Okay, Hebrews chapter 12 and we'll get started here. Let me just review the chapter. I was saying to my wife today, one of the neat things about preaching through that book has been it all kind of starts to go together and you get a better idea of what Hebrews is all about. And it's been great for us to see that overview of the old covenant, the new covenant, the power, you know, the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that. But we come into chapter 12 and it started with running the race. Get rid of sin, get rid of waste. You really want to do well because there's some austere servants of God, some great men and women of God that by faith got into that vehicle of faith, achieved great things, and they're going to be there. You'll see that again tonight in the ideas that we're looking at tonight as he comes to the end of the chapter. who is there as we get into glory. So we wanna run well, so deal with sin, deal with weights. But if we won't do that, praise God, we got a loving Heavenly Father that will look at us and say, right, you're not really ready to be in that battle. You know, battle's pretty serious and you need to be battle ready. And so I'm gonna chasten you. I'm gonna discipline you out of love because I wanna get you to a place of obedience and success in serving God. Last week, We looked at the idea we need to get right with God and we went through several aspects of that. We talked about we need to get our hearts right. We want to be right with men and want to be right with God. So, you know, we can't be right with God and not right with men. And so we got to deal with that. We need to get our attitudes right. We got to have humble gratitude. thankfulness, take from God what God desires to give to us, and we need to get our actions right, and really that all follows. If we get our hearts right with men and God, we get our attitude right, then the rest will follow in that place. Avoiding idolatry, spiritual fornication, avoiding sexual sin, physical fornication, valuing holy things, not being profane. You know, that means the Lord's day is the Lord's day. By the way, stop and think about it, and I've said this in my evangelism, I said it yesterday to a lady, but if you take If you take away the Sabbath and you don't make it holy, how long does it take for men to forget about God? Well, I mean, it's pretty obvious in our society. They act as if there is no Lord's Day. And you know what? They act as if there is no God. So we understand that. We don't want to profane that. We don't want to profane God's money and take it to ourself, what is for God. We don't want to do that with our temple, our bodies of temple. This is where God resides. We want to make the temple holy. So we don't want to treat cheaply holy things. And then don't despise God's goodness. God has blessed us. I mean, he's been so good to us. Let's value that and especially the truth and everything that God's given to us. So now we come into verse 18, okay, Hebrews chapter 12 is where we're going to be. But the rest of the chapter has to do with coming face to face with God. and historically and prophetically. So he's going to look back into the Old Testament again at people that met God. He's going to look ahead to the future where you and I and everybody else are going to meet God. In both cases, the idea is this. Have you prepared to meet your God? You know, are you really ready to enter into the presence of God? Amos 4 verse 12 says this, Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, And because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. Those are some pretty sobering words. Again, as I spoke to that lady and I said about profaning the Sabbath and all that, and she said something like this, you know, religion has just fallen out of fashion, hasn't it? And I said, Yes, but as I tell atheists, God doesn't disappear because you don't believe in him. Heaven and hell don't disappear because you don't believe in them. So we really need to wake up because someday, and I told her this, and maybe because this was on my heart because of tonight, but someday we're gonna stand face to face with God. And it's gonna be a very sad person that isn't prepared to meet God. And so tonight, To be ready to meet God, you must be thinking right about God. And then secondly, what we're gonna look at is to be ready to meet God, you must have your life right with God, okay? Be thinking correctly about God and then have your life right with God. So let's pray and we'll get into our study tonight. Father, we thank you for the grace that you give. Thank you for the opportunity to study the word of God tonight. And Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit would give us soberness as we look at some sobering truths with some excitement. Father, for certainly it's a joyous thing to see our Savior, to see our Father to be welcomed into that holy place physically. So I just pray tonight, there might be somebody that listens to this message, Father, that they're not at all prepared to meet God. They're not thinking right at all about God, and they're not saved. They've never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. They've never received God, your gift of salvation purchased by the death of the Savior. They've never believed in his resurrection. They've never received his life and his cleansing. And I pray tonight for them. I pray that the Holy Spirit would really speak to their heart. It doesn't matter if they're atheist. It doesn't matter if they're agnostic. It doesn't matter if they live in some far off land where, Father, they cannot, you know, see a church or find a church. Father, they need Christ. And without Christ, they're not ready to meet God. And Father, I pray for these people. And Father, it's a very sad thing. They don't have to look far in our area to see church buildings. And Father, really, they don't have to look that far to find the truth of God. And Father, I just pray, put a hunger in the heart of that person to find God. And Father, I pray tonight for us as well. May the Spirit of God in believers' hearts just challenge us, Lord, that we really need to think right. And we really need to make sure that our heart is right and our life is right and that we're ready to meet God. Father, we can't listen without your enablement. I pray, give us ears to hear tonight. May the Spirit of God speak. Lord, I pray for that still, small voice. I pray for that sweet sense of the presence of God. I can't speak without your enablement. Father, I ask that the Spirit of God give me liberty tonight to express the truth of the Word of God in a loving way to the hearts of those that would hear. And Father, we commit ourselves now to your good care and your help in this time. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so get ready to meet your God. And so we start with, to be ready to meet God, we must be thinking right about God, thinking right about God. You know, correct thinking about God is gonna help us to be ready for that moment because there's plenty of people tonight that they are absolutely not thinking correctly about God. Psalm 50 verse 16, God said to the wicked, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Now I mean that is a great testimony to our false religious leaders of our day. They are despising God's commandments, they are despising God's truth, but they are acting as if they are spiritual people. These things hast thou done and I kept silence. I mean, they're doing all this wickedness in our day and it's happening right now. I mean, they're out there, they're acting pious, but in reality, they're like the Pharisees. They're saying one thing and doing another thing and their life totally contradicts anything good that they're saying about God and they're acting as if they love God and God's quiet. I mean, lightning hasn't struck them. You know, there's not a pit that's opened up and swallowed them. But God has not changed. His opinions haven't changed. His personality hasn't changed. He's the same God that we see in the Bible. But the reason they're that way, the Bible says, he kept silence. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself. Instead of thinking about who God was, they thought about who they were and they thought God was like them. But God is not. God is a holy God and so God says, but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes. So wicked man is not thinking right about God, but he needs to think right about God. When she was very little she thought she saw the hair cutting scissors and looked in the mirror and thought she has hair that needs to be cut. So she looked at her fringe and took the scissors and went straight across. Interestingly later on she became a beautician, but not back then. And I can just imagine as she went to her mom and you know, she's really proud about the haircut that she's given to herself, you know, and thinking mom's just going to love it. And she walks in and their mom either laughed or cried. But what she did not do is agree with her daughter that that was a great haircut. You know, and again, that's the thing, isn't it, about people? They think that God agrees with them. They might say something like this. I'm ready to meet God. You know, I'm not scared to die. Atheists say that, by the way. Atheists say, I'm not scared to die. I'm not afraid of what's after this. But we know this tonight, an atheist is not ready to meet God. And I would say this to us as believers even, there might be in our heart this idea. very casually to think, you know, I'm ready to meet God. And I could even be a carnal Christian and think, well, I'm ready to meet God. At least I'm saved. At least I've got the blood applied to my life. But in reality, reality, I'm not ready. Because God doesn't think like I think. And so we need to think, we need to change our thinking and think about who God is according to the word of God. And so as we think about this, coming into Hebrews chapter 12, think right tonight about God's glory. We stop tonight and say, God, help me to think right about your glory. Verse 18 says, for you are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire, Mount Sinai, nor into blackness and darkness, Again, I said as we come to this tonight, Paul is going to look back historically, then he's going to look ahead prophetically. So this is looking back to Mount Sinai when the law was given, the glory of God came down on that holy mount. So it speaks about being burned in blackness and darkness and tempest. And he's using a contrast, and he's saying this, he's saying, you haven't come to that, and what he's gonna turn and do is saying, you're coming to something far greater, all right? But by way of contrast, in looking back, we see what was in the past and how awesome it was and how amazing it was, so that we look at that and then we think, my, what must it be like someday to stand in the presence of God when it was like this? In this Old Testament experience on earth and so as we consider this consider God's glory It's a holy mount Again, there's fire. There's blackness. There's darkness There is tempest and I would say if we could transport ourselves back there that would be awe-inspiring. It'd be amazing and Our family has been through some bad storms in this past year. Hurricane Sally, probably the scariest of those that we were in down in Pensacola, Florida, as it took a direct hit from a Category 2 hurricane. You hear the wind and the branches slapping the house, and there was plenty of storm damage about us the next morning and bent poles and broken trees. and shingles and things off the roof. I mean, a tempest is very awe-inspiring, and the lightning striking, and you know, it's one of those things that a lot of kids would say, you know what, I'm scared. I'm scared. Maybe even an adult would look at that and say, this is a very fearful thing here. So Exodus chapter 19 is the story, and if you wanna, you can turn back there maybe in your Bibles if you wanna follow along as we read some of these passages, but Exodus 19 verse 16 says, And it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders, and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the nether part of the mountain. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked. I mean, it's like an earthquake. It's like, I guess kind of like an earthquake, like a volcano, but instead of going away, getting away from the fearful scene, Moses says, all right, people gather together. Here we go. We're going up to the Mount and they're coming up and they're getting a glimpse of the glory of God. You know, I think a lot of the mockers were people that were carnal, might've been a bit quiet on that day, a little bit sober. Why? Because they were beginning to see the glory of God again. It's just a little glimpse back in history for us to kind of think about, you know, am I thinking right about God's glory? Do I really understand the awesomeness of God? And so think right about God's glory. And then think right about God's authority, his authority. It says in verse 19, the sound of the trumpet and the voice of words, God is speaking with his awesome voice, which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. As they hear God speak, there is a terror in their heart. They are listening to absolute authority. Every single word, whatever those words were that they heard, whether they heard them When the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake. And God answered him by a voice. I mean, again, it's a very awe-inspiring scene, but I want to emphasize the authority of God. You know, right now is Holyrood week, and the Queen is here visiting Scotland this week. And sometimes as the Queen comes out or the royal family comes out, there will be a trumpet fanfare. And you know, we actually, I think there's something about this. We associate that sound with royalty. And in fact, as they come out and play those fanfares for the Queen, they always use handcrafted fanfare trumpets made by Smith Watkins, I guess somewhere in the UK. You know, they prepare these instruments just for announcing the fact that majesty has arrived. And again, you start to think about the authority of that majestic, in this case, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As you hear this taking place, it would be an amazing sound. The Bible speaks about the sound of God's voice as being a sound similar to thunder. Psalm 29 verse 3 says, You know, if I were to ask you today, name somebody that has the voice of authority, you might all be able to think of somebody like when that person speaks, it's a bit scary. All right. If that person tells you something, you know, to do something, they say jump. You say, you know, how high? I mean, you're just there ready to do it. There was a man I've shared before, Dr. David Cummins, that he passed away a few years ago. He was our deputation director with Baptist World Mission. Dr. David Cummins had the voice of authority. He was a pastor. I can't explain it to you, but if he said something, it would just put the fear of God into you. at camp this summer, that the director of the camp, he's a really fun guy, he jokes around a lot, but when it comes to something serious, when he says it, you do not mess about. They said, oh my, you wouldn't believe it. They're telling us about it, I haven't seen it myself, but apparently he's got the ability to give commands and to make it be felt. There's nothing gonna be like some days standing before God And understanding, maybe for the first time in our life, the power and authority of God, that when God says something, I mean it is absolute authority. Are you thinking right about that tonight as you think about God and when God says something, that it is absolutely authoritative. And that really kind of goes into our next point because the next point is think right about God's commandments. So not just hearing God speak and being in awe of His authority, but then understanding that when God says something, His commands are final. Verse 20 says, God didn't mess about when it came to this holy mountain and this place that He was going to meet with Israel, not even an animal could touch that mountain without being judged and killed. Exodus 19 verse 9, And the people may hear when I speak with thee and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses, go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow and let them wash their clothes and be ready against the third day. For the third day, the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about saying, take heed to yourself that ye go not up into the Mount or touch the border of it. Whosoever toucheth the mount shall surely shall be surely put to death. All right. I say that if I said that in our day, you know, we got the Pentland Hills over here. God's gonna come down on it. You touch that mountain, you come unprepared, unsanctified, unholy to that place that the response of God is going to be instantaneous death to the person. You know, I think there would be a lot of people that might have a problem with that. They'd start to to argue against that and say, how can God do this? But you know, we didn't stop tonight and say God is God. God has absolute authority that God's commands mean what they say and say what they mean. Uzziah, as they move the Ark of the Covenant in King David's day, contrary to the law, as they put it on an ox cart, and that ox cart shook. You know the story that Uzzah put forth his hand to the Ark of God. He took hold of it for the ox and shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah. And God smote him there for his error. And there he died by the Ark of God. Now, Mount Sinai, we're not told of anybody dying because Moses said they put up barriers to keep the people away. But Uzzah violated God's command, touched something that was holy. And in doing that, God said, that's it, my command is final, and God struck him dead. You know, there's a good friend of ours that has come over and helped us with our football tournaments. I think, Jade, you might remember. I'm sure you do. Eddie from Ireland coming over. He was a semi-professional footballer. But Eddie had everything. He had the party scene, he had the money, he had the new trainers every week if he wanted. He had the fame, but he was empty. Life was empty. He started seeking God and he went to church and he started reading through the Bible. And he started in Genesis. But when it got to the story about the man that picked up sticks and profaned the Sabbath and didn't keep the Sabbath holy, he was working on the Sabbath, and God said, take him out and stone him, Eddie said he thought this, you know what, God is really serious about sin. It's good for us tonight to step back and say, am I thinking right about God's commands? Do I understand that God is not just saying this. God is commanding this. God is absolute authority. And God says, this is my law. Again, we need to be thinking right. We wanna be ready to meet God. We need to be thinking right about God's commandments. And then fourth tonight, think right about God's power. Think right about God's power, verse 21. It says, and so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. He's been around, he's a tough man. He's the man that killed the Egyptian to defend the Jewish man that was being beaten, the Israelite there. He had grown up with Pharaoh even though Pharaoh sought to kill him. He would later come and face Pharaoh with just Aaron with him for God standing there. He would lead a million people or however many people out into the desert. Well, this is a tough man, but as this man who knew God better face to face than any other man, this man, Paul would say, exceedingly feared God. That would make us stop and think, am I thinking right about God's power? There's a man, Daniel, a righteous man. You know, Daniel was praying and God appeared to Daniel. The Bible says that he describes what he saw of God and it says, I Daniel alone saw the vision for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore, I was left alone and saw this great vision and there remained no strength in me. for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. When the Bible speaks about righteous men, it speaks about Noah, Daniel, and Job. And so, I mean, he is one of God's righteous men. But this righteous man, when he saw God, he fell on his face, he had no strength left. You know, there's a lot of people that say, someday I'm gonna stand before God and I'm gonna say, you know, this and that to God. No, they're not. When they stand face to face before God, they're gonna fall on their face before the Almighty God. That's what the Bible speaks about. Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess. You know, we need to think right about this tonight. God has got power. Who are we, puny man, to argue with God, to stand in judgment of God, to complain against God, and certainly not to blaspheme God? We gotta humble our heart today and say, wow, I didn't think right about God's power. And so to be ready to meet God face to face, We must be thinking right about God's glory, we need to be thinking right about God's authority, we need to be thinking right about God's commandments, and we need to be thinking right about God's power. And I think for sake of time, I don't want to rush through the second point because that's historically how we should think. What he's gonna do, he's gonna turn like this. He's gonna say, that was then, this is now. Remember the new covenant, the old covenant, the high priest alone went into the presence of God. The new covenant, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we've got access into the very presence of God in glory, spiritually, spiritually. But someday, we're gonna walk through that gate into the new Jerusalem. And everything that we're gonna consider next week, is going to be there. And are we really ready to enter into that when these people back then trembled in fear, were awestruck by that. And again, tonight, I mean, the thing to do is say, you know, I want to be prepared to meet God. And I wanna think right about who God is. May God help us to do that. Be ready to face God face to face and to see him in glory. Let's pray and ask God to bless his word to our hearts here tonight. Father, we're grateful for the time and the word of God. And Father, there are plenty of people that would benefit greatly to consider this text. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would awaken our area, Midlothian, the south side of Edinburgh, and Father, all these villages. Father, there's certainly, even as believers, Father, first of all, revival needs to begin here in our heart and our life. We need to understand the glory of God. We need to understand the authority of God. We need to understand the commandments of God. And Father, I pray that you put us in the fear of God. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. But then Father, I pray for our community. I pray for an awakening. Father, it says at the end of this text, our God is a consuming fire. And I pray, Spirit of God, that you do a great work in our lives, that we begin to understand this, that we think right about who God is. But then Father, that that would spread into our community, that there begin to be a fear of God. A realization that there is going to be a great accountability. And Father, we have a great accountability. We can't make an excuse today. Father, we waste so much time with frivolous things and things that are just unprofitable. Father, we're wasting our lives when so many people need to hear, so many people need to understand, so many people need to be prepared by the grace of God. So I just pray, Spirit of God, would you stir us up, give us grace to think right. Thank you for this, your word tonight, would you bless it to the hearers. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen, all right, so next week we'll come back about the idea you must have your life right with God and be prepared to meet God. All right, we'll say goodbye to those that are online. Thank you for joining us.