Supporting One Another

Transcript

GR 1721
04/13/2014
Supporting One Another
Hebrews 12:12-17
Gil Rugh

I direct your attention to Hebrews 12. We've been going through the book of Hebrews and we're moving toward the conclusion. This is a letter written to Jewish believers in a local congregation, a local church, going through struggles and trials and it's wearing some of them down. Some of them are thinking maybe a return to Judaism would be an easier way. The letter to the Hebrews is written to explain that the focal point of God's work in salvation is His Son Jesus Christ. In fact all that God is doing in the world to bring sinners to His salvation is centered in Jesus Christ. There is no other way, there is no other salvation. Jesus emphasized this during His earthly ministry. One of the most familiar accounts during Christ's earthly life was when He met the man Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a religious leader in Israel, a teacher, and he came to visit Jesus one night. And he complimented Jesus but he wasn't sure who is this man. Then Jesus confronted him with a statement that confused Nicodemus. He said to Nicodemus, “for I say to you unless one is born again he will never see the kingdom of God.” Unless you are born again you will never see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus says, “how can this be? I can't go back in the womb and be born again.” But Jesus is stressing, it takes a new birth. You must be made new by the power of God if you are ever to enjoy the glory of God's presence throughout eternity.

Later the well-known Apostle Peter would write a letter to a group of Jewish believers and he would say to them, “you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable but imperishable. You have been born again by the living and abiding Word of God.” That's in 1 Peter 1.

We came into this section in Hebrews in chapter 11 and in verse 6 we were told, but “without faith it is impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” The emphasis throughout this letter called the letter to the Hebrews has been there is no other way of salvation but by coming to recognize your sin and guilt, recognizing that God sent His Son to this earth to be born into the human race, to come and suffer the events of the week that is before us, climaxing with His crucifixion on the cross and His subsequent resurrection from the dead. That is the only way of salvation. Religion is not a way of salvation, practicing the Mosaic Law, keeping the Ten Commandments, doing your best is not a way of salvation. There is only one way of salvation, you must be born again. And you are born again by believing the message of the God that you must believe and what He promises. He promises all who place their faith in His Son will experience His salvation.

What he is doing is writing to encourage those who have professed their faith in Christ to keep on going. Even as the children of God trials, pressures, difficulties, persecution come into our lives. Believers experience sickness, financial problems, family troubles. We're not immune to the difficulties of this life, but sometimes we begin to wear down. And being a believer can only maybe seem to make it worse. So he is writing to encourage them to keep on. In fact he tells them you have no choice if you have truly placed your faith in Christ, but to keep on, be faithful.

So in Hebrews 12 where we have been focusing our attention, in verses 4-11 he explained to them, when you were born again, he used the terminology from John and Peter, you became a member of God's family. God became your heavenly Father. You are not a child of God, you do not have God as your Father until you are born again, born into God's family. And when you have trusted Christ, you've been born into His family, now He is your heavenly Father. And it is necessary for Him, as the Father who loves us and intends to develop us to maturity as His children, to discipline us, to bring those things into our lives which though they may seem for a time to be unpleasant and painful are for the purpose of helping us to grow to maturity. And he used the comparison with a physical family and a physical father with physical children. And as a father with children, because you love your children you discipline them. You want to bring structure and order to their lives so that they develop and mature into confident adults. That's what God is doing with us spiritually, he says.

It's a characteristic of discipline that it's not pleasant. Hebrews 12:11, “all discipline for the moment does not seem to be joyful but sorrowful.” This is a characteristic of discipline. The trials that come into our lives as God's children, there are no accidents. There are no it's too bad that happened, it's too bad the situation or the circumstances did not work out differently. All things would have been so much better for them if . . . No. Remember Romans 8:28. “All things work together for good.” Why? “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who have been called by God to Himself.” So He is sovereign. Whether it's persecution as these Jews had experienced, some of them we saw had been in prison, some had lost their earthly possessions. Other things come into our lives—sickness, problems. There are no accidents for us as God's children. In that sense there are no tragedies. Only the hand of a loving heavenly Father bringing into the course of my life that which is necessary for me to mature and grow. That's true for us personally as God's children and that's true for us as a church family.

So in light of that understanding of God's purpose in discipline, he's going to give them words of encouragement and words of warning. Beginning with verse 12 he'll give three words of encouragement, positive encouragement for them to do. And then he'll follow that with three words of warning. It's a serious thing to stop short of the saving grace of God. That can happen even in a church comprised of professing believers.

You'll note verse 12 begins with therefore. Therefore in light of all we've said about the work of God and His salvation, therefore what we've now come to understand that the trials and the pain and the suffering that we have gone through and continue to go through are not accidents. They are not frustrating God's plan, nor do they indicate that God has forgotten about us or doesn't care. Rather they are indicative of His love for us, His care for us, and His desire to bring us to maturity so that, the end of verse 10, “we may share in His holiness;” the end of verse 11, “we might produce the fruit of peace and righteousness in our lives.” Therefore what are we to do?
He's going to return to the athletic metaphor that started Hebrews 12. In Hebrews 12:1 he said we ought “to lay aside everything that hinders us and run with endurance the race that is set before us.” That last statement, “run with endurance the race that is set before us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.” Now he is going to come back to that athletic analogy or picture. In verse 12 he says, “therefore strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble.” This is an idiom that had become commonplace—strengthening the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble. It's a picture that we are familiar with. The hands just hanging limp like there is no life, the knees, that flex, we sometimes think of it as an older person or a person in this analogy at the end of a race. All their energy is gone, they hardly have the strength to straighten their legs, their hands are just hanging there. It's like they wouldn't have the strength to lift a bottle of water if they had to. All the energy and strength is gone out of them. That's the picture here. It's drawn from the Old Testament. This picture has been around a long time.

Job lived about 2,000 years before Christ and it was used in one of Job's friends addressing him. Come back to Job, this is just a side trip, Job 4. And Eliphaz, Job is going through some very painful situations. He has seen all of his children die in one day, he has lost his wealth, his world has come apart. And verse 3, Elphaz says to him, “behold you have admonished many,” now note this, “you have strengthened weak hands.” Your words have helped the tottering to stand, you have strengthened feeble knees. See that picture of the weak hands and the feeble knees. Two thousand years before the letter to the Hebrews was written, that was used as an idiom, a picture of someone who just doesn't have an ounce of strength left. Elphaz says to Job, “you were used to strengthen people in that condition.” Then he rebukes him, now you are going through it and you are impatient, you are dismayed. And he reminds him,”don't you fear God? Don't you believe He is in charge?”

But the reference we have from Hebrews is taken from Isaiah 35. Isaiah is writing probably 1300 years or so after Job and yet the same idiom is used. And I want you to see in Isaiah 35 the context because it's the same context we have in the book of Hebrews. The context of Isaiah 35 is the coming kingdom that Christ will some day establish on the earth. The first verse is”the desert will bloom like the rose,” as the King James has it, or the crocus that is translated in some of our more modern editions. It will blossom profusely. Then the end of verse 2, “they will see the glory of the Lord and the majesty of our God.” That's what God has promised. Remember the book of Hebrews has said you keep your eye on the goal, what God has promised will be the ultimate of your faithfulness to Him. Glory in His presence, sharing in the kingdom that He will establish. The race is not over, you can't quit yet. So here he tells them and reminds them of the glory of this coming kingdom. Then he says in verse 3, “encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble.” And most of you probably have in the margin the literal translation of that word exhausted is encourage the slack hands, strengthen the tottering knees. This is the same expression we saw in Job, the same expression we have in Hebrews. Then he goes on, say to those with anxious heart, “take courage, fear not, God will come and He will save you. Then the eyes of the blind are opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame will leap because there is no sickness, there is no disease, there is no death in the kingdom that He will establish.”
What's he saying? It's like you are there, I just don't think I can keep going, I just don't think I have it in me to . . . The race is not over. You may think that you are all out of gas, all out of strength, but He is the One who is our strength, He is our enablement. Strengthen those limp hands, strengthen those weakened knees. He provides what He commands us to do and go forward. You know what happens, we've talked about it repeatedly in Hebrews, we look at the suffering, we look at the pain, we look at what is taking place and what is before us. I don't think I can face anymore, I just don't think I can do it. Wait a minute, lift your eyes up and look where you are going, look at the glory He has prepared for us who love Him. That's what motivates you, that's what gives us strength. So the same encouragement.

Come back to Hebrews, and as you come into Hebrews stop in Hebrews 10. When he says strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, that's not just an encouragement for the individual, but it's an encouragement for us as a church to be an encouragement to one another. And he has already dealt with this in Hebrews 10:23,” let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Now note this, there is the goal, we hold fast because we believe God will do what He promised and I will reach that ultimate goal. “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.” We are to help motivate other believers to be faithful and diligent in their service for the Lord. “Not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Every day brings us closer to the fulfillment and realization of what God has promised. I keep focused on that, and I want to encourage others. Some are going through in our congregation more difficult trials than others are. We gather together so we encourage one another, just being here is an encouragement. People look and say, there is so-and-so, what an encouragement it is to see them here. I know they are going through trials, but they are here, they are faithful. That motivates me to want to be faithful. It's just not all about me. We think some had given up coming to be part of the fellowship of believers in the local church. He says you can't do that. How are you going to encourage one another, motivate one another to love and good deeds if you are not together. We are a family so I don't come just to think, what will I get out of it? I'm not interested in this. No. Lord, use me today in lives. And it goes on in the body all the time. People get sick, others step in to help—clean houses, prepare food, spend time with people discouraged to talk with them, encourage them, let them know you are praying for them. All these things go on to help us keep going, help us keep going. We encourage one another. That's part of the ministry of the body. Just like you do in your physical family. A member of the family is going through a difficulty and what do you want to do? We want to encourage them, you talk with them, you remind them of God's faithfulness and so on. That's what we do in God's family.

Come back to Hebrews 12. That's the first positive encouragement—strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble. In verse 13 you have the second positive encouragement or exhortation. Therefore, verse 13, “make straight paths for your feet so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Make straight paths for your feet.”

Now that's a verse that comes out of Proverbs so we have to go back to Proverbs, Proverbs 4. Now these are Jewish believers so they would be saturated with their Scripture like we as God's people are to be saturated. Think about it, we have cross references in our Bible and aren't they wonderful? You can look in your cross reference and see that directs me back here. Think of what this church was like that the letter to the Hebrews was written. They not only didn't have cross references, they didn't have their own copy. Think about it here, if you just came and gathered this morning and I was going to read you the letter to the Hebrews, maybe have comments about it but you didn't have a copy to take home. They didn't. So we are blessed, we can go back and read Proverbs for ourselves.

Proverbs 4:25, verse 23, “watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life.” Verse 25,” let your eyes look directly ahead, let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.” This is the same idea of running the course that God has set before us. Then the next statement, “watch the path of your feet.” That's what he is talking about, make straight paths for your feet. Stay on the road, stay on the path, keep on the track, don't turn to the right or the left. Turn your foot from evil. That's the context here that we have back in Hebrews when he says, make straight paths for your feet so the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint but rather healed. For ourselves and as we minister to one another, we want to help keep one another on the track, running the race.

Some of you have read Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. If you haven't I encourage you to. But in that there is an account of Christian and he is on the path that God has set before him, but along the way he got off the path. And not far because you start off the path, initially you are right there and you can look over and see the path. But over time do you know what happened? He couldn't see the path anymore and he couldn't even remember, how do I get back on the path?

Sort of the picture we have here. You run the race, stay on the track. You get off, you run and you step in a hole, you trip over a boulder. You have to stay on the track. Run the race as we started in the opening verses, “that God has set before you,” what He has set before us as a church. “So make straight paths for your feet so the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint but rather healed.” So we have people struggling, the answer is not get off track. We want to help believers stay on track even as they are going through difficult times. And it's a responsibility we have. We want to stay on track so that we are the encouragement and the example for them to stay on track. We're not just concerned about ourselves, we're concerned about others. So important that we realize that mutual responsibility. We are God's family, we are responsible for one another. And the person who has a lame leg is struggling to keep going because this particular trial has weakened them. They have believers that come along, we're staying on the track, we're going to help you stay on the track. We are going to be there with you, get you through the rough spots, so to speak.

So the second thing . . . First we “strengthen the hands that are weak” and so on, secondly, we “make straight paths for the feet.” And thirdly, we are to “pursue peace,” verse 14, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. “Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” Do you know what problems do? They begin to divide the body and create conflict. Romans 12:18 says, if possible so far as depends on you, be at peace with all men. There is a sense in which we as believers want to live at peace with the world, with unbelievers. I want to have a peaceful relationship with my neighbor, I want to be a good neighbor, I want to be positive toward them. I don't want to do things that create conflict. If they take care of their lawn, I want to hire somebody to take care of mine. So we want to live at peace with all men.

But the context here, he is talking about particularly all men in the framework of believers. The context makes that clear as he joins it with the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. Differences of opinion and believers who are struggling who are not as mature, conflict can come. Remember when Paul wrote to the Romans he wrote about this, the weaker brother and the stronger brother. And the weaker brother was critical of the stronger brother for what he did, and the stronger brother was critical of the weaker brother for what he didn't do. And the body is divided. And let me read you from the verse in the middle of that section in Romans 14:19. “So let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.” He had to give the same instruction to the church at Corinth because of the division among the weak and the strong. So we want to be careful, we don't disdain someone who is weak and they are struggling, they are having a hard time to keep going. We become critical of them, they become critical of people who are not paying enough attention to help them. And the body and the family get split. We want to pursue, and that's a strong word denoting intense pursuit. Our desire here is strong, we want the family of God to be united, not at all costs. That's going to become clear here, we've seen through Hebrews as well. But we are making every effort to have peace in the body, to encourage peace.

We are pursuing peace and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. You are familiar, the word sanctification, the word holiness, the word saint come from the same root Greek word. Perhaps the simplest way we think of it is the idea is to be separate or set apart. So holiness, you are holy when you are set apart from sin, you've been sanctified when you have been set apart from sin by God. You are a saint because you are one set apart, you are holy. Up in Hebrews 12:10 we were told that “our earthly parents disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but God disciplines us for our good so that we may share His holiness.” So down in verse 14, “we are to pursue the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

You know we have holiness, peace and righteousness in Christ. Back up to Hebrews 10. We don't acquire these things by our effort. We acquire them through faith in Christ and the salvation God has provided. In Hebrews 10:10, “by this will we have been sanctified. We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Now in Hebrews 12 we are told to pursue sanctification. Then in Hebrews 10:14, “for by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified, those who have been made holy.” We become children of God through faith in Christ, this is back to the born again. “Then we become partakers of the divine nature” as 1 Peter 1 tells us. We've talked about this. Now we are to be developing to maturity by the expressing of that holiness, that peace, that righteousness. We grow. It's like the baby born into the family, it's all there but now it must be developed and matured. So that's what we are in God's family. So he is disciplining us—bringing trials, bringing difficulty into our lives—for good purposes, so that we may share His holiness. It may become more and more characteristic of us. And without holiness no one will see the Lord. We've talked about the faith you place in Christ begins at a point but it has no ending. “The just shall live by faith.” That's not just we enter into life by faith and now we just go on to struggle through our life. That's the beginning of a life lived trusting God and His Word.

So it is we have been sanctified, we have partaken of His holiness. And now more and more. What do we see? Children, babies born, they say he is cute. Doesn't he look like this member of the family. No. Every baby looks like a wrinkled, bald old man. I go and Marilyn says, aren't they cute? Don't you think he looks like . . .? He looks like a baby. I watched our firstborn being born and I came to church and people said, what did you think of seeing the birth? I said, it's like watching a bad car accident. Everybody has a different view of these things. I could never have been a medical doctor. I thank the Lord for them, but not me. But what happens as these children grow? You see characteristics in them, they start to walk like their parents, they use the same gestures like their parents, they have the same mannerisms, they develop some of the same features. I joke, I look in the mirror now that I am 71 and I say, it's like my dad is looking back at me. How did I get here?

Now we transfer this to the spiritual world, what do I do? More and more people are to see in me the character of God, His holiness, His righteousness. And without that they'll never see Him. You don't belong to Him. It's not you earn it, you have it when you place your faith in Christ. But if you have really placed your faith in Christ and you are a child of God, now you have to live differently. And we are motivated to apply the energy because we realize we are children of God.

Turn over a few pages to 1 Peter 1 and note what God says, same kind of context as Hebrews. Verse 13,”prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Christ.” Same thing, we are constantly reminded in Scripture, “keep your eye on the goal, the grace that will be brought to you when Christ appears in glory. As obedient children don't be conformed to the former lusts which are yours in ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior. Because it is written,” and he quotes from Leviticus 11, “you shall be holy for I am holy.” That's God's standard for His children. You've been born into My family so that you might manifest My character. And the more you mature, the more My character is evident in you, and suffering and trial and difficulty. That's why James could write, “count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into multi-faceted, multi-colored trials, knowing that this testing of your faith produces endurance.” You are being molded and shaped by the hand of a loving heavenly Father. You don't rejoice because you like pain, you like suffering, you rejoice because you see the hand of God and His love for you in preparing you for the glory of His presence for eternity. So without holiness no one will see the Lord. Remember the presence of the Lord in Isaiah 6, “the seraphim cry out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.” He is the holy God. Without holiness we cannot dwell in His presence.

So that's encouragement to us—strengthen the hands that are weak, back in Hebrews 12:12; verse 13, “make straight paths for your feet;” verse 14, “pursue peace and sanctification.” These are the things we need to be doing together as the people of God that we might continue to grow and keep going forward. But now he is going to turn and give three warnings, and they are very severe. And it gets more severe as they build.

First, verse 15, “see to it that no one come short of the grace of God.” See to it, be on the watch for yourselves and for others. We are to be concerned for one another that no one come short of the grace of God, come short of God's saving grace. This will become clear as we get to the third warning, it is possible in that congregation of believers that the reason some have no energy to go forward, have lost all interest is because they have stopped short of God's saving grace. And it is just impossible to do the work of the Lord in the energy of the flesh. It has caused frustration for young people, often, raised in Christian homes, the emerging church or emergent or whatever they want to call themselves, so many of those raised in fundamental, Bible-believing homes, Bible-believing churches. They get to be adults and say, all these rules, all these regulations, all of this, I can't take it. I'm going to start a new church without all of that. I read that and say, they never really understood saving grace. It's not about rules, not about being under law. They stop short of saving grace but they fail to realize the issue.

So he warns them, “see to it that no one come short of the grace of God.” Back up to Hebrews 4:1, he talked about Israel who failed to be able to go into the Promised Land because they would not believe. Then he applies it, Hebrews 4:1, “therefore let us fear if while a promise remains of entering his rest anyone of you,” writing to those in that local church, “may seem to come short of it. For indeed we have had the good news preached to us just as they also. But the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard.” We who have believed enter that rest. Verse 11, “therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest” so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience, which is connected, it means unbelief. Disobedience is a manifestation of the unbelief. “You see the danger,” he says to them, you, the believers I am writing to in that local church, “be sure there is not among you who have stopped short of God's grace,” who have failed to believe in the living God and His promise and the salvation He has provided.

Come back to Hebrews 12. That's the first warning, “see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God.” The second warning, the next statement in verse 15, picks up with the word that. We “see to it that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled.” A root of bitterness is a root that causes bitterness. So in those days they went out and gathered herbs and plants and so on, if you gathered a poisonous root from a plant it would be poisonous, it would be bitter, it would be defiling.

The background for this is Deuteronomy 29, I want you to come back there. This is in the context of God establishing a covenant relationship with Israel, making promises and giving warning. And it's both for those who are there and those who will hear it at a later time, he says. And then the warning is given, and we'll just break into the sentence for time. Verse 18, “so that there will not be among you a man or woman, family or tribe,” this is a concern for the individual in Israel and growing out through the nation, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God to go and serve gods of those nations. Note this, that there “will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.” That's the picture. That's what that person would be, that unbeliever who is not believing the truth of God, not being obedient to the living God, turning aside from the way. He becomes a root bearing poison, it spreads, it corrupts, it defiles. That's exactly what happened in the nation Israel, it grew and so spread and permeated that God had to bring the whole nation under judgment.

I want you to note verse 19 while we are here. “It shall be when he hears the words of the curse, that disobedient, rebellious person, he will boast saying, I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart to destroy the watered land with the dry. The Lord will never be willing to forgive him.” This is serious business to be exposed to the truth, profess to have peace. I have peace. This becomes a problem, doesn't it? It was a problem in Israel. These apostates who corrupted the nation didn't say, I'm an apostate, I reject the living God. They came and said, no, I have peace with God, in fact I have a message from God. The prophet Jeremiah is not telling you the truth. Look, I have a message from God, I made these iron horns. God is not going to punish you for your rebellion, He is going to punish those who are attacking you. And Israel gets corrupted. What happens to the church? People come in and say, I'm a believer, I believe the truth. Well, your life doesn't demonstrate it, your teaching doesn't. Well, I have peace. And believers say, I don't know what we should do with them, I can't see their heart. I can't see their heart, either. I have to make a decision on the basis of what they do, what they teach. And it's always a problem. Easy to read about it in Hebrews, warning about the root of bitterness that would spring up and defile many.

Come back to Hebrews 3, we were just in Hebrews 4 and leading into Hebrews 4. Look at Hebrews 3:6, and the picture of God's house, God's family, God's household. “Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are.” God's house, God's family. “If we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. Therefore just as the Holy Spirit says today if you hear His voice, don't harden your hearts like Israel did in the past in their history. And I was angry with them and so they couldn't go into the Promised Land of rest.” Verse 12, “take care, brethren, that there not be in anyone of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. And we're responsible to encourage one another so that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” So you see the ministry we have together and the encouragement we bring to one another. But the seriousness of the situation, we can't minimize this and tolerate. Churches get corrupted and destroyed because “I don't have the heart, I think they are good people.” I'm often asked when teaching circulates within the evangelical church, do you think that person is a believer? I say, I can't see the heart, what I can say is what they are doing is not biblical, or what they are teaching is contrary to the Word of God. That's what we have to deal with. I'm not called to have to deal with the heart, there is only One who can search the heart, try the motives. “I the Lord search the heart, it is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things.” No one can know it but the Lord. But we are responsible to judge what we see. The church continues to be corrupted and defiled and destroyed because well, I think they are good people, I think they are nice people. They say they have peace with God. That does not excuse conduct or teaching that is contrary to the Word of God.

So the church is to be watching out here, the encouragement balanced. We are seeking peace with all men in the body, but that's not peace at any cost. No, we will not allow a bitter root that will spread its poisonous impact among the congregation, though we want to encourage people to truly have their faith in Christ and walk faithfully with Him.

Come back to Hebrews 12. A third warning, it is blunt and clear. “See to it,” verse 16, “that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau.” What a terrible thing. Here is a man who is exposed repeatedly over time to the truth of God and he is described here in the Word of God as an immoral and godless man. Where is this man today? There is no doubt. Immoral, I don't think he is talking about physical immorality here. Not that that's not serious and Esau did marry two Hittite women and they caused grief to his parents. That's in Genesis 26. But I think in the context here he is talking about spiritual immorality, and that's what he focuses on as Israel was viewed as spiritually unfaithful to God. He was an immoral and godless person. He is an example that we are to learn from.

What did he do? He sold his birthright for a single meal, a bowl of soup, if you will. All the promises God gave to Abraham, the Abrahamic Covenant, the assurance and blessing of those promises that would be passed on from Abraham to Isaac to Esau as the oldest, the eldest in the family. He was to be the recipient and the guardian of those blessings. We are told in Genesis 26 that “Esau despised those blessings,” he didn't count them really worth anymore than a bowl of soup. He had no respect for the God who gave them, no respect for the privilege of being entrusted with those promises to pass them on. I'd rather have a bowl of soup, you can have them. They aren't worth any more than a bowl of soup to me, they are nothing. That was his attitude toward God. You see it was reflected in what he did, he sold his own birthright. So he said to his brother, Jacob, who was making dinner. Give me a bowl of soup. Jacob valued that birthright. He realized it belonged to Esau. He says, I'll trade you, I'll give you a bowl of soup and you give me your birthright. Esau said, “What good is my birthright to me? I'd rather have the soup, take it.” Sad. That's in Genesis 25:29-34, and you can go back and read that.

Hebrews 12:17, “for you know,” strong warning here, “you know that even after afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected.” He found no place for repentance though he sought it for tears. Remember we read in Deuteronomy 29, it would have been verse 20, the next statement, “God will not forgive you.” Here you have Esau as an example. Afterwards, later his father, Isaac, is getting up in age. It is time to pass on the blessing to the appointed son, and it is passed on to Jacob. Of course, it belonged to Jacob. Esau had sold it to him for a bowl of soup. But Esau wanted the blessing and so he cries and tells his father, I want the blessing, father, give it to me. I already gave it to your brother. Do you know what? Esau never acknowledges or recognizes the evil of what he did. Do you know what it says? He hated his brother because he took the birthright. Who sold it to him? Esau sold it to him but then when it came time to inherit that blessing, he wanted to take it. Too late, too late. He could cry, he could weep but he couldn't have the blessing.

You see something of his heart. You read this in Genesis 27, beginning with verse 36. When you get to verse 41, do you know what it will say? Esau now hates his brother so much he has decided, my father, Isaac, is old, I'm going to wait a little bit because he's going to die anytime now. Then I'm going to kill Jacob, then I'll take the blessing back. Do you know what he evidences? He evidences he is in the line of Cain that we've seen earlier. Cain, who killed his brother Abel, because his brother Abel was righteous and he wasn't. There is something about the righteous person; you just can't stand him when you are not a righteous person.

What's the warning? Verse 16, “see there be no immoral or godless person like Esau.” You better watch, he's talking to a congregation like ours of professing believers. He doesn't say there could be some among you who have stopped short of the saving grace of God. There could be some among you that have a root of bitterness that have allowed to get hold in that congregation and will defile others in the congregation. There could be some in there like Esau, spiritually immoral and godless people. The blessings of God and the truth of God and the promises of God mean nothing. When it comes time they would like to have good things but on their terms. So you see the balance here for the church, for us, that the Spirit of God has preserved this for, though we have positive things to be involved in in our ministry, examining ourselves personally and in our ministry to one another. Verse 12, we are to “strengthen those who are going through difficult times, that feel their spiritual strength is weakened.” We are to “make straight paths for our feet, be sure we stay on the track, on the path with our eyes fixed on the goal so that we can help strengthen those that are weak.” We are setting the example, we are setting the path. You are here today, what are you saying? We come even when it rains. People looking at some of you have difficulties, trials that others know about, and they say, if they are here, it motivates me to be here. There are people who are here, I think I can come alongside them and help them and encourage them. See to it that you make your paths straight. And pursue peace and holiness. I want that to be the characteristic of my life.

Warning. Be sure no one stops short of the grace of God, not me, not you, not us as a congregation and within our congregation. We want to be alert to that. That there be no root of bitterness springing up. You know your heart, you know where you are. You know the attitude of your thinking. We need to be careful of it for ourselves. We need to be careful of it as a congregation. We want to do what is best for God's family. Certain things aren't acceptable in God's family. And then we want to be careful that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau. What a tragedy. The word of warning is Esau could not receive the promised blessing. What a serious thing. We have had the Word preached to us as they did. It didn't profit them because they didn't truly believe. We don't want to be like that, we don't want to stop short. It’s not enough to have been raised in this church, not enough to have been baptized in this church, not enough to take communion at this church, not enough to work and give your money at this church. Nothing will do but placing your faith in Christ, submitting yourself to Him and now allowing Him to work in your life, giving all your energy and attention to being what God has caused you to be when He caused you to be born into His family.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of your work in salvation. How awesome and amazing it is that you call us your children. You have brought us together as your family in this place to learn, to study, but to do more than that, to have you work in and through us. Lord, as we leave the fellowship of believers to go out to fulfill our tasks in the days of the week ahead, trials come, difficulties come, sometimes things very unpleasant, sometimes things hard to understand, sometimes things hard to accept. Lord, in it all we are encouraged and strengthened to know that you have set the course before us, you are working your purposes. And our desire is to grow and mature, become more like you in our character as our eyes are fixed on the goal of the glory of your presence for eternity. And Lord may we as a congregation of believers, individually and corporately, take to heart the seriousness of the warnings that come to those who have heard the truth but they have not appropriated it for themselves by faith in Christ and His finished work. Thank you for all your blessings, thank you for the blessing of fellowship with like-minded believers. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.