Don't Fall Short of The Grace of God

Before we look at Hebrews chapter 12, turn to Genesis chapter 25. Let's just read a few verses about one of the individuals that the writer of Hebrews is going to point to in the passage that we are looking at today. Notice beginning in verse 21.

And Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren, and the Lord answered him, and Rebecca, his wife, conceived. But the children struggled together within her, and she said, "If it is so, why then am I this way?" So she went to inquire of the Lord, and the Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two people shall be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger."

When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment, and they named him Esau. And afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding onto Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents. Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, but Rebecca loved Jacob. And when Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished, and Esau said to Jacob, "Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom, which means "red."

But Jacob said, "First, sell me your birthright." And Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die. So of what use then is this birthright to me?" And Jacob said, "First swear to me." So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Now if you will turn back to Hebrews chapter 12 and the text we want to look at today — as we're moving through Hebrews, we're just about to finish this book in the next few weeks. Hebrews chapter 12, beginning in verse 12, and remember the context that we saw last week: the writer of Hebrews has been encouraging them about the difficulties that they had faced, and explaining to them that these difficulties were not random but were rather a part of a loving father's discipline of their lives — to spur them on and to bring them to the point where he wanted them to be, in the image of Jesus Christ.

And so he goes on in verse 12: "Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled. That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears."

Let's bow in prayer for just a moment.

Our Father, as we approach you today, again we come with great expectation because of your great promises. We thank you for the Word of God. We thank you that you have given us the Word in order to do surgery in our lives, to work in our spirit and in our soul. And we pray today that you would do just that — that you would make this passage very practical to our lives as you unveil its meaning to us. We pray for the aid of the Holy Spirit in each of our lives, that you would change us even this morning. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Most of you have probably been watching some of the Olympics. I've been watching too much, I'm sure, but it's been interesting and enjoyable. This past week they had a little segment that was kind of a historical piece on the men's marathon. Did any of you see that? They showed some of these marathons through the years and what took place. They're always the last event of the Olympics, and sometimes there are really surprising results.

Back in the twenties — I believe it was an Italian runner — was in the lead, and you always wait, remember, after they've run over twenty miles, they come running into the stadium, the Olympic stadium, and there is this great cheer from the crowd as the leader comes in and runs to the finish line, and [normally he'd have a victory run — he has energy left?]. Well, on this particular occasion it was an Italian who was in the lead, and they were all waiting, anticipating him coming into the stadium, and the officials are all there to kind of guide him in the right direction.

And as he came into the stadium, he wasn't running — he was stumbling along. This man was literally exhausted. His hands were hanging down by his side, and he just barely was walking into the stadium. He was in a daze — you could tell that he was suffering from exhaustion, he was weak. He lacked oxygen in the brain because he couldn't even figure out where he was. And they tried to direct him in the right direction, and his knees were wobbling and he was just weaving from this side to that side. He was kind of going in the general direction, and he just fell in a heap — so exhausted he couldn't move on.

Well, that's the picture that we have here of the way that Christians can get in their Christian race. And you will have been in that place yourself, no doubt. There have been times in your Christian life when you felt just like that — that you were just about to give up. You were so exhausted, so weakened, that you were about to lose heart and bail out of the race.

And this expression that we read here in Hebrews chapter 12 — "drooping hands and weakened knees" — was a common expression in the time of the writing of this book, and even in the time of the Old Testament prophets, that described somebody who was literally exhausted. A person who was thoroughly exhausted and absolutely discouraged in the pursuit that they were in.

There's an interesting passage in one of the apocryphal books. This is not inspired — I want to let you know that. It's very sexist, but it is kind of amusing for men. It's probably not amusing for women, but listen to this description of what it takes to get a man to the place where he has drooping hands and weakened knees — that is, that he is exhausted and absolutely discouraged in life.

In Ecclesiasticus — and we don't believe that these are inspired, and these words certainly are [not] inspired; I just want to let you know that, ladies — he said: "Dejected mind, gloomy face, and a wounded heart come from an evil wife. Drooping hands and weak knees come from the wife who does not make her husband happy."

Now I don't have the guts to ask how many men could say "amen" — but I could probably get a few if they had any courage. That's one of the most discouraging things to a man, is to know that his wife isn't following along with him. Well, these people were having problems, but the cause was not their wives. The cause wasn't their mate. The cause was they were getting exhausted in the Christian race because of the circumstances around them. Their horizon was so filled with their circumstances, and they were so filled with discouragement, that many of them were about to fall out.

Well, I want you to know that the Christian life is much more difficult than a marathon. It is a long and arduous track that we are upon when you follow Christ. If you are thinking about becoming a Christian, I want you to know it's not a sprint. It's not just for a moment, but it's a lifetime. It's a lifetime pursuit of Jesus Christ, and those who are truly converted and come into a relationship with Jesus Christ are in for a lifetime — a lifetime run. And at times you can feel exhausted.

These people were becoming weary and they were feeling exhausted, and their knees were wobbling and they were wandering from side to side along this track. And he is concerned about them. This is a great tragedy and a very serious matter in the life of the fellowship of the saints, in the community of faith.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could run the race without ever getting tired? Well, listen to these words. Isaiah 40, verse 31 — to a people who are in danger of being exhausted, Isaiah says to the people of God: "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary, and they will walk and not become faint."

In the Christian race we should be as fresh at the finish line as we are at the starting line. That's the way this race is. It's exciting all the way along. If you are exhausted and weary, it's not because you have been running for such a long time — that is not the problem. It's a different kind of problem. You will discover that Christians who have been running this race for years and years and years, who are doing what the writer of Hebrews says, find great vitality as they run. And they are just as excited about the Christian life and the relationship with Christ as the day they started this race.

In the Christian race we need to stay fresh. These people weren't fresh. If you remember back in chapter 10, for example, the signs of exhaustion were everywhere. The attendance at the meetings of the saints was down. Remember chapter 10, verse 25? "Stop forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the habit of some is." One of the first signs of exhaustion in the Christian life — weariness — is that you don't like to meet with the saints anymore. And sometimes I think maybe before that, it's that you come late.

And you start this pattern. You plan on being here late, don't you — you that are late every week. You plan on it. Now it's not that you sit down with your wife or your husband and say, "Now let's always go to church late." It's just that you have this conspiracy between you that you're going to get there late. You start out late and you arrive late. You know why? Because you're getting exhausted. You're not full of vitality in the Christian life.

Now this is one of those matters of the Christian life that is least exhausting — meeting with the saints once or twice a week. But you know what it showed in this group, according to Hebrews 10? It showed that they were becoming exhausted — that their knees were wobbling, their hands were hanging down to the side — and they were having trouble making progress.

This book of Hebrews is an extended exhortation to Christians who are in danger of abandoning the race, falling short of the glory of God. Now all of these people had professed Christ. But some of them were in danger of getting so weakened and exhausted that they were making no progress. And others, though they had professed Christ, the writer of Hebrews warns that they did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

And in these warnings in this book, we have warnings to stir them up — to shake themselves and to recognize, to look at their hearts and ask themselves: Have you ever truly trusted Christ? Have you converted to a religion, or have you been born again? Have you come into a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through faith, or have you simply adopted a religion?

If you have adopted the Christian religion, I want to tell you — you're going to get tired. If you've come into a personal relationship with Christ, you're going to be tired at times. But if you've simply converted to Christianity, you're going to become so tired that you're going to abandon the race. Because you're going to come short — you have come short of the grace of God. All the Hebrews made profession, but there were some of them who did not possess eternal life because they had never personally trusted in Jesus Christ.

It's possible that there may be those in this congregation this morning who have made profession that they are followers of Christ, but who have never personally trusted in Christ. You see, Christianity is a relationship with Christ, and you need to ask yourself: Is he really personal to me? Is he real to me? Is Jesus Christ as real to you as your wife or your husband or your mother or your father or your child? Is your relationship a personal relationship with a person, or are you simply a convert of Christianity?

Christian ethics are absolutely supernatural. You cannot live them apart from regeneration and the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you — it is absolutely impossible. It is offensive to call people to live according to the ethics of the New Testament, because they are the ethics of an absolute commitment to Jesus Christ — to be so committed to Christ that you're willing, and you desire, to obey his personal commands rather than to give in to your personal lusts and desires. But you can't live up to that ethic without a supernatural transformation that takes place in your life.

That is what the writer of Hebrews is concerned about as he writes this letter. He is concerned about a church that has fallen under a pall of deadness and indifference about the things of God. That is exactly what's going on in the church in America. We live in a day when a pall of deadness and indifference about the things of God has fallen upon the church. Churchmen everywhere, leaders in churches everywhere, are telling us what we have to do in order to survive in this atmosphere — to tickle people's ears, to tell them things that they enjoy hearing, to talk to them about the practical issues of life, but don't talk about those things that are offensive, that drive them away. Things like a need for a Savior to die in your place and to shed his blood as he dies a violent death under the judgment of God, to pay for our sins that are that severe.

And the writer of Hebrews is concerned about the same thing. Our commitment as elders in this church is to see to it — as best we can, to watch out over this flock — that that kind of atmosphere does not develop here in this community of faith. It's a commitment that we have; we've been called to it. We want to encourage you that we're in a race. We want to be able to say, like Paul did in 2 Timothy 4, his last letter — he said, "I fought the good fight, I finished the course." We want to be able to say that. We want this congregation to be able to say that as we approach the end, the goal, the finish line.

Now, because of that, he gives three exhortations in this passage that we read in Hebrews chapter 12. And I want us to look at these and think about them and allow the Spirit of God to speak to our hearts, because I think every person in this room, including myself, needs what the Spirit of God is teaching us in this passage.

The first exhortation is this: get prepared.

Get prepared. Listen to these words, verses 12 and 13: "Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed."

You see, athletes in the games — just as they do today — had to have flexed arms and strong knees, and they had to be on the right path. These believers had grown weary. Are you weary?

Why were they weary? They were weary because of their circumstances. Their circumstances were not like ours, but I think we get weary because of our circumstances just like they did. We are smack dab in the middle of the most secularized world that this planet has ever known. We have such a buildup of human wisdom that we can explain all of reality without God. You live in a world that is constantly bombarding you with the theory that there is no God and that they can explain everything about reality without God. And you are continually bombarded with that — continually hit with it, drawn to a world that attracts you in so many ways.

In 1 John chapter 2, the whole design of the world is to get you to love something instead of loving God — to offer you objects of love to displace God as the one and only object of your sacrificial love, of your absolute love.

They were being bombarded by other things — by persecution, by people ostracizing them because they were Christians. I think some of us are beginning to feel that now. Some of us are a little bit timid about confessing that we are followers of Christ in certain situations, because it will cost us. And that is what they were experiencing, because they were becoming exhausted and weary.

And so in the first verses, 4 through 11, remember — he explains to them: you need to understand that the difficulties in your life are not accident. They are fatherly discipline to spur you on in this race.

And so now he begins to encourage them. What is the proper response to knowing that the difficulties in your life are not happenstance, but they are a part of the plan of a loving Father to spur you on? Is it a sulk? When you were disciplined as a child — if you had a father who loved you, he disciplined you. He may have spanked you with a razor strap. Those of you who are over forty-five or so, they still had those things. You may have been spanked with some other implement. It is amazing how our imagination grows. My kids tell me, when they describe the way I spanked them, it is hilarious. It is a hilarious thing to hear the description, because I inflicted a slight bit of pain but it sounds like incredible misery that they went through.

But if you have a father who loved you, he disciplines you. Now what is the proper response to fatherly discipline? Is it a sulk? Go crawl under the bed? Pout? Run away? He is going to tell them: the proper response is to strengthen your hands, lift up your hands, strengthen your knees, get back in the race.

And he does it by quoting two Old Testament passages. Let's look at them just a second. Isaiah chapter 35 — turn there for a moment. Isaiah 35. And notice what Isaiah says to a group of people who are in a very similar situation. Isaiah chapter 35, verse 1. Listen to these words:

"The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God."

In other words, the desert is going to be like a garden. It is going to be like Eden in this desert place that you find yourself in. He is giving them the promises of the messianic kingdom — there is a day of great blessing coming. Now, they were in misery at this point when he is writing this letter. They were in the poorest shape they had ever been as a people. And he is giving them the promises about the future, about the messianic kingdom, when righteousness is going to reign upon this earth. There is going to be joy and peace and a wonderful place to live and bring up your children.

Some of you are probably contemplating abandoning California because it is getting so bad, and you want to get into a state — preferably in the Northwest — where you can really raise kids up. And so we are all wanting to leave California. I want you to know, in the words of that theologian Bob Dylan, there will be no peace and wars won't cease until he returns. So you can flee to Idaho, but there is sin in Idaho. It doesn't matter where you go — you face the same kind of obstacles. But there is a day coming. We have great promises about the future when Messiah will reign and righteousness will cover the land.

You know, as you sit there — just like these people — you probably think, "Oh yeah, Isaiah, but those sound just like words. I kind of believe them, but they don't really help me with what I am going through today." You say those words, but then you think — on Monday I've got to go see the doctor, on Tuesday I've got to go to the DMV and renew my license, on Wednesday I've got to go see a lawyer about that lawsuit, on Thursday I have to talk to my boss and I don't know what in the world he is going to say to me. Maybe I am about to lose my job. Those words just don't have any significance to me. A messianic kingdom somewhere off in the future.

So you know what Isaiah did? He began to encourage them on the basis of this hope. He began to say: now this is how it relates to you today. This is how you ought to respond to the promises of God. Encourage the exhausted and strengthen the people — and these are the words that the writer of Hebrews quotes — and they literally say: "Encourage the slack hands and strengthen the tottering knees. Say to those with anxious hearts, take courage, fear not. Behold, our God will come with vengeance."

And they were under oppression at this time. He is going to come with vengeance against the enemies of God. "The recompense of God will come, but he will save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the Arabah."

Encourage your hearts. Live in response to the promises concerning the future. We are to be a future-oriented people.

And we get weary and exhausted in the Christian life. We are so tempted because we're so tired. I'm not talking about tired of life. I'm not talking about physical tiredness. I'm talking about spiritual exhaustion — when the commandments of Christ become burdensome. It's a burden to obey the will of God. It feels like a heavy weight when people tell me what God wants me to do. And my knees begin to buckle and my hands are hanging down to my side, and I can't seem to keep moving on in this Christian life. I want to just go out into the world. If it weren't for the pressure of my family and my church, I'd just abandon it all and just get out there and live it up — get all the gusto I can.

He says: lift up your hands, tighten up your knees, get on a straight path. The promises are true. It may be today. It may be today. We live in every generation in Christianity expecting that Christ could come today. So get your second wind. Lift up your hands. Strengthen your knees. Get back on the path.

And then he says we ought to do this because we know that we have the promises — that the promises of God must burn brightly in our hearts. When you get discouraged in the Christian life, one of the best things you can do is get to the Book and discover the promises of God. In Hebrews chapter 10, he's already said it won't be long, and he who is coming will come. And his reward is with him. He's coming.

You know what it's like — you can remember, at least you have some faint memory of those days, when the promises of God burned so brightly in your heart that they dominated your life, they filled your horizon. The promises of Jesus Christ. He says: fill your horizon with those promises again, and get on the move.

And then he quotes something else in connection with this. Turn back a few books to Proverbs chapter 4. And notice the context. Proverbs chapter 4 — right after the Psalms — Proverbs chapter 4, verse 25. He says to the young man who is being tempted to be distracted by so many things in the world: "Let your eyes look directly ahead. Let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right or to the left. Turn your foot from evil."

And he quotes this passage. You see, one of the dangers in the Christian life is that you are not an island. Your actions affect other believers. When you get in the Christian race and you are running the Christian race, you need to understand that there are people running beside you and behind you.

And you've seen some of these long-distance races at the Olympics — they get so boxed up. And if one of them loses pace, they can trip. Somebody tripped the other day in one of those races, and about three or four women fell down in this long-distance run. That's exactly what happens in the church of Jesus Christ. Believers are running along, they get weak in the knees, their hands are falling, they're getting exhausted. And they begin to wobble from this side to that side. And all the time they're just knocking people down this way and that way, and they're not even aware of it. It's as though they're totally oblivious to the fact that they've just wreaked havoc in the household of faith.

And I am convinced that most of us think that the way we live the Christian life has no effect on anybody but ourselves. We're wrong. You're wrong. If you have been abandoning the meetings of the saints, if you have been wobbling here and there in your Christian life, waffling on your commitment to Jesus Christ — mark it down: you have affected others in this race.

The Bible is clear. We're to walk in such a way that we do not become a stumbling block to fellow believers. Paul said in Corinthians that the way we exercise our liberty in Christ can be a stumbling block.

There's a great passage in 1 John. Turn with me over to 1 John chapter 2. And listen to what John says about this matter of stumbling other believers in the way we live the Christian life. He says in verse 9: "The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him." He's not stumbling anyone, because he's walking in the light. He's on the path. His knees are strong, his hands are lifted up, he's not wandering from here to there back and forth. He's going down the path. He's not stumbling anyone.

The only stumbling block that we are told to lay in the path of anyone is the stumbling block of the cross of Jesus Christ — when you tell a non-Christian: the only way you can have a relationship with God, who created you for himself, is for you to come to the one person who can save you, that's Jesus Christ, who died for your sins, was buried, rose again. And because of your sin you are separated from God — apart from him. And in order to have a relationship with this God who created you for himself, you must reach out with empty hands and receive Christ by faith. Not on your merits, but in spite of your demerits — you can reach out and receive this gift of salvation.

That's a stumbling block. Maybe you're here today and you don't know Christ, and that's offensive to you. The Bible said it would be offensive to you, because it says you're a sinner in need of a Savior. That's the only stumbling block we're supposed to lay in front of anyone. But we're to be careful about stumbling fellow believers. And when we are not prepared for the race — when our knees are wobbling and our hands are not lifted up and we're not running down the path — we're knocking people down here and there and we're not even aware of it.

You know the first people we knock down, don't you? You know the first ones that we are a stumbling block to, don't you? Your children. When we wobble here and there in the Christian life, the first ones that we stumble are our children, because they see a pattern. They hear the words that come out of your mouth, and then they see the contradiction in the life that you live. It's a great stumbling block. It's a fearful thing, isn't it? It's a fearful thing for me as a father to recognize that the way I live the Christian life affects others — and especially those close to me, who watch me up close and personal.

There's a second exhortation that he gives in verse 14. And that is: not only should you get prepared, but start pursuing.

Verse 14: "Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord."

"Pursue" is a very strong word. It's so strong it would be hard to find an equivalent English word to use in this passage. It's the word that's used of Paul in Galatians when he says, "I persecuted the church" — before he came to faith in Christ.

Now I've got to admit to you that sometimes when you study the Bible — I've been studying the Bible for a long time, a lot of years; I've been trying to teach the Bible for over twenty-five years — and I have quoted this passage so many times as support for some biblical principles that are true. But this verse is not talking about what I thought it was talking about. When you study this passage and study the context from which it is being quoted, you discover that the root of bitterness here is not what I thought it was.

He says we are to pursue these two things: peace and sanctification. The word "peace" here that he is talking about — that we are to pursue — is not subjective peace. It's not peace with one another, but it's the peace of God. It's the peace that Jesus Christ secured for us through his death on the cross.

Turn with me back to Ephesians chapter 2 for just a moment. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11. Listen to this: "Therefore remember that formerly you, the pagans" — and that's what the idea of 'Gentiles' means: those that are without God, far off from God, no connection to God — "you the pagans in the flesh, who are called 'uncircumcision' by the so-called 'circumcision,' that is, the Jews, which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you at that time — that is, before Christ — you were separate from the Messiah." And the idea of this is: you had no hold upon the promises of a Savior coming into this world and bringing peace to his people. You had no connection with that, no hold upon God. "You were separate from that," he says. "You were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel. You were strangers to the covenants of promise." God had covenants that he had made with his people, but we weren't in that covenant promise — they were not connected to us. "Having no hope, and without God in the world" — we were totally separate from God and separate from the blessings that he promised his people.

"But now — but now — in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one" — both Jew and Gentile. "And he broke down the barrier of the dividing wall." He's talking about the temple — there was a wall between the court of the Gentiles and the court where Jews could go in beyond that, into the very presence of God. But he says: we were on the outside. There was a dividing wall. We could never get close to God. He says that wall has been removed — and how? "By abolishing in his flesh the enmity" — which is "the law of commandments contained in ordinances" — "that in himself he might make the two, that is both Jew and Gentile, into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity." Now the enmity is that which stood between us and God — it was our sin, it was our falling short of the glory of God. He says that has been removed, because Christ has secured peace for us.

And so he says we are to pursue — hunt down — this peace that Christ has provided and given to us as believers. And the idea of "along with all" is not peace together with people, not peace with people, but along with all the believers. With all the saints we are to pursue peace. In other words: make this the goal of our life together as a community of faith. We are pursuing the peace that Christ has bought for us — the peace that we have with God and thus with one another.

And then secondly: the sanctification. This word "sanctification" sounds very religious, and some people, as soon as you say the word, their mind just goes — click. As soon as you use a word that is over two syllables, some people feel like you are really overwhelming them. Well, buckle down for a minute. Strengthen your knees, lift up your hands, engage your mind, gird up the loins of your mind as Peter says, and listen for a second.

What is sanctification? It means to make holy. What is "holy"? Holy means to be set apart for a particular use. Let me give you an example in everyday life. Most of you who drink coffee probably have a favorite cup — a coffee cup that's yours. That is sanctified for a specific use, especially if you are the only one who uses it. Maybe it has something like "World's Greatest Grandpa" on it. And nobody else uses that but you. That is sanctified to you — it is for your use.

Now if you ask your wife, "Connie, could you get me a cup of coffee?" — and she brings in a little bowl that says "Fluffy" on the side of it, and it has some cat hair around the edge, and she says, "Here is your coffee, dear" — you would say to her, "You've got to be crazy! I want my sanctified cup!" — my cup that has been set apart for me and me only. Like your toothbrush. There are certain things that are sanctified. They have a particular use. You don't use them to shine your shoes. Well, that is what he means. The sanctification is us being set apart for God.

Now God is holy because God is absolutely pure. He is set apart from anything unlike himself. In bed last night — I am going to get off track here, but let me tell you. Last night I was lying in bed. I just crawled into bed; it was about ten o'clock. And as I lay there I was praying, and I got to thinking about God being holy — God being holy. You know, in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus says we are to pray, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name" — in other words: let people reverence your name, see your name as being holy, see you as being holy. Let your reputation — let me live in such a way that your reputation would be what you really are: holy.

And I began to think about God being holy. That he is unpolluted. That there is not even a speck of uncleanness in him. There is not a speck of wrong motivation in him. You know, every relationship you have on earth is with a person who is not absolutely holy. Every relationship you have on earth is with a person that can fail you — a person that, when you get real close, you can see flaws. But you that have trusted Christ — you have a relationship with a heavenly Father who is holy. Set apart from all evil. Set apart from anything that is unclean or unlike himself. Isn't that wonderful? And he is making you holy. He is setting you apart for himself, for his use.

There are four different ways the word "sanctification" is used in Scripture of the believer.

There is what we could call preparatory sanctification — when the Spirit of God begins to work in the life of a non-Christian and he begins to set him apart unto faith. It begins to work in his life, it begins to plow up his heart and open his eyes. That is called in the New Testament a kind of sanctification — the sanctification of the Spirit to believe in the truth.

Then there is positional sanctification. And positional sanctification is this perfect sanctification that I possess because I am in Jesus Christ. When God saved me and I became identified with Christ, I was clothed with the holiness of Christ in God's eyes. When God looks at me, he sees someone who is as holy as Jesus Christ. Now that is not what my wife sees, and that is not what you see — but it is what God sees. And it is what he sees in the life of every single person who is in Christ. You are positionally holy in the eyes of God. Set apart completely unto God and for his purposes.

Then there is progressive sanctification. That is, God is at work in our lives. We are told, for example — in 1 Corinthians, or rather in Romans chapter 6 — that there is a process of sanctification going on in our lives, so that God is working in us to change us so that we are more and more and more available to him, and more like him, and more able for him to use as he sees fit. That is progressive sanctification.

And then there is perfect, or prospective, sanctification. In the future I am going to be transformed into the very image of Christ. And all the unholiness and sinfulness of my life is going to be absolutely removed, and I will be just like Jesus Christ.

Now which one is he talking about here? Well, we know which one. And the reason we know is because of the construction of this word — it has a little article on it. You notice it is "the sanctification." And that tells us that he is referring to something in the context. It is called an article of previous reference. Well, about three verses before this, he says that he has done something in our lives so that we could come to be partakers of his holiness — the holiness of Christ. And so we know he is saying: pursue the holiness that you have been given, because you are in Christ.

We are to get back in the race, and what we are to pursue is the peace that he has given us with God and with one another, and the holiness with which he has clothed us. I don't think it takes a genius to figure out what he is talking about. When we ask, well — how do we do that? What is there in your life that is an indication that you are on the hunt for the peace and the holiness that Christ has provided through his death, and through that being given to you?

I want you to know that there is no other clothing that will make you fit to stand in the presence of God. Nothing else will make you fit to stand in the presence of God except to be a partaker of the holiness of Jesus Christ.

I have a great fear in my life that I have had over the last several years — and that is that there are more people within the community of faith who have never personally trusted Jesus Christ than I ever thought. I think some of our theories about why people make starts for Christ and then abandon him — and they consider the things of God profane, and they are not interested — we think somehow we just got a massive amount of carnality. I think we have a massive amount of people who have never personally trusted Christ. They have gotten into the Christian community and they follow along with Christians, but they never personally, by faith, appropriated Christ.

And that is why I want to exhort you this morning. We need to strengthen our knees, lift up our hands, get on the path, and pursue peace and the holiness. This community needs to be characterized — this community of faith, this church, Grace Bible Fellowship — needs to be characterized by a pursuit of the peace of Christ and the holiness of Christ, in such a way that those who have never trusted him would begin to have it dawn on them: I don't have the goods. I have never really trusted Christ. There is something here more than just a club to belong to. There is something more here than just a religion to take on. These people have a relationship with Christ which I don't have. That would be the greatest favor you could do to a person who thinks he is a Christian and who is not — for them to begin to see reality in our lives.

And that's what he is telling them to do. Do you have the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord? If you have believed on Jesus Christ, you have it. But if you have not believed on him — if you have not come to personal trust in Christ, if you have not come into a relationship with Christ as intimate as your personal relationship with your spouse ought to be — then you don't have that holiness. Pursue holiness.

The last exhortation that he gives is in verses 15 through 17. Listen to this — it is to remain vigilant.

I hope you understand that these appeals are based upon the text of Scripture, not my personal journey. What I'm saying to you is not because I'm somehow irritated and worked up — it is because the text says it. This is the message of this text. Listen to these words: "See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled. That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it with tears."

That little expression "see to it" is literally the word for being a bishop. It's a participle. It says: be exercising oversight, be acting as bishops, overseeing yourselves. Now, oversight — being a bishop — is the primary function of an elder. That's what we are called to do: to oversee the flock, to exercise oversight. But it's the responsibility of all believers. That means you don't have the right to watch a brother or a sister in Christ flounder and get weak and not make progress — to see them wandering off the path — and never make a move to do anything about it. We don't have that right. We have a responsibility to one another.

And he says the responsibility is that we have to be on the lookout for what he describes in three ways. These are very picturesque — they ought to capture our attention. Here are the things to look out for, the things that are dangerous in the household of faith that will wreak havoc in local churches. This local church, in its history, has gone through a great upheaval, and the reason for that upheaval was this very thing that the writer of Hebrews is talking about.

Now listen to what he says. First of all, we have to be on the lookout for those within our community who do not come all the way into grace — who fall short of the grace of God. The idea of "coming short" here means to be excluded from something because of neglect. It's your failing to enter into something that is your privilege, that's been offered to you, but because of your neglect you don't enter in. It's a careless, unbelieving response to the gospel. Back in chapter 10, verse 39, he says there are those among you who are drawing back unto destruction. He says: watch out. We have a responsibility to stay on the lookout in our life as a fellowship, that there aren't those in our fellowship who are not entering into the grace — who are falling short of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. They haven't come to the place of personal trust in Jesus Christ, but they feel comfortable in this community of faith.

Second, he describes in this way those who would lead others into apostasy. Now, this is what I was talking about a while ago. This idea of "root of bitterness" — I've always quoted this passage to picture the danger of bitterness in your life. But that's not what he's talking about here in this context. The reason we know that is he is quoting Deuteronomy chapter 29. I'm going to have you look back there. I know I've been running you all over the Bible, but turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 29 — fifth book in the Bible. Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 17. Listen to this context.

Let me go back to verse 14 and then I'll just skip a little bit. He says in verse 14: "Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God, and with those who are not with us here today." Then notice down in verse 18: "Lest there shall be among you a man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Lest there shall be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood" — and that is the expression right out of the Septuagint. This is "the root of bitterness" — a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.

He's talking about apostasy. He's talking about — not bitterness with one another, although that will be a product of it — but bitterness toward God, a bitterness that comes out of our lives because we turn away from God and begin to worship other gods. He's warning us against apostasy. If we tolerate, if we overlook, if we fail to care enough about people within our midst who have not come into the grace of God, and we don't deal with that — we don't treat each other like members of a fellowship of grace — he says the next thing that's going to happen is there's going to be this root of bitterness, that there are going to be individuals who begin to become apostate and who begin to try to lead others into their apostasy.

This is the reason that elders must be men of the Word of God. A man has to be a man of the Word in order to be an elder. It's not that he knows how to run a business or that he has great wisdom in the world — it is that he is a man of the Word, because elders have to be able to know the difference between what is apostasy and what is not apostasy. They have to be able to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy doctrine. They have to know the difference between what is sound and what is just sensational. They have a responsibility — they have to be men who bring everything back to the touchstone, the Word of God.

Now, we are committed to this book, and I want you to know that you can always call us to account. You can always come to us and say, "Wait a minute, this is what the Bible says. What are you going to do about what the Bible says?" We make this commitment to you: if what the Bible says is unpopular, we will do what is unpopular. If the Bible says we must do what nobody else thinks we ought to do, we will do what the Bible says we have to do. Because if a root of bitterness springs up within this flock, it will defile many.

We have to be on the lookout as elders and as an entire congregation. And then he describes one last thing and picks out an individual. He says: those who are unfaithful and godless — like Esau. Esau is a perfect illustration of what the writer of Hebrews has been talking about in this book, back in chapter 6 — about those who have made a commitment, who are under the external elements of the covenant, but who have no personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Some of you may wonder what in the world I'm worked up about. I'm worked up about the fact that in the church today, in the evangelical community, we have local churches who don't even demand that a person has been regenerated, born again, has a personal relationship with Christ, in order to serve in the local church. That is absolute insanity.

He says: watch out that there be no unfaithful and godless person like Esau — a man whose apostasy was irrevocable, as we read back in Genesis chapter 25. Many of you parents — I know Pam is in labor right now; perhaps she's delivered this baby, but she's in the midst of delivering a baby — many of you, we've had babies born this past year, and especially my favorite was born this past year. It's a wonderful thing when parents have that first sign of life.

Remember what it was like when you felt your firstborn move inside of you, and the excitement that brought — this exciting thing, wasn't it? Well, this woman, Rebecca, she felt the movement, but instead of being an exciting thing, it was a very difficult thing. Because it says they struggled together within her, and it's a very strong phrase in the Hebrew — it means there was a violent internal commotion going on. One translator says they crushed one another within her. Here are these two little boys inside of their mother, and they're fighting with one another.

And so she goes to God, and God gives her this word: the reason for it is, there are two nations within you, two peoples, and they're going to be at war, and the younger is going to rule over the older. And you know the story about the birth. When Esau comes out he's red and hairy all over, and so they call him hairy little Esau — and there's kind of a play on words. It'd be like calling a guy "Larry" because he was hairy. That's the idea — the word "Esau" is a wordplay on the Hebrew word for "hairy." And then after hairy Esau comes Jacob, and because Jacob had his hand on the heel of Esau, they called him "heel-y" — because that's what Jacob means: a grasper of the heel, a guy that supplants, who trips you up. So you had little Esau and little Jacob.

And it says as they grew, Esau was Isaac's favorite son because he was a man of the field, and Isaac loved to eat wild meat, and Esau loved to go out and hunt it and bring it home. And he was a big, burly kind of guy — athletic, an outdoorsman. Everybody likes an outdoorsman. He was a hunter and a fisher, a strong guy with rippling muscles, and everybody liked him. And you would have liked him. He would have been your favorite too.

And then there was Jacob. And Jacob, it says, was the kind of guy who sat in the tent and read the scrolls. He was a student, he was kind of a refined kind of guy. It wasn't that he was weak, but he had different interests.

And you remember one time Esau came in from the field. He had been out hunting all day and was red from exhaustion — he already had red hair, and he's beet red. He comes in absolutely exhausted, and Jacob is there. And Jacob is not only a reader but he's a chef, and he can really cook — and he especially makes a bowl of pottage. It says he made some lentil soup. Now there are all kinds of pictures here. This lentil soup, when these lentils were cooked, became red — kind of a brownish-red.

And so Esau walks up, and here Jacob is just calmly stirring his lentil soup, and his brother walks up absolutely exhausted, about to collapse. And he says, "Give me some of that red stuff." And Jacob says, "Give me your birthright — I'll pay a bowl of lentil soup for your birthright." Esau says, "What good is the birthright to me? I'm about to die." And Jacob says, "Swear to me." Esau says, "I swear to you — I'll give it to you." So for a little bowl of lentil soup, he sells the birthright.

And you've got to understand there's something more here than being the inheritor of the inheritance of Isaac. This is a covenant relationship. This is a spiritual reality that he possessed — he possessed the birthright. He was the one who was in line to be in the line of Messiah. He was the one who stood, according to the promises of God, to bring the blessings of Jehovah upon the earth through Messiah coming to reign upon the earth. There were promises connected to this birthright — the promises of being a man of great blessing through God.

He says: I don't care about these promises of God. I care about my belly. I care about fulfilling this immediate desire that I have right now. And so he sells this incredible spiritual inheritance for a bowl of lentil soup.

Why did he do it? Why did he do such a foolish thing? Was he a drunkard? No, he wasn't a drunkard. Was he a wicked man? No, the Bible doesn't say he was a wicked man — he was admired. What was it? Was he evil? No, the Bible doesn't say he was evil. He was upright, a likable kind of guy. But you know what the Bible says he was? He was immoral and he was godless.

You look at that and you say, "Oh, he ran around with women." No, that's not what it means. There's no indication that he was sexually immoral. He was immoral in the sense of James chapter 4. He was immoral just like believers can be immoral today — spiritually. When James says, "You adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Don't you know that if you begin to love the world like you should only love God, that you are committing spiritual adultery — that you're [climbing into bed] with the enemy of God?" This man was immoral. He was spiritually immoral because he didn't love God or the things of God.

And not only that, but he was godless. The idea of "godless" here — this word means "profane." Not a cusser, not somebody who swears up and down, but somebody who is irreligious, who is secular in their thinking, who doesn't consider the things of God worth anything. Everything about his life was preoccupied with his own personal gratification. He cared about his need at the moment, fulfilling the desire that he had at that moment — not the things of God.

You see, people who are prepared to turn their backs on that which is holy in order to focus their attention on that which is immediate are profane in the eyes of God. They are indifferent to the things of God. Indifferent — what an affront to the living God, to be indifferent to his promises, to be indifferent to his gifts. And he is the prototype of all those who throw away the eternal in order to grasp the temporal — who get their lives caught up in things that are temporal, that are going to pass away, that have no lasting value. They have no time for the things of God. They are indifferent to the things of God.

Turn with me to one other place. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. I want to show you how serious this is in our lives. Listen to this. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 22: "If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed." Let me explain to you what this means.

The word "love" here is the word phileo. You have heard people talk about the difference between agape love and phileo love and storge and these different ones. The word phileo — we get the word "Philadelphia," the city of brotherly love, from it. Phileo love is an affection brought out of the heart because of the pleasure that the object produces. In other words, it is loving somebody because they bring you great pleasure. Now that is not evil — we are told to have an affection for God that way, to find pleasure in him.

This verse says: if we have a person in our fellowship who does not find pleasure in Jesus Christ, we ought to treat them like they have a curse on them. They are profane. They are like Esau. They are indifferent to the things of God. They have no value for them. They don't value heavenly things. They don't value the salvation that Christ purchased with his own blood. "If anyone does not have affection for the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema."

And then notice what he adds: "Maranatha." Do you know what that means? The Lord is coming. The Lord is coming. Don't waste your time running with people who want you to enter into their profanity — their lack of love for Jesus Christ. They want you to get all caught up in things that displace a love for the God of heaven. That is profane.

Indifferent to the things of God — they mean nothing to them. They meant nothing to Esau. The one difference between Esau and Jacob. And I think if you read that story honestly, you would have to say, "You know, I like Esau better than I do Jacob." But you know what was different about Jacob? He was a crook — he was a conniver. But he believed the promises of God. That was what was different about him. He believed the promises of God. Esau said, "What profit is this birthright to me now?" You ever felt like that? What profit is this Christianity to me now? What profit is this relationship with Christ to me now, in this situation?

Watch out, he says, for those in your fellowship who would rise up in the fellowship — who are profane, who are indifferent to the things of God.

Now let me share something from my heart at this point. What scares me most is that we have Christians with children who have never taught their kids seriously about the things of God.

[Recording ends.]