Turning your Bibles tonight again
to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. We will only
be looking tonight at verses 12 through 17, but I would like
to begin reading in verse 1 and read through verse 17. Wherefore, seeing we also are
encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset
us, 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. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be
wearied and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou rebuke of
him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers
of our flesh, which corrected us. We gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the father of spirits and live? For they verily
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, afterward it yielded
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are 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. Follow peace with all men and
holiness, 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, lest
there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one marshal
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. I ended the message last time
with verse 11, and I said this is a very obvious truth that
no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous,
no chastening. We began tonight with the word
wherefore in verse 12, and we see the connection of all of
these verses. And then as we read on, wherefore
lift up the hands that hang down in the feeble knees, we see the
connection to verse one and the exhortation to run with patience
the race that is set before us. Tonight in these verses, verses
12 through 17, we have several exhortations to look at. Can't
you imagine in your mind a runner, and this race that we are in,
as I said, it's not a dash. It's not a 50-yard dash. It's
a long-distance race. It's as long as we remain in
this world. But can't you imagine a runner
in a race and he becomes weary? I know I would in a long-distance
race. It wouldn't take me very long.
And as he becomes weary, His hands, he quits pumping with
his hands. And they just kind of fall down
to his side, drop to his side. And his knees are no longer working
like they did at first. And he's not running in a straight
line as he should. And he needs, as we would say
in common language today, he needs to pull himself together. Notice verses 12 and 13. Wherefore,
lift up the hands which hang down. There he is. His hands
are just hanging down. He's weary. He's tired. Wherefore, lift up the hands
which hang down in 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. Now the writer uses the picture
of a runner. And we saw this when we looked
at verses one and two, how that in those games, they were not
called Olympic games, but basically that's what they were at that
time. And there were five events and in these particular games,
and one of those events was the long distance race and it was
the most strenuous of all of the events because it continued,
it lasted longer than a wrestling match or throwing a javelin or
throwing a disc, something like that. It lasted longer. And he uses this analogy between
a man in a race and us living the Christian life. One who professes
faith in Christ. And as he does, as she does,
we experience trials. We experience difficulties. And
we began to grow weary. Remember in Galatians chapter
six, the apostle Paul told the church at Galatia, let us not
grow weary in well-doing. And the reason he wrote the church,
let us not grow weary in well-doing, Because he well knew that we
are prone to grow weary. And especially, especially when
we are going through trials and afflictions and the Lord is chastening
us. He's training us as a father
trains his child. And for some reason, people have
had the idea that chastening only has to do when a believer
gets out of line and God brings some calamity upon him. No. The believer's life, our entire
experience, is a life of chastening. The Lord is training us up, just
like a father does when he has a son or daughter in his home.
He takes that opportunity for that short time, as the writer
here tells us, for a few days, he takes that opportunity to
train. He's not always spanking if we're
thinking of chastening it like that. The father, the mother's
not always spanking their child, they're teaching. And that's
what this is, speaking of here. And again, look back in chapter
10, Hebrews chapter 10. And these to whom this letter
first came, they were experiencing these things. The Christian life,
people said, well, it's an easy life. Well, our Lord said, come
unto me, and take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and
my burden is light." And that's true. We find rest for our souls
when a person comes to Christ and that weight of sin is removed. Yes, we find rest, but in this
world, the Lord Jesus said, in this world you shall have tribulation,
affliction, but be of good cheer. This is what our Lord told His
disciples, wasn't it? The night before the crucifixion.
In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer,
for I have overcome this world. Now here, back in chapter 10,
we see some of the things that these believers were going through. Verse 32, He said, But call to
remembrance the former days, in which after that you were
illuminated. After that, you were quickened
and made alive and given sight. You were illuminated. You were
saved, as we would say, converted. You endured a great fight of
afflictions, partly whilst you were made a gazing stock, both
by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst you became
companions of them that were so used. For you had compassion
of me and my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your
goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better
and an enduring substance. So they were growing weary, no
doubt. And in this passage tonight that
we are looking at, these verses that I just read, chapter 12,
verses 12 and 13, The writer quotes two Old Testament
verses. And these two verses, he quotes
two Old Testament verses. And I want us to look at these
verses. The first one is in Isaiah chapter
35. Now the verse here is, wherefore
lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. But
let's go back to Isaiah chapter 35 and verse 3. and read this verse that he's
quoting. Isaiah chapter 35 in verse 3. Strengthen ye the weak hands,
and confirm the feeble knees. Well, I said we would say today
pull yourself together, but how is it When running this race
and our hands begin to fall down, how is it that we are to strengthen
the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees? You might say,
well, that's easier said than done. Amen. Amen. It is. It's easier said than
done. But how is it to be done? Well,
look here in Isaiah 35, verse 3, look at verse, The next verse, verse 4. Say
to them that are of a fearful heart, now say this to them,
be strong, fear not. Here it is. Behold, your God
will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will
come and save you. In other words, we have these
promises as God's children. We have these promises given
unto us, and we must believe them. We must trust in these
promises. It is only by trusting God and
believing in Christ, looking unto Him, that this will be accomplished. Another passage in Isaiah 40. You're more familiar, I'm sure,
with this place. Isaiah chapter 40, but this is
one of those promises that God's children are given. Verse 29. He giveth power to the faint. That's what the racer is. He's
growing faint. He's growing weak. His hands
are hanging down. God gives power to the faint. And to them that have no might,
it's all used up, he giveth strength. Even the youth shall faint and
be weary. I noticed in these verses he
speaks two times of fainting, fainting. Even the youth shall
faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they
that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. This is
the way we are to pull ourselves together. This is the way that
we are to strengthen our hands and our knees. It is by waiting
upon the Lord and He shall renew our strength. They shall mount
up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
And they shall walk and not faint. The apostle Paul taught us about
this because he learned this lesson. I want you to look in
2 Corinthians. He learned this lesson. And it's
a lesson that you don't learn just one time and you don't need
to learn it again. No, every day, every day, over
and over, we need to learn this lesson. Here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 12, remember, Paul had a thorn in his flesh. He had
a thorn in his flesh. And he prayed and asked the Lord
to remove that thorn three times. And the Lord said no. But this
is what he told him, verse nine. He said unto me, my grace is
sufficient for thee. My grace, it's sufficient for
thee. For my strength, now notice,
my strength is made perfect in weakness. So here's Paul's response. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. So in our text tonight, wherefore
lift up the hands which hang down in the feeble knees and
make straight paths for your feet. How are we going to do
that? Awaiting upon the Lord, by looking unto the Lord. I said
that he quotes two verses from the Old Testament, two passages
rather. We looked at that one in Isaiah
35, but look at this other one in Proverbs. Proverbs chapter
4. Proverbs chapter 4 and verse
25. Let thine eyes look right on,
and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the paths
of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not
to the right hand, nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. How is it that we then are to
make straight paths for our feet? we must let our eyes direct our
feet. But listen, we do not let our
eyes direct our feet by looking at our feet. Years ago, I'm not sure how I
heard this, but I know farmers, they used to farm with a mule,
plow and a mule and, and they They took a great deal of pride.
Farmers still do. They use tractors, of course,
today. But they took a great deal of pride in plowing a straight
row. I have a small garden, maybe
50 feet. And I make a row, and it's as
crooked as a dog's hind leg. How is it that those farmers
made those straight rows? I've been told the way to do
that is keep your eyes on an object at a distance. If you look down at the ground,
you're always trying to compensate and you get off, you get out
of your lane. No, keep your eyes on Christ. That's what he said, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. In practice, In
practice, we must hear the Word of God, but that's not enough. That's very important, but we
must be doers of the Word. We must hear the Word of God
and we must heed the Word of God. Look at this passage with
me in Ephesians chapter 6. We hear the Word of God, but
now here is our responsibility. The apostle uses, or the writer
rather, uses another analogy. Now he's not using the analogy
of a contest in the Olympic Games, but he is using an analogy of
a soldier, a Roman soldier. Many believe that Paul was maybe
looking at a Roman soldier when he wrote this passage of Scripture.
And he sees all of his equipment, And so he uses that to teach
us our responsibility as believers. And we are in a warfare. And
we experience afflictions and trials and the fiery darts of
Satan. And how are we to deal with these
things? Notice what he says, beginning
here in verse 13. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, not just one piece. It's all important. Take every piece. Wherefore,
take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able
to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,
the truth, the word of God, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We learn, and we learn, and we
hear. And I was speaking with Brother
Jim just before the service a few minutes ago, and he mentioned
to me that's the reason we need to continue to hear, because
we forget so soon. And so we need to hear the truth. Take unto you the truth. Gird
up your minds with the truth. and the breastplate of righteousness.
That's that imputed righteousness of Christ, to protect the heart
and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Those
Roman soldiers, they wore sandals. And the reason they did so is
because one method of warfare was setting those gins, those
stobs that would stab a person's feet. in a battle and that would
just decommission the soldier once his foot was harmed. The
preparation of the gospel of peace and above all, above everything
else he names here, taking the shield of faith wherewith you
shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and
take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer. I want you to look back to Isaiah
35, where we looked at that first verse that he quotes from. Isaiah
chapter 35. We read, when we turned here
a while ago, we read verse 3, strengthen you the weak hands
and confirm the feeble knees. But look down to verse 6 and
7. Then shall the lame leap as in
heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For in the wilderness
shall waters break out. Now water is most often in the
scripture a type, a symbol of God, the Holy Spirit. Remember
our Lord said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
And then John explains he was speaking of the Holy Spirit.
Water. 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 water. in the
habitation of dragons, where each lay shall the grass with
weeds and rushes. The Holy Spirit is promised as
we look to Christ. Philippians 119, the supply of
the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Now, let's go back to chapter
12 of Hebrews. So that's the first thing. Wherefore,
lift up the hands which hang down in 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. Looking
unto Christ. Looking unto him. Verse 14. Follow peace with all men and
holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Above This
verse, in verse one, we were told to lay aside certain things. And now we are exhorted to follow
after peace and holiness. And John Gill commented that
to follow peace signifies an eager pursuit after it. And follow peace and holiness. and eager pursuit after it in
the use of proper means, exerting the utmost of a man's power to
attain it in all things possible." You see those runners sometimes
in the race and they're just stretching their chest out as
far as they can to cross that finish line, you know, to win
the race. Pursuing exertion. Follow, pursue peace and holiness. And then, Mr. Gill, he gave us
several reasons to promote this. Three reasons. Follow peace,
he said. First, this is most agreeable
to God, to all persons of the Blessed Trinity. To God, who
is the God of peace. To Christ, who is the Prince
of peace. to the Holy Spirit. One of His
fruits is peace. Love, joy, peace. Number two,
this fits the character of saints. They are, we are, sons of peace. We have peace with God. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God. We are called
to peace. As much as is in you, live peaceably
with all men. And we profess the gospel of
peace. And number three, the privilege
of saints enjoy being interested in the covenant of peace. Did
you know that's one of the names of the everlasting covenant,
isn't it? It's a covenant of peace. Peace. How that men and women
like you and I, who by nature are rebels, enemies of God, How
it is through this covenant that God has brought into being, a
covenant He made with us in Christ, our head, we have peace, peace
with God. And not only that covenant of
peace, but we have spiritual peace tonight. We have peace
with God and we are entitled one day to enter into that eternal
peace. at eternal peace. We sang that
hymn just a few moments ago on Jordan's stormy banks, I stand
and cast a wishful eye. When we reach that other side
that Canaan was a picture of, a type of, where sorrow and sin
and sickness will be known no more. Amen? Place of peace. And then, not only to pursue
peace, but pursue holiness. And like peace, it is to lay
hold upon the gift of God, the promise of grace that is in Christ
Jesus. He's our peace. He made peace
for us through the blood of His cross. He's our sanctification. If that word sanctification signifies
holiness, Remember the high priest, he had that plate of gold on
his forehead which said, holiness to the Lord. Christ, our great
high priest, he is our peace. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Follow peace, follow holiness. to these Hebrews that he's writing
to, tempted to turn back to that old covenant, which the apostle
Paul calls the weak and beggarly elements, those shadows, those
ceremonies. No, don't turn back. Run with patience, the race that
is set before us. And then lastly, verses 15 and
17, Looking diligently, and he names
three, lest. Looking diligent, 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. As we look at these three areas
here, let's keep in mind whom they were at first written. That
is to these Hebrews who profess faith in Christ, who, and Christ,
remember, was the goal of the law. The Apostle Paul tells us
that in Romans chapter 10. The goal of the law is Christ. Now to turn back, they were being
pressured to go back. to those weak and beggarly elements,
the shadows and the pictures and the types. No. Let's run with patience. Lest,
he said, there be or lest anyone fail of the grace of God. Lest any man fail of the grace
of God. That begs the question. Can a
person, now listen to the question, can a person who experiences
the saving grace of God fail or fall from grace? Of course
not, of course not. But remember this, a person who
never experienced the saving grace of God only professed to
believe, yes, they might fail of the gospel of the grace of
God. But a person who truly experiences God's saving grace will never
fail of the grace of God. Number two, can a person who
truly believes in Christ have a root of bitterness in them?
What is that root of bitterness? Well, most people believe it
is unbelief. Unbelief. who truly believes,
that root is never gonna spring up and produce bitterness. But
a person who did not truly believe, who did not have faith, and I
thought about this this afternoon, the faith of God's elect, remember
this, it is a faith that worketh by love. It's not a dead faith. It's a faith when a person is
given faith in Christ That person loves Christ, wants to serve
Christ, does serve Christ. It's a faith that worketh by
love, the apostle Paul said. And can a child of God be like
Esau, a fornicator and a profane person? No. And I believe the
apostle uses this word fornicator here, not speaking of physical
adultery or fornication. Yes, believers should abstain
from that. We know that. But I believe he's
talking about spiritual fornication. He's using this word like it's
used so many times in the Old Testament and like James uses
it. If you turn over to James chapter
4, just a few pages further, In James chapter 4, when he said,
verse 4, you adulterers and adulteresses, he's not talking about physical
adultery, he's talking about spiritual adultery. Adultery
with the world. Know you not that the friendship
of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is an enemy of God. And a person who turns
away from the true gospel, of grace to a works gospel, embraces
a false god, and experiences spiritual adultery, a fornicator. He becomes a fornicator. And
the word profane must mean a person who puts little value on the
gospel of God's grace and he turns to another gospel, to a
gospel of words. That person, whoever he is, whoever
she is, is like Esau, as he is revealed to us in the scripture,
who for one marshal of meat sold his birthright. For one marshal
of meat sold his birthright. Now, I want to say something
here in closing, because I think sometimes people think that Esau
is the one who repented, but his repentance was not accepted.
It's not Esau here. Esau, yes, he wept, but it was
his father Isaac who would not repent. Jacob, yes, had tricked
him and got the blessing. And when Esau came in and wanted
the blessing, it's too late. His father Isaac would not repent. He would not change his mind.
Yes, he blessed him, but Jacob got the blessing of the firstborn,
just as God had determined before the children were born. I pray
that the Lord would bless these words and these thoughts tonight
and help us all to study his holy word. Let's sing a verse
or two of a hymn, Bill.