I thank You for a chance to turn to Your Word. I thank You for Christ. I thank You for the One who is our rock, who is our Savior, who is our anchor, for the One that we come to remember and to celebrate this morning at the communion table through His broken body and His poured out blood. And Lord, my prayer this morning is if there is one person in this room or one person who is listening, who has never truly repented of their sins and recognize himself as a sinner and turn to Jesus. But they would do so, Lord, right now. They would look to you. They would consider all that Christ has done. And by faith, look to Jesus. They would receive this warning. For if we do not turn to you, we have no hope. Thank you Lord, our hope is in Christ. In his name we do pray, amen. As our men pass out the elements, just continue, as John just said, look to Christ. Consider him as we partake of his body and blood. you And Christ said, take, eat, this is my body. As we are reminded, oh God, of as the bread is crushed, we're reminded of the body that was broken for the redemption of your people. you He took a cup and said, take, drink, this is my blood poured out for you. Father, again, we're just reminded of the great sacrifice that took place. This plan of salvation. This this gift. We just. With reverence and all. Come before you in worship. And we are thankful. In Christ name, Amen. All right, well, as we close, we as believers have joy and we live with joy. We can give with joy. We sing with joy. And so this week, as Christmas arrives, may you have joy in your homes, your hearts, and you spread that wherever you may go. So let's stand together as we sing, as we give and sing joy to the world. Let every heart prepare Him room And heaven and nature sing While fields and floods, mountains and plains Repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy Repeat, repeat the sounding joy No more let sinners suffer I love you. Father, as we go out this week amidst the hustle and the bustle, Lord, may the truth of your son just be exhibited in our lives and our attitudes. Lord, as we give and receive gifts, just remind us of the greatest gift of all, Lord, your son, the eternal life that we receive for those who are in him. And may we share that with others. We thank you. We do have so much gratitude for being a part of your kingdom, which will not be shaken and is everlasting. And it's in Christ's name that we pray, amen. You're dismissed.