Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. The apostle has written to the Hebrews. and
to us concerning the chastening hand
of our Father," we looked at this last week, the bond chastening, that it was out of love and that it's for our profit,
our good, everything our Father sends our
way. is for our good. And he says in verse 11, Now
no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. If it is,
it's not chastening. If it's something you can take
joy in at that present time, it's not chastening. You know,
a trial is called a trial because it hurts. If it doesn't hurt,
It's not a trial in some way, fashion or another.
I know sometimes we can be tried by the Lord letting us have things,
but a trial is something that tests you, tests you. But here,
chastening, he says, for the present, it does not, there's
no joy in it. It's not joyous, but it's grievous. As I said last week, he causes
his children at times to cry, makes it hurt. Nevertheless, even though it
hurts, it is not joyous, it is grievous. Afterward, he yields
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. Discipline is hard on this flesh. It's difficult. We feel pain. We hurt like others hurt. We
cry like others cry. We feel when God disciplines
us, when he chastens us, we feel it, and it hurts. But it's for
our good. As David said, it's good for
me that I've been afflicted. that I might learn thy statutes." Affliction, chastening runs us
to Christ. It does not drive us away from
Him. It drives us to Him. It keeps
us looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. It keeps us seeking after Him.
And it enables us to grow in grace and in knowledge of Him. Job said this in Job 42, 5, I
have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear. Job heard of God,
he heard. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. through the afflictions that
God sent his way, the trouble and the trial that he'd gone
through. I mean deep trouble. But now
mine eye seeth thee, and I pour myself and sackcloth
and ashes. Now, he says here in verse 12, Seeing all this is so, seeing
that whom the Lord loves he chastens, that's what it says in verse
6, and scourges every son whom he receiveth. Seeing this is
so, lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees. Have you ever seen someone dejected, left indisciplined? Chase, my
granddaughter has this down to perfection. She drops her shoulders,
her hands. I mean, she's got this down.
She's like this. I mean, when we discipline her,
she doesn't get her way. We're chasing her. She drops
those hands, those knees, those shoulders drop, and she'll go
like that for a while. The shoulders drop, their hands
drop, their knees drop, and their step is slow. None of us are as strong as we
think we are. Someone said there's a reason why we're called sheep. I don't know of any animal weaker
than a sheep. I don't know of any animal more dependent than
a sheep. Totally dependent on the shepherd to lead and guide
them. Now, the writer here started
out with us running a race. He compares this life, the life
of a believer, as to running a race. He says there in verse
1, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us. I don't know if you've ever ran
in a race. But if you have, you know what it is to be weary,
if it's a long race. You know what it is to run a
long race. You've seen these marathon runners. I was watching one last week.
I was watching a triathlon. And they were coming up to the
finish line, some of them, staggering, I mean staggering, trying to
get across the finish line. It's a long race. And they're
weary. And their hands were down. You
know, they started out running like this. They started out running
so strong, so vibrant. And then they got halfway through
the race, arms down around here. Then when they got to the end,
their arms were down here. Weary. Weak. Weak. And we can compare this Our spiritual
condition as we go through this life, trials and chastening, prayer gets weak. You ever been to the point where
you just didn't know how to pray anymore? You didn't even know how to do
it anymore. You pray and you pray and it just keeps on going. You pray and it keeps on going.
You pray and it gets worse. And your hands, your spiritual
hands, you get weak. You get weak in the knees. Your
prayer gets weak, your reading gets weak, your fellowship gets
weak because the trial has just wore you out. It's wore you out. He says, here, lift them up. Lift up the hands which hang
down and the feeble knees. Remember this, whom the Lord
loves, he chastens. And he scourges every son whom
he receives. Remember that and pick it up. You know, God pities his children,
but he doesn't baby his children. He doesn't baby them. He says
here, and he's under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Pick up the
pace. You know, Job, what Job went
through. You know what he went through.
And then when God spoke to Job, He did not say, Job, I feel so
sorry for what's happened here. He said, Job, stand up like a
man. I'll demand of thee and you answer
me. He didn't treat him like a baby. I'm telling you, he just
told me, he said, Joe, stand up. I'm going to demand of you and
you answer me. For about three chapters or so
there, God speaks to Joe. And that's why he said, lift
up your hands. The race may be long, but we
have a good end. The race has already been won.
The race was won by our champion. The race has been won by the
Lord Jesus Christ. I titled this message, Looking
Diligently. You know, the scripture never,
never gives us a word to just be casual, just take your time. It's diligent. Seek the Lord
with all your heart. That's how the Scripture speaks.
Do it with all your heart. Seek Him with all your heart.
Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. It never says,
whenever you have the time, you might want to check this out.
No, give diligence to it. Give your life to it. Put effort
into it. Those hands that are hanging
down, those feeble knees, lift them up. You know, we encourage one another
to do this. I saw this on that triathlon.
Two guys that won it, they were in the lead in the race. As they
were within the last mile, half mile, something like that, one of them reached over and
patted the guy right beside him. And then they shook hands, and
then that guy took off running. That one guy just took off. I
mean, before that happened, one man, he was doing this. And then
the other guy, after he ran away, he was doing this. Their side
was killing them. And I mean, you could see the
stress of the race taking its toll on those two young men. But when he reached over and
patted him on the shoulder, and they shook hands, that one guy,
I think it was the guy on the right side, he just took off. He just encouraged them so much.
That's why he's saying here, encourage one another. This is
in this. Encourage one another to pick
up the pace. The race is run. We have a good end. We have a
good end. And make straight paths for your
feet. How do you do that? How do you do that? Well, you
do it by verse 2. Looking unto Jesus. You never
lose sight of Him. He's the mark. He's the mark. He's the finish line. Make straight
paths for your feet. Don't try to find an easier race. Oh, there's easier races to run
in. The Scripture teaches us those
who enter the kingdom of heaven do so through much tribulation. It's not an easy road home. If
you want an easy road, get on the broad road. That's a smooth
one. Well-traveled. Well-traveled. Make straight paths for your
feet. Over on the margin it says even. Even up. Straight. Straight. Lest that which is
lame be turned out of the way. Make straight paths for your
feet. As I said earlier in the Bible lesson, someone's always
watching. We have a room of believers here. And we see each other, we watch
each other. He said, make straight paths
with your feet, because I tell you what, somebody's watching
you. Peter? Someone's watching you. When Peter got up from that
table, so did a bunch of other ones. So did Barnabas. Lest that which is lame be turned
out of the way, the weaker brother fall. Scourge has said this,
and I've never forgot it. The limping of the leader is
the lameness of the people. Make straight the path where
you think of somebody's watching you. Other believers. The world's already lost. But
other believers. Weak believers. Stronger believers. Somebody's watching you. But
let it rather be healed. We all need spiritual healing.
Every one of us. Every believer needs spiritual
healing. I'm not so much worried now about whether I, if I get
sick, if I'm healed of this or healed of that. What I need healing
of are spiritual things. spiritual things. It says here, follow peace. This is how you lift up the hands
and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet.
One of the first things you've got to do here is follow peace. Now how do you do that? You do
it by following the Prince of Peace. The peace that we have with God
and Christ, pursue that. Enjoy it. Grow in it. Learn more of it. Feast on it. Follow peace with all men and
holiness. Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God. and His righteousness. And all these things that we
need will be added to us. We follow Christ, the Prince
of Peace. It is His righteousness that
we thirst after, that we thirst and hunger for. It's His righteousness
that we seek. And we follow that. Follow that. Don't lose sight
of that. Don't lose sight of Him. Don't
lose sight of Him. Don't lose sight of Him. Don't lose sight of His righteousness
and you'll need of it. And look diligently. Look diligently. Give your attention to this. Is there anything more important
than our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, our union
to Him, our fellowship with Him? Is there anything more important
than that? Is there anything to be compared
to that? We never take anything for granted. We never assume anything. Looking diligently, lest any
man fail of the grace of God. Now, the grace of God never fails
any man. But men can fail of the grace
of God. They can come short of it. Look over in Galatians chapter
6. Let me see if that's where it's
at. Maybe 5. Let me see if I can find it here.
Galatians 5, he says, Stand fast therefore
in the liberty, in verse 1 of Galatians 5, stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Don't let
that go. Stand fast in it, stand firm
in it, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold,
I, Paul, say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. Christ is become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are
justified by the law, you are fallen from grace." But you can't
mix the two. You can't mix the two. You've left grace. You've left
salvation by grace. Because if you add just a tad
bit of work to it, it's all of works. It's either all of works or it's
all of grace. So you look diligently to the Lord Jesus Christ your relationship
to him, your union to him, your fellowship with him, lest any
man fail of the grace of God. As I said, God's grace doesn't
fail us, but there are many who fall short of it. Christ said to that young man,
thou art not far from the kingdom of heaven. Not far is not even. lest any root of bitterness springing
up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. We never sin alone. We never
sin alone. Here's the problem. If the root
of bitterness, the root of us in you, If this brings up trouble, many
will be defiled by it. That's what happened there at
Jerusalem. You know, that's what happened when those Judaizers
came down from Antioch. Or, I mean, they came to Antioch,
causing this trouble. Lest there be any fornicator. I tell you, he's comparing this
to some bad stuff. Must there be any fornicator
or profane person as Esau? Esau didn't believe the gospel.
Esau despised his birthright. One morsel of meal sold his birthright. He despised it. He was the heir
to having the birthright there in the home, which was to say
that he had God's favor, he had the blessings. It didn't mean
anything to him. It meant nothing to him. The
birthright meant nothing. The firstborn meant nothing.
He despised it. And he sold it for a bowl of
beans. It didn't mean any more to him
than that. For you know, you know, how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing of the firstborn, it was his, and he despised it,
and he sold it off for just a meal, just a meal. He was rejected. This is what
happens when men fail of the grace of God. Rejected. For he found no place
of repentance. He could not, he could not change
his father's mind. It's not saying he found no place,
it's not saying that He couldn't repent. It's saying that Isaac,
he couldn't get him to repent. He couldn't get his father to
change his mind and give him the blessing. He found no place of repentance.
It was over with, too late. It was too late. Though he sought it carefully
with tears. He cried, bless me, bless me, you go back and read
that, bless me, give it to me. And he said, no, I can't do it. I gave it to your brother Jacob,
the one whom I love. That's who has it. Look diligently, look diligently, look diligently after your relationship with
Christ, Your communion with Christ, fellowship
with Christ. He's saying here, don't get weary
and quit. Those who quit never win. They never win. Those who quit
never finish. They never finish. Even though thy father chastens
us, our father chastens us, and it hurts, and it's weary, and
it makes us weary. He says, lift up your hand, because
that chastening rod is coming from the hand of a loving father. It's coming from the hand of
a loving father, for whom the Lord loves. He chastens and scourges
every son whom he receives. Now let me just read it. Now
no chastening for the present seems to be joyous but grievous.
Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which have exercised thereby. Wherefore, 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. And follow peace with all men,
and holiness with that which no man shall see the Lord. Looking
diligently, that is a continual looking. Lest any man fail of the grace
of God, lest any root of bitterness spring up and 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." Look diligent. Look diligently. Look diligently to Christ, your
relationship with Christ, and remember this. Whatever comes
your way, whatever comes my way, is out of love for my father. He disciplines us because he
loves us. He chastens us because he loves us. A parent who will
not discipline their children do not love their children. They
love themselves. They're trying to spare themselves.
Discipline is not something that's pleasant. It's not pleasant at
all. On either party, either one. But give diligence, give diligence
to these things. And remember, your father chastened
you because he loved you.