The following presentation is brought to you by Faith Presbyterian Church Reformed. Delivering today's message will be Dr. Richard Bacon. Father, we confess that our tongues do not praise Thee as they ought. We do not behold Thee in Thy righteousness, in Thy glory, in Thy mercy, in Thy grace, in Thy holiness as we ought. And yet, we come unto Thee through the mediatorship of our Lord Jesus Christ, asking that Thou wouldst forgive the shod feet of our hearts, that Thou wouldst grant to us unshod feet in Christ Jesus, that we might learn of Thy holiness and of the holiness of Thy worship. We pray that Thou wouldst teach us to be settled but not relaxed, to be worshipful and reverent and altogether attentive to Thy Word, for indeed we are reminded of those words that if we do not hear him who speaks from heaven it shall not go well with our souls we pray therefore grant to us attentive hearts grant to us ears well opened to hear thy word and we pray cause thy word to go deep into our hearts that we might not only hear it but that we might hearken unto it as well for we ask these things in Christ's name amen please be seated Turn to Hebrews, the twelfth chapter. Turn to Hebrews, the twelfth chapter. I know you all have really important things to do, but nothing's more important than what I'm asking you to do. Turn to the twelfth chapter of Hebrews. Hear now the Word of God from the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, beginning at verse 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. Whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this, yet once more, signify the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. May the Lord add His blessing to our understanding of His Word. We pick up here at verse 25, having examined in the previous six or seven verses, namely from verses 18 through verse 24, the contrast, if you will, of the day of law and the day of gospel. Now don't misunderstand what the author is saying here. He is not saying that there was anyone ever at any time who was saved by the law. Nor is he saying that there is anyone at any time who does not, because of his adoption, because of his union with Christ, not continue to have a filial obedience to the commandments of God. The law and the gospel do not contrast in that way. The Law and Gospel do not contrast either as two ways of salvation, nor as two ways of life. Rather, they contrast this way. When God revealed Himself to Israel and called Israel out from among the nations as a separate people, as a nation, He gave them commandments and statutes and ordinances that pertained to them. They were commanded by God. They were required by God. And anyone who would refuse to hear them was dealt with severely according to the punishments that God attached to His commandments. We do not live in a day in which we are free to do according to our good pleasures. God has not abdicated from the throne, nor has He rescinded even one of the commandments of His moral law." So, what is this distinction being made? Well, the distinction that's being made is the covenant of the law, as it were, works not to please God, but as it was a nation, Because from the time of Adam's fall until the end of the world, it is impossible to please God by works of the law. From the time of Adam's fall forward, it has been impossible to please God, I should say it this way, by our own works of the law. But there is still a contrast between law and gospel. When God thunders law, it does not save you. It cannot save you. It is altogether weak, impotent with respect to power to save. It can't. And so while man cannot keep the law of God according to the covenant of works, he must keep the law of God. What are we to do? This is where the gospel enters in. It's in the what are we to do that the gospel enters in. The answer is God has already made provision. Now the only thing is that you believe in Christ, that you trust His atoning work, that you trust His righteousness, that you depend upon His righteousness to stand before God justified. Justified, declared not guilty, and in fact, more than innocent, positively righteous. The one is forgiveness. The other is justification. Remember, in justification, our catechism rightly teaches us, not only that we are pardoned from our sins, but also that God sees us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ. So then, what we have here is a contrast between law and gospel. The Bible does teach law, the Bible does teach gospel, but it does not teach they are the same thing. Are we to keep the law of God? Yes. Not as slaves obey a master who say to them, go here, go there, but rather as children obey a father. Children who have been adopted into the family of God and now delight in following house rules. So then, which is more excellent, the law or the gospel? Well, the law can condemn, and the law can show forth the majesty, the power, the authority, the holiness, the justice, the goodness of God. But the gospel, while showing forth all those things, adds to that grace and mercy. mercy in not being punished for that which is due to us, and grace in having that added to our account, which is altogether alien to us. So, which is more excellent? By the Gospel, to be sure. But from explaining the excellence of the Gospel, Paul exhorts to faith and perseverance. We must not think, listen to me, we must not think that because we have come forward at a church meeting, because we've signed a decision card, because we've been baptized, whether as infants or whether as adults, because we belong to a church, because we come to a church and lean up against a wall, that we are therefore saved, we have nothing to worry about. Paul exhorts us to faith and to perseverance. And if we don't understand that, we've missed Hebrews altogether. That there is such a thing as persevering in law-keeping, but there is also such a thing as persevering in faith. Here is the general doctrine. We must attend upon the Gospel because it was spoken by the authority of Christ. And insofar as preaching is by the authority of Christ, we must attend on preaching. This is not a nap hour. This is not a bathroom break. This is the preaching of the gospel. And if you will not attend upon it, I have some news for you this morning. It's not necessarily the good news you were expecting, though. There are three things in this passage. There is a duty, there is an illustration, and there is an inference from that duty. There is a duty. What's that? You mean the gospel has duties attached? Yes, I know you won't hear that very many places in the Antinomian South. But yes, the gospel has duties. An illustration of that duty and an inference from that duty. First of all, the duty itself. The duty itself is, well, see that ye refuse not him. Make sure that the verb for you, Greek students, the verb here is the simple imperative of the verb to see, blepeton. But the idea here is more than just looking upon something, it's taking heed. The word, in fact, as far as I can tell, the word blepo, every time it's used in the imperative in the New Testament, means just that, take heed. Not just look, not just see, but watch out. So the duty is, watch out that you refuse not Him that speaketh. Now, listen. This has been predicted from the time of Moses. When Moses spoke with God face to face, here's what God told Moses. In Deuteronomy 18, verses 15 and forward, He says, you know what? One of these days, I'm going to raise up a prophet just like you. And him the people must hear. with the inference being, if they don't hear Him, they die. And there is no surer death than this, refusing to hear Him who speaks from heaven. Who is that? Who is that prophet that God would one day raise up? Is there a sense in which it is the prophetic gift, the prophetic office? Yes, there is a sense in which the prophetic gift foreshadows that of which God spoke in Deuteronomy chapter 18. But if the New Testament is an authoritative interpreter of the Old Testament, and we maintain that it is, then in Acts chapter 3, And verse 22, For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me. Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. Now, understand here that the future tense is being used as a syntactic as a grammatical imperative. Ye shall hear is not simply an indicative, even though it looks like one. It's ye shall hear in the sense that you better. This is a duty. This is an ought. And who is that? Well, All the prophets, from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." None of them said, I'm the one of whom Moses spoke. They all foretold of another day, a day yet to come. In fact, Peter goes so far in chapter 3 and verse 24 of Acts to say, they foretold of these days. Not the end of the world in the sense that The elements are dissolved in the sense that a fire scorches the face of the earth and no human beings are left. Not in the sense of Jesus coming with the archangels in the sky and calling all of his people up out of their graves. But these days, these are the last days of which Scripture speaks. These are the last days that the prophets foretold. And he says, are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." So who is that prophet of whom Moses spoke? Who is that one who spoke Well, who will speak from heaven? It is none other than Christ Himself. Likewise, in Acts 7.37. And may I suggest to you that there is an intimation of the same thing in Matthew 17.5. Remember the Transfiguration, or the Mount of Transfiguration? When Christ appeared not only in His person, but standing, I suppose, on either side of Him, or at least together with Him, was Moses and Elijah, returned in some sense like Samuel from the dead. But the voice from heaven that came to the apostles that day, that is to those three who were with him, did not say to the apostles, Hear Moses! Hear Elijah! This is my beloved Son. You hear Him. And so I say to you that the author of Hebrews is here telling us as the Word that came from Sinai was from God. It was a terrible Word, a trembling Word. There is a greater consequence for ignoring the Gospel of Jesus Christ than there was for disobeying the Law of God. You see, there is a remedy for disobeying the Law of God. And what is that? What is that remedy for disobeying? It's Jesus Christ! It's the gospel! But what's the remedy for refusing to hear the gospel? There is none. That's why it is such a dire calamity. If you would sit under the preaching of the gospel week after week after week after week after week, and then proceed to go from this place and think about almost anything but what you've heard. What a terrible indictment it is on us. Not only that we would think about and talk about and do things that God has specifically forbidden on His day, but that we would even do good things that He has allowed on His day that have nothing to do with applying the most precious thing that God has given us, the preaching of the gospel. Now, I'm going to get just a little bit personal with you. But that's okay. Quit going off by yourselves. Quit going off two by two. Quit pairing up boy and girl. Quit pairing up boy and boy. Quit pairing up girl and girl. And you start gathering around the pulpit after the sermon to find out, how does this apply to me? How do I need to live? What should I then do? And I'll tell you something, if you'll do that, if you'll do what the preacher tells you to do, if you'll actually set aside your personal friendships for a day in order to listen to the Word of God all day long, you know what will happen? Your life will be revolutionized. Because that's what the Word of God does. The Word of God reaches down into your heart and it grabs hold and it won't let go. You have no friend closer than a preacher who will tell you what to do. So the command here is to hear Jesus Christ. But don't you go home and say, you know what? I have private visions of Jesus Christ. I have dreams of Jesus Christ. He comes to me in my bed at night. Sometimes I'm a bit feverish when it happens, but God comes to me at night and speaks to me in my dreams. Don't you dare. Do you know how Jesus Christ speaks to you? Jesus Christ speaks to you in the preaching of the Gospel week by week. Does He speak to you somewhat in your private reading of the Word? Somewhat. A little bit. But your private studies are as nothing compared to the public ordinances of God's Word. That's why I told you, don't you dare go off by yourself and study the Bible on Sunday. Don't you dare do it. And especially, don't you think you're being more pious for it? You're being wicked. God has called us to congregate, to gather, to come together. That's why we're called an assembly. That's why we're called an Ekklesia in Greek. Kahal in Hebrew. That's why we're called Sudagoget. That's why we are brought together, is because that's what God has ordained. God has ordained a greater blessing in Zion than He has ordained in all of your dwellings. And if it sounds like I'm scolding, it's because this has been a long time coming. You need this. You need to hear it more than I need to say it. We are not doing on the Lord's Day as we ought to do. And we think to ourselves that we're sanctifying the Lord's Day because we show up all day. And I say to you, that is no better than the Pharisees of old who thought they were doing God's law because they tithed on their seeds. God would have us learn about the communion of saints in which, you know what we do? We think of the other before we think of ourselves. Here's what it means to refuse to hear his voice. It means to reject God's authority when he speaks. And God speaks to you today through the preaching of the gospel. And by the way, I hope there is no one here who labors under that fantasy that the sermon is here to serve him. The sermon is here to teach you, first of all, where you fall short, and secondly, what to do about it. Now, how can I know how to do better if I haven't been taught what I've done wrong. That's what the proverb means when it says that the smiting of a friend is better than the kisses of an enemy. That we need to have our hearts smitten by the Word of God. And is it hard for us to recognize that we have not mourned as we ought? that we have not been poor in spirit as we ought? Is it hard for us? Of course it is. It's hardest to see our own shortcomings. It is hardest to see that we have not kept the duties that God has called us to do. There is an enforcement here also to the duty, and that is the foris agar, For if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." Now, I'm not going to spend a long time proving to you that it's not this one or that one or the other one. I'll simply tell you who it is that spoke on earth. It was Jesus Christ. Now I'll tell you who it is that speaks from heaven. It's Jesus Christ. The difference is not in Him who's on earth and Him who is in heaven, but when He was on earth He spoke and when He's in heaven He speaks. The contrast is between earth and heaven, not between one person and another. Do not put the persons of the Godhead at odds with one another, as though God said one thing, Jesus Christ said another. No, rather, who spake on earth is not Moses, is not an angel, but it's God. In Exodus 20, verses 1 and 2, how does the Ten Commandments begin? God spake all these words. I was in a church last week that had the Ten Commandments on the wall. I praise God that at least they were there. But it began with God spake these words. Well, yeah, he did. But the proper translation of the Hebrew there says, God spake all these words. There is not one commandment more important than another. Nor, by the way, are there nine commandments more important than one. So who spake? Specifically, the sun spake on earth. And that's evidenced in Exodus chapter 20, verses 1 and 2. And what is the refusal? Well, the refusal is this. He's already discussed this, hasn't he? The author has already discussed this in verses 18 and forward. The refusal to hear is in the statement, Speak no more. It's an entreaty. Quit talking to us. Talk to us through Moses instead. We can deal with him. And when they heard the voice of the Lord, what did they say? Quit speaking lest we die. That's the refusal. that the author is speaking of here. But may I suggest to you, and I hadn't thought about this until I read Owen's commentary on this passage, but I think Owen is right, that do you remember when Moses came down from the mount the first time with the Ten Commandments in his hands, what were the people doing even as he brought the Ten Commandments down from the mountain? They were worshiping a golden calf. So even in their very worship, they were already denying the Lord before Moses could get from the top of the mountain to the foot of it. In the amount of time it took him to get from the point of receiving the commandments to the point of bringing them into the camp, the people had already departed from the Lord. Who is it that speaks from heaven? Jesus told Nicodemus, if I tell you earthly things and you can't understand them, how will you understand if I tell you heavenly things? The One who speaks from heaven is that same Jesus Christ. The One who speaks from heaven says that He is the Son of Man who came from heaven, that He is the Son of God who is in the bosom of the Father. And how do we turn away from Him? We turn away in a word by not believing. Or, if you will, by not coming to him. Here's what Jesus said. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He said that he would give us, as it were, living waters coming up out of our bellies. How do we turn away then? First of all, by being dissatisfied with the gospel. You know, if First Presbyterian Church of Rowlett were really interested in entertaining you, we could put on a circus. We've got enough land out there we could put up a big top, have elephants and clowns and everything, if the purpose of First Presbyterian Church were to entertain you. But that's not our purpose. The purpose of First Presbyterian Church of Ra led us to proclaim the gospel. And that is a major reason as to why you don't see tents with clowns and eloquence, at least not on this property. You may see it at other churches. In fact, I'll just tell you now, you will see it at other churches. And most of you probably drive by at least one church that will do that in order to get here. Why would they do such a thing? Why would they have clowns and elephants? Why would they have entertainment in the place of gospel? Because they're dissatisfied with the gospel. Yes, I understand it's a second commandment issue. I know that. Now, putting aside the law for a moment, it's an even greater desecration of the gospel than it is of the law. Because it's saying that the gospel is insufficient. It's saying that the gospel doesn't satisfy me. It's saying, I need something more. And secondly, it's a rejection of Christ's authority. Christ said, all authority is given me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you." If Christ's authority is real, if we understand the authority of which He speaks in Matthew chapter 28 to be the very authority that sends us into the world to plant churches, to baptize, to teach, then what is it that we're supposed to teach? In what name are we to baptize? Only in the name of Christ and only the things that Christ has taught us to do. I put it to you that it is not only an affront to the second commandment for us to add to God's worship, it is an affront to the gospel and it is an affront to the authority of Jesus Christ speaking in the gospel. And then finally there is judgment. The question, how shall we escape, is actually just a way of saying we won't. We won't escape. When he asks, how shall we escape? It's a rhetorical question that demands the answer, we won't. We won't escape. If we neglect the things that Pastor Bacon's talking about this morning, if we neglect those things, and if we neglect them on a regular basis, we won't escape. Yes, I recognize that sometimes Emergencies arise. The plumbing breaks and we have to be up late on Saturday evening. We deprive ourselves of sleep on some days and it causes sitting in one place to be tiring. But beloved, not every week. No, not every week. I will not buy into that lie. If we stay up late every single week, it's because we're not preparing for the Sabbath. If we stay up late to where we battle with sleep every single Lord's Day, there's something wrong with our Saturdays. Something seriously wrong with our Saturdays if we're using Sunday to catch up on sleep that we missed Saturday night. Now, here's the exhortation. Go to bed. I would rather you got up early because you had enough sleep by four o'clock in the morning than for you to go to bed late and have to rush through things in the morning to get here on time and then stare off into space because you're only half awake. Do you know why I would rather the one than the other? Because I care about your soul. Because I know that one of those things will absolutely rob the seed, just like those little birds that robbed the seed that was being sown. So yes, I understand that from time to time, emergencies are going to come up. But if they come up every week, they're not emergencies. There's such a thing as pulling a sheep out of the ditch, right? But we don't go there the night before and plant him in the ditch. So then, ministers. And I count myself among that class. Ministers have a duty to press Christ's claims upon your consciences. If you feel good before you've rested in Christ, then I did not press His claims upon your conscience as clearly as I ought to have done. You ought never to feel good about yourself You ought never to feel good about the things that you've done. You ought never to regard yourself as sufficient to carry on with your sanctification. My purpose week by week, and it's the purpose of any minister who claims the name, or it's the duty, I should say, of any minister who claims the name of minister of the Word and Sacraments, not to make you feel good about yourself, but rather to cause you to flee to Christ. for rest, for satisfaction, for sanctification, for riches. You see, this is the antithesis that you were hearing about during the readings. The antithesis that you were hearing about during the readings is that there is no neutral ground with Christ. Either you're a believer or you're an unbeliever. It's not that, well, I'm an okay believer. I'm not as good as some. You know, there are some people who are just a lot better Christians than I am. Baloney. Balloon juice. The issue is, are you trusting Christ or not? The issue is, are you resting in His righteousness or not? The issue is, are you trembling in such a way that it drives you to Christ or not? See, in Matthew chapter 16, verses 15 and 16, as Christ sends the disciples out to make disciples of the nations. He says, here's what's going to happen. If they believe and are baptized, they'll be saved. And if they don't believe, they'll be damned. He knows of no middle ground. There is no third classification. There is nothing between believing and not believing. There is no believing a little bit and not believing a little bit. There is only believing and not believing. There is only trusting Christ and trusting yourself. There is only trusting Christ and trusting your own works righteousness. Let me tell you, one of the ways that we trust our works righteousness is by thinking we've done enough. That's just works righteousness. I say, you know, God's got to be happy with that. And you know, well, we'll talk about that some more this afternoon, Revelation 2, 2 and 3, in the church at Ephesus that had left. So what was he? Fallen. He didn't fall. They left. They turned their backs and walked away. They refused to hear. They left their first love. There's an illustration, and that illustration is that of shaking. Have you ever been in an earthquake? Some of you from California maybe are ready to say yes a lot faster than some of us in Texas because our earthquakes can take years. You know, as the ground settles and moves around here in Texas, we don't necessarily consider it to be an earthquake. But God does shake things, doesn't he? And at the time that he gave the law, he shook a whole mountain. He shook the plains of Moab. He shook it with his power and with his authority. And who was that? I put it to you. That was Christ Himself. That was Christ shaking the mountain. That was Christ speaking so that the people quaked, so that they trembled in their trousers, as it were. It was Christ Himself. It was at the giving of the Law. And the event was the very shaking of the earth. If you turn to Exodus 19 and verse 18, you'll see there, or verses 18 through 21 here of Hebrews chapter 12, that God caused the ground to shake. He caused the earth to shake. Many times in the Psalms, as the psalmist speaks about the shaking of the earth, he's talking about the giving of the law. Well, here's what Paul says is it's going to happen again. In fact, he's really saying it has happened again, because the now of which he's speaking is the now of the gospel days. He says, yet once more. Who's he quoting? Anybody know? Haggai. The prophet Haggai. Chapter 2. He says, Yet again. Yet a more time. Yet once more. Still a time. Still once. And I'm not going to shake the earth only. I'm going to shake the heavens and the earth. Now, that the author uses here, is an indication that that promise from Haggai has been fulfilled. God has shaken the heavens and the earth. Have you ever been around someone who says, well, you know, all of the prophecies regarding Christ's first coming were fulfilled literally, so all the promises of His second coming have to be fulfilled literally also. What's wrong with that argument? Who recognizes that fallacy? It's begging the question. I maintain that this very promise was fulfilled in the first coming of Christ. And whether it was fulfilled literally or not, I will leave to you. The shaking was primarily, though not exclusively, spiritual. Was there a shaking of the heavens and the earth when Christ came? Sure there were. Think about it. What appeared in the sky the night He was born? A new star. that was seen by the wise men from the east and back. They were even able to follow it until it stood over the very house where he stayed. The very house where he stayed. Not stable. That's where he was born. Later. The very house where he stayed. How many wise men were there at the birth of Jesus? Zero. There were zero wise men at the birth of Jesus. Later, when Jesus was living in a house, some wise men came to visit him. Yeah, read the Bible carefully. And you'll see that the stuff you've been told at that time of year is usually false. Or how about the multitude of angels that appeared in the heavens? Or how about the descent of the Holy Ghost when Christ was baptized? Here's the way Matthew describes it. The earth was opened. I mean, the heaven was opened. and the Holy Ghost descended to the earth. Or how about all the miracles that He did that encompassed the destruction of fig trees, walking on the waves, calming the storms at sea, all of the signs of the shaking of the heaven and the earth. But here's what's more important than that, is that He shook the spiritual powers of the air. In His coming, He destroyed Satan's kingdom. In His coming, in fact, when Jesus sent out the seventy disciples, two by two, they came back to Him and they were just amazed. They said, you know what? This has never happened to us before. But here we are out here preaching the Gospel. First thing we know, sick people are being healed. Lame people are walking, even leaping for joy. Those who were deaf and dumb, now they can hear and they can speak. It's amazing. Even the very devils were subject to us. Beloved, that's the shaking of the earth and the heavens. But here's what he said. You know, that's something alright. But don't rejoice in that. Rejoice in this. Now he's going to explain the real shaking of the heavens. Rejoice in this. Your names are written in heaven. That's what shakes heaven. is when the elect are enrolled. When the elect are enrolled, when a child comes to believe in Jesus Christ, you know what? An anthem, a hallelujah, goes up in heaven that would deafen you if you were there. Yes, the angels rejoice, Jesus said, over one sinner who repents. Understand that to mean over each sinner who repents. Were there signs? Yeah. But the greatest sign of all was this. It happened just after the writing of the book of Hebrews. And that was the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. From the Jewish perspective, in fact, even from the perspective of the rabbis today, a day in which no temple exists in Jerusalem, They regard that temple mount as the very place where heaven and earth touch. That very place where God has set his throne. Here's how much heaven shook. It was taken away. The throne of God was removed from heaven, from earth. and taken to heaven. The Holy of Holies was removed from earth and taken to heaven. The Ark of the Covenant was removed from heaven and taken to earth. Just the opposite. Removed from earth and taken to heaven. And in all these things we have the final shaking. And the reason the things that could not remain were taken out of the way was for what purpose? We're told, this is the inference, so that those things that can't be shaken would remain. What can be shaken? All of the worship associated with the temple. What can be shaken? An earthly priesthood. What can be shaken? The descendants of Aaron. What can be shaken? The Ark of the Covenant. What can be shaken? The very angels who looked into the mercy seat of God. What can be shaken? The tabernacle itself. What can be shaken? The very worldly ordinances that God Himself had instituted. All of those things can be shaken and were shaken. But what was not shaken, what has taken their place, if you will, were all the Gospel privileges, all the Gospel worship, all the Gospel institutions of these our days. Were people in the Old Testament times saved by the gospel? Yes, the same gospel that we believe. Unquestionably, the identical gospel. But there are privileges that we have today that they didn't have in those days. One of them was mentioned this morning. We have the privilege of coming to Zion every single Lord's Day. If they happen to live in the vicinity of Jerusalem, they could come to the Lord's house every day. But they might live as much as 150 miles away, or more if they were in the dispersion. They couldn't come to the Lord's house week after week, Lord's day by Lord's day. They couldn't do it. We have the gospel worshipped today while they were under a yoke of bondage, as Peter says in Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 15, that the fathers couldn't keep Today, we have a simple worship, a worship that anyone can keep. You don't have $10,000 for a pipe organ or for a piano, that's all right. You can still keep gospel worship because those things were for the temple. You don't have a priesthood, that's okay. We have a priest after the order of Melchizedek who's seated at the right hand of God. All of the things that the Jews were telling the newly converted Christians in Jerusalem were advantages, we must understand, were all the things that were shaken. Those things were shaken and taken out of the way so that true gospel privileges might be made apparent. The Old Testament worship was like the gilding of the lily. The beautiful part was under a coat of paint. And in the gospel days, all the paints were taken away. and gospel institutions. We live in a day in which the gospel is going literally to every nation under heaven. I think that's marvelous. I realize that we're used to it because we remember the 19th century missions movement and we say, oh, look at all they accomplished. And so they did in many respects. But that's not the right comparison. The right comparison is to the days before Christ. And in those days, even though they would search, how did they search the sea, the land and sea, to make one proselyte, what was the result? Was the result that he was saved and the angels in heaven were singing a glorious? No. They made him twice the sons of hell that they themselves were. What a sad day. And what a glorious day that we live in now. And what does it say of our hearts that we grow weary with such things? Well, I think it speaks much. But we'll save that for some uses in just a moment. Let's stand now and ask for God's blessing upon the preached word. Father, we thank Thee that Thou has granted to us to live in a day of gospel preaching. And we pray that thou wouldst teach us to value the preaching of the gospel above all things. We confess that we have not mourned as we ought. We have not been those poor in spirit, but rather we have been haughty, thinking that our meager efforts at reformation constitute revival. constitute an awakening, constitutes a spreading of the gospel. And all the while, we live in an apostate age. We live in a day of decline. And we pray that if thou shouldst desire reformation and revival in our day, we pray begin it with us. Teach us to value the gospel. Teach us to value the time of prayer. Teach us to value the time of the preaching. Teach us to value the preaching itself. Teach us to value the incisions that are necessary to remove the dullness from our hearts. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You have been listening to a sermon by Dr. Richard Bacon of Faith Presbyterian Church Reformed in Mesquite, Texas. For more information on FPCR Ministries, visit our website at www.fpcr.org or contact us by mail at 8301 Lakeview Parkway, Suite 111-164, Rowlett, Texas 75088.