Hebrews 12:12-29 - A Serious Warning Against Refusing God
12 Therefore strengthen the drooping hands and paralysed knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put entirely out of joint
14 but may rather be restored. Persistently strive for peace with all men, and for that growth in holiness apart from which no one will see the Lord. 15 Be carefully on your guard lest there be any one who falls back from the grace of God; lest any root bearing bitter fruit spring up and cause trouble among you, and through it the whole brotherhood be defiled; 16 lest there be a fornicator, or an ungodly person like Esau, who, in return for a single meal, parted with the birthright which belonged to him. 17 For you know that even afterwards, when he wished to secure the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no opportunity for undoing what he had done, though he sought the blessing earnestly with tears.
18 For you have not come to a material object all ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and storm and trumpet-blast and the sound of words-- 19 a sound of such a kind that those who heard it entreated that no more should be added. 20 For they could not endure the order which had been given, "Even a wild beast, if it touches the mountain, shall be stoned to death;" 21 and so terrible was the scene that Moses said, "I tremble with fear." 22 On the contrary you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the ever-living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts of angels, 23 to the great festal gathering and Church of the first-born, whose names are recorded in Heaven, and to a Judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 and to Jesus the negotiator of a new Covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks in more gracious tones than that of Abel.
25 Be careful not to refuse to listen to Him who is speaking to you. For if they of old did not escape unpunished when they refused to listen to him who spoke on earth, much less shall we escape who turn a deaf ear to Him who now speaks from Heaven. 26 His voice then shook the earth, but now we have His promise, "Yet again I will, once for all, cause not only the earth to tremble, but Heaven also." 27 Here the words "Yet again, once for all" denote the removal of the things which can be shaken--created things--in order that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, receiving, as we now do, a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us cherish thankfulness so that we may ever offer to God an acceptable service, with godly reverence and awe. 29 For our God is also a consuming fire.