Contrasting Testament Beginnings (Part B)

He is pure, sinless, but He is merciful. He knows how to work with those who are not pure, those who are sinful.

He knows how to handle them. Those who come to Him, He knows how to keep them. So Paul said finally, there is laid up for me the righteous crown, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but to all who have loved his appearing.

Who has loved that Jesus has come, died for them? This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Hebrews.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick with his continuing study called Contrasting Testament Beginnings, in Hebrews chapter 12. Come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels. Now the contrast is here. He says that was then, this is now. Now understand, Joshua and Caleb and Aaron, they were there for that intense presentation of God at Mount Sinai. And though as terrifying as it was, still in their heart was this attraction and love for God.

It did not ruin the relationship, it stabilized it for the nation. But the writer says, but we've got something even greater. Now you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God. He is saying that there is a physical Mount Zion on earth, that was David's stronghold.

It became the strongest place in Jerusalem because of its fortifications. But the writer is saying there is a spiritual Jerusalem, there's a spiritual center for the righteous, where he meets his people. And that is the new Jerusalem, as he will bring out in verse 23 when he talks about the General Assembly gathering there, but even in this verse, the heavenly Jerusalem. This is new Jerusalem spoken about in Revelation 21 and 22. It is the spiritual dwelling place of God.

It is heaven. It is the place where the righteous Jew and Gentile alike, dead and now alive alike, to be one day in heaven will all gather together. It will dwell over the millennial kingdom, almost like the Shekinah, those of you who are familiar with that. It becomes a figure of the kingdom of heaven in the New Testament. While Sinai threatened death to those who came close, Calvary offers life to all who arrive there willingly, their own will. All who come to Christ.

The invitation is a standing invitation. And so, what a picture this makes that the old law, no one could please God on Sinai's terms. Mount Sinai, with the thunder and the lightning and the death to any animal or human that came to it by stone or by arrow, no one could please God on those terms. But Mount Zion, accessible through Jesus Christ, becomes synonymous with heaven, the dwelling place of God and his people. And that's the picture he's painting, so he says here in verse 22, the heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly one. It is where the true citizens of Christ will dwell, those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, where the grace of God is finally realized. Paul, writing to the Galatians, trying to deal with these things, imagine, here this man, he sees Jesus Christ, he was against him, he was totally into Judaism, but he meets Christ and he finds out, okay, there's a whole new thing going on.

And he dedicates his life to communicating this, no matter what the cost, and the cost was ultimately his life. But in dealing with the churches in Galatia, he says, Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one a bondwoman and the other by a free woman. He who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he who was of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. So he's saying, listen, he's trying to draw these pictures from their histories, and it was Hagar, she was the concubine, the servant of Abraham. She had Abraham's first son, Ishmael, but the Bible doesn't recognize Ishmael as his first son because he was brought about through human effort, human understanding, apart from God, contrary to God, and it really doesn't count when it comes to spiritual things. And then there was his wife, Sarah. God gave him Sarah, and he gave a child to them in their latter years.

Isaac, by name, that is the child of promise. And he's saying, there's two symbols here. You have one that is of the flesh, it's carnal, but then you have one that's of the spirit. You're now in the New Testament. Christ has come, it's spiritual now. He says these things are symbolic, for these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children.

I probably lost some of you with that. He's saying that Jerusalem, in the days that he wrote this, was still under the law. They were offering blood sacrifices of sheep and bulls after their Messiah had come and their religious leaders had murdered him.

He's saying they've missed it, they've missed the point, this offends people. He says, but the Jerusalem above is free, Galatians 4, verse 26, which is the mother of us all. We've got our eyes on something greater that God has done.

He has moved forward. So which will it be? Sinai on earth, or Zion in heaven? Our fallen nature, it really doesn't care about spiritual things.

It wants its thrills, it's what temptation has built off, it's why we stumble, it's why we get in the flesh, we become short-tempered with people, and moody, and defiant, and bullheaded, and all those things. How many of you, and don't raise your hands, have made a decision concerning the place where you worship without even asking God what he thinks? How many of you say, I'm leaving, or I'm coming out of that ministry? You never even ask God. And he's standing there, well, am I not standing here?

And you've just made your move. Because he's merciful, you can get away with it, as far as not being slammed for it. That's not what he expects from his people. You mean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God. But what happens when you're not led by the Spirit, and you're not behaving as though you are a child, though you may be?

And so may we tighten up our behavior. Do you not want a pastor who asks God everything before he acts on anything concerning the body of Christ? Because you recognize the difference between the Spirit and the flesh. You recognize that when a man is governing himself, he is not governed by God.

And that will create problems. So much so that there'll be little difference between corporate America and a church, a social club and a church. The church is supposed to have a holy character about it. But what we have are people who come to church, they just want to know, if you are tolerant, they use the word loving. They don't mean loving, because you have to love on their terms.

And if you don't love them on their terms, they're not going to love you back. And so we aspire to be loving, of course, but also to be firm with our convictions, because the Spirit guides us. And if you are a Christian that has not been doing that, why not? How would you expect to grow without the Holy Spirit? How do you expect to grow in Christ without prayer? How do you expect to grow in Christ without the study of his word? How many of you rely on the pastor to give you your spiritual food, and you never go nosh on the Scripture yourselves?

Well, if I'm talking to you, I hope it's bothering you if you're guilty enough to do something about it and not to just react in a carnal way. Verse 23. Before we read verse 23, I'm making these comments to try to draw contrast between our Christian behavior and the behavior of our flesh. The flesh is never going to surprise us with its antics.

It may surprise us with how it goes about it, or its timing. But we're never surprised that the flesh is always against the Spirit. And we are to live as though we belong to a different system, and we are to fight these things continually, because we belong to something better. Verse 23.

He says, continuing the thought, well, verse 23 needs to be read along with verse 22. But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all the spirits of just men made perfect. To the general assembly and the church of the firstborn.

We'll take those first. Well, having mentioned the city of God, the new Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, he is now speaking of its citizens who are going to be in that city. The general assembly. The Greek word there for assembly is one of a festal nature, one of excitement. The people coming out in ancient Rome or Greece, when you came to a big sporting event, they would say that you were assembling there, coming to that stadium.

They would use that Greek word, the public games. But for us, it's an assembly nonetheless, but it's not for games, it's for glory. Here it refers to the gathering of the angels, the angelic beings, and the saints, living and dead alike, who will all be in heaven at one point. It is contrasted with the dark tempest and the storms at Sinai, you have this glorious assembly. But this word, church, in the Greek, in the New Testament, every time you come across the word church, it is a translation of the Greek word ecclesia, those who are called out. It is unfortunate that we've interjected another word for church in our language from the Latin.

The meaning is good, but it's a little confusing. So the church is called out. The Jews, the righteous Jews, they were also part of the ecclesia, those called out, but when the church was established. So when Jesus said, the gates of hell will not prevail against the ecclesia, the called out ones, his people. Well, the New Testament church wasn't born when he made that statement, but it was a statement that reached beyond the moment that he spoke it in, even to this very time. When the New Testament church was born, they are the assembly of those called out, saints separated from the world, willfully receiving the invitation of the Lord to come to Calvary and to be forgiven of sin. Our English word church goes back to the Greek also and takes some other twists and turns, but essentially the word means is from kurios, which is a Greek word in scripture, meaning Lord or ruler.

So both words are right. So where he says here in verse 23, yes, it's a little different than the other verses we've been going through in Hebrews. To the general assembly and the church, the called out ones, those who belong to the Lord. It is very unfortunate that churches are now referring to themselves as campuses. Kool has overruled solid tradition. Some traditions are useless. In fact, they are a hindrance.

But then there are some that are solid. They are built on solid knowledge of scripture and what God has done and is doing. To call the assembly of believers anything other than a church might be disappointing. This is not a campus. A campus is from the Latin meaning essentially a field.

As far as back as I could research, it has to do with universities and their grounds, their campus, separating them from everything else outside of the campus. The church, it is the place where Christ rules. It is the place where he has called his people to assemble before him in this life. It is a place where he meets us.

It is a place where he says the gates of hell are not to prevail. There is the local church and there is the universal church and they are both essential to him. And unfortunately, some of the older saints have higher views of the church than many of the modern saints. When you say, well, you know, I think it started out with churches saying, well, we started out other assemblies in different parts of town and really doesn't have a pastor over there. Then it's not a church.

Get a pastor over there. This is something God, Ephesians 4, he himself has given some to be, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor-teachers for the work of ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ. This is something that belongs to us because it is given to us from Scripture and it is being eroded with sort of this New Age approach.

Not New Age as a religion, but the age we live in that is mixed up with things that have no root in the word of God. So going back to our verse this morning, to the general assembly and the ecclesia, the church of the firstborn. Firstborn here stands for the head of creation, not the first one created in the line of created beings. When it refers to Jesus Christ, it never refers to him in that sense. It refers to him as the one who is leader and linked to us, linked to sinners.

This was willful. Christ came and is numbered with the sinners because he cares for you. So the next time you find yourself stumbling in sin, remember Christ cares for you nonetheless. This is the very reason why he has come. He will not leave you nor forsake you. He will encourage you and build you up. In fact, he has a whole bunch of others who are the same way as you, not according to Satan. Satan will say you're a unique case, you're just worse than anybody else, nobody's got your products, a lie from hell. Christ says, are you kidding me? I have an entire assembly of them all over the earth. I've had them from the beginning.

They are mine and I love them, every single one of them. And he doesn't love Daniel more than he loves you. He doesn't love you more than he loves Daniel.

His love is not a fickle, damaged love that creates a pecking order of who gets more attention and who does not. And so this should strengthen us. He says here in verse 23, who are registered in heaven. That is the Lamb's Book of Life, that is you who believe, that is me. Now Satan again will come along and say, are you kidding? You're not good enough. Thank you, I'm not.

Thank you for reminding me. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin. And there will not be one stain of sin on you when you get to heaven, though your sins be as red as scarlet. Christ says, I will make you white as snow.

I will wash them away. He says to God, the judge of all. Well, everybody's accountable. The judge is someone that you are accountable to, the one that upholds justice. God is our judge.

He's not an activist judge, but he is an active judge. He is pure and merciful and there is no judge like him. He is pure, sinless, but he is merciful. He knows how to work with those who are not pure, those who are sinful.

He knows how to handle them. Those who come to him, he knows how to keep them. So Paul said finally, there is laid up for me the righteous crown, which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but to all who have loved his appearing.

Who has loved that Jesus has come, died for them? That is to love his appearing, to love what the scripture says. This is Abraham reasoning with God about being merciful to those in Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham understood the horror of judgment from God. And so, far be it from you, Abraham says to God, to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked, far be it from you, shall not the judge of all the earth do right.

Yes, every single time. God will not treat those who reject him as though they were like those who accepted him, and the world does not like that. They do not like the separation of the sheep and the goat, and it is up to us to try to make them understand the value of this. He says, to the spirits of just men made perfect. This refers to those made perfect by Christ.

Those whose spirits are alive in heaven with Christ. Daniel 12, verse 2, and many of those who slept in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting contempt. John says, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. God will do right.

He knows what he is doing. Verse 24, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks of better things than able. So where he says to Jesus, he's continuing the thought, we've come to the assembly, all the things he's been saying ahead to the church, to Jesus.

That's who we have come to. Mediator of the new covenant, he is the giver of grace. John's gospel, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ. John was a Jew.

He was raised up in a Jewish society. But he now knew the splendor of that which came from God, and incorporated everything that he was exposed to from the prophets, and put it in its proper place. First Timothy, for there is one God, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And again, to pray to Mary is a sin. We do not pray to the dead. We can praise God for the dead. I can thank God for my mother, and my father, and other righteous people who have died and gone on to heaven. I can praise God for them, but I can't pray to them. We don't talk to the dead. It's forbidden in Scripture.

No problem. Look, they're having a better day in heaven than they ever had here. They're not in need of prayer. I'm the one that needs prayer. You need prayer.

I can just look at you and tell. If you're a human, you need prayer. And so Paul describes Moses as a mediator of the first covenant, but Christ the better one. Of course, now I've got many more Scripture verses, but time will not allow to go on and to the blood of the sprinkling that speaks of better things than that of Abel. Well, at the giving of the law, Exodus 24, Moses took blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant which Yahweh has made with you according to these words. That was the first covenant.

The Old Testament, testament and covenant, synonymous. Matthew 26, Jesus said, for this is my blood of the new covenant, the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Gone is the penalty, saved from the penalty of sin through Jesus Christ. Man puts a lot of energy into hiding his sin, redefining sin, ignoring sin, excusing sin, attacking those who point to sin. The sinners put a lot of energy into that. And Christ says, you just come and I'll deal with that sin. Well, better things than that, blood sacrifices of Abel, of course the blood of Christ, better than the blood of lambs. I close with this verse from Colossians chapter 1 verse 20. And by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross, is better than anything anybody else can offer. And so if you were lost somewhere in this, get familiar with spiritual things. Don't say to the church or to the pastors, can you dumb it down?

No, the response is, can you step it up? Can you and the pew who are not following step it up? Next time maybe you want to entertain yourself with a DVD or whatever it is you do, maybe you should go to the scripture and say, you know what, I'm just going to have a little devotional time and see what God will show me. You've been listening to Cross Reference Radio, the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. As we mentioned at the beginning of today's broadcast, today's teaching is available free of charge at our website. Simply log on to crossreferenceradio.com. That's crossreferenceradio.com. We'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to the Cross Reference Radio podcast. Subscribing ensures that you stay current with all the latest teachings from Pastor Rick. You can subscribe at crossreferenceradio.com or simply search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app. Tune in next time as Pastor Rick continues teaching through the book of Hebrews, right here on Cross Reference Radio.