Now, the last time we looked
at Hebrews 12, we considered the chastening of the children. And tonight we're going to consider
exhortations to the children. And in this passage of scripture
that I just read, he gives some very pointed exhortations. In verse 12, he says, wherefore? And that means that what he's
saying now is built upon what was said previously. Now, wherefore,
in light of the fact of this great cloud of witnesses he speaks
of in verse 1, wherefore, seeing we're all so compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses, and men like Abel, Men like Noah,
men like Abraham, men like Moses who believed the gospel and were
saved by the gospel and walked throughout this life believing
the gospel. In light of the race that we
have to run, that he speaks of in verse 1, let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, and in light of the manner of
running it, we're to run this race looking unto Jesus. Wouldn't that be a blessing if
you and I learned what that means? To run this race looking unto
Jesus. In light of being treated as
children, verse 5, and you've forgotten the exhortation which
speaketh unto you as unto children, not slaves, but dear children
through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In light of having
the love and chastening of the Father, he says in verse 6, for
whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth every one of his elect. He loves
and he chases, chases and he scourges every son whom he receives. And if you endure chasing, God
deals with you as with sons. And that's the way I want him
to deal with me. I want to be his child. I want to be his son. Now, in light of this dealing,
in light of the great end of this chasing, look in verse 10.
For they verily, talking about our earthly parents, for a few
days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our
profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless.
Afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby." Now, in light of this, verse
12. And he's still alluding to a
race, running with patience this race. Now, if you've ever run
a long distance race, you know that your hands get tired. You get to where you can't even
hold them up. And the knees become sore and feeble. But he says
once again, You're tired from running this race. Your hands
hang down. Your knees grow sore. You feel
weak. You feel like you can't go on.
It's just beyond you. He says, lift up the hands which
hang down and the feeble knees. Now, how do you do that? How
do you do that if you're tired? How do you do that if your knees
are becoming sore? How do they all of a sudden start
feeling better when you're running this race? Well, here's the key. When the Lord says to do something,
you can do it. That's all that's needed. Remember
that man with the withered hand? And the Lord said, stretch forth
thy hand. He couldn't do it. It was withered. But when the Lord said to do
it, you know what he did? He did it. And this is one of
the great Paradoxes of scripture. We're told to do what we cannot
do. And we do it. This race is going
on, you're tired, you're worn out, he says, lift up the hands
which hang down. Now, this comes from Isaiah chapter
35. Would you turn with me there?
Isaiah 35. Hold your finger there in Hebrews
12. This is a blessed passage of
Scripture, beginning in verse 3. Strengthen ye the weak hands,
and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, Be strong. Fear not, behold, your God will
come with vengeance, even God with a recompense, He will come
and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened." and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then
shall the lame man leap as a heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.
For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the
desert, and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the
thirsty land springs of waters, in the habitation of dragons,
where each lay shall be grasped with reeds and rushes, and an
highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called. the way
of holiness. This is the gospel. The only
way a man can be holy is through this way. The unclean shall not
pass over it, but it shall be for those the wayfaring men. The fools shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall go up thereon. It shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk therein, and the ransomed of the Lord
shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy
upon their heads. And they shall obtain joy and
gladness and sorrow, and sighing shall flee away." Now, this is
a gospel promise. Your hands are hanging down.
I understand that. are sore and feeble, he says,
lift them up. Look what he says in verse 13,
and make, back to Hebrews chapter 12, and make straight paths for
your feet. Let that which is lame be turned
out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Make straight paths,
and the word is literally a wheel path. a wheel path, make straight
paths, the wheel making a cart path, the mark. And the illusion,
obviously, is a wheelbarrow. You had wheelbarrows back then.
And if you want to make a straight wheelbarrow path, what do you
do? There's only one thing to do. You keep your eyes fixed
on a certain point. Now, when he's telling us to
make these straight paths for our feet, he's talking about
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I hope this isn't just a
slogan or some kind of catchphrase, this thing of looking unto Jesus.
If I'm looking to him, that means I'm looking to him, first of
all, in the context of this passage of scripture as the author, the
source of faith. I look to him for the faith.
I can't even come up with the faith. I say, Lord, I'm coming
to you to give me this faith. I cannot come up with it. I'm
looking to him as the source of faith, and I'm looking to
him as the one who will finish my faith. I'm looking to him
to cause me to continue all the way to the end. That's why I'm
looking to him right now. I'm looking to him right now
to give me faith and to cause me to continue in the faith.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who
for the joy that was sent before him, the joy of saving his people,
the joy of doing his Father's will, he endured the cross, despising,
counting as nothing the shame he had to experience, and he
sat down at the right hand of the Father. And that's the way
I look to him, the one who sat down. That means his work is
finished. When he said it is finished,
the salvation of everybody he died for was accomplished. And I look to him as the one
who gives me the faith, as the one who maintains the faith and
is what that faith believes, him who finished the work. I
look to him. I don't look to the side. If
you look to the side, you'll veer off. You won't have a straight
path. If you look behind you, if you look at your feet, that
won't work. You look to him. He said, make straight, back
to our text, Hebrews 12, make straight paths for your feet,
lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. If you don't
have straight paths, that which is lame, which is you, me, anybody
else, it'll be turned out of the way if we don't have this
straight path looking to Christ only. Now this could mean either
us, the weak believer, depart not from the path of faith, love
and help one another, let the fallen be restored and the weak
encouraged. Make straight paths for your
feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but
let it rather be healed. Now how am I healed? You know,
that's pretty easy to answer. By His stripes. By His stripes ye are healed. Doesn't say you will be healed.
It says you are healed. And I'm looking right now at
some people who are healed. Healed by what He did. Let it rather be healed. Verse 14. Follow, peace. That word follow
means pursue. Make this your pursuit. Make
this your aim. Make this your goal. Make this
your objective. Make this the very desire of
your heart. Follow, pursue, peace with all. And I think that means more than
all men. I think that means you preserve peace with God. Now,
you can't make peace with God. Christ made my peace with God,
but you know what I want to have? I want to have peace. I want
to have that peace of knowing that my title is clear and I
have those mansions in the sky. I want to have that peace, don't
you? I want to have that peace that tells me that all my sin
is taken care of, it's paid for, and that I stand before God without
guilt. That's the peace I want. And
I want to pursue peace with men. I want to know I have that peace
with God that he worked out for me, and I want to pursue peace
with me. And you see, God's people are
peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God. Now, you can
take this in so many different directions. Now, that doesn't
mean follow peace at the expense of truth. I'm not going to do
that. I'm not going to try to get peace with somebody and overlook
that which is contrary to the gospel. It doesn't mean follow
peace at the expense of holiness. I'm not going to do that. But
I am to pursue, make my aim peace. I want to be, first of all, a
preacher of the gospel of peace. You want to be that too, don't
you? I want to preach the gospel of peace, how God can be at peace
with a sinner for Christ's sake. And I want to pursue peace in
my relationships with men. I don't want to have turmoil.
I don't want to have a wretched fighting. I don't want anything
like that. I want to follow peace, harmonious
relationships, not turmoil, not wretchedness. I want to have
peace in my home, don't you? Oh, our homes are to be peaceful
places, not places of turmoil, places that are away from the
clamor and the fighting of the world. I want to follow peace
in other people's homes. I don't want to stir anything
up with you. I want to follow peace in every way, peace in
all of our relationships. Paul said, if it's possible,
as much as in you is, live peaceably with all men. Now, if you're
stirring up anything, remember what God says. The scripture
says in Proverbs chapter 6, verse 19, that God hates that one who sows discord
among brethren. Endeavor, Paul said. Endeavor. Make this your aim. Endeavor
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And you
know what that means? That means that you will, as
Paul said to the Corinthians, Suffer yourselves to be defrauded,
if that's what it takes to keep the peace. Make this your aim. Be a peaceful person who promotes
peace in all your relationships. Now, I realize that the world
is not going to be happy with our gospel. We can't be at peace
with the world. I realize that. But I'll tell
you this. I'm at peace with the world in this sense. I'm not
after what they got. I'm really not. I'm satisfied
with things as they are. I don't need what the world...
What are fights over? It's when the world's trying...
The wars are somebody trying to take something from somebody
else. Well, I don't want what you have. I'm happy with who
I am in Christ Jesus, and I don't need anything else. In that sense,
I'm at peace. Pursue Oh, make this your pursuit. Make this your aim. Make this
your objective. Follow peace, not turmoil, not
trying to stir things up. Be a peacemaker. Follow peace
with all men. And next, he says, you pursue
holiness. Now, he says, follow peace with
all men. And I think that's true, without which no man should see
the Lord, if I don't do that. But he also says you follow.
You pursue, you make your aim holiness or sanctification. Without which, if I don't have
this, I will not see the Lord. Now, what is holiness? What is sanctification? I have
to know what it means if I'm going to pursue it and follow
it. Sanctification, holiness, that's
the word, holiness. It means to take something common
and ordinary and to set it apart for holy purposes. And that's
exactly what took place when God elected a people. He took
some people who were in and of themselves common and ordinary,
no better than anybody else. And He set them apart for holy
purposes. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him. What a blessing that is. Holiness, it means to take something
common and ordinary, set it apart for holy purpose. It also means
to declare something to be holy. Now, when Christ died on Calvary's
tree, my sin was His. It became His. God the Father
placed it upon Him. And His righteousness became
mine. And I was declared by God When
Christ died on the cross, and this is true of all of his elect,
I was declared by God to be holy. And listen to me, God wouldn't
call me holy if that's not what I was. This is not just some
kind of pie in the sky thing. Every believer, by the witch
will, we are sanctified. We are declared to be holy through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. I was declared by God himself
to be holy. And then holiness is taking something
that was not holy and making it holy. It's called the sanctification
of the spirit. In 2 Thessalonians 2.13, it's
what happens in the new birth when God gives a believer a holy
nature. Now, holiness, sanctification
is seen in all three of those aspects. God, the Father's election. He set us apart to be holy. The
redeeming work of the Son. God declared us to be holy. And
the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, we're made holy,
we're given a holy nature. Now, holiness. You know, it's
hard to define holiness, isn't it? I like what one fellow, how
one fellow defined it. He said it's other. It's other. God is holy. God is separate.
Absolute purity. Absolute hatred of sin. Seeing what sanctification or
holiness means, how do you go about pursuing holiness? Here's
the only thing I know. I say, Lord, choose me. Choose me to be holy. And I ask
the Son, Lord, cause me to be declared to be holy. And I ask
God the Holy Spirit to give me this holy nature. Pursue. Pursue holiness. Now, the only
way you can pursue holiness is if you are holy. The only way
you can be holy is if you are holy. And every believer has
this holy nature, and we're called upon to pursue this holy nature. Now, make it your aim. Here's a way of pursuing holiness.
Make it your aim to not sin anymore. Make it your pursuit, your objective,
your goal, to be exactly like the Lord Jesus Christ. Pursue
holiness, and without this holiness that he's speaking of, we will
not see the Lord. Now, sanctification is just as
essential to salvation as justification is. You can't have one without
the other. While they're different, they're
always together. Wherever you have somebody that's
been justified by God, they've been sanctified by God. And anybody
that you have that's sanctified, they've been justified by God.
And we're called upon to pursue holiness, without which no one
shall see the Lord. Verse 15 of our text, Hebrews
chapter 12. Looking diligently, being on
the lookout, lest any man My marginal reading says, fall
from the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing
up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. Now, what does that
mean? He said, looking diligently,
watch out, watch out, be on your guard against somebody falling
from grace. That's the language. Watch out. If somebody falls from grace,
if they do, a root of bitterness will spring up and many will
be defiled. Does that mean that a believer
can, through sin and disobedience, fall from favor with God? If it does mean that, everybody
in this room is done falling from favor. Isn't that so? You know it is. Now, it's true
that a believer's sin displeases the Lord. I think of that scripture,
the thing David did displeased the Lord. And to a believer,
that's what makes sin so hateful. We know through our sin we've
displeased our Lord. There's no excuse for sin on
any level. But if that means you can fall
from grace, that means through your sin, you can fall from favor
with God. You've taken away the only hope
I have. Because the only hope I have is that salvation is all
of grace, and you've turned grace into works. If you can fall from
grace, that means it wasn't grace in the first place. If through
your sin you can fall from grace, that means it was not grace in
the first place. What kept you was your works,
and there's no truth to that. And he says, watch out for somebody
falling from grace. Watch out, be on your guard.
If you do, a root of bitterness will spring up and many will
be defiled and many will be troubled by that. People quit believing grace.
They do that. I've seen it happen many times. They leave the gospel. They believe
in works in some form. And any belief in works will
have this end a root of bitterness. Now, do you remember when Peter
said to Simon Magus, I perceive that you're in the root of bitterness
and the bond of iniquity. Remember when he said that to
him in Acts chapter 8, Simon Magus, he said, and here's why,
he said, you thought the gift of God could be bought. And whenever somebody thinks
the gift of God can be earned or achieved in some way, or you
keep yourself by your own works of obedience, here's what's going
to happen. A root of bitterness is going to spring up, and whoever
holds that position, he's going to drag others down with him.
Beware, beware of anything contrary to grace. Oh, don't fall from
free grace. Grace is all we've got. Why would
you want to fall from that? Now, he says, watch out. Lest
any man fall or fail from the grace of God, lest any root of
bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. Verse 16, lest there be any fornicator. And you know what a fornicator
is? It's someone who looks for the pleasure of a relationship
outside the covenant of marriage. And that can be literal. You
look what problems sexual sin has brought in our society. You
look at the wrecked homes and the wrecked lives brought on
by sexual sin, not being faithful to the covenant. Scripture says
whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. That's what the
Bible says. And you look at the problems
that cause. I also think that the main thing he's really talking
about is spiritual fornication, looking for comfort, looking
for pleasure, looking for something outside the covenant of grace. Outside of grace is what that
means. outside of the covenant. Of course, David said, although
my 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 and all my desire. It's all in the covenant, though
he makes it not to grow. So he says, lest there be any
fornicator or profane person. Now, that word profane means
accessible. If you're profane, that means
you can be bought. That's all it means. You can
be bought. And the person he uses as an
example is Esau. Esau could be bought. Remember
what he did, lest there be any fornicator or profane person
as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Now, do you remember what God
said about Esau? What did God say about Esau? God said, I hate
him. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. Doesn't God love everybody? No.
I know he didn't love Esau. He said, I hate him. Now was
God being mean? Was God being vicious? Was God
being wrong? No. Esau had no regard for God
at all. As a matter of fact, he sold
his birthright, his position of leadership, his birthright
with God as the firstborn. He had no more value of it than
a bowl of soup, and he sold it for a bowl of soup. Now, that's
how little he valued his relationship with God. He didn't care. He
didn't care anything about God. He was a profane person. He could
be bought. And indeed he was bought. He
sold his birthright to his brother for a bowl of soup. And now look
what happens when it comes time where he finds out he's going
to lose out of it. Turn to him. First, let's look at Genesis
25. Genesis 25. Verse 29. And Jacob sought pottage, and
Esau came from the field. He was faint. And Esau said to
Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for
I am faint. Therefore was his name called
Edom, and Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at
the point to die, and what profits of this birthright do me? Now,
all he was was hungry. Come on, I'm hungry right now.
I can't wait to get something to eat after this story. I'm
hungry, but I can wait. I can wait. I don't have to sell it
right now. I mean, all you have to do is wait till he, but no,
he has to have it right now. And so he sells his birthright. You know, what if, what if I
could sell my salvation to you? You know what that would mean? Didn't
mean much to me. I'm going to sell you my salvation.
If I can tell you my salvation, that means I put no value on
it. Now that's Esau. He put no value
on his relationship with God upon the birthright. Look in
Genesis 27 when he wants to get the birthright back, beginning
in verse 30. And it came to pass as soon as
Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, And Jacob was yet scarce
gone out from the presence of Isaac, his father. Esau, his
brother, came in from his hunting, and he also had made savory meat
and brought it into his father and said unto his father, Let
my father arise in heed of his son's venison, that thy soul
may bless me. And Isaac, his father, said unto
him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy
firstborn Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly
and said, Who? Where is he that hath taken venison,
and brought it to me, and I have eaten it all before thou camest,
and hast blessed him? Yea, and he shall be blessed.
And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with
a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said, And his father
blessed me, even me also, O my father. And he said, Thy brother
came with subtlety, and hath taken away thy blessing. And
he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted
me these two times. He took away my birthright. Now,
wait a minute. Did he take away his birthright?
No. Esau sold it to him. He was telling a lie, wasn't
he? That's how much he valued the birthright. And now he has taken away my
blessing. He said, Has thou not reserved a blessing for me? Now, watch out back to our text
in Hebrews chapter 12. This is a passage of scripture,
I don't know how many times I've looked at this passage of scripture
and I thought of Esau all of a sudden changing his mind. Oh,
now he wants to repent. He wants to repent. He wants
acceptance with God. He wants favor with God. But
God rejects him even though he's trying for it. God won't give
it to him. Is that what this passage of
scripture is saying? No. Esau still didn't care anything
about God. All he cared about was losing
the material blessing. That's it. He didn't care anything
about God. So the writer to the Hebrew says, regarding Esau, who for one morsel
of meat sold his birthright, verse 17, for you know how that
afterwards 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, I don't want
to be an Esau. I don't want to be somebody who
can be bought. Somebody says, everybody has
a price. No, they don't. Not if you're a believer. You don't have anything valuable
enough that you can give to me for the salvation of my soul.
for acceptance before God, for the righteousness and merits
of Christ, for the freeness of His grace. Now, he warns us,
watch out. Watch out lest there be any fornicator
or profane person as he saw who for one morsel of meat sold his
birthright. Now, I would like to close by
reading from Brother Mahan's commentary on this passage of
Scripture. It's something that I hope you'll listen to real
carefully. This was his comment on verse
17 of Hebrews chapter 12. Those who are so foolish to allow
anything in this life to cause them to renounce their faith
and duty as children of the living God will one day like Esau weep
bitter tears when it is far beyond their power to recover what is
lost. Guard against fleshly appetites
and apostasy. Guard against neglecting spiritual
blessings and privileges, lest you come to bitterly mourn, as
Esau. We have entered a race. The prize
goes to those who finish. There will be difficult times,
heavy trials, and tempting pastures of pleasure which appeal to the
flesh, but we must go on. We must proceed fast or slow
or even stumbling along the way, but looking to Christ we continue. I have a responsibility to the
doctrine of Christ, my Lord. The frowns or smiles of men will
not cause me to surrender them. I have a responsibility to the
Church of Christ. I have a responsibility to my
family to set a godly example of faith, worship, faithfulness,
and integrity. I have a responsibility to my
Lord. He loves me, and I love Him. You know, the book of Hebrews
is filled with warnings. Well, why warn if you can't fall
away? Well, if I'm not warned, I'll leave. I know that. Is this taking away
from the security of God's elect? No, it's not. God's elect are
eternally secure. I need to be warned. And I will
leave Christ if he doesn't preserve me, and I ask him to do that. Lift up the hands which hang
down in the feeble knees. Now look, let's close with Hebrews
12, 1 and 2 once again. 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, unbelief, and let us run with patience the race that is
set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God." Now, as we prepare to observe
the Lord's table, we do so in remembrance of Him. Now, all
these things that scare us, these exhortations, they are scarce,
shouldn't they? They are scarce. I don't want
to be an Esau. But I'm brought back again to my only hope that
Christ died for me. It's the only hope I got. I got
no other hope. And you know what? That's what keeps me. And we're
observing the glories of his broken body and his shed blood.
in remembrance of Him.