I'm going to go over some stuff
that we've already talked about, but I think that there's so much
here that it is good for us to go over these things. Now, up here in this first part
of this chapter 12 in Hebrews, He's been speaking to them concerning
the matter of chastening. And most times when we consider
what chastening is, we think of it as like we've been chastened
by our parents when we did something wrong. Well, if that was the case with
the Lord's chastening, then we would just be we would be receiving
that sort of thing all the time, because there's never a time
when we haven't done something wrong. And certainly, it's not
the big things. You know, with our parents, they
kind of forbear with us, and they don't whip us for everything
that we do. But when we finally crossed the
line, you know, I saw a picture. It used to be up there in Ken's
BBQ up in Live Oak. And it showed this woman with
her hair is just standing on end. And the caption under the
thing, she says, she says, I had one nerve left and you just got
on it. And that's kind of the way that
our, and the script says they chastened us after, for their
own pleasure. In other words, when they just
got enough that they couldn't take it anymore, then they, you
know, that was it. I mean, you know, we've all been
in the schoolroom when the teacher finally got enough and she said,
that's it, you know. And that's kind of how we think
of what chastening is. But when the Lord speaks about
what chastening is here, that's not the picture because the Lord's
chastening is the constant dealings that He has with His children.
and the trials and troubles of life that are brought upon us
in due course, not specifically because we did something and
now the Lord is going to teach us a lesson, but the constant
dealing with us as sons. And if a man be without this
chastening, the Lord said, then he is a bastard and not a son.
So we are not desirous of being without this chastening. He says
in verse 7, If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with
sons. For what son is he whom the Father chastened, if not?
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, everybody,
not the ones that did the most wrong, but everybody, but ye
are old. partakers. And if you're not,
then you're bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had
fathers after our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them
reverence. Shall we not rather be in subjection
unto the Father of spirits and live?" Now that's the contrast. Our parents chastened us after
their pleasure, but the Lord chastens us for our good. Now
I'm sure that every weapon that I got, I needed it. But I know that some of the weapons
I got was because my daddy or my mama needed it. You know what
I mean? I mean, they just had enough,
and they were going to get, they were going to deal with it. So
that's kind of what he's talking about there. He says they did
it, you know, when it got to that point, but the Lord is not
in that fashion, but He does it for our benefit. And so how
much more should we rather be a subjection unto the Father
of Spirits and live for they barely for a few days chastened
us after their own pleasure, but He for our profit. that we
might be partakers of His holiness. There's nothing, no ulterior
motive in the chastening of the Lord but to bring us to the place
where we are conformed to the image of Christ. That is the
purpose of it. Now, no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. None of the things that we go
through in life that are not pleasantries are happy times,
are they? They are not at the present time,
Joyce, but grievous nevertheless afterward yieldeth the peaceable
fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which
hang down, and the feeble knees. Make straight paths for your
feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but
rather let it be healed. Follow peace with all men, and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Look indeligently,
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 ye 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, of course, we keep coming back to this,
and it's needful that we understand that the book of Hebrews is written
to those Hebrew Christians by and large who have been raised
in the Jewish faith, and under the law of Moses, they have believed
in Christ, and now, as time has gone on, the things, the troubles
and things that they've come into because of being followers
of Christ has, many of them have started to say, well, wait a
minute. Maybe we need to go back, you know, and back to the old
way at least. It wasn't as tough as this is. This is bad. Well, that's what
he's talking about, these chastenings. I mean, the Lord's dealing with
them. And these hard times have come upon them. And there are
many, you know, it's always man naturally will go back to that
which he is most comfortable with. I mean, the food that you
like, by and large, is shaped because of the things that you
ate when you were a child. And the likes and dislikes are
things that got in your mind when you were growing up. And
if you don't believe that, just go to another country somewhere
where they eat roaches and things like that and see how much you'd
like it. But now if you was a little kid and you grew up eating roaches
and crickets and things like that, that would just be a thing
you'd look forward to. So that's kind of the way that
we are by nature. I mean that's really what Solomon
says in the book of Proverbs when he's speaking about raise
up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will
not depart from it. There is a basis of that in the
natural way that we are. We do tend to have a tendency
to go back to those things that were ingrained in us. And so
it would not be unusual to find these Hebrew Christians sort
of having a tendency to go back, especially when times get hard.
I mean, you know, when things get tough, the first thing that
comes into our mind is, well, we need to quit. This is too
much trouble. You know, it was easier when
we were going back over here, and that's kind of the way it
is. He's saying to them, now look,
no chastening for the present time, saying, rejoice. He's not
telling them, look, these things that you're going through right
now are just wonderful, and you should be just rejoicing through
them. No, when they were seeing their brethren, some of them
killed and persecuted and all sorts of things, this was not
a thing that was an encouraging thing in itself. But He said,
no chastening. For the present time seems to
be joyous, but afterwards is when it yields its peaceable
fruit. You know, when we've gone through a tough time, I mean,
just like I'm sure Brother Al could tell, this being fresh
on his mind with going through this heart attack that he had,
I'm sure that when that's over with and he's had time to think
back on it, he is blessed by that which he went through because
he knows that as dark as the time was when he was there, the
deliverance from it and the things that he learned in the midst
of it are far more important and blessed. And so no chastening
seems to be pleasant at the present time, but afterward it yields
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. Now not every weapon that I got
as a child exercised me, but some of them did. And what that
means is that it bore fruit. It was that which I knew what
I did wrong and I knew I didn't want to do that again. And that
was the thing that I was exercised by. And that's what the chastening
of the sons of God is. It's that which would exercise
us and cause us to be made mindful of those things we need. And
then he says something here. And this is something that will
always be on the minds and hearts of the children of God, is that
we are not singular. We are individuals, but we are
individuals who have been called together as the sons of God,
and we are knit together in Christ, and we are part of a body. And
that body has various parts and every joint has to supply that
which the body needs. And there is not one part more
important than the other. But together we are a body that
depends on one another. And so keep that in mind as he
says here to them. Not only, he says, is do you
need to have consideration of these chastings and these troubles
that have come upon you that you might be exercised by this,
but keep in mind of how your brethren are affected by this.
Now, if I go through some little old trial and something, and
I start casting off my faith, and I say, Oh, well, you know,
the Lord can't be trusted, how's that going to benefit my brethren?
It's not going to benefit them at all. I mean, that's why, like
I always say, I mean, what is the point of coming together
and meeting with the saints of God when we don't feel like it. Well, because you're not meeting
down here because you feel like it. Part of the reason that we
come together is because of the brethren's sake. Because think
what an encouragement it is when the brethren get here and they
see you here. And think what a discouragement
it is when they come and they see that you didn't care enough
about it show up. Now I know sometimes things happen
and we, you know, we can't be, but I'm saying the point of coming
together is not just for our sake. You know, a lot of times
people say, well I don't get anything out of it, I think I
just, you know, well it's not for you primarily, it's for your
brethren's sake, to encourage the brethren, to build up the
brethren in the most holy faith. And so he says here, Therefore,
wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down. Don't be going
around moping about the things that are happening to you. Don't
be desiring to turn aside from the way of faith because of the
troubles that you have, but lift up the hands that hang down.
Now whose hands are hanging down? Not always yours, it may be the
brethren's. whose hands are hanging down.
And they're looking at you and they're saying, well, if he's
going to quit, maybe I'll quit too. But they say, well, you
know, he's sticking around. He's standing firm and fast,
and that's a benefit to the brethren as they see one another in those
things. And the feeble knees, now the
hands that hang down, I believe has a reference, you know, the
Scripture many times in the Psalms that says, lift up our hands.
in praise to the Lord. And the hands lifted up in praise
is a sign that a man is surrendering his praise up unto God. He lifts
up the hands. That's what he says, lift up
the feeble hands, the hands that hang down. Lift them up, let
the praise of God be seen in the midst of the trouble. And
the knees, and feeble knees. Praying is often considered kneeling
in prayer because we kneel in submission to the Lord. And the
feeble knees are those knees that when you get older you get,
the harder it is to get down on your knees. So you get those
who are feeble, they're weak. And so what he's saying is strengthen
that. Now we know we can't do that
in the flesh. But the Lord would, through the
Word of God, exhort us that we might be mindful of the effect
that we have together as a body and that we might strengthen
the body so that the hands that hang down might be lifted up,
the knees that are feeble might be made supple and able to do
those things necessary. And then He says, "...and make
straight paths for your feet." That is, walk in the straight
way. The Lord said, if a man having
put his hand to the plow and looking back is not fit for the
kingdom of God. Now anybody that's ever done
any plowing or anything knows that you've got to pay attention
to what you're doing to keep straight. If you're looking behind
you, you're going to have a crooked row or going to be plowing something
up. And so He says, here, make straight paths for your feet.
You don't need to be wandering from here to there. The Lord
said that we'd be no longer children tossed to and fro by every wind
of doctrine, but straight paths. That is one message. See, we
don't have a bunch of different doctrines. Our doctrine is Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Paul said, I'm not going to preach
anything else to you. There's no other message that
we have. You know, the religions of men, they all go off in various
directions, don't they? And they say, you need to know
this. It's okay. They say, well, yeah, you see,
the false religions of the world and the false preaching of Christ
that is so prevalent in this day, it's not that they deny
that Jesus Christ died on Calvary's cross. They don't deny that.
But they've just got all these little side roads. Well, it's
okay that you know that, but you need to know this. And you
need to go over here and you need to do that. They've just
got all kinds of feeder roots. Well, we don't have any bunch
of feeder roots. Dear brethren, we have one root
that is forever firmly planted and it's Jesus Christ. And we
come to that place. That's the only place we want
to go. I don't want to go off into a tangent of this doctrine
and that doctrine. But to preach Christ, that's
the place that we go. And so make straight paths for
your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. Again, speaking of how I believe,
speaking to those weaker brethren, our brethren in general. We're
all weaker brethren at times. You know, we talk about the spiritual
brethren and the weaker brethren. Well, you know, the weaker brethren
are not always weak, and the spiritual brethren are not always
spiritual. And they kind of swap places
sometimes. And so it is a necessary thing
that we help one another in this way. And that which is lame,
let that which is lame be turned out of the way. If somebody's
in a place of weakness, and we're going to walk in weakness, then
we're going to encourage them to walk in weakness. Lest that
which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be
healed. Brethren, we're desiring one
another to be strong in the faith. We're not to be critical of one
another because we're weak in the faith, because every one
of us is weak in the faith in different places. I mean, every
man is weak from time to time, but that's not the place that
we're... We don't come together to tell each other how weak we
are, but we come together to confess our faults one to the
other that we might be built up in the faith. Isn't that amazing
how that as we confess to one another our own Inabilities and
weaknesses that were made strong because you see, all times people
come together and they talk about how much faith they got. Oh brother,
if you will just give it this much faith, if you just had this
much faith, look at what you could do and you can do this
with this much faith. The problem with that is that
the weak brother that's sitting over there that don't find himself
to have any faith, he says, Oh my, what am I going to do next? But you see, when the man who
is walking in faith confesses that he has no faith of his own,
but any faith that he has is that which is of Christ, and
that he has no ability of his own, they're encouraged. So we do indeed desire that we
be healed and brought together and strengthened in the Lord.
And that's not after the flesh, but it's after the way of God.
He says, follow peace with all men and holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. Now what holiness is he speaking
about? He's speaking about Christ, Christ's
holiness. follow after holiness. Now if
we're going out here telling people what they need to be doing
to be holy in the eyes of men, that's a dead-end street. Now
some people might think they're going to be holy, and I know
there's denominations that call themselves holiness. But they
confuse many times what true holiness is. Now indeed, God's
people are called to be holy, to lead holy lives. But brethren,
if our eyes are off of Christ for one moment and looking at
what we're doing, then that can't be true holiness. I don't know
what it is, but the only holiness that we have that's of any use
is that which is of Christ. And so he says, fall at peace
with all men and holiness. I mean, we're not seeking to
fight with one another, but to point one another to Christ.
We're not trying to go ahead and stir up trouble. Now it seems
like a lot of times I wind up stirring up trouble, but that's
not my purpose. You know, I'm not saying, man,
I just want to see what kind of a mess I can get started today. No, that's not the purpose of
it. We're following peace, but we want the peace of Christ which
passeth understanding and following peace and holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. Now, I'm sure of this, that the
only holiness whereby a man might see the Lord is found in Jesus
Christ. without holiness, without being
set apart. Because that's what holiness
is. It's sanctification. It's being set apart in Christ. It's being in Christ. That's
indeed that without which no man shall see the Lord. 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. See, we're constant. We're to
be those as the Scripture exhorts us to be constantly examining
ourselves to see that we be in the faith. Not desire us of moving
away from the faith. We don't examine ourselves because
we want to move away from it. We examine ourselves because
we want to be found in it. Do we not? I mean, when I was
growing up, that was the last thing anybody wanted you to do
was to examine yourself. They just wanted you to think
back on when you decided to follow Christ, and that's all you needed
to do was think about that. Don't doubt. Well, we're not
asking people to doubt, but we are, by the grace of God, compelling
the people of God to examine ourselves. No, you're not. How
that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobate. So it
is a good thing that we examine ourselves. not what we are, but
who Christ is, and that we are those who would confess that
He is our righteousness. See, when Philip asked the Ethiopian
eunuch, when he told him about... the Ethiopian said, Can I be
baptized? What doth hinder me to be baptized?
He says, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
Well, what did he say? Did he say, I believe that Jesus
Christ died on the cross for me? Is that what he said? No, he said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Now that's what he believed.
Now dear brethren, that's what God's people are called to believe. Do you believe that? I mean,
is that the thing to which when you examine yourself, is that
what you see? Yes. I believe that Jesus Christ... I'm not just saying in an offhanded
way. I mean, is that the thing that
delights your heart? Is that the thing that encourages
you in the way? I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. And you see, that is the essence
of true faith. And it is that which... Lest
any man, looking diligently at that, lest any man fail of the
grace of God, that is, that he be turned aside from it. Now
how specially this was true to these Jews. Do you believe that
He is the Son of God? I mean, you ask a Muslim. Now, there's these people going
around saying that the Muslims and the Christians and the Jews
and all these people, we're all worshipping the same God. Well,
dear brethren, it can't be true. Because you see, the confession
of faith is, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And
any man who denies that, cannot be worshipped in the same God
whom we worship. Now, it is a matter of faith. And apart from the gift of God
giving a man faith, he cannot embrace that. I understand that. But that is the essence of that
which we believe. Lest any man fail of the grace
of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up in you trouble you
and thereby many be defiled." Now, the root of bitterness is
that which would cause a man to turn away from that. That's
the root of bitterness. And he said, looking diligently
to that which you've confessed, you have stood out and you said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he said,
don't turn away from that. Because what's left? If a man
turns away from Christ, what's left? If you reject Christ, what's
left? Now, religious men think, well,
one's just as good as another. They can take this or they can
take that. But those who've been brought to know who Christ is,
they know this, that apart from Christ, there is no salvation.
Apart from Christ, there's no hope. And so why would we turn
away? And that's why he says, you know,
in the end of this chapter, we are not of them. which draw back
unto perdition, but of them which believe to the saving of the
soul. Why? Because we can't do anything
else. Why would we want to? How could
we? He is our hope and our expectation.