Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12. Hebrews 12. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, You who
hear our prayers for Christ's sake, and who receives us and
accepts us only in the Beloved. We pray that you would have mercy
upon us tonight. And Lord, would you bless the
services. Bless your word. Lord, ignite
our hearts, revive our hearts that we might truly see cause
our hearts to burn within us as Your Word goes forth in power
for Christ's sake. Amen. The Holy Spirit, and it's always
a blessed thing to remember that though these words were penned
by men, these are God's words. This is God speaking. So as we hear, let us hear what
the Lord has to say. We looked last time at verse
12 and 13, wherefore lift up the hands that hang down and
the feeble knees. What a blessedness when we see
that word wherefore or therefore. Notice how that started. Wherefore. We need some encouragement. We
always need encouragement. This life is a battle. It's a struggle. We are struggling
in this world. Our hands need to be lifted up.
And we need to be lifting up others' hands. We need to be
encouraging each other. So that wherefore right there,
I read that going over my notes this morning. And I started just
going back and going back and backing them all up, and I came
all the way back to verse 1 in chapter 12. Started back in verse
1. And I looked in about the middle
part of that first verse. Let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily beset us. Let us run with patience
the race that is set before us. That is, let us run waiting on
the Lord. Patient. We're being tried, we're
being tested, discouraged, because the Lord loves us. Because He's
not going to leave us to ourselves. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Looking unto Him. Looking unto Him, hearing His
Word. We need to hear the Word of God
afresh. We met together last Sunday,
last Wednesday, last Sunday. But do you know, I need to hear
that Word now. I need to meet together with
God's saints. Hearing His Word. Studying His
Scriptures. I need to read God's Word daily. Read the Word of God. Praying,
looking unto Jesus, hearing His Word, studying His Scriptures,
calling upon Him from my closet, the One that hears in secret. Let us lay aside every weight,
striving to forsake everything that hinders our walk. What is that? You'll know. You'll know. Whatever is a hindrance
that the Spirit of God reveals to you is a hindrance. Lay it aside. And that's sin
which does so easily. Unbelief. Oh, how easily we're
beset looking unto the Lord, looking unto Him. Obedience. is a joy. Obedience is a joy to a believer. And it's an encouragement. Let
me ask you this. Not forsaking the assembling
of yourselves together is a matter of some yes. Let me ask you something. Is it not a joy to meet together
with God's people? I mean, it's an encouragement
to be able to come together. And make straight the paths for
your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way,
but let it rather be healed. That is to say, walk as examples
to others that need encouragement too. You have no idea. Who's watching? Who's encouraged?
Or who's discouraged? Walk in the light of God's Word.
David said, Psalm 119, 105, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and
a light unto my path. Be steadfast in your profession. Pray for the brethren. Speak
to them. God's promises. You say, yeah,
but I see myself only failing. Well, that's what all of us see.
But I'm going to tell you something. Steadfast in your profession
and recognizing how weak we are, that's steadfastness. Looking
unto the Lord. Paul said in Ephesians 5.15,
See then that you walk circumspectly. That is, cautiously. Prudently,
with discretion, lest that which is lame, that is limping, be
turned or deflected out of the way. But let it rather be healed. Let it be restored. Let it be
built up, established in the faith. Verse 14 says, Follow
peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see
the Lord." Now, remember again, it's not just good advice. Here's the Lord speaking. This
is God speaking. Follow peace with all men. Be given to it. Striving after
it. Within the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ, within your family, and those that may not know the Lord. Relationships and friends and
neighbors, workers. The Scripture says, follow peace
with all men. Romans 12.18 says, if it be possible,
as much as life in you, live peaceably with all men. Now,
the one that penned that verse of Scripture was Paul the Apostle.
If it be possible, Paul, it's recorded, was probably one of
the most hated and despised men that walked during his time.
I mean, he started listing how many times he was beat, how many
times he was in the deep, in peril, in strivings, in markings. He was just on and on and on.
People hated him for what he believed. They hated him for
the God that he preached. They hated him for declaring
sovereign, saving grace. And the Spirit of God moved upon
Paul the Apostle to write, if it be possible. It's not always possible. It's
not. But don't let the cause of the
conflict be from you. There's no reason for not being
in perfect peace, striving after it, following after it. That's
what he says. Follow peace with all men. Don't be the culprit. A believer's duty is to strive
after the preserving of peace. Watch what you say. Watch what
you say. Watch what you say. Follow peace
with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Now we are to follow peace with
all men. But no further than is consistent
with God's Word. We follow peace with all men.
It would be possible. But there comes a point to where
an unhealthy compromise for the sake of peace is not good. Following after peace at Christ's
expense The Scripture says, follow after peace with all men. And
when it says, and holiness, it's talking of Christ there. Holiness. Following after Christ
Himself. The Apostle is saying, as we
follow peace with all men, do it as you follow after the Lord.
Following after peace is to trust the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Following after peace, trusting Him that Almighty God is going
to order these things. You follow after peace and holiness. The Lord Himself. Do it for His
sake. Verse 15, 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." Looking
diligently. Three areas I was thinking about. Number one, unto the Lord Himself. Verse 2 says, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. We're looking to Him.
We're waiting on Him. Seeking His kingdom first. Seek
ye first the kingdom of God. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God is my first priority. His Word, His will, His kingdom. Seek ye first. So we look diligently
to the Lord. Then secondly, we look to ourselves. Meaning this, 2 John 1.8, look
to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought
or gained, but that we receive a full reward. The apostle was
saying believers, those who are eternally secure and divinely
kept, we know this, they are not going to perish. They are those who are kept by
the power of God, looking diligently to ourselves, knowing that God
is going to keep His people. We know we have His Word. Almighty
God gives a man a new heart. The gifts of God are without
repentance. God doesn't take them away. I
give unto them eternal life. They're never going to fail.
Now, the people that know that, they know something about themselves
too. They know something about that
old nature within. They know something about the
war that's going on. And let me tell you what they
do. They give diligence to make their calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you'll
never fall, 2 Peter 1.10. Giving diligence. Let me just
ask you a couple of questions before I go to that last point
there. Giving diligence. Giving diligence
to make your calling and election sure. I can't see the Lamb's Book of
Life. I can't look at it. I know it's
so. I know it was written before
the foundation of the world. But I know some characteristics
of believers that's given in Scripture. And looking diligently,
giving diligence, giving diligence to make your calling and election
sure. Let me ask myself this. You ask
yourself. Has the Lord given me a heart to reject? all of my former self-righteous
thoughts, that I am the source of my salvation. Has the Lord
delivered me from man-centered, free-will religion? Is God Almighty, God in heaven
and earth, and He does as He will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and no man stays his hand. Is that the God that I serve? Do I absolutely trust Christ
for my life? I'm not trusting that I walked
down an aisle. I'm not trusting that I prayed
through. I'm not trusting that I was baptized. I'm not trusting
that I have eaten the Lord's Supper. I'm not trusting that
I'm a member of Katie Baptist Church. I'm trusting Christ. And this is all of my hope. Lord,
if You save me, I'll be saved. Lord, if You've chosen to show
mercy to me, do I seek Him? Or the things of this world?
Is the Spirit of God giving me a heart to truly desire His honor? Is it? Now, I'm going to tell
you something. We'll have struggles with all
of these. But in all of these, a believer is going to say this,
the Lord is my life. The Lord is my light. In Him
I'm going to trust. If these things, to look away
from me and look to Him, to believe God Almighty has chosen a people
and given me a heart to come to Christ. He that cometh. He
that cometh. Let me ask you this. Are you
looking back to an experience back years ago? Well, once saved,
always saved. Well, that is true. It is true. But are you looking back to an
experience, something that you did years ago? Or are you trusting
Christ right now? I have to have Him right now.
Yesterday's faith is gone. It's gone. Today is the day of salvation. Yesterday is gone. As I've said
before, I've had people ask me, they say, well, I'm not really
sure when I was saved. Are you trusting the Lord Jesus
Christ right now? Let me ask you something. What
difference does it make what happened yesterday, Carl? What
difference does it make? You can't change a thing. All
you've got is right now. Give diligence. Looking to yourself. And then thirdly, looking diligently
to one another. Looking to the Lord, looking
to self, looking to one another. Philippians 2.4, look not every
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. That is, don't be taken up with
your own affairs and let the needs of others be left unattended. Let the cares of others be your heart. Verse 15 again, looking diligently,
lest any man fail of the grace of God. As I said a moment ago, no man,
no woman can fall from the grace of God. When it says fail, it
means fall from, is what is interpreted. Now, no person truly converted,
let me make this clear again, no person truly converted ever
falls out of grace. No one is ever converted and
then unconverted. This is an everlasting, unchangeable
life. Given by God Almighty. But remember
the context of what we're talking about right here. The apostle
has been encouraging God's people to unity. To encouragement. Lifting up hands that hang down. Following peace with all men. Looking diligently to the Lord,
to ourselves, and to others. Be diligent. Looking diligently,
lest any man fail of the grace of God. Be diligent, be watchful
concerning some who profess to believe." I'm going to show you
this. I'm going to make good on this
because if you read, you can go ahead and read it. If you
want to read verse 16 to see where I'm going with this, you
can go ahead and read it. But he's going to give an example
in just a minute. But he's saying, be diligent.
Lest any man fail, any false professor, one that seemed to
know the Lord Jesus Christ, one that seemed to love Him, one
who professed to believe the gospel of God's free grace, but
in time, denied it, compromised it, and eventually departed. You know how many times we read
this Scripture right here, they went out from us, but they were
not of us. For if they had been of us, and
I think about those, and I do, I mean this. This is a heartbreaking thing,
it's so. But it still is heartbreaking
to a believer. to have some that would be here
for a while. And then they're gone. They're
not here. They're not here. I've got them in my family and
you do too. They were not of us. For if they
had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us.
Why? Because God would have kept them.
But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were
not all of us. Those that have not a heart for
Christ won't stay. They won't stay. Looking diligently
to the Lord, to yourself, to others, lest any man fail of
the grace of God, any false professor, lest any root of bitterness springing
up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." Now, I want you
to just hold your place right there, Hebrews. Turn to Deuteronomy
29.18. Deuteronomy 29.18. Now, let me tell you, I'll just
paraphrase what was said here. Go to Deuteronomy 29.18. Looking
diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any
root of bitterness springing up trouble you." Now, what he's
saying is this. Here's the literal. That no root
of bitterness growing up crowd or annoy you. He's talking about
tares among the wheat. He's talking about tares among
the wheat. Deuteronomy 29. And verse 18,
the scripture says, lest there should be among you man or woman
or family or tribe whose heart turneth away this day from the
Lord our God to go and serve the gods of these nations, lest
there should be among you a root that beareth gall. and wormwood. The apostle is saying, give diligence,
looking diligently to the Lord, to yourselves, to others. Lest
any man fail, if false professors fail of the grace of God, lest
any root, that bitter root, what are you talking about, springing
up, growing up around you and be a hindrance. Be watchful.
Be careful. Be diligent for these bitter
plants, these trees that the Lord didn't plant. He's
warned us. He said there's tares among the
wheat. Trees that He's going to root
up. He said, you leave them alone. But you be watchful. Be watchful. Be careful. Keep your eyes open. Be praying for her. Don't let that bitter root that's
growing up around you affect you. Influence you. Be talking here. Be careful. Be careful. Be careful. Be careful. You're going to know them by
their fruit. She said they'll trouble you. Trouble you by their
example, trouble you by their actions, by their doctrines,
and thereby many be defiled. That is, affected. Be affected
by it. Striving after peace. Striving
after harmony. Harmony among the brethren. Nobody
likes disharmony. Trouble within the body affects
everybody. Here's the example. I was telling
you about this. You can go back now to Hebrews
12. Here's the example. That bitter root described. It said, Lest there be any fornicator. And there I truly believe, maybe
physically so, but more than likely talking about spiritual
unfaithfulness. Unfaithful. 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, Esau's
transgression is setting forth the example of that bitter root,
that root of bitterness. Those that merely profess to
believe God and follow after Christ, Esau notoriously despised the birthright. He said this, that blessing of
the covenant, you take somebody... Here's what Esau said, I don't
care about that. I don't care. I'm hungry right
now, give me something to eat right now. I want whatever I
can get right now. I don't care about the rest of
that. Man by nature, that's his attitude. That stuff of eternal
covenant and that covenant of mercy and that electing. Give me something to eat now.
I'm not interested in that. He treated with contempt to satisfy
the flesh, the cares of this world. And he did. He did openly. what every bitter root does in
their heart. Lest there be any fornicator
or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his
birthright. I don't care. Jacob, you can
have it. I don't want it. Give me some
soup. The Scripture says, Afterward, after he despised
his birthright, men right now, women right now, they think nothing
of it. They think nothing of this. But
I'm telling you, in the day, Mitch, in the day when they stand
before God, afterward, when Esau came in to see Isaac, his daddy,
came in there to get the blessing, And Isaac had already blessed
Jacob. And he said, and he's going to
be blessed. And Esau started to cry. And the Scripture says,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance
in Isaac. Isaac said, I've blessed him
and he's going to be blessed. He found no place of repentance. Isaac wasn't going to change
his mind. Though Esau sought it carefully with tears, that
doesn't mean he was trying to find a place of repentance before
God. He found no place of repentance
in Isaac. The blessing of God had already
been given. And he saw, he cried about it
and saw it carefully with tears, and was rejected. And men will
stand before God in that day, and they will in that day think
that they are going to inherit the blessing. Will find themselves
rejected, trusting in themselves. All of the things over in Matthew
7. that these people who stand before God are naming off as
reasons that God would accept them for all things that they
did. We prophesied in your name. We cast out devils in your name. We did many marvelous works in
your name. I never knew you. There was no
cry for mercy. They came looking for acceptance
with God on their own merit. Rejected. Oh, by the grace of
God, believers, those who truly have their hope in Christ, those
who truly look to the Lord for mercy and grace and acceptance
according to God's will and God's pleasure, God's compassion, They're
the ones that are looking diligently, striving after, seeking after,
running with patience, fighting a good fight, making their calling
and election sure, considering that Almighty God has made them
what they are by grace. That they're saved totally by
the grace of God through faith. And they never look to keep themselves
They are watchful unto the Lord Himself and to what He has to
say concerning the evidences that Almighty God has set forth
will be found within His people. And all the while, looking to
the Lord and looking to themselves and watching others striving
after peace, harmony, and careful and watchful for roots of bitterness
that may be found within, and trying, striving after to live
peaceably with all men, but never at the expense of the gospel.
When they see these things springing up, be an encouragement to them. Encouraging them. Encourage the
roots of bitterness. And I said, don't you be the
culprit. You follow after peace. If there's
a problem within the body, you be the peacemaker. For Christ's
sake. For the sake of the gospel. For
the sake of the harmony of this building, this church right here.
For God Almighty's sake, Lord, keep us, we pray. Amen.