We come back to Hebrews this morning and to our exposition through this amazing book of Scripture, and my voice is a little bit weak today. We were at a wedding yesterday, and so a lot of celebration and good times, but my voice is paying for it a little bit this morning. So just pray and bear with it, I pray. As we come back to Hebrews 12, we want to remember several things that we've been looking at. This chapter is built on athletic imagery. We've talked about that over the course of this chapter. We saw all the runs of those in chapter 11 who, by faith, did amazing things. By faith, were victorious. And we come to chapter 12, and it speaks of this cloud of witnesses, those who came before, those who were examples or models of faith. And yet it says, even then, as you run your race, don't set your eyes upon them, but look unto Jesus. And as we think about the lessons that we've seen so far, we realize we want to run well, and that means we need endurance, and that means we need steadfastness, and that means we need training and hardship and difficulty. Now, we've gone through all that, so I won't re-preach it this morning, but we recognize nothing great is accomplished without sacrifice and difficulty. Now, the Bible would have us be very careful about the word sacrifice when it comes to our living. We don't sacrifice anything. Christ sacrificed or was sacrificed on our behalf. But we recognize that in our run, there are difficulties that we must face If we are going to run the course well, just like an athlete must sacrifice, he must not partake of everything that he wants to do. He must endure difficult training and that by that his coach is forming him into a champion. In the same way as we go through the various difficulties that God allows us to encounter, He is working on us. He is preparing us and conforming us even into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. So that's one of the important things that we've seen. We also recognize that in all that, we're just simply doing what those that have come before us have done. The author of this letter is not asking anything of this generation that those generations previous had not endured. Many had endured hardship and difficulty and faced it with faith and perseverance. And so the author says, that's the recipe for you as well. It's the recipe for us today. Whatever challenges come our way, by faith we endure, we persevere, we continue the race. And so again, the author is saying, think about this practically. Now, you may remember that last week, the picture changed slightly. It's still an athletic image, but he says that maybe you notice in your run some things have happened. Your arms have weakened so that they're dropped down at your sides, and your knees have gotten wobbly. They're not as intact as they once were. Now, this is a danger to any athlete. You don't see in the Olympics a person running with their arms straightened out beside them, do you? We talked about that last week. Your arms are important in the cadence of the run for balance and so forth. Likewise, if your knees are wobbling, first of all, you're not going to be a great athlete because it's inefficient, right? It's a wasted motion if your knees are going side to side, but also it puts you at risk for injury. And that's the point, the image he's building upon. You're headed for disaster. The knees of your faith are wobbling, he's telling these Hebrew Christians. You're headed for disaster, you're headed for an ACL tear or MCL tear, whatever the imagery you want is, you're headed for spiritual disaster. And so what do you need to do? You need to strengthen your arms. You need to look at your weaknesses and you need to work on those by faith and with prayer and with Christian perseverance, you need to work on those things. And if your knees are wobbling, you need to realize you're really in danger. That's what he's saying here. The appearance of your run seems that you're in danger. And so again, you need to take this seriously. And what is the answer? Well, first of all, there's a recipe for the individual here, right? Strengthen yourself, gird yourself, choose for a time an easier path. Don't go off road when your knees are wobbling, right? You're gonna hit a little dip in the ground and get injured. So mind your personal walk. strengthen your faith, pray to the Lord, work on these things. But there's also a charge of the community to strengthen one another, to encourage one another, and to guard the vulnerable. That's part of the job of a church, fellowship, to look out for one another, to encourage one another, to build one another up in faith. And so the author says we need both those things. But then as to make the point sure, he says, look unto Esau. Look unto Esau. Esau and his example that you need to hear, recognize, fear, and avoid. Why? Well, again, not to exposit the whole thing again, but just in shorthand, think for a moment. Esau despised his birthright. He despised what he should have naturally been owed as the eldest son. How do we know he despised it? Well, the Bible tells us he sold it for a bowl of stew. He cared nothing of it. And then the author says when later he lost the blessing that was attended upon that, when Jacob usurped it and he lost it, it said that he sought repentance with tears. We tried to be very careful here last week. This is not saying that he wanted to repent of any dishonor he had done before the Lord. that he wanted to repent of being in a spiritual bad place. He wanted his father to change his mind. He asked, and it's in the text of Genesis 27. We don't have to interpret this. It says that he sought repentance with bitterness and tears. And if you turn back to Genesis 27, it says, he asked his father, can't I still receive the blessing? And his father said, no, someone else has taken it. And it says, and he wept with bitterness and tears. Now, how does that apply to these He says, don't you be despisers of the covenant that's been set before you. The New Covenant, which offers life and reconciliation to God, if you walk away from it and go back to Moses, you despise it, you've hated it, you've set it apart, you show that you're not a part of it, and like Esau, one day the blessings that are tended upon it will be removed, will be obviously not yours, and you'll cry out and wish you could change, but like Esau, it will be too late on that day of judgment when you realize the error of your way, it will be too late. And so it's a warning, a stern and serious warning. But again, we might ask ourselves here, why that's so dangerous? This has kind of been one of the key themes of Hebrews. Why is it so dangerous to go back to Moses? If the Sinai covenant is a covenant of grace, if it is a different administration of the one covenant of grace, why is it so dangerous to go back? Why can't we go back to Sinai and find a proper relationship with God there? And the author has answered that question for us several times. And I've said many times, this is at the heart of Baptist covenant theology. We need to understand this. Why can't you go back? Well, he's gonna answer this for us again today, again today. So we wanna look at this and look at how he contrasts the two covenants, the two, if you will, great covenants of the scripture, Sinai in the Old Testament and the new covenant in Christ. So I'm gonna read this text one more time for you, and then we'll get underway here. It says, for you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest or storm, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it beg that the word should not be spoken to them any longer. For they could not endure what was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. But you have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. and to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn, who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel." Now, as we look at that text today, I want us to look at mainly two points and a third point in closing. First of all, distancing from Mount Sinai. Second of all, marching to Mount Zion. And lastly, undergirding our covenantal heritage. So beginning with this idea, first of all, of distancing from Mount Sinai. To begin today, it's essential that we remind ourselves of the context of this letter. Right, again, we gotta always keep that in mind if we're gonna get the context of the passage right. These are a group of Hebrew Christians, Jewish Christians, who have entered the church, made a proclamation of faith. They have said, we have heard the gospel, believed that Christ is the Messiah, we have put our faith and hope in Him, we trust in Him. And it went well for a while. They got off to a good start, much like the Galatians, they got off to a good start. And then something, rather than someone, tripped them up. That something was persecution. difficulty, problems that came along with living faithfully before God. They began to have difficulties and they began to say, you know what? Why can't we just go back to the synagogue? Why can't we just go back to the law and to Sinai? Why can't we just go back to Moses? Why can't we do that? It's safe over there. There's no persecution. And it's the same God. It was just an elect people of the Old Testament. Why can't we just go there and be right with God and be safe and everything be good? And I say this is an important question because when you think about this for a moment, it's a heart of Hebrews. Why can't you do that? Why can't you just go back to Moses? Well, the point that we want to see here is that what the argument of Hebrews is telling us is that there is a difference here. There's a difference between these covenants. We need to recognize, first of all, this is an important argument I said a moment ago of Baptist covenant theology. Our Congregationalist brothers were holding to the same argument. You can't go back because there is a difference between the covenants. There's a substantive difference between the covenants. Part of a misreading of Hebrews is that what we find in the New Testament or the New Covenant is simply something that is quantitatively better, right? You get more of it. You get more blessing, more of this and more of that. But what the author of Hebrews is constantly showing us, what the New Testament constantly shows us, is there's a qualitative difference between the covenants. There's a fundamental or substantive difference between the covenants that we need to recognize. So as we think about this for a moment, we want to see how this author begins to describe this difference or this distinction between these two covenants. If you begin right at the very beginning of the text, you'll see it here, for you do or have not come to the mountain that may be touched. Now, again, mountain and we'd get too much into the Greek here, but the mountain is implied in this part of the text. But many translations put it in there. It says sometimes in a translation, the thing that you've come to or whatever it may be, but it's implied mountain. There's two mountains here that are being spoken about. Sinai was certainly a mountain. And notice he says, you did not come to Sinai. You did not come to that mountain. The place you came was a different mountain. But first let's describe the mountain that you did not come to. a mountain that can be touched. It was a physical mountain. In fact, there's a picture on the front of your bulletin of the location that is thought to be Mount Sinai. So there is a physical location, whether that's for sure it or not, that the people of God were at. And you could have gone up on that mountain, and you could have touched that mountain. In fact, the instruction of God was not to do that. Do not approach this mountain. Set a boundary that no one may approach this mountain. But it was a physical mountain. It did exist. It was real. And he says, it's a mountain that may be touched that you did not come to, a mountain that is marked or burned with fire. Now we instantly, I think, understand the reference that's being made here. Certainly these Jewish Christians would have understood the reference that's being made here, because this Mount Sinai is a mountain out there in the wilderness, and God declares to Moses that he will descend upon this mountain and abide there, and that Moses and Aaron will come up to him and there'll be a covenantal transaction made. And when God comes down upon that mountain, it's with visible signs. It's with fire, and it's with smoke, and it's with thunderings and lightnings, and it's with all these various things that show the awesome presence and power of God. So I'd rather just simply recount some of those things for people who'd be very aware of this, who grew up as Jews themselves were very familiar with Exodus chapter 19, would have known what it says. They said, you haven't come to the mountain that we're talking about here that has been burned with fire, has blackness and darkness around it, tempest and storm around it. You're not in that location. You didn't come to that location. Recognize to what covenant you are attached. It's not that one. Now, what is the significance of fire and the darkness and the storms that raged around Mount Sinai? was fearful. Does anyone doubt that? The people of Israel were constantly afraid when God abided near them in this way. They were constantly terrified. Would you not be if all of a sudden thunder and lightning came in and fire upon a mountain? Think all of us recognize how fearful a moment that is. It was intended to be fearful. It represented the holy and righteous God who created all things and is abiding presence for God's presence is holy and dangerous for sinful people, dangerous. Now, when you think about this for just a moment, you see that it wasn't just visible. God's presence could be heard as well. It says, they heard the sound of a trumpet blowing out, and they heard the voice of words, think again, words being proclaimed with might and power, sounds with might and power, so that the people of Israel were fearful, were fearful. I want you to think about this just for a moment. How fearful was this moment? It says that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken anymore. Now think about that. God is speaking to you as a people, and it is so frightening and fearful and so holy that you say, please have him stop. Give us no more revelation. And my friends, we would never be in the right position to say, please give us no more of the Scriptures. Read no more to us. Let us read no more. We recognize this is for our good and our comfort and our blessing. But my friends, he's saying something of the Sinai covenant and something of its message. It was not comforting. It was fearful. It was frightening. It was a message of doom. It sounded like doom. It looked like doom. It felt like doom. Now we're going to ask ourselves, how do we reconcile that with this being a people chosen amongst all the nations and set apart for God's glory? We're gonna come back to that in just a moment. But if you think I'm wrong about this, just continue to read what the author of Hebrews says, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. He says, for they could not endure what was commanded. Why did they no longer want to listen? We might just think because the voice was so frightening. But he says it's not just that. It's also they knew as a people they could not endure the commands of God. If you want to know the difficulty of the Old Covenant, here it is. It set out for you blessed commands, the wisdom of God, the commands of God, the word of God given to you, but you are not able to abide by them. How do I know that? Because no sinner ever has. No sinner ever has. From the first man in the Garden of Eden, Adam, to each one of us, none of us has abided by the word of God. I said sinner. because there is a distinction here. There is one who abided perfectly according to the law, born under the law, born of woman, born under the law, and he kept the law perfectly without sinning. But he wasn't a sinner. But for all us who are sinners, we recognize in the law a standard that we ourselves shall never meet, cannot meet. No matter how much we want to meet it, we cannot meet it. In fact, the theology of the New Testament, especially Romans, presents to us it was given for that purpose, to show us that we cannot be righteous by God's standards, by works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. And my friends, as you think about this, we recognize what the author of Hebrews is showing us is, it was frightening. It was frightening because the power of God made evident, the judgment of God made evident, the commands of God made evident, and we are not able to stand before a holy and righteous God. And if we didn't understand that just in those terms, we'd also recognize the author tells us something else here. We might even almost skip past it. He says, and if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow. Now, think about that wording. If so much as. If even a lowly animal touches this mountain, it is to be put to death. That is how holy God's presence is. What does that tell us if any of us were to have approached it? If any Israelite said, I don't care what Moses says about some boundary or line of demarcation which we cannot cross, I'm going up and seeing God for myself. My friends, drop dead just like that. And the answer is, even an animal which unintentionally stumbled across that line and went up on the mountain, the Word of God says that animal is to be killed with a dart or an arrow. Why a dart or arrow? Because it may still be on the mountain, you can't go up to it. Maybe it left the mountain and you say, well, we can go to it now. It's defiled. You don't want to have any part of touching that animal. You kill it at a distance. You strike it dead. Now, all of this is to tell us clearly God's holy presence is dangerous to us. Dangerous to us. And we would argue, my friends, very clearly that the Old Testament tells us this over and over again. We're going through 1 and 2 Chronicles in Sunday school right now. It's almost perfect because today we were looking at the temple being built. And all the language in the temple is of demarcations, right? There's the outer courts. And of course, we know at the temple in its heyday, you had the court of the Gentiles, and they could not go into the court of Israel. And then if you were in the court of Israel, as Israelite, you couldn't go into the outer part of the temple, which was reserved for priests alone. And if you were able to go in the inner part, if you will, the holy place, you still couldn't enter the holy of holies. Only one man could enter that, and only on one day, and do it exactly as God prescribed. So in other words, what is the temple showing us? Approaching God is dangerous. Approaching God is dangerous. This is the message of the Old Testament. In your righteousness, you cannot approach God. He has given you ordinances of His worship. He has given you sacrifices to bring Him glory, but keep away. And at every one of those lines of demarcation, did you notice if you were in Sunday school today, there are cherubs posted. Now what would that remind you of? How about the Garden of Eden? When man fell and was expelled from the garden, angels were posted there so that they could not return. and what is on the great tent of separation of the holy of holies from the holiest place. But angels, angels are woven into the design of those curtains to tell you, keep away. You enter into here, And it will be curtains for you, literally and figuratively. But when you think about it for a moment, you realize how serious this was. Everything in the Old Testament told you, you are not righteous to approach. Only God can beckon you in the right time and the right way. And even then, he must give you the ordinances that you must follow to be able to enter. Even the high priest on Yom Kippur could only enter if he obeyed what God told him to do in preparation for coming into that place of his presence. Now, again, the author of Hebrews is already exposited to all this. He said there's a fundamental difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament said, stay back, stay away, be careful. And yet the New Covenant says, boldly approach the throne of grace. boldly approach God, boldly come into His presence. And my friends, immediately we see there is a tremendous difference here that is being pushed or pointed to in these covenants. that we must recognize that there is something different about the Sinai Covenant and why our Baptists and Congregationalist forefathers disagreed with many of the other Reformers who said, listen, it is not different administrations of one covenant of grace, but the new covenant is the covenant of grace. And these other covenants are in various ways preparatory for the promise given to Abraham. And when you look at it that way, you understand this isn't hard to figure out. You could not boldly approach God under the administration of the old covenant because it didn't make you righteous. It itself does not provide righteousness, but the new covenant, even in that day, could provide a righteousness to approach God. Now, I don't have time to cover all of covenant theology this morning. We had, what, 16 weeks in the spring on Wednesday nights where we walked through Nehemiah Cox's book week by week, chapter by chapter. But just simply to say, we would remember what John Owen said, that many were saved during the time of the Old Covenant, but none by the Old Covenant. They were saved by the New Covenant, even in the days of the Old Covenant, as they put their faith forward on the coming Messiah and believing the promises of God, which is exactly what chapter 11 of Hebrews told you. Every one of them was saved by what? By faith, and by faith in the coming Redeemer. Now, again, as we think about the Sinai Covenant, we see that it is different. I want to quote John Owen here again, because John Owen wrote something very interesting about this very section of Hebrews. He said, the apostle observes that there was no evidence in all that was done of God being reconciled to them. There was no pardon in case they sinned. There was no promise of grace to help them carry out what they'd been ordered to do. This was the ministry that brought death. That's quoting 2 Corinthians chapter 3. out of, excuse me, God was here seen in all the outward demonstrations of His infinite holiness, justice, severeness, and terrible majesty on the one hand, and on the other hand, men in their lowest condition of sin, misery, guilt, and death. If there was nothing to come between God and men, all this glorious preparation was nothing but spectacle, set up for the pronouncing of judgment and the sentence of eternal condemnation against sinners. On this depends the force of the apostles argument in verses 18 through 21. Now my friends, John Owen is just basically saying what Paul said in Romans. The end of the law, the talos, the aim of the law is Christ. The law was never redemptive. It was pointing to the one who would bring redemption. It was pointing to your need of a mediator and savior and redeemer, one who would stand in your place and offer salvation to you as a sinner. It was never in the law itself. And so my friends, it's not just don't go back to Moses because he's a little less in the chain of command. No, it's don't go back because there was never anything there except shadow anyway. Never anything there except type anyway. Those who believed in the Old Testament and were delivered by their faith were delivered because they believed in Christ even then. If we say, how do we know that? Well, what does John say in his gospel? Abraham saw my day and rejoiced in it. Abraham wasn't saved by some wishy-washy idea of a gospel. In some sense, by type and shadow, he saw Jesus, and he rejoiced in Jesus, knowing that he would one day come and die for the sins of his people. So my friends, if you think for a moment about what John Owen just said here, that unless something were to come between God and men, to change this relationship, there is no hope. Because what is all our hope based on? An alien righteousness. A righteousness that is not ours, but we are accounted in, or we are given, or we stand in. That's what we need. The law says, do this and live. Earn your own righteousness, except it's a proposition that cannot be kept. And so we hear over and over again, what we really need is one who will come and save God's people from their sins. And praise the Lord, the author of Hebrews says, so if we've talked about the mountain you did not come to, which is Sinai, let's talk about the mountain that you did come to. And notice immediately what he says here in this contrast. Verse 22, but you have come to Mount Zion. Now, if you know enough about the Old Testament, you know that you could misread that and think, oh, he's talking about Jerusalem, and the couple of mountains there, Mount Moriah and Mount Zion, and you can be talking about the earthly Jerusalem, but this author has already smacked us in the face if we believe that. Over and over again, he says that Abraham was not looking for an earthly city, not one whose foundations are made by men, but he was looking for a heavenly city that's foundations were made by God, set by God. And over and over again, it says the patriarchs were wandering through not looking for an earthly city, But they were looking, as pilgrims, for a homeland they would not find in this world. So again, as we think about Mount Zion for a minute, we recognize they've come to Mount Zion. They've come to the city of the living God. But it's not David's Jerusalem. It's not David's Zion they're talking about. He says, the heavenly Jerusalem. Now, my friends, oftentimes we act like the wording of Revelation is unique when it speaks about the Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, descending down. But John didn't come up with that imagery. It was already known. That's what's been told to us all throughout Hebrews. Abraham knew of a heavenly Jerusalem. Moses knew of a heavenly Jerusalem. How do we know? Because he was given the plan of the tabernacle, taken up on a mountain, and shown the heavenly tabernacle as the floor plan, if you will, for the earthly tabernacle that could be built. In other words, over and over again, they were seeing the earthly things as shadows pointing to the substance of the glory of God. Type and anti-type. So again, as we think about this for a moment, he says, we were not talking about the earthly Jerusalem. Yes, it was an important city biblically, but we're talking about the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. And notice there, there's immediately a great change between the two covenants. Not just a distinction, it is a distinction, but it's a contrast. A contrast, in the old economy of Sinai, angels were there to guard and to keep us away from God's presence. But notice what the author says about the mountain we've come to. He says, there is an innumerable company of angels. Maybe your translation says a feastal party or festal party of angels, gathering of angels. In other words, it's like a festival. We're done in the presence of the angels as they worship. as they are in our presence, and we as a people are brought into their presence spiritually, and one day literally into their presence, and we will be worshiping God in their presence. No longer are they a threat to us. No longer are they a barrier to us. They are joining us in worship. You can read some of the chapters early in Revelation about the worship that's going on around the heavenly throne. And so my friends, as you see this, he says immediately there's a huge difference. The angels are no longer our enemies. but they're joining us in worship. And notice that as that happens, we are added to the general assembly or feastal gathering of the church, the ekklesia, the called out elected people of God. We join this people in the ekklesia, called out people of the firstborn. Now, Jesus is described as the firstborn, and many times, bad theology can erupt from this, right? Because you say, oh, he was created. It's not what it's talking about. It's not talking about creation. It's talking about Christ's position as the inheritor of all things. Firstborn son is the inheritor in Jewish culture. It's saying that he is the one who has inherited all things. And notice now, as a gathering, we are all included in that as firstborn sons. Firstborn sons, and I want you to think about this just for a moment, because it doesn't matter if you're a male or a female, it describes you as included in this party as a eldest or firstborn son. Why? Male or female, it doesn't matter. Your position in Christ is the same. You receive the same inheritance. Well, what is that inheritance? It's all things. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 8, Have you ever thought about that, the glories of what Paul is telling us there? Just as Christ has received all things from his Father's hand, so we receive all things. We're not made gods, don't fall for that kind of lie, but we receive everything. We receive everything. We will reign with him in some way and we will enjoy all the glories of a new heaven and earth because we belong to Christ who is the inheritor of all these things as our messianic king. My friends, what he's saying here is you're counted amongst that general assembly. If there was ever a body you want to be counted in, right there it is. The body of the people of God. And then what does he say beyond that? He says, who are registered in heaven. Registered, your name is written down in heaven. That's the Lamb's book of life. Your name is included there. If you're a part of this gathering, your name is there. And my friends, no one can take that away from you. No one can take that away from you. And so my friends, these are glories and joys that are being described to us. And notice what he says next. To God, the judge of all, and yet there's no hint in that of threat. There's no hint in that of destruction to us. There's no hint of fear or being fearful. God is the judge of all, and we are His children, and we will stand before Him perfectly just and right. Why? Because Christ is perfectly just and right, and we stand in Him. My friends, He's showing us something very different from Sinai, something very different. And then He says this, to the spirits of just men made perfect, Now, we just made the argument that no man is just. That word is in Greek, dikaios, which you may know if you've studied Romans. It means righteous or in right standing. And no man is just or righteous in his own. This is the righteous standing that we are given in Christ. We are declared not guilty before God, for Christ's sake, for what Christ did. And so for all these people who have been declared righteous before God, what does it say? They are made perfect. Again, that word in Greek, teleos, it means to be made complete, to be brought to completion. I think perfect is a good translation in this case because I think it's speaking of glorification. We are justified by faith, immediately declared not guilty before God, then we are sanctified through our Christian life by a work of the Holy Spirit as we live out our Christian life, and then, in glory, we are glorified in the presence of God. Where do you see anything like that at Sinai? You enter into the Sinai covenant with fear and trembling, and you die under it with fear and trembling, because you can't live up to it. But the new covenant, you enter by grace, you live by grace, and you die in the grace of God. And by God's grace, you are made whole, completed, glorified by His grace. And so my friends, as we look at this, we see here something very different. And then he says that all of this is made possible by Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. You know, at the beginning of this letter, the author makes an important point that the covenant, the new covenant is greater. and greater for many reasons. One of those reasons is the sacrifice of the covenant is greater, the mediator of the covenant is greater, the priest, high priest of the covenant is greater. Every aspect of this covenant is greater in the new covenant. And he reminds us that's because the mediator is Christ. And the blood that was shed there was not the blood of bulls and goats. but of the sinless Savior, Jesus Christ. Now he says something unusual here. He says the blood of sprinkling that would sprinkle over the covenant and seal the covenant, which by the way, Hebrews is already spoken about. I won't go back through that again. But he says that blood, the blood of Jesus sprinkled on the new covenant, he says this, speaks better things than that of Abel. What does he mean there? What did Abel's blood speak? a cry for justice. His brother had murdered him and the blood cried out from the ground for justice. That's right. That's just. There's nothing wrong with a cry for justice. But my friends, the problem for us is none of us will stand in light of justice. All of us will fall under justice's cry because none of us are right. But here's the thing, the blood of Jesus cries out something better. It cries out mercy and forgiveness and grace. My friends, what he's trying to say to us here is the thing that we find in the old covenant is the holding out of commands and laws that God has given that if you don't do, you don't live. You fall under the judgment of God. The beauty of the new covenant is it's already been upheld by Jesus Christ in whom we stand. So this author is saying to us here, why would you ever want to return from this covenant in which you stand righteously by Christ to return to a covenant which gives commands you cannot keep? And if we don't believe that, just remember at the Jerusalem Council, When there's a debate about whether or not Christians need to take on the law as a part of their Christian life, Peter says what? Why would we ask them to bear a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have ever been able to bear? No one was ever able to bear the yoke of the law except Christ. Flee to Christ. Flee to Christ. Now, I intended to go into a closing point on how this undergirds our covenantal heritage as Baptists. It's an important point. I tried to go through this all through the spring. But there's a message here for us, that the new covenant is unique and special. It's not like the former covenant, and that we ought to rejoice that we are in it, and that there is no safety or security found in fleeing to the law. I would have pointed to two places, Pilgrim's Progress, where Pilgrim goes to the mount to try to find a way to ease his conscience and his burden, and the Mount Sinai rains down judgment upon him. That was one of our early Baptist fathers, John Bunyan, trying to tell us that. But we're going to sing a song in just a moment called, My Hiding Place. And I want you to listen really quick to these. This second verse, some of the words here. Indignant justice stood in view. To Sinai's fiery mount I flew. But justice cried with frowning face, this mountain is no hiding place. Ere long a heavenly voice I heard, and mercy for my soul appeared. which led me on with smiling face to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. My friends, the entire message of scripture is what you cannot earn for yourself, praise God, Jesus Christ earned for you. And so my friends, as we come to this table today, pray as we approach it as the people of God. This is for believers invited by God's grace to come and partake. We remember that what this reminds us of ever is the grace of God in providing us a place at this table that we could have never purchased or earned for ourselves.