A Final Warning (Part C)

There were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. He shall reign forever and ever. Of his kingdom there is no end. Those who don't believe, again, they can believe. They just need to come or they will miss out.

And their fate, their fate will be that which is horrific. 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 the conclusion of his study called A Final Warning in Hebrews chapter 12. It used to be in Bible times centered in certain places like Sodom, for example, but now it is global because the Tower of Babel has been rebuilt electronically. You can go anywhere in the world electronically. Well, nearly anywhere in the world. You can do it through Google Maps.

You can do it through just contacting with people who are in other parts of the world. So the world has become one place and they're all swapping notes. But they're not about the righteousness of God. There's some of that, of course.

But overall, that's not what's going on. It's how can we recruit you to join our movement of moral perversity and no longer have it be called moral perversity? In fact, let's call the righteous the perverted ones.

And I'm not saying this in a tone of disgust or trying to make anyone feel small. If the truth does that, that's on you. I mean, God's word will make you feel so small if you are against it, they'll have to pick you up with tweezers. But you don't have to get to that place.

We can avoid it. So let's go on and find out what he has to say because what I am saying right now, the immature will push back against. The immature Christians, they don't want to hear this. They don't want any confrontation.

They think the church is supposed to be an entertainment center and they're just problems. The penitent will repent. Those who are smitten in their heart, they'll say, I want more of God. I want his holiness. I do not want to be profane. I want holiness. And the mature will applaud it and say, God, use me, use me, use me up.

God, if you want to be used by God, understand you are going to have to be wise as a serpent, as harmless as a dove. You cannot just bring your definitions of love into serving Christ. It's not enough.

It won't win the war. There's got to be, you must go deeper. And you can't go deeper on your own. You must ask God to get you there.

And he most often takes you there in phases. I mentioned that the giving of the law. It wasn't just a one-day event.

It was issued to the people. It was released slowly to the people so that they could bear it. So do not become impatient.

You're going to need much patience. Verse 26, he says, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he has promised, saying, yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. So he's got this working knowledge, the writer of, of course, the Old Testament. He has roamed through it. He understands it.

So does his audience. And now he's quoting the prophet Haggai. He's saying, this isn't our scripture. This is prophecy.

And you know it's true. Christ's work is so profound that even heaven is changed forever by the population of sinners saved by grace. Heaven will not be the same in a glorious way when all the sinners that are saved by grace enter in. Who else can do this but God? Only God can shake heaven and earth.

He shook it at the giving of the law. There at Mount Sinai, at the foot of Mount Sinai, on the mountain itself, Exodus 19, 18. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because Yahweh descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked greatly. This violent earthquake and yet no one was killed by the violent earthquake.

There are times when it is. There's another time in scripture when they will rise up against Moses and the ground will open up and swallow up many of the rebels. So it's a good idea to be friends with God. Anybody that's got that much power, it's a good idea to be friends with them. And that would be God.

That would be Jesus Christ who allows us to be friends. He says, but now he has promised saying, yet once more I shake not only the earth but also heaven. This is future. This is prophecy now.

I'm going to spend a little time reading from the scripture on the prophecies. Jesus said there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, in the stars, and on the earth. The stress of the nations with perplexity.

The sea and the waves roaring. Men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Jesus says, you know, there's going to be a radical event. This is not going to be an isolated event here and there.

This is going to be a global operation. Revelation 16, 18, and there were noises and thunderings and lightnings. And there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as has not occurred since men were on the earth. This is a coming attraction, you could say.

Really not an attraction, but it's coming. Joel the prophet. Yahweh also will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem. The heavens and earth will shake, but Yahweh will be a shelter for his people and the strength of the children of Israel.

In the midst of all of these cataclysmic events taking place during the great tribulation period and especially towards the end, God will shelter his people. Zechariah 14, 4. I don't mind reading the word of God, incidentally. I don't mind reading it whether it's a pulpit in front of me or just me.

We need these things to hear the word. When one of the prophets said they have rejected the word of God, so what wisdom do they have? We've not rejected the word of God.

He's warning them not to reject him who speaks, which is the word. Zechariah 14, 4, concerning the cataclysmic events to come. And in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, making a very large valley.

Half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. This is going to be a literal event. It is going to happen just as it has been called. Human rule will end at that time. God will put an end to what we know as the world, the world's way of doing things. Daniel chapter 2, verse 44, and in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever.

That is the Gentile rule that we are now under. It will come to an end. Haggai, again, chapter 2, I will shake heaven and earth. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms.

And then there is 1 Corinthians, one of my favorite verses. I'm going to be here for this event, be there for that event. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of God to the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and authority and power.

You're going to be there too. Christ is your Lord and Savior now. He will be your Lord and Savior then. And it will be a glorious time. And so, again, going back, he says be careful.

Don't refuse him. He has promised that he will shake heaven and earth. And if he's got that much power, you better listen to what he is saying because of who he is. Now, verse 27. Now this, yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. The word of God, living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and the spirit, the joints and the marrow, the material and the immaterial, the sheeps and the goat.

God will separate things so that he can deal with them the right way. His kingdom, however, in the midst of all these things, it will never be shaken. It is an everlasting kingdom. It is undying. It is eternal.

Gabriel, when he approached Mary and announced that she was going to have the child, he said this of Jesus Christ, of his kingdom there will be no end. Can you imagine telling that to a mom? All moms think their kids are superior. That's not a bad thing.

I mean, if you act it out too much, it can be a problem, but we all, this is our child. We love them, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. Annoying, but still, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. But Mary, to be told by an angel, of his kingdom there will be no end. I don't know how she retained any of this except by the hand of God.

I would have been so blown away just by the experience that I don't know that I would have recalled anything. I would have been so excited, but God did not let it get away from her. See, God is not the cause of hysteria in the church. Hysterical people are the cause of hysteria in the church. God is the one who orders it. I know there are those that think, well, if we just bring in, you know, let everybody in, how else are we going to reach them if we don't let them in? They're going to reach us and destroy who we are if they can't sit for the word of God. If the word of God is interrupted, you cannot appease.

They must conform to the order that God has put in place. When someone jumps up and starts running around the sanctuary, who gets the attention at that moment? It ain't Jesus Christ.

Everybody's looking at them running around. You may say, well, this offends me, pastor. I get some of my best exercises in the church.

Where else does this take place? Where else does one man get in front of an assembly of people and preach God's word to you? Not a motivational speaker trying to tell you how to get a million dollars by Thursday or something like that, but someone saying, thus says the Lord. So, the God who shook heaven and earth at the giving of the law will do so again at His coming. Matthew 24, immediately after the tribulation, Jesus said, Of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven, the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Why is it you can read the book of Revelation, have more questions about that book than all the rest of the books put together, and still come away feeling strong? Because the glory of God is put in front of you on a level that you can receive it without being crushed. You know who wins.

I don't know all the details to this, but I know this. In the end, when the smoke and dust settle, the righteous will be standing because of Jesus Christ, and wickedness will be dealt with forever. He is settling this stuff right now through humanity once and for all. Why does God allow so much suffering?

Why does it? Because He is settling this stuff in ways that are beyond us, but enough for us to say, I know which side I belong on, and that's where I will be. I love that song. When the saints go marching in, I want to be in that number. I don't want to be in the goat number, standing before the throne of God and receiving His judgment.

I want to go marching in. As David said, I will enter His court with thanksgiving in my heart. I will enter His gates in praise. I will say, this is the day the Lord has made. I will be glad and rejoice. And so this grand finale of the physical universe, the unfinished business of Messiah, Peter said, God's going to shake heaven and earth.

In fact, He's going to shake it so much, there's not going to be anything left when He's done. 2 Peter 3, this is after the great tribulation and the millennial reign. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the knife, in which the heavens will pass away with great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

The day of the Lord is not just one single day. He's getting right to the end of it all. And you know how many tunnels and underground things, the cables under, I mean, just how pollution and stuff is under the earth? How are you going to clean all that up? God said, I got a way to clean that up.

Fire. It's amazing what divine matches can do. 2 Peter 3, looking for the hastening and coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. I'm not afraid of that because I know who my Savior is, and He is every bit of Savior. He's not going to save part of me. He's going to save all of me. And not just me, all who have come to Him. Revelation 20, 13, Then I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat on it. I read this verse earlier. How did it get back in there? Maybe the Lord wants me to read it again.

Let's do it. From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. Oh, that's a sobering word. There is absolutely nothing funny about that verse. It is beautiful. It is glorious because it has within it the wiping away of all tears and sorrow and pain and suffering that humanity has gone through. Within that verse, God is saying all that's going to be dealt with. Justice will be served.

If justice is not served, we're in big trouble. But the verse that I wanted to read from Peter was, Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. No more keys. No more locks. I don't even know if we're going to need doors. Revelation 21, verse 1, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. He's going to shake it up all right. He's going to shake the earth and the heavens. Not the heavens, the abiding place of God, but the sky and outer space, all that space junk that's up there, the satellites, that stuff's going to be dissolved, gone.

God will start fresh, and we can't even imagine what He has except to say, We know we have an impressive Creator, a thorough Creator. If you want Jesus, you can have Him. If you don't want Him, you shall have His wrath.

It is a prerogative of God to make these terms, and He has made them. Verse 28, still appealing to the Hebrews, warning them, Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. How else should we serve God?

With recklessness? Well, we know the outcome. Again, Revelation 11, And the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. Of His kingdom there is no end. Those who don't believe, again, they can believe. They just need to come, or they will miss out, and their fate, their fate will be that which is horrific. Matthew 13, 24, He will cast them out into the furnace of fire.

There will be weeping and ashing of teeth. We must not lose sight of these things. Because if you pray a lot, if you are one who prays a lot, you have to understand you risk giving recital and not prayer.

You're just going through the motions, and we don't want that. We want our feelings involved in our prayer, not to take the lead, but we want them present. We want to be thinking about what we're saying and who we're saying it to. One thing that has helped my prayer life is that at every meal I pray. I don't pray, you know, thank you, Father, for this food, helping to nourish my body. I don't think God needs that instruction from me.

Food by definition is here to nourish our bodies. Pray at every meal. In fact, if anything touches your lips to be consumed, whether it is drink or food or a breath mint, Lord, I lift up to you.

I lift up in prayer. Paul had so many people to pray for. He wouldn't be able to eat if he just prayed all the details. So he said, I make mention of you daily. A mention goes a long way with God. So I encourage you, lost souls in your life that you love, that you want to see in the kingdom, wage war through prayer. Everything else may have been taken from you except that. Paul is more afraid of our prayers many times, I think, than we respect our own prayers because we want to see results instantly.

Well, so does God, but it just doesn't work that way. So back to our text. We've got a little time left. Let us have grace.

He's looking forward now. He's saying, you know these things, the terror of the Lord. Paul said, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade all men.

He said, let's have grace in doing this. Grace does not reduce the sense of holiness, it magnifies it. And I fear this is a problem in Christianity. I'm not going to say it's a problem today because it may have been a problem 500 years ago.

I wasn't there, but I know it's a problem today. There are many Christians that love the grace of God, but there's no holiness. They're afraid of holiness. They're afraid of righteousness. The scripture says, without holiness you shall not see God. He just told them that.

Earlier chapter, he stressed that to them. He says, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. A disturbing amount of worldliness has entered Christianity this day. A lack of reverence, of respect. An effort to be so cool with the world that the world will accept us. Let's identify with them.

No! We don't identify with them. We've come out, come out. Be you, holy. Be clean.

Even though you are a sinner. The emphasis on showing ourselves to be acceptable. As I mentioned, cool with the world is a doomed, it is a doomed strategy. You are supposed to be, I am supposed to be showing ourselves to be like Christ, not like the world. The world is prompting us, okay, we're doing this now. And the Christians jump on, but we're doing it too.

The world says, okay, we're going to do this. Okay, we're going to go do it with you. I'm not going to go with you.

I'm not like you. In failure to show ourselves righteous and Christ-like. We're cheating them. We're robbing sinners.

We owe them the truth. Paul said, owe no one anything but love. Well, what kind of love is he talking? Agape love, spiritual love.

Love that comes, it flows down from heaven and onto us. So deep into the fabric has the world became. The fabric of Christian thinking. So deep has it gotten that when pastors preach against it, there is blowback.

There is resistance. There are those that are offended. Because God says, be holy. Be you perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. Be holy, strive for these things.

Run away from them. This stampede of the church and Christians to identify with the world, I fear, is setting up the grand finale of the apostate church. It is already in full swing. We have churches now singing secular songs. The next time someone talks about the house of God being an entertainment center, you say, no it's not.

It is his house. We're not there for us. We're there for him.

That benefits us. When we reduce it and strip it away, Satan has pulled a move on us. 2 Timothy chapter 3. But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves. Unholy, that means profane, afraid of holiness, despisers of good, traitors, bullheaded, haughty, or arrogant, having nothing to boast about, but boasting about it anyway.

Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. From such people turn away. That's what God says. Don't refuse him who speaks. That is he who speaks, saying these things to us. Many Christians are more concerned about being persecuted than being like Christ. In the midst of whatever happens, our orders don't change.

Verse 29, for our God is a consuming fire. What if he wasn't? What if there were no wrath to worry about from God?

What if there was no reverence to revere? What would you have? A genie?

You just ask him for stuff? That's all? There'd be no holiness and righteousness and justice and dealing with things that are evil? Fire in Scripture is often a divine emblem of judgment upon that which is wicked, of God's holiness in active opposition to that which is wrong, that which is evil, that which is dirty. So don't play with fire, not this fire. Before you die, be right. Be right with God. It's not too much to ask. It's actually too little to ask.

God could have asked for a lot more. We close with this verse, 1 Timothy 4, Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Take heed to yourself and to the Scripture.

That's what he's saying. Continue in them, for in so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Pay attention to what God is saying. 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.