HEBREWS CHAPTER 12B

"But you have come MOUNT ZION.."

RESPONSE to HIS NATURE

I. Response of righteousness (v. 12-17)
"See to it!" v. 14,15,16,25

A. peace & holiness

B. grace & bitterness

C. immorality & immaturity  (ESAU--apostasy)

II. Response to NEW COVENANT  (v. 18-22)
(chart)

III. Response to His Voice (v. 25-29)
Warning # 6  (See to it!)

IV. Response of WORSHIP!

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be  (1) thankful, and (2) worship our God acceptably with reverence and awe, for OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE"   (v. 28-9)

SINAI ZION


Judaism Christianity
LAW       GRACE
Moses       Christ
The material the spiritual
Condemnation Forgiveness
Clouds & darkness Light
Distant GOD/thunder approachable GOD
Temporary kingdom Eternal Kingdom
Shakeable Permanent
External restrictions/obed HEART CHANGE
FEAR        AWE
Blood of Abel = vengeance Blood of JC = blessing

Mediator approaches "spiritual sacred access"
4:16, 7:25, 10:1

***access - HIGHWAY TO HOLINESS ---  (same)

THE SIX MAJOR WARNINGS OF HEBREWS

(re: APOSTASY)


WARNING ONE
Hebrews 2

Warning to Pay Attention

1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

Warning TWO (Against Unbelief) HEBREWS 3

7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
   "Today, if you hear his voice,
        8 do not harden your hearts
   as you did in the rebellion,
       during the time of testing in the desert,
    9 where your fathers tested and tried me
       and for forty years saw what I did.
    10 That is why I was angry with that generation,
       and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,
       and they have not known my ways.'
    11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
       'They shall never enter my rest.' "[1]
12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God


WARNING THREE
Hebrews 4

1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.


WARNING FOUR (re: eternal security)
Hebrews 6

4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6if they fall away, to be brought back to rrepentance, because[1] to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.


WARNING FIVE (re: apostasy)
Hebrews 10

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?


WARNING SIX (re:apathy)
Hebrews 12

25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."[1]