Skip to content

The River ChurchSermons

Thankful Worshippers

Josh Combs · Sunday, 6 September 2026 · 38:26 · 5,323 words

Listen to this message Watch on YouTube

Exploring the contrast between Mount Sinai, where God’s terrifying presence shook an entire nation, and Mount Zion, the eternal city where believers are seated with Christ, the message emphasizes that God has given us an unshakable kingdom. It calls listeners to be grateful for this permanent inheritance and to respond with worship that reflects reverence and awe. The speaker urges that true worship means offering every part of life as a living sacrifice, recognizing God as a consuming fire.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

sinai 17 mount 18 mountain 19 city 18 enrolled 9 shaken 15 hebrew 23 reverence 11 judaism 10 firstborn 11 writer 13 heaven 23

Topics

Atonement & Sacrifice 2 Salvation 1 Sin 1 Grace 1 Righteousness 1

Scripture referenced 24

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Hebrews 12 0:35 Exodus 19 6:03 Exodus 19 6:43 Hebrews 12 8:34 Exodus 19 8:42 Hebrews 12 11:09 Ephesians 2 13:27 Ephesians 2 13:38 Ephesians 2:5 13:38 Ephesians 2:6 14:07 Hebrews 12:22 15:15 Ephesians 2 16:23 Genesis 4 20:10 Matthew 18 25:03 Matthew 18:24 25:10 Matthew 18:25 25:21 Haggai 2 26:57 Haggai 2 27:05 Haggai 2:6 27:29 Hebrews 12 27:49 Hebrews 12:27 29:10 Hebrews 12:28 29:22 Exodus 19 32:43 Romans 12 36:16

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 7 lines, 0:35. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hi everyone, my name is Jules and thanks for checking out one of our sermons today.

We are so glad that you're here and we want to connect with you and your family.

The easiest way to do that is to text TheRiverChurch to 97000.

There you can ask questions, submit prayer requests, and even support The River Church financially.

At the end of the day, we just want to connect with you and be a blessing in any way that we can.

You can also visit our website at TheRiverChurch.cc to learn more about us and what we have going on as a church.

Thanks again for joining us and we hope that you are blessed by today's message.

Let's open our Bibles to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12.

If you don't have a Bible, I want to basically beg you to share with someone sitting next to you or take out your phone.

You can download a Bible app or The River Church app. There's a Bible feature there.

But as much as I possibly can encourage you, I want you to follow along with the scripture.

If you're a guest, thank you for being here. So honored that you're here on this Labor Day weekend.

If I don't know you, my name is Josh Combs.

I'm the lead pastor of The River and so blessed to be here with you.

If you're watching online, I certainly want to extend a welcome to you as well.

Hebrews chapter number 12. Let's pick up there in verse number 28.

The Bible says,

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

And thus, let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe.

So the text says,

The two commands here of let us to God's people are first to be thankful for receiving an unshakable eternal kingdom.

And then secondly, because of that, to offer to God worship that God deserves.

That's the call to God's people.

Now, the book of Hebrews is a long letter written.

The author is unknown to us, I think.

The original recipients, when they first received the letter, probably knew who wrote it.

But it is unknown to us who wrote it.

But it is a plea to Jewish people who have come to know Jesus,

but are being pressured to go back into Judaism.

It is a plea to people who have come to faith in Jesus,

but are being persecuted in some cases to make sure that they're,

well, they're allowed to hold on to Jesus, kind of.

But they need to also hold on to the Jewish traditions that they were raised in.

Those things would be their diet.

Certain foods were absolute no-nos for a traditional faithful Jew.

Now, to a Christian, the Bible says all things are clean.

To a Jew, that's not acceptable.

There were traditional hand washings.

So before you would eat, there would be a ceremonial ritual cleansing of the hands.

That was important to do that.

There were certain days of the week.

There were certain holidays.

There were certain laws that were given through Moses in the Old Testament

that were super, super serious to traditional Jews.

Now, Jesus has come, and it's not about keeping this set of rules.

It's about coming to Jesus and realizing that Jesus has died to pay the penalty for sin,

that Jesus has been buried, that Jesus has risen from the dead,

and the way to be forgiven of your sins is through what Jesus did.

You can't do it.

So there's this tension that people are feeling.

So the writer of Hebrews is saying, listen, Moses is great.

Jesus is better.

Angels are awesome.

Jesus is more awesome.

The law has its purpose, and the purpose was to point us to Jesus.

So the whole book of Hebrews is about how Jesus is better than Judaism,

how Jesus is better than what you received in the Old Testament.

The Old Testament was pointing to Jesus.

So verse 28, you'll see that first word, therefore,

and a silly little pun I heard in seminary was,

you want to find out what the there is there for?

It's still not funny, clearly, but it's a cue to go,

okay, I need to read before that to see what's happening.

So let's jump back to verse number 18, and we're going to see how the writer

of Hebrews is now talking about the tension between those who are coming

to faith in Jesus, but they're being pulled back, pushed, persecuted,

pressured to go back to Judaism.

Verse 18, for you have not come to what may be touched,

a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet

and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken.

For they could not endure the order.

That was given.

If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.

Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear.

Now, the writer of Hebrews is referencing back to an event that happened in Exodus.

Exodus chapter 19.

You don't have to turn there.

I'm going to read the story to you.

Moses and the Israelites have come out of Egyptian slavery.

God has miraculously freed them.

They've come to the Red Sea.

God has parted.

They've parted the Red Sea.

They've walked across on dry land.

And then God used the Red Sea to crush the Egyptian army.

And the Israelites are free.

They're free on the other side.

And they go to the base of this mountain called Mount Sinai.

And they're there for around a year.

And it's on Mount Sinai that God comes to meet with them.

I'm going to read you the account.

Exodus chapter 19 in verse number 10 says,

The Lord said to Moses, go to the people and consecrate them.

Today and tomorrow.

And let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day.

For on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

So Moses goes down and said, God is going to come meet with us in three days.

You need to do this.

You need to not do this.

Cleanse yourself.

This is going to be an extraordinary day.

By the way, no one can touch the mountain and no animal can touch the mountain.

And if they do, we can't touch them.

We have to execute them.

From a distance, we literally have to pick up rocks and throw it at them until they're dead or shoot them with an arrow.

Like it was a wild rule scene that's going on here.

Here's day three.

On the morning of the third day, there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people in the camp trembled.

Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God.

And they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire and smoke of it went up like a smoke of a kiln and the whole mountain trembled greatly.

Not only are the people trembling for fear, but the mountain is literally quaking.

There's this earthquake because the presence of God is coming down on this mountain.

And the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder.

Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

Then the Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain.

In Hebrews chapter 12, this is what the Bible is referencing.

What happened in Exodus 19.

That they were camped at Mount Sinai and all of a sudden Moses comes and says three days from now God is going to come meet with us.

Cleanse yourself.

Abstain from sexual relations at all.

And we're going to come to the mountain.

All of a sudden the mountain begins to tremble.

Smoke begins to descend from heaven.

There's lightning.

There's thunder.

There's a whirlwind.

There's a hurricane out there.

It's dark.

It's terrifying.

And Moses is like, all right, if we come meet God.

All of a sudden the Bible says a trumpet, the sound of a trumpet begins to blow.

Then it grows louder and louder and louder till the people are literally saying to Moses, please tell God to stop speaking to us.

It is so terrifying.

I think about moments.

Moments in my life where I've been afraid.

I've the truth is I've always been kind of too dumb to be afraid.

So there's moments where I should have been afraid where I was not smart enough to know.

Yeah, this is really dumb and I could die here, but I was just not smart enough.

But there's been moments in my life where I can look back and I could go, man, I was I was afraid.

I was scared.

I remember as a kid watching the Wizard of Oz and when they're going to go in to meet Oz and they're walking down that hallway.

I'm like, nope.

And I'm like, I am the lion jumping through the.

Get me out of here.

This is horrifying.

Just I remember as a kid just visibly like this is a horrifying scene.

I remember a couple years ago, my wife and I decided to take our Jeep.

That is not an off-road Jeep off-roading in the UP 30 miles off a quote unquote main road.

I decided to go over a bump in the road that was there to block and close the road.

And I thought not for me, man.

I have a Jeep when the bottom of the Jeep scraped and I thought we left the drivetrain behind us.

I thought we're going to die in the UP.

I was afraid.

My man anxiety started to go, but I thought this is real stupid.

These people come out of the camp.

God, the one true God who has destroyed all of the gods of Egypt has shown up and they are absolutely terrified.

Let's go back to Hebrews 12.

God says that's Judaism, but that's not where you have come to.

You have come to something different.

That.

Mountain can use says it so well.

He says that mountain all that happened on it in no uncertain terms displayed God's absolute unapproachable.

This there's God.

There you are.

There's God's power.

You are powerless.

There's God's majesty and you just came out of slavery that the disparity is huge.

The writer of Hebrews says in verse 12, but you have come to something different.

Here's what you've come to in Jesus.

You've come to Mount.

Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels in festal gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God, the judge of all to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

That tension again, we have to keep this in context of what the.

Original listeners, hearers, writer wanted them to hear and understand they're stuck between Christianity and Judaism and grace.

The gospel is drawing them to Jesus, but there's this pressure to hang on to Judaism.

So the writer says, listen, Sinai is Judaism, but you've been called to you.

You have come to a different mountain to something different.

Then he says, you have come to the city of the living God called here.

You've come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

You've come to the eternal city.

Now, not Jerusalem.

That's right now in the Middle East.

He's talking about the city of God.

He's talking about heaven, the dwelling place of God.

He says, this is the reality of where you in Christ have come to hold your spot in Hebrews and go back to the left of Ephesians to Ephesians chapter two.

Ephesians chapter two in verse number six phrase right before that in verse five.

It says, by grace, you have been saved.

So receiving from God what we do not deserve.

That's what grace is.

So you've been saved by grace.

You've been saved.

Verse six and raised us up.

This is what Jesus has done with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, seated with him in the heavenly places.

So the writer of Hebrews is saying this thing.

Listen, Sinai was this.

It was terrifying.

It was horrible.

But in Jesus.

Jesus, you have become part of the eternal city of God, the eternal city of God, and you have a seat.

That's where you are seated.

That's the spiritual reality of people that have come to faith in Jesus.

Philippians says it this way.

Our citizenship is in heaven and that is secured.

Mount Sinai is going to be moved, as we'll see in a few verses.

But the eternal city, the eternal Jerusalem, the city of God in heaven, Mount Sinai.

Will never be moved.

And that's where, because of Jesus, we have a seat and that's where our citizenship is right now because of Jesus.

So that's what we've come to.

This is temporary.

This is eternal.

Look back at Hebrews chapter 12, verse 22, but this is what you've come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

And then he begins to describe who is in the city, who's there.

First of all, he says, and to innumerable angels.

Meaning a number that is just, we can't count the number of angels that are there.

Gathered in festal gathering.

They are in a festival.

They are in an excitement.

This is an incredible event that is happening in heaven because they are singing in worship to God.

Revelation says they are day and night crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come.

It's this extraordinary celebration of who God is.

The Bible describes ten thousands times ten thousand times ten thousands of angels are there in the city of God.

Then verse 23, he says, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.

Now enrolled, this is the same idea of what Paul says we, our citizenship is in heaven.

Or when Paul says in Ephesians 2 that we are seated, we're seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

The assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.

Now in ancient times, the firstborn son was the most important child.

And because I am a firstborn son, it still is.

Firstborn son was the one who would receive the inheritance.

Today we don't think in those terms.

So the Bible when it says here, the assembly of the firstborn is making a wonderful statement for every person who follows Jesus.

That there are no second or third or last.

Middle or stepchildren in God's family.

That all God's sons and daughters are firstborns.

Paul says it this way in Romans.

He says we are co-heirs with Christ.

So because of what Jesus has done, you're not a second class or a stepchild in the family of God.

Because of what Jesus has done, this, God's people, whenever God's people assemble, are an assembly of the firstborn.

So the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled.

Now no one sitting in here right now is in heaven.

But if you know Jesus, your name is written.

You are enrolled in heaven.

When you and I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, that's not the end of the story.

That is an entryway into heaven.

We will then see what we've been enrolled in.

We will see and be part of the heavenly city.

So where we've been called to.

Who is there?

Angels are there.

Our enrollment is there.

God is there.

Who is the judge of all.

And to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.

Who's there?

Right now, people who confess Jesus as Lord and believed in their heart God raised Jesus from the dead.

People who have died in Christ are in heaven right now.

That's where they are.

That's who's being referenced here.

The spirits of the righteous who have been made perfect or complete.

Those who have finished their race are in heaven right now.

And we, this one writer.

Said we feel solidarity with them.

So we're not with them, but we definitely have the same purpose, interest, and feeling who else is there.

Verse 24, Jesus is there and he's the mediator of the new covenant.

The new agreement.

Sinai was the old covenant.

Follow these 600 plus rules, these laws.

And if you break them, you have to do a sacrifice.

And if you do this, another sacrifice, you break this, another sacrifice.

That was perpetual.

What did Jesus come to do?

Jesus says, you're a sinner, but I'm perfect.

I will die on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin.

And my blood will begin a new covenant, a new agreement between man and God.

How is that covenant made?

It's made because of what Jesus has done.

He's the mediator.

So who's in the new city?

Who's in the eternal city?

Numeral angels were enrolled there.

God's there.

Those who know Christ are already there with him.

Jesus is there.

And the Bible says in verse 24,

And to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

This is just a summary of salvation.

Abel was the first murder victim in the Bible.

Genesis chapter 4, his brother Cain kills him.

The story is actually really tragic.

Cain and Abel, they both bring sacrifices to God.

God accepts Abel's sacrifice.

God rejects Cain's sacrifice.

Now, most people look at that and go, okay, well, that's why Cain was mad.

He was mad at God.

And he wanted to take it.

God actually comes to Cain after the sacrifice and says, why are you angry?

And God says to Cain, sin's at the door.

Like a wild animal, it's at the door and it wants to get in.

You must master it or it's going to destroy you.

Cain shortly thereafter leaves and in a rage, a jealous rage, I believe, murders Abel.

Abel's blood, first one murdered, begins to seep into the ground.

Warren Wiersbe, great writer, he says,

Abel's blood symbolically from the ground.

He spoke and cried for justice while Christ's blood speaks from heaven and announces mercy for sinners.

Go back to verse number 24.

The mediator of the new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

So that's what it means.

Jesus, his blood, his death speaks a better word than Abel.

So the writer of Hebrews says, this is what you have come to.

I would say this to you.

This is if you're a Christian.

Follower of Jesus.

This is what you have come to.

Now, you might think I came to a building that's a location of the River Church on Perry Road and came into a room that's a gym.

Some chairs set up.

We're going to sing a few songs.

Guy's going to get up there and talk.

Hopefully, it's interesting.

And then we'll go home.

That's what I came to.

But I would say this to you.

If you are a follower of Jesus, church, it's not a building.

Church is the people of God.

And on Sundays, very often, we gather together.

We assemble together.

And this gathering is like an outpost of heaven, like a preview or a taste of what is to come.

Whenever I travel internationally, some of my friends in federal law enforcement are like, hey, man, make sure you know where the embassy is.

I'm like, dude, I'm not James Bond, okay?

Like, let's pull ourselves together here.

I'm at the Holiday Inn, you know.

But they're like, make sure you know where the embassy is.

And there's been a few times where I've traveled in countries where I thought, I don't know where the embassy is.

This is a little sketchy here.

And so I'll pay attention to those types of things, knowing in my head the embassy is an outpost of the United States.

And in some terrible crisis, if I got to get there, I have my passport, have my wife, we'll get there, luggage, whatever.

It's an outpost.

A church gathering is an outpost of heaven.

And when we gather together, I want you to know that this building is temporary.

But what we've gathered here is eternal.

It's a preview of, go back to verse 22.

To the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.

And right now, we can't see him, but there are angels here, there are angels around, and there are angels in heaven worshiping God.

But more than that, it keeps going on.

To the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven.

To God.

God is here.

He's the judge of all.

I love this part.

And to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.

So I don't think our loved ones who knew.

Jesus can see us.

But when we gather here together, you know what we're doing?

We're praising the Lord.

We're worshiping the Lord.

And that's what they're doing.

So there's this moment of beautiful comfort and connection.

People that I know that love Jesus that have died.

They're praising the Lord right now.

And I don't get to talk to them, but I know.

And I feel this comfort.

Guess what we're doing?

We're doing the same thing right now.

Churches gathered together.

Not only that, verse 24.

Jesus is here.

The mediator of the new covenant.

Jesus said in Matthew 18, where two or more gathered in my name.

There will I be or there I am in the midst.

And we've come together.

End of verse 24 to celebrate salvation.

The blood of Jesus that speaks a way better word than able.

That's what we've assembled here.

That's what's going on here.

So look at verse 25.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

So the original here is you can go back to Sinai or you can hold on to Mount Zion.

You can hold on to the law or you can.

You can go on to grace.

You can try to do it yourself or you can come to faith in Jesus.

That's what the writer of Hebrews is saying.

So he says, see that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

But if they did not escape, the ones at Mount Sinai did not escape.

They refused him who warned them on earth.

God came down, lit the mountain on fire, thunder, lightning.

And then God said, I want you to go in the promise.

And they're like, I don't I don't know about that.

So what did God do?

Everyone 20 and older.

They died.

They refused to listen to God when he came down to earth to speak to them.

Now, what is the writer of Hebrews saying?

They refused him who warned them on earth.

Much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

At that time, his voice shook the earth.

But now he has promised yet once more.

I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.

This phrase yet once more indicates the removal of the things that are shaken.

That is, things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

Hold your spot in Hebrews.

And I want you to go into the Old Testament to the book of Haggai.

It's right before Matthew.

It's one of those small, what we call a minor prophet.

I want you to go to Haggai chapter 2, verse number 6.

Haggai chapter 2, verse number 6.

This is who Hebrews is quoting.

Haggai chapter 2, verse 6.

The prophet says, for thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once more in a little,

while I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land,

I will shake all nations.

Let's go back to Hebrews 12.

The Bible is saying Mount Sinai is going to be shaken, going to be moved.

It's not permanent.

But the heavenly city of Jerusalem is permanent.

It is eternal.

Do you want to hang on to something that's temporary?

Or do you want to hang on to something that's eternal?

Turn on the news at any time.

You'll see that the world is shaken.

War, political crisis.

Things that once seemed permanent become impermanent.

You're like, oh man, I thought that was going to last.

That didn't last.

It's the Bible saying here.

In Jesus, we come to something that cannot be shaken.

Because it all, all the impermanent things that we hold on to,

we think are going to last.

The Bible says those are going to be shaken by God.

Look at verse 27 again.

Hebrews 12, 27.

Yet once more indicates the removal of things that are shaken.

That is things that have been made in order to be shaken.

In order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

Now we've got back to verse 28.

So because we're not at Mount Zion, or excuse me,

because we're not at Mount Sinai,

trembling as God is over there,

and we can't go near,

and we can't be in fellowship with God,

and the trumpet is sounding,

and there's whirlwind, and there's thunder,

and there's lightning, and there's fire,

and it's just this terrifying sight.

Because we're not there,

because we've been invited into fellowship with God,

through Jesus,

and not to a temporary mountain,

but to an eternal city.

Because of that,

let us be grateful.

Let there be a thankfulness in our hearts

that what Jesus has given to you and I

is not going anywhere.

That's what Jesus offers to us.

So verse 28.

Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom

that can be given to us.

Can not be shaken.

Cannot be shaken.

Can I tell you why sometimes we are shaken?

Because we forget what Philippians says,

that our citizenship is in heaven,

that we with Christ are seated in the heavenlies.

Sometimes our eyes become so fixed

on the things of this world.

And I know there are hard things,

there are difficult things,

there are tragedies that we all endure.

But I want you to know

that when this world says you ought to be shaken,

that you can look to Jesus,

and Jesus,

as I offer to you a kingdom,

a foundation that can never be moved.

A secure foundation.

So in response to that,

let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom

that cannot be shaken.

And thus,

let us offer to God

acceptable worship

with reverence and awe.

Now who's this written to?

Those in Judaism,

I believe would accuse the Christians

of having less reverence for God

meaning in Judaism don't eat those foods.

We don't eat those foods

because we wanna worship God.

We have a respect for God.

Christians are eating those foods.

So the Jews would look at them and say,

"You don't respect God.

"You have no reverence and awe for God."

Those in Judaism would wear certain clothes,

not wear certain clothes.

Christians, okay,

you don't have to wear those certain things.

Okay, you have less reverence for God.

Even Jesus' disciples were confronted and accused.

Hey, man, you guys didn't wash your hands

right before you ate that meal.

You clearly don't have a reverence and awe for God.

So this seems to be an accusation

that the Jews who were coming to Jesus were enduring.

This is the pressure that they are feeling.

So the writer of Hebrews says,

"Let's not forget that God hasn't changed,

"that the awesome vision of Exodus 19 is still God."

I think sometimes Christians

get this idea.

Man, thanks a lot that Jesus showed up

and saved us from that real angry guy in the Old Testament.

Man, I'm glad we don't have to deal with him.

And we split him.

And that's a great tragedy.

Here's why.

Because God has never changed.

The same God at Mount Sinai who descends on that mountain

and shakes the earth and the mountain

and terrifies roughly two million plus people

with his presence is the same God of the whole Bible.

And he's the same God in love,

who sent Jesus.

But he is also holy.

He's also righteous.

He is also other than you and I.

So when we worship him,

we are to worship him with reverence and awe.

In a moment, we're going to sing together.

That's part of worship.

We are meant to do so with reverence for who God is.

Jesus tells us in the book of John

that God is seeking worshipers who will worship him

in spirit and truth,

meaning all that they are, spirit,

and truth, the truth of who God is.

Think sometimes when we sing,

we forget that Chris and the band

are not performing Christian karaoke for us.

They're not just putting on a show for us.

They're leading us to worship God,

to give reverence to God,

to say true things about God,

to celebrate God's goodness,

to say, God, you are awesome.

You are faithful.

You are true.

You are just.

You are holy.

You are just.

You are dependable.

God, I'm saying those things about you.

That's worship.

God, I'm in awe of you.

God, I'm thankful for you.

And we enter into worship together.

And we're to do so, the Bible says,

with reverence for who God is,

a seriousness, a sober-mindedness,

and an awe of who God is,

remembering, Jesus, thank you for coming

and dying for my sins and rising from the dead

and offering to me forgiveness of my sins

and the hope of eternal life.

Thank you.

And I'm not going to ever lose sight

that God is holy and that God,

when he descended on Mount Sinai,

was absolutely terrifying.

Both are true because we come to God,

and verse 29 says it,

"For our God is a consuming fire."

Consuming, all-consuming.

Paul writes in Romans 12, he says,

"I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercies of God,

"that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice,

"holy and acceptable unto God,

"which is your reasonable act of worship."

You know what the Bible does not say?

I appeal to you, brothers, to present part of your bodies,

part of your life, part of your money,

part of your plans, part of your week,

as a living sacrifice to God.

That'll be good.

Don't worry about it from there.

You know what Christianity really is?

It's everything.

It's all that you are.

It's a demand of your entire life.

That's why the gospel, the death of Jesus for sin,

the resurrection of Jesus from the dead,

says that if you will confess with your mouth Jesus,

as Lord, meaning Jesus, you're the boss of my life.

Here's my whole life.

Here's everything that I am.

Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord.

Believe in your heart God raised Jesus from the dead.

The Bible says you will be saved.

But we like to treat God

with these more comfortable understandings.

We picture God as this bearded,

Santa Claus-esque character in the sky.

If I behave, you know, he's watching.

If I behave, I'll pray.

I'll send him my list once in a while

and he'll make sure those things get taken care of.

Rather than a deep reverence and awe for who God truly is

because he demands all that we are.

He's a consuming fire.

Let's pray together.

Listen to this message Watch on YouTube