“The Church of the First-born”

"The Church of the First-born"

(No. 3206)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1910.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 30, 1862.

"The general assembly and Church of the First-Born, which are written
in Heaven." Hebrews 12:23.

PAUL had just been giving a brief description of the great gathering of
the children of Israel around Mount Sinai, "the mount that might be
touched, and that burned with fire," like a huge volcano. He had
vividly portrayed "the blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the
sound of trumpet, and the voice of words," and the frightened
multitudes standing, trembling, at a distance, and even Moses, their
great leader, so alarmed that he cried out, "I exceedingly fear and
quake." Paul intends that description to teach us the effect that the
legal dispensation can produce–it can alarm and condemn–but it cannot
save! You who are under the Law of God, you who are trying to win God's
favor by your good works. You who fancy that human merit can bring you
salvation, look to the flames which Moses saw and sink, and tremble and
despair! You who think that you can live as the Law requires and so
attain to everlasting life, may well stand shivering and trembling
before this Almighty, though invisible God whose lightning blazes
before your eyes and whose voice of thunder must alarm the most stout
heart! Terrible is the plight of the man who has to depend upon what
Sinai can give him–he is wretched in life, he shall be troubled in
death, he shall be lost forever in eternity! "By the works of the Law
shall no flesh be justified." "As many as are of the works of the Law
are under the curse." "By Grace are you saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man
should boast."

Having given that description of Sinai by way of contrast, Paul now
brings out the much more pleasing picture of the Gospel dispensation.
Christians shall also have their great assembly! There is a mountain
upon which all those who are under Grace shall one day gather–a
mountain that does not smoke, for it is Mount Zion–the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem! There will be words there, but they
will be words of sacred song and names of holy gladness. There may be
trumpets there, but they will be the silver trumpets that will proclaim
the eternal jubilee. Moses will be there, but no longer fearing and
quaking, for when he comes to that mount of God, he will forget all his
fears and rejoice without ceasing in the Lord his God. Believers are
the multitude whom no man can number, who will assemble upon that
glorious mountain to keep the everlasting holy day! Happy indeed shall
we be when, by Grace, we come to the general assembly and Church of the
first-born, whose names are written in Heaven–when we shall see that
sight which was revealed to John in Patmos–a Lamb standing on the
Mount Zion–and with Him those who have His Father's name written on
their foreheads, who follow the Lamb wherever He goes and who are
without fault before the Throne of

God!

The first point to which I am going to draw your attention is the
description given of Believers as the Church of the First-Born. Next, I
want to remind you of what is said about their enrolment–they are
written or enrolled (as the original reading renders it) in Heaven. And
then, thirdly, I shall have something to say concerning their great
general assembly, when all the righteous shall be gathered to Christ,
to be parted from Him no more forever.

I. To begin then, from our text it seems that BELIEVERS IN CHRIST ARE
DESCRIBED AS THE CHURCH OF THE FIRST-BORN. I shall try to make my
remarks, as I utter them, self-examining, so that you and I may
question ourselves to see whether we belong to this general assembly.

By the term "first-born" is often meant, in Scripture, the most
excellent, the chief. Jesus Christ, because of the excellence of His
Character, is said to be "the first-born among many brethren," "the
first-born of every creature," "the firstborn from the dead, that in
all things He might have the preeminence." So, although Believers are,
by nature, the child-

ren of wrath, even as others, yet, after Christ has renewed them, they
become the excellent of the earth in whom should be all our delight.
Point me out a man who makes a profession of religion, but who is a
drunk, and I will tell him at once that his profession is a lie! Show
me another who says he is a follower of Christ, although he oppresses
the poor, defrauds the laborer of his wages, is a covetous man who
cares only for himself and shuts up his heart of compassion from his
needy brethren–and I hesitate not to ask, "How dwells the love of God
in him?" If the "Grace" we profess to have does not make us better than
others, the sooner we get rid of it, the better! "What do you do more
than others?" was the question of Christ to His disciples. "If you lend
to them, of whom you hope to receive, what thanks have you? For sinners
also lend to sinners, to receive as much again." Of Christians there is
something to be expected that is not to be looked for in others–they
profess to be twice-born, and to have God dwelling in them, as Paul
says to the Corinthians, "Know you not that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Christians profess to be
heirs of Heaven and members of the mystical body of Christ, so shall
they talk and act as the ungodly do, and demean themselves as those do
who have never received this new and higher life? God forbid! When
Divine Grace comes, it lifts us up and keeps us up! And makes us new
creatures in Christ Jesus, so that the evil things in which we once
delighted, we do not so much as name, while anything that is virtuous
or of good repute we pant after, that we may exhibit it to the praise
of His Grace who has called us according to the counsel of His own
will.

Now, dear Friends, you can make this a test by which to try yourselves.
What is your life? What fruits do you bring forth? If you bring forth
thorns, surely you are brambles! If you bear the grapes of Gomorrah,
surely you belong to Sodom's valley! "Do men gather grapes from thorns,
or figs from thistles?" If the stream is foul, what must the fountain
be? If the outside of your cup and platter is filthy, what must the
inside be? If that which men see of you is foul, how foul must you be
where only God can see you? We are, none of us, better than we seem,
but we are, all of us, far worse than we think! May God tear away every
veil which hides us from ourselves, that we may see ourselves even as
we are in His sight!

So you see that God's first-born are "a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation," "a peculiar people, zealous of good works,"
who seek to adorn the Doctrines of God their Savior in all things.

But the term, "first-born," has a second meaning in Scripture. The
first-born, under the old Mosaic economy, were chosen by God for
Himself. When He smote the first-born of Egypt, He set apart for
Himself all the first-born of Israel. He might have selected the
youngest of the family, or the second, if He had chosen to do so, for
God does as He wills and, "He gives not account of any of His matters."
You may ask Him why He does this or that, but He deigns not to answer
your inquisitive or impertinent enquiries. He is not disturbed by your
questions. He never gives the reasons why He chooses any man unto
salvation. That He does choose them is clear enough from Scripture, so
clear that even such an unbeliever as Bolingbroke said to Mr.
Whitefield one day, "Let it be taken for granted that the Bible is
true, then no other Doctrine but Calvinism can be true, for the Bible
teaches it from beginning to end." Certainly, if men's minds were not
willfully perverted, they must read this Truth of God in such words as
these, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him
that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God who shows mercy." And what
says the Scripture when the sinner begins to quibble at this Truth of
God? "No, but, O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the
thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why have You made me thus? Has
not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one
vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?" It is a fact that God
has ordained unto eternal life a multitude that no man can number! And
just as the first-born among the Jews were typically elect, so the
saints become saints as the result of the Divine decree passed long
before the earth was created. When as yet this world and the sun and
moon and stars slept in the mind of God like unborn forests in an acorn
cup, even then had the Almighty written the names of all His chosen in
the Lamb's Book of Life and fixed the place, the date, the very
momentwhen they should be born–and when they should be born a second
time–when they would come to Christ and so find salvation and
everlasting life! This Doctrine is far from palatable to men, but,
inasmuch as it glorifies God and makes man to be but as a grasshopper
before the Eternal, we delight in it, and humbly bow before the
Sovereign Disposer of all events and say, "It is the Lord; let Him do
what seems good to Him."

Then, thirdly, the first-born were inheritors of great privileges–of
which we cannot just now speak particularly, but will do so further
on–and they became so entirely by birth. The rights of the first-born
lay only in his primogeniture–not in his stature, not in his
comeliness or beauty, not in his mental capacity, not even in his moral
virtues. If he was as lame as Mephibosheth, yet, if he was the
first-born, he could not be disinherited! Or if, instead of having the
to-

wering stature of a Saul, he was as diminutive as Zacchaeus, yet, if he
was the first-born, neither his parents nor all the courts of law could
reverse the rights of primogeniture! So, Beloved, all those who are
Believers in Christ, who are known to men by their excellence of
character while God knows them by having chosen them by His Grace, are
in time brought to realize their privileges through the new birth which
is worked in them by the Holy Spirit. If we are born only once, we must
die twice–but if we are born twice, we die but once–and after that
one death which is not really death, we enter into eternal life!
Regeneration makes us actually the children of God, just as adoption
makes us virtually the children of God. By regeneration, we become
really and truly heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ–and our
right to Heaven, to all the blessings of the Covenant of Grace, and to
the promises of God–arises from this new and heavenly birth! Heaven is
the inheritance of the children of God, not a possession purchased by
their money, or won by any deeds that they have done. This heritage is
the birthright of all who have been born-again, born from above. So the
question for everyone of us to ask is, "have I experienced this new
birth?" "Except a man be born-again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh," and only flesh. "And that
which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." And as Heaven and all the other
blessings of the Covenant are spiritual, we cannot possess them until
we are "born of the Spirit."

The first-born, then, had certain rights because of their birth. And
the first-born, spiritually, have certain rights because of their
newbirth. May the Lord help you all to make sure work here! I pray you
do not take it for granted that all is well with your soul, nor treat
this question as though it were of little account. On the fact of your
being born-again, or not being born-again, must hang your everlasting
destiny! Live and die unregenerate, and unutterable woe will be your
eternal portion. Pass from death unto life and all the glories of the
Paradise of God become yours by a promise which death and the devil,
himself, cannot break! Have you passed from death unto life? How can
you tell that? "By their fruits you shall know them," is our Lord's own
test! Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you trusting alone
in Him? These are vital questions and if you can truly say–

"My hope is built on nothing less Then Jesus' blood and
righteousness"– and if that hope is accompanied by the faith which
works by love and purifies the heart and life, then you are one of the
children of God! And in that fact you may well "rejoice with joy
unspeakable, and full of glory."

Now, fourthly, upon the first-born, more than upon any others, God was
pleased to multiply the types of redemption in order to show to us very
plainly that the heirs of Heaven are a redeemed people. First of all,
the great majority of the first-born were redeemed by blood. In the
dark and dreadful night, the destroying angel is let loose with
noiseless wings and with a sharp sword that never misses its mark. He
is speeding from house to house throughout all the land of Egypt, and
from the first-born of Pharaoh upon the throne, to the first-born of
the slave women behind the mill, they fall dead! And Egypt's wail goes
up to Heaven in an exceedingly bitter and piercing cry. But throughout
the houses of the Israelites a different scene is being witnessed. The
doors are shut, a roasted lamb lies upon the table and men and women
stand around it, girt as for a journey, with their staves in their
hands–and they eat in haste. There is a first-born child in his
mother's arms, or a first-born male who is grown up, yet they show no
sign of trepidation, though it is well known that, on that night, the
first-born are to die! Why are they so calm? Had you been present, an
hour or two ago, you would have seen that the father, when he slew the
lamb, drained the warm lifeblood into a bowl and, as his children
gathered about him, he said to them, "Come, follow me." And taking with
him a bunch of hyssop, he went to the outside of his door, and smote
the lintel till it was crimsoned with the blood of the lamb. And then
he sprinkled the posts on either side so that the blood-mark was all
about the door. "And now," he said, "my children, we are safe, for when
God sees the blood, He will pass over us, and our first-born will not
be slain–the blood will make them secure." In like manner we who are
the first-born of God are saved by the blood of Jesus! Can you, Friend,
by faith say, "My confidence is in that blood alone"? Has it been
applied to your heart and conscience? Has it spoken peace to your soul?
Does it cleanse you from all sin? Do you now rejoice that there is no
condemnation to you, as you are in Christ Jesus, and He has endured the
whole of the Divine Wrath that was your due because of your sin?

But lest we should not learn this great Truth by one type, God has
given us another. In the course of two years, over 22,000 children were
born to that large population, and these had not been redeemed by the
blood of the paschal lambs, for they were not then in being. So another
method was adopted–a Levite was to stand in the place of each
first-born

male child and God accepted the Levite, and allowed the child to remain
in his father's house. Here was a symbol of the great truth of
Substitution, but the privileges which appertained to some of the
Jewish first-born in the type belong to all the spiritual first-born
children of God. Christ is the Levite who stands before God in our
place and who there ministers for us, and honors His Father's Law, and
fulfils its every jot and tittle on our behalf. There were 273
first-born Jewish children for whom no Levite substitute could be
found, so five shekels per head had to be paid to Aaron and his sons as
redemption money for them. And, in like manner, the Divine plan of
Redemption is very rightly set forth by the Apostle Peter when he says,
"You know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver
and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish, and without spot."

Put these three things together–redemption by blood, redemption by
substitution, and redemption by purchase– and you will then have a
very clear idea of what Atonement in reference to the first-born means.
Any one of the three will be sufficient for the enlightened saint, but
the whole together will reflect a beautiful light upon the Cross of
Christ–and in that light we may clearly see how He bore our sins in
His own body on the tree and brought in everlasting Redemption for all
His chosen. Let each one of us put these questions to himself or
herself, "Am I redeemed with the precious blood of Christ? Did He stand
as Substitute and Surety for me? Am I bought with the price that He
paid for His people on the Cross? For, if not, I cannot be numbered
among the first-born, for all the first-born must be redeemed in this
way."

Our time flies so quickly that I am afraid the other two divisions of
my discourse will have to suffer. But I must remind you, as I promised
to do, that the first-born, having been redeemed, had very special
privileges. First, they had a double portion of their father's goods.
Hence, Elisha, who was, in the prophetic sense, the first-born of
Elijah, pleaded with him as his spiritual son, "I pray you, let a
double portion of your spirit be upon me." Now God is good to all men,
and His tender mercies are over all His works, but His special favor is
reserved for the called and chosen, and faithful ones whom He has
redeemed. The first-born also had the privilege of priesthood in the
old patriarchal times, and every true child of God is made a king and a
priest unto God, to offer daily, spiritual and acceptable sacrifices
through Jesus Christ. The first-born was, in many respects, a ruler
over the whole household–and Christ, the great First-Born–is the
supreme Ruler over His Church, and we, in and through Him, are made
rulers over many things. And He bids us ascend the throne and reign
with Him as God's first-born, kings and priests unto Him forever.

II. Now, secondly, and but very briefly, let us enquire WHAT IS MEANT
BY THE ENROLLMENT OF THE FIRST-BORN?

Moses had to set down the names of the Jewish first-born. And we find
that right down to the Apostles' age, there were some who were very
busy about what Paul calls "endless genealogies, which minister
questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith." But, dear
Friends, there is an enrollment about which we should be greatly
concerned. There are certain names written in the Lamb's Book of Life
and it should be to you and to me a matter of solemn interest to
enquire if our names are written there. Is your name, is my name,
inscribed upon that secret, sacred roll of the elect of God? We cannot
scale the heights of Heaven to search the pages of that sealed book,
nor can we discover the secrets that the Most High has recorded there.
It is impossible for us to read our names there, yet there are certain
evidences by which we can tell whether they are or are not there!

First of all, do you think they are there Are there not many here who
must truthfully say, "No, we have no reason to think they are"? When
the muster-roll of our troops is called, if you are there, you can hear
the names and the men's answers. "John So-and-So?" "Here, Sir."
"Thomas?" "Here, Sir." "Here, Sir." "Here, Sir," and so it goes all
down the ranks. Now, suppose it could be possible for an angel to read
from this pulpit the muster-roll of the redeemed? Do you think that he
would read your name, and that you would be able to answer, "Here,
Sir"? "No," you say, "unless I tell a willful lie, I dare not say that
I think my name is in the Lamb's Book of Life." Well then, if your own
hearts condemn you, remember that God is greater than your hearts and
knows all things–so how much more must He condemn you!

Possibly there are some who say, "We hope our names are written there."
So I ask you, dear Friends, are you like those whose names undoubtedly
are inscribed there? Have you the faith of Abraham, or something like
it? Do you desire to have such holiness as Paul craved? When you read
the record of a good man's life, do you feel that your life is in
conformity with his? For character, character, CHARACTERmust, after
all, be the great ground of judgment! And if your life is not like the
life of the saints, how can you hope to find your name recorded where
their names are written?

Again, all the elect have their names written beneath the name of their
Lord, the Lamb. So, are you trusting in Christ? Are you resting in Him?
Is your life linked with His? Do you feel that there is a bond that
cannot be snapped, which binds you and Christ together so that no one
and nothing that can possibly happen shall be able to separate you from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus your Lord? Very well then, if
this is the case with you, rest assured that your name is in that book!
But, "without Christ," you are without hope! Separated from Him, it is
certain that your name is not written in Heaven, as one of "the general
assembly and Church of the First-Born."

I ask you another question, are you really a child of God? Can you say
to Him, "Abba, Father"? Is God your Father? Have you learned to trust
Him as His children trust Him and to love Him as His children love Him?
Do you depend wholly upon Him? Do you seek to submit yourself entirely
to His will and to walk in His Way? For, if you are not a child of God
at all, certainly you are not one of His first-born!

I must also ask, Have you passed from death unto life Has there ever
been a vital change in you–such a change as can only be worked by the
Holy Spirit? I do not mean such a change as some silly people talk of
seeing, sometimes, when a man is dying. There may have been no sign of
Grace whatever in the man, yet someone said, "I saw such a change come
over him, his face looked so different." Very likely it did, but it is
not a change of face that is needed, but a change of heart! It is no
physical change, but a mental, moral, spiritual, Divine change that is
worked in regeneration! Let not any one of you be satisfied unless you
have unquestionable evidence that this change has been worked in you by
the effectual working of the Holy Spirit, for unless you are
born-again, your name will not be found written upon the roll of God's
first-born!

Now, in closing, let me remind you that to all these first-born of God,
whose names are written in Heaven, the day is coming when they shall be
assembled around the Throne of God in Glory. What a meeting that will
be! There shall not be one unholy person there, for they shall all have
been washed white in the blood of the Lamb! How happy they will all be!
There shall be no tears in any eye, nor a groan in any spirit, nor a
single note of sorrow on any tongue, for the days of their mourning
shall be ended forever! How united an assembly it will be! There shall
be no heresy, no schism, no discord, no coldness of heart–they shall
all love even as they have been loved! What a vast assembly it will be!
And when ten thousand times ten thousand meet together there, what a
shout of sacred joy it shall be when they lift up hallelujah upon
hallelujah! John says, "I heard a voice from Heaven, as the voice of
many waters." You may have heard the sea roar in the fullness of its
strength. Possibly you have heard the mighty Atlantic Ocean booming on
the shore when lashed to fury by a storm. Such is to be the grandeur of
the singing before the Throne of God in the general assembly and Church
of the First-Born–only it is not merely to be like the voice of one
water, but of many waters–oceans piled upon oceans, the Atlantic upon
the Pacific, and the Arctic and the Antarctic, and all other oceans
piled upon these! And such shall be the music of the saints! Such shall
be the song of the blessed when they see their Father's face without a
veil and pour out their vast volume of praise "as the voice of many
waters."

Let each one of us ask himself or herself, "Shall I be there?" If
anyone says, "I fear that I shall not be there," let him cry mightily
unto the Most High to pull him out of the horrible Pit and to set his
feet upon the Rock and to establish his goings. Sinner, you will either
be there or in that dreadful place where the wailings shall be more
terrible than the cry of men in a battle or the shrieks of women in a
massacre! You will either be up there in Glory or else down there where
darkness, death and long despair sit on their thrones of woe! Fly,
Sinner, fly away to Christ! His wounds, like clefts in the rock, are
open to the doves that need a shelter. Fly, Sinner, fly! The avenger of
blood pursues you! I hear the sound of his feet close behind you and he
is about to strike you dead! But the City of Refuge is near at hand,
standing with open gates ready to welcome you! Fly, Sinner, fly!
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." "He that
believes and is baptized shall be saved." To believe on Jesus is to
trust Him. To be baptized is to be immersed in water upon profession of
that faith.

I dare not alter my Master's commission–"Go you into all the world and
preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized
shall be saved: but he that believes not shall be damned." There is no
other alternative! Turn or burn! Believe and be saved, or disbelieve
and be lost! May God, in His mercy, make the choice for you, Sinner,
this very hour, and lead you in the Way everlasting. And unto Father,
Son and Holy Spirit shall be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: HEBREWS 12.

After giving a long list of the heroes of faith, the Apostle adds–

Verses 1-3. Therefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is
set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith;
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand on the Throne of God. For
consider Him–[See Sermon #1073, Volume 18–a honeyCOMB.] Look to Him,
look at Him! Study Him-know all you

can about Him–meditate upon Him–

3, 4. That endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself lest
you be wearied and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin. It has not yet come to that with any of
you who are now here. You have not shed your yet blood for Christ, for
these are not martyr days–so can you be wearied and faint? If you run
with the footmen and they weary you, how will you contend with horses?
We ought to be ashamed of ourselves if we grow weary in a race that is
so easy compared with that of the men and women who laid down their
lives for Christ's sake!

5. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to
children, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint
when you are rebuked by Him. Both these states are wrong–either to
think nothing of chastisement or else to faint under it–we are not to
fall into either evil, but to keep the golden mean between them.

6. For whom the Lord loves. The Greek word is a strong one and means,
"whom the Lord tenderly loves"–

6. He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. Everyone does
not receive the same measure of chastise-ment–but he who has the
largest share of the love of God will feel the most of His chastising
hand. Are you not willing to take that portion and to be among the
Lord's tenderly loved ones?

7. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what
son is he whom the father chastens not?God had one Son without sin, but
He never had a son without suffering. And the Son who was without sin
was the "Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief."

8. But if you are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then
are you bastards, and not sons. If you are without chastisement, you
may bear the name of sons, but you are not really so–you are mere
professors.

9. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and
we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto
the Father of Spirits, and live?Should we not give Him reverence when
we are chastened, instead of murmuring and complaining against Him,
thus calling Him to account at our judgment seat? Oh, yes, let us be in
willing subjection to Him, and the more willingly subject we are, the
less painful will the chastisement be. Our most bitter sorrow will be
found at the root of our self-will–and when our self-will is gone, the
bitterness of our sorrow will be past.

10. For they verily for a few days chastened us after their
ownpleasure; but He for ourproft, that we might bepar-takers of His
holiness. Is there no way for us to "be partakers of His holiness" but
through chastening? It would seem so from the wording of this verse!
The Lord, as our loving Father, makes use of the rod that He may make
us to be truly holy.

11. Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous,How could it
be? It would lose the very nature of chastening if there were joy in
it.

11. But grievous: nevertheless afterward–[See Sermon #528, Volume
9–CHASTISEMENT–NOW AND AFTERWARDS.] These are truly blessed words,
"nevertheless afterward"–

11-13. It yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are
exercised thereby. Therefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the
feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is
lame be turned out of the

way; but let it rather be healed. [See Sermon #2543, Volume 49–LAME
SHEEP.] Come, children of God, do not be despondent because of your
tribulations. You are in a race, so run even while you are smarting
from your chastisements! Still run, and keep on running until you win
the prize!

14. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall
see the Lord. [See Sermon #2902, Volume 50–

HOLINESS DEMANDED.] The holy God can only be seen by holy eyes.

He must make us like Himself before we can see Him.

15. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the Grace of God. Seeming
to have Divine Grace and yet not really having it.

15. Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby
many are defiled. [See Sermon #940, Volume 16–the

WINNOWING FAN.] Sin is a bitter thing and a defiling thing and

unless we look diligently, it will grow in our hearts like the weeds
grow in our gardens after a heavy rain–it will spring up before we are
aware of it.

16. Lest there be any fornicator. Fornication was far too common in the
early Church, but it was not thought to be sin by the great mass of the
heathen! But, oh, what a defiling sin it is!

16. Or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his
birthright. He was thus guilty of spiritual fornication, preferring his
meat to his Maker, thinking more of one morsel of meat than of his
birthright.

17. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the
blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though
he sought it carefully with tears. He could not get his father to
change his mind concerning Jacob. On the contrary, he said, "I have
blessed him; yes, and he shall be blessed." His many tears availed
not–they were not repenting tears, but only selfish ones. He did not
repent that he had bartered his birthright for a mess of pottage–he
regretted that he had lost the blessing, that was all.

18-21. For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and
that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
and the sound of a trumpet, and the Voice of words; which Voice they
that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any
more: (for they could not endure that which was commanded, and if so
much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust
through with a dart: and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I
exceedingly fear and quake). We have not come to that mount of terror,
for we are not under the Law but under Grace–we have come to a very
different place from that.

22-24. But you are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of
angels, to the general assembly and Church of the First-Born, which are
written in Heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect. And to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of
Abel. [See Sermons #211, Volume 4–the voice of the

BLOOD OF CHRIST; #708, Volume12–THE BLOOD OF ABLE AND THE BLOOD OF
JESUS; #1888, Volume 32–THE BLOOD OF SPRINKLING (FIRST SERMON) and
#1889, Volume 32–THE BLOOD OF SPRINKLING (SECOND SERMON).] We are

come to that blood, and it is that blood which has made such a change
in us! We may rejoice together, now, and we ought to do so if we are
all one in Christ Jesus.

25-29. See that you refuse not Him that speaks. For if they escaped not
who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if
we turn away from Him that speaks from Heaven: whose Voice then shook
the earth: but now He has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not
the earth, only, but also Heaven. And this word, yet once more,
signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things
that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore we, receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have
Grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly
fear: for our God is a consuming fire. Not "God out of Christ," as some
say, but God in Christ! God is a consuming fire anyway and we should
each one pray, "Consuming Fire, Refining Fire, go through my heart and
purge me of all that can be consumed! Holy Spirit, drive out of me all
that can be shaken and removed, that only Your abiding Kingdom may
remain in me, and Yours shall be the praise and the glory forever!
Amen."