Let's turn back to Hebrews 12,
verse 15, looking diligently, lest any
man come short of the grace of God. Now, I believe that this
is an exhortation more than anything else to look diligently with
regard to myself, that I don't come short of the grace of God. It's also translated in Hebrews
1137, be destitute of the grace of God. Let us all look diligently
lest we be destitute. come short of the grace of God. Now, what does it mean to come
short of the grace of God? It means two things, both of
which go together. Number one, to come short of
believing the grace of God. And number two, to come short
of being saved by the grace of God. Those two things come together. And this is not so much talking
about us looking each other over. I wonder if so-and-so is coming
short of the grace of God. If you do see that, pray for
that person. Exhort them as you can. But this
is more than anything else speaking to me personally and to you personally. Beware lest you or I fall short
of the grace of God. Now, when somebody does fall
short of the grace of God, here's what takes place. A root of bitterness
will spring up and trouble you. Or there will be a fornicator
or a profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold
his birthright. First, what is meant by the grace
of God? We can't possibly understand
what it means to come short of the grace of God if we don't
know what the grace of God means, can we? What is meant by the
grace of God? People use that term all the
time, don't they? I've heard people say many times,
and people who are non-believers, they'll look at someone in a
bad condition and they'll say, there go I, but to the grace
of God. What does the Bible mean by the
grace of God? Well, the word by definition
means favor. If I've got God's grace, that
means I have his favor toward me. What could be greater than
that? To have the favor of the living
God. Unmerited favor? Demerited favor? I like this
term, nevertheless favor. Let me show you what that means
in Psalm 106. Would you turn with me there?
Psalm 106. The psalmist says in verse 6, we have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not thy
wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude
of thy mercies, but provoked him at the sea. Even at the Red
Sea, there wasn't anything good you could say about these men.
They were ungrateful. They were provoking. They were
spiritually stupid. And what does the Lord say? Verse
eight, nevertheless, in spite of everything bad you
could say about them, nevertheless, He saved them for His name's
sake, not because of their repentance, not because of their confession
of their sins, not because of their determination to never
commit them again. He saved them for His name's
sake, for Christ's sake, that He might make His mighty power
Now, the first time the word is used is in Genesis 6. Would
you turn with me there? Verse eight. But nevertheless, Noah found
grace, favor in the eyes of the Lord. What kind of favor? What
says this with regard to Noah in verse nine, Noah was a just
man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God. Look
at chapter seven, verse one. And the Lord said to Noah, come
down all thy house into the ark for thee have I seen. righteous
before me in this generation. Now, the backdrop of these glorious
statements with regard to God's grace and how he saw Noah is
in verse five, Genesis chapter six. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth. and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil, nonstop. Was Noah included in that group? Yes, he was. Noah is described
in verse five, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now God's grace is always saving
grace. Grace is never offered. God doesn't
offer someone grace any more than he offers in the forgiveness
of sins. I'm offering you grace. I'm offering you forgiveness.
It's up to you to take it or pass it by. No, God's grace doesn't
work that way. Listen to this scripture from
Ephesians chapter two, verses four and five. But God, who is
rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. We sang
that in that first verse of that song you let us in. I died with
Christ, I lived with Christ. And Paul says, here's what I
mean by all this. By grace are you saved. 2nd Timothy 1.9. I'm going to
ask you to turn to several scriptures. You're familiar with these, but
I just want us to see them with our own eyes. 2nd Timothy 1.9. The last word of verse 8 and
verse 9, God who has saved us and called us. with an holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began." Now notice the order. He didn't say then he called
it. He didn't say he called us, then he saved us. He said he saved us, then he
called us. Now that is salvation outside
of my personal subjective experience. He saved me. Completely saved
me. Plumb saved. Can't get any more
saved than I am. Then he called me. And he called me with a holy
calling. Not according to my works. You
know, salvation never is given to you because of something you
do. There's nothing you do to merit God's salvation. There's
no work that you do that makes it to where God can give you
grace now because you did this. It doesn't work that way. He
saved us and He called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose. Purposed grace. And grace which was given us
not offered to us, given to us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. That is the grace of God. Purpose grace, given grace, Grace
in Christ Jesus, grace given before the foundation of the
world. Now God's grace is always sovereign
grace because God's always sovereign. I never will forget hearing a
preacher here in town. I was listening to him on the
radio and he made this statement. You've heard me perhaps make
this statement before. I was so shocked when I heard
it. He said when Christ was on the cross, God relinquished his
sovereignty and let man perform and let man do what he wanted
to do. Now man did do what he wanted to do, but God never relinquishes
his sovereignty. His sovereignty was exercised
completely in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? When those men drove the nails
in his hands and his feet, it's because the sovereignty of God
purposed for it to be done and caused them to do it. God says, I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. It's not saving grace if it's
not sovereign grace. Here's another scripture that
illustrates what is meant by sovereign grace. Romans chapter
5 verses 20 and 21, now the moreover the law entered that the offense
might abound. But where sin abounded, would
that be you? Would that describe you personally?
A place where sin abounds, overflows, where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. That has sin hath reigned unto
death. Now there's the word sovereign
reign. How much ability do you have
to prevent death? I'm not going to die. I'm going
to say no to death. Well, that's laughable. You can't do anything
to prevent death. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so in the same manner might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. God's grace not only
is always sovereign, but it's always free, being justified
freely by his grace. Now remember this. God doesn't
give you grace because of anything you did or did not do. He did
it freely. The only free thing there really
is, is the grace of God being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. If it's not
absolutely free, no strings attached, it's not grace. God's grace is
free. Grace. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans 11. Remember, we're asking what the
grace of God is, what is meant by the grace of God, and what
does it mean to come short of the grace of God? In Romans chapter
11, we read, beginning in verse one, I say then, hath God cast away
his people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God
has not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Whom he did foreknow, then he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. That foreknow
is to forelove, to love beforehand, to know beforehand. Don't you know what the scripture
says of Elijah, how he makes intercession to God against Israel,
saying, Lord, they killed thy prophets. They dig down thine
altars and I'm left alone and they seek my life. But what sayeth
the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself. If you're a believer, this is
said of you. God reserved you to himself. That's an awesome
thought, isn't it? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men which have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even
so, at this present time also, there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. Don't you love that term? the
election of grace." Now, you don't believe grace if you don't
believe election. You can write that down. It's impossible to
believe grace and not believe in the election of grace. Look
what he says in verse 6. Now, he uses the most simple
proposition of logic in this. Now, understand, we don't believe
something because it's logical, we believe it because the Bible
teaches it. But Look at the logic he uses here. If by grace, no
more works. That's an if then proposition. If by grace, it's no longer by
works. Otherwise grace is no more grace. If you put any work in it, it's
not grace, but if it be of works, there is no more grace. If salvation
is dependent upon anything you or I do before we have it, it's
not grace. And one of the reasons I hate
to hear a preacher when he's calling upon men to believe on
Christ, they say, well, repent of your sins and believe on Christ.
What do you think of when you hear, you think, what do I need
to do about my sin before I can believe? I need to stop this
and start doing that? Listen, we ought not ever sin
again. I'm not in any way saying sin's okay, but if that's what
I'm saying, that's not the way the apostles preached. Repentance
is repentance toward God. It's a change of mind toward
God. It's a change of mind toward myself. It's a change of mind
toward how God saves sinners. You see, repentance and faith
go together. Where there's faith, there's
a change of mind. Where there's a change of mind, there's faith
in Christ. If by grace, it's no more works.
Otherwise grace is no more grace, but if it'd be of works, then
it's no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work. Now I repeat, we don't believe
this because it's logical. We believe it because the Bible
teaches it. No other reason. Sure makes sense
though, doesn't it? Nothing else makes sense. Okay. How does one come short of the
grace of God? How does someone be destitute
in the grace of God? How does someone fail in the
grace of God? Well, number one, you come short
of believing it. Believe that your salvation is
all of grace. And it doesn't have anything
to do with any contribution you've made. It's all of grace. You come short of grace when
you fail to love the grace of God. Do you love being saved
by grace? You know, I do. I do. I love
being saved by the grace of God. There's no hope for me if it's
not all of grace. You come short of grace when you fail to preach
the grace of God. I cannot stand to hear a preacher
preach. And I know he's not telling everything
he believes. He's kind of trying to water it down, make it less
offensive. You're not preaching the grace
of God that way. You preach the grace of God in its fullness
or you don't preach the grace of God at all. You come short when you come
short of relying on the grace of God. Are you relying on this
glorious truth that salvation is all of grace? Are you relying
on that right now? The grace that's in Christ Jesus.
Be strong in the grace that's in Christ Jesus. And you come short of grace when
you're willing to compromise the grace of God. Now, let me
tell you what goes on. Every time someone comes short
of the grace of God, you come short of being saved by the grace
of God. If you're saved by the grace of God, you'll believe
the grace of God. You'll preach the grace of God. You'll rely
on the grace of God. You'll love the grace of God
if you're saved by the grace of God. Now, the grace that I've
just described is the only grace that saves, saving grace. Now look diligently lest any
man come short of the grace of God and the only way to do that
is to believe the grace of God and preach the grace of God.
Now back to our text in Hebrews chapter 12. He mentions three evils that
take place. if someone comes short of the
grace of God. And all three of these things
are of great significance. He said, looking diligently,
lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness
springing up, trouble you and thereby many be defiled. Lest
there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau. who for one morsel
of meat sold his birthright, 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." Now notice these three things. First, a root of
bitterness. Lest there be any root of bitterness
spring up. like a weed, and many there be
defiled by its influence. At its very root, what is bitterness? Resentment of thinking that you've
been treated unfairly. You've been treated wrong. Somebody's
done you wrong and you resent it. And that produces bitterness. It's a victim mentality. Now,
people have this bitter attitude toward God because when they
hear the gospel of God's sovereign grace, they say, that's not fair.
That's not fair for God to elect some and pass by others. Why
wouldn't it be fair for Him to pass by me? And a root of bitterness
comes up against God. Resentment toward God. It's not
fair for Jesus Christ to only die for the elect. What if I'm
not one of them? That wouldn't be fair. And this
resentment, this root of bitterness comes toward God. Unhappy with
the way God saves sinners. Really, what I say about that
is I am worthy of that salvation. I deserve that salvation. It's not right for God to do
me that way. He's not dealing with me fairly.
It's becoming God's judge. Sitting in judgment on God saying,
I agree with this, but I don't agree with that. And this bitterness
is expressed when somebody does us wrong, we resent
it, and we fail to forgive. That is what bitterness is. You
feel like you've done wrong, that's how you perceive it, and
it's a failure to forgive. You do not have bitterness toward
somebody you've forgiven. Now, the first problem that anti-grace
brings, and that's what all this is from, and not really believing
grace, coming short of grace, is this root of bitterness. Somebody may think, can a believer
be bitter? Can a believer sin? Yes, a believer can be bitter.
But when we are acting in bitterness, we know is contrary to the grace
of God and it is wrong. The next thing he mentions is
fornication. Lest there be any fornicator. Fornication is any
kind of sex. outside the marriage covenant. It's forbidden. Paul, or whoever
wrote Hebrew, said in Hebrews 13, three, marriage is honorable
in all, and the bed is undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers,
God will judge. Paul said, flee fornication. It's the fruit of fallen human
nature. You know, if you didn't have
a fallen nature, it wouldn't even be an issue. You'd never even think
of it. But it's the fallen human nature of man that has this desire. It wouldn't even be a temptation
if it wasn't for a fallen nature. Now, the Lord made this intimate
act between a man and woman in the covenant of marriage. And
it's an expression of His goodness to men. What a gift! The Lord invented this. But how
men debauch this through sexual sin and the perversions men bring
about and how much pain and misery into people's lives it brings. Quite often, the scripture alludes
to spiritual fornication and adultery. And I believe in this
case, this is exactly what this is talking about. We don't read
in the history of Esau, where he was a fornicator, he was a
profane person, he talks about that. Maybe he was, but this
is talking really about spiritual fornication. Now what is spiritual
fornication? Looking for salvation outside
the covenant. That's spiritual fornication. I think of what David said, although
my house be not so with God, His house was a mess, and it
was all his fault. I think he's talking about this
house. Although this house be not so with God, yet hath he
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things. And sure,
and this is all my salvation. It's not 99% of it. I don't look
for salvation anywhere outside of this covenant. This is all
my salvation. This is all my desire. I just
want to be saved in that covenant that God made with Christ where
Christ took full responsibility for my salvation and my salvation
is dependent upon Him doing everything for me. Now to look for salvation
anywhere outside of that. is called spiritual fornication,
spiritual adultery. And that is what comes of not
falling short of grace. If you fall short of grace, you
will be a spiritual fornicator. Now look at this third thing
he mentions. Verse 16, lest there be any fornicator
or profane person. as Esau, who for one morsel of
meat sold his birthright. 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. Now, generally when
I think of profane, he was a profane person, I think of profane cursing,
swearing, bad language, profane person, a debauched person, a
very immoral person. That's the first thing that comes
to my mind, but that's really not what the word means here.
The word means literally accessible. You can be bought. You'll sell
out. And what an example Esau is of
this. You remember in Genesis 25, he
was a hunter. He was a macho man out hunting
in the field. He was his daddy's favorite.
And he comes in from hunting in Genesis chapter 25, and he's
starving. And Jacob, he's made a bowl of soup, a bowl of pottage. And he says, give me some of
that soup of yours. It smelled so good, he wanted
something to eat. He was hungry. Jacob the cheat. That's what
he was. Jacob the swindler. Jacob the
heel. He was always trying to strike
deals of some kind to make things better for himself. He said I'll
give you some of this soup. I'll give you a bowl full of
it if you'll sell me your birthright. Now what is represented in the
birthright. Esau was the firstborn and the
promised seed was to come through him. The Christ was to come through
him. That was his birthright as the
firstborn, the promised seed. He would be one of the ancestors
of Christ, humanly speaking, and he was hungry for one bowl
of soup he sold his birthright because in reality it had no
value to him. He could be bought and it didn't
take much to buy him. He sold it for a bowl of soup. And then you go into Genesis
27. His brother swindled him again.
He stole his inheritance. You remember how he masqueraded
as Esau and tricked his father. And his father gave the blessing
of the firstborn, the inheritance to him. Jacob has it all. Esau comes in later. He says,
give me my blessing. And Isaac realized That was Jacob
I gave it to. And Isaac said, oh, I mean, Esau
said, give me the blessing. He sought for his dad's mind
to be changed. That's what repentance means.
Change your mind. Isaac couldn't do it. He sought
repentance carefully with tears. But Isaac would not change his
mind because that blessing could not be reversed. So we find out
one thing about Esau. He wasn't sorry about his sin.
He was sorry about the money he lost. He was sorry about the,
the, uh, inheritance that he lost. And that's why he was seeking
this with tears. He didn't want to lose all this
money. What if you lost a $10 million inheritance? You're only
going to get a hundred instead. You do the same thing. Well,
he sought the blessing and he was rejected. Now here's, here's
the point behind all this. He could be bought. Would you sell grace? I know apart from the grace of
God you would, I realize that. But would you sell the grace
of God for anything in this world? Would it be, do you have a selling
point? Where you'd compromise the grace
or give up some aspect of the grace or not preach grace because
that is selling out. That is coming short. That is
falling short, that is being destitute of the grace of God. Now falling short of grace, grace
is saving grace. You fall short when you fail
to believe it. And the reason you fail to believe
it is because you were never really saved by it. That's the reason. And when someone
sells out on grace, when someone comes short of grace, they will
be having this root of bitterness toward God and toward men, feeling
we've been treated wrong, feeling we've been treated unfairly. Fine fault with God, fine fault
with his providence, fine fault with his way of salvation. and
this bitterness toward men, you're not gracious, you hold grudges,
you become angry, you refuse to forgive. That goes along with
not knowing anything about the grace of God. Or you'll become
a spiritual fornicator, or you'll sell out like Esau did. That's what happens when people
come short. fall short of the grace of God.
Now my prayer is for me and for you is that we won't come short
of the grace of God, but we'll be saved by the grace of God
that's in Christ Jesus and believe the grace of God and rely on
the grace of God in Christ Jesus and preach with boldness the
grace of God in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
grace. And Lord, we ask that by your
grace, not one of us will come short of your grace. but you
will give us, you'll save us by your grace and give us the
grace to believe your grace. Give us the grace to preach your
grace. Give us the grace to rely completely on your glorious,
free, sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. And Lord, we ask that
we might be delivered from a root of bitterness. Pray that we might
be delivered from fornication. We pray that we might be delivered
from selling out a profane person as Esau. Lord, deliver us from
that and save us by your grace. We pray for your blessing on
this word. We pray for your blessing on
this assembly. Lord, we pray that you would enable us to rejoice
in glory in and be saved by the grace that's in your son. How
we thank you for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his
name we pray. Amen.