Sanctification | Hebrews 12:12-17
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[00:00:00] We are in Hebrews chapter 12. Uh, for those of you that are visiting, we've been doing a series through Hebrews and, uh, I'm going to read the first 17 verses of Hebrews chapter 12. So if you're able, please stand And as I and others that stand here will never tire to remind you, hear this for what it is, the words of the living God.
God's Word preserved by God Himself for His covenant people Hebrews chapter 12, beginning in verse one. Therefore, since we have so great a throng of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and [00:01:00] perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and He has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. For you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation, the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of Yahweh, nor faint when you are reproved by Him.
For those whom Yahweh loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives." It is because of discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does [00:02:00] not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them; He disciplines us for our good, so that we might share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful joy of righteousness.
Therefore, therefore, strengthen your hands that are weak and your knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that 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 [00:03:00] 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. May God add a blessing to the reading, the hearing, and most importantly, obedience to His Word. Please be seated
So as I said, uh, last week, chapter 11 is kind of a transitional chapter, and now that we're in chapter 12, we're starting to see more exhortations. Uh, the author is applying the theology that he has spoken about for the first 10 chapters. And in order to understand where we're at, in order to [00:04:00] understand the therefore of the passage we're gonna begin with today, we need to remember what's come before In chapter 12 verse one, we read these words, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud, so great a throng, a mass of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance."
Anything that gets in the way of your walk, you are commanded to get rid of it. Anything that slows you down, anything that takes your mind off of Christ Jesus, set it aside. Get rid of it In addition to that, the sin. We're to set aside sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
And what the author is doing here, what he's setting up here, is a, an athletic analogy. It's gonna be a, a picture of the track runner, and he's gonna use some of the descriptions to describe what we're to do [00:05:00] And you'll recall that when we were looking at chapter 11, I wasn't able to do every single character.
There are so many, and I didn't want to get overly bogged down, but I do want to pick up a few along the way. So I do want to say something about Jacob this morning because I believe that Jacob was a man of endurance, much like Samson. We looked at Samson last week. Jacob is a man of endurance. The problem with Jacob is he was impetuous.
He was quick. Often he'd do things without much thought, and he'd sin and he'd fall down. But he was characterized by endurance because he always got back up. He always got back up. Like Samson, I think this is so important, uh, w- especially when we look at the characters in chapter 11. Like Samson, he lived a far-from-perfect life, a far-from-perfect life, but he kept getting back up.
He kept ever seeking after God. That was his goal in life. He didn't always do it right, but he kept [00:06:00] trying to do it. And in many ways, he's the opposite of Samson. If you look at the, the description of Jacob, at least in his father's opinion, he wasn't a man's man. He was a peaceful man, unlike Esau, who was a hunter, and he could cook game, and, uh, he was his father's favorite, but Jacob was a peaceful man.
In fact, when you read the account, quite frankly, he's a bit of a mama's boy. Now, moms, don't get mad at me because you, you get the boys till they're about two or three, then they become ours, okay? They're not supposed to be mama's boys. They're supposed to look like Jesus. They're supposed to look like men, and they're supposed to know what a man looks like.
But Jacob was a bit of a mama's boy. Now, we don't know what he looked like, but again, Jacob, like so many other Old Testament saints, had problems with the women. He ends up marrying four different women, okay? And there's, there's a lot more that, uh, I, I could get into there because [00:07:00] some of it seems comical to me.
But amazingly, God uses that. God uses that in his life. The other thing that Jacob does is he ends up committing the same sin that his father committed because we read in, uh, chapter 25, verse 28, "Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, but Rebecca loved Jacob." You see, Isaac had favorites. He only had two boys, but he had favorites.
And when Jacob grew up and when Jacob ha- started having children, he too had favorites. Joseph was his favorite, and then when he thought he lost Joseph, Benjamin became his favorite, and it caused all kinds of problems in the family. And dads, just on a practical basis, it's something you might want to think about
Jacob had somewhat of a miraculous birth, much again like Samson. Rebecca was barren. In fact, we read in the scriptures that they didn't have-- Isaac and, and Rebecca didn't have kids until he was in his 60s. So we read one [00:08:00] word-- verse, one verse, and it says that Isaac prayed. It was in, uh, chapter 25, verse 21.
Isaac prays, God opens Rebecca's womb. But 60 years old, he was probably praying for 40-plus years that God would grant them a child. And Rebecca has a rough pregnancy. In fact, from very early on, the boys are tumbling and wrestling and, and fighting. And there's an interesting birth because, uh, when they were born, Esau was born first, but the text says that Jacob had his hand on his heel.
I don't know if you have any medical background for-- but for them to witness that was not a g- I don't know how God corrected that, but it was probably a difficult delivery because the boys were already struggling
And then we read again in chapter 25 that Esau sells his birthright to Jacob, and I'll have more to say about the birthright and what all that means, but he sells it for a bowl of soup, for a bowl of stew. [00:09:00] And then in chapter seven, Jacob deceives, uh, Esau and he steals his blessing. And oftentimes we read that and we think, "Oh, what a, what a snake."
And maybe it was snake-like, uh, but this is what I mean by Jacob. He was impetuous. He would do things without thought. You see, God had already made a promise to Rebecca, and Isaac would have known this promise, that the older was gonna serve the younger. Jacob was always meant to have the blessing, and yet he does it in an underhanded way.
But I want you to consider the words of Jesus because I find these words fascinating. They're found in Matthew 11:12. And Jesus says this: "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." And not a few commentators have applied these words to Jacob.
You see this word translated violence, it can also be translated enthusiasm. [00:10:00] Those that want it really bad, those that want the Kingdom of God, those that wanna be a part of it, and they end up doing stupid things because they're not thinking. And they're taken by violent men, and that word in the Hebrew can actually be translated impetuous, men who do things without thinking.
But whether he did it right or whether he did it wrong, he was seeking the right thing, and that's what we need to know about Jacob. He was always seeking the right thing. Esau didn't. We'll hear more about Esau later, and hopefully you remember the story. When Jacob did that, Esau wanted to kill him. In fact, Esau made a pact with himself, "My dad's probably gonna die soon, and as soon as Dad dies, I'm gonna kill my brother."
And Rebecca gets wind of it, and they end up sending him away, and he ends up coming home with four wives. And then there's that famous passage in chapter 31 that Jesus wrestles with God. And I don't have time to get into that passage. I'm just gonna say this. If you haven't [00:11:00] wrestled with God, you're not trying hard enough.
The psalmist, you can read the Psalms, he, he wrestles with God. "God, why? God, why is this happening? Why is there evil around me? Why do I still sin?" Do you wrestle with God? You see, Jacob wrestled with God because he was always seeking the right thing
Look at verse 12. And, and before we even read... Well, let me read the first word, therefore, and it's important to understand this word, therefore. And the reason it's important to understand it is it's, it's known as what's called an inferential conjunction, and all that means is you're supposed to stop and think I've written 10, 11 chapters, and based on all this theology, based especially on chapter 11, based especially on the first 11 verses of chapter 12, have you thought about [00:12:00] this?
It, it's a shorthanded way of saying, what do we have in front of our very faces? W- what do we learn from all of this? Keep in mind the context. We have all these examples to follow. They've been laid out in chapter 11. But more than that, more than any biblical example, the author says, "Fix your eyes on Jesus."
And so like I talked about last week, I'll simply ask you again today, are your eyes laser focused on Jesus? Because the author repeats himself. He says, "Fix your eyes on Jesus," and then he says, "Consider Him." And the, the Greek word translated consider, it's another one of those, uh, words that mean think about, reason about, use logic.
Look at your life. What are you living for? Now compare it to Jesus. Look at your life. How long do you think you'll live? Now compare it to eternity. [00:13:00] Be laser focused on Jesus. Think about Him, and to think about Him means I have to learn about Him. How much do I really know about this Jesus guy? What does it mean that He's God and man?
What does it mean that He went to the cross? And the author of Hebrews has been laying that out for us bit by bit And he reminds the readers, "You've not resisted to the point of shedding blood." And it's something the American church needs to hear because as I ended with last week, the American church seems to have given up without much of a fight, and the American church is convinced we're supposed to lose.
And he reminds his readers, "If you belong to God, if you're a child of God, expect discipline, and discipline is a good thing." And I just want to read that passage again. "And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as my sons. My son, do not regard discipline lightly." The discipline of [00:14:00] Yahweh, nor faint when you are reproved by him.
And then chapter 12 verse 11, look at that one. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful. This word translated seems, there's a ton of them in this text. It's another word that says use reason. You see, if you think discipline is a bad thing, if you think the, the, the things that happen to you in your life, the various trials that you wanna run into, if you belong to Jesus Christ and you think that's a bad thing, you're not thinking properly.
So rethink it All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful. Yet, and here's where the athletic analogy comes in, those who have been trained by it literally go to the gym. The word translated trained, and see if you recognize this, it's the Greek word gumnazo, gumnasium, gymnasium. [00:15:00] Are you training?
You see, the Christian life is not meant to be passive. The Christian life is active, and if you are not actively living it, if you are not actively doing the things that God calls you to do, you're not moving forward. And as the author of Hebrews is gonna make very clear as we continue in this passage, you, you are on the precipice.
You are in danger of falling away. You see, when you compare the life of Esau and the life of Jacob, Esau from, from a human perspective, from a worldly perspective, he wasn't that bad a guy Again, hopefully we'll get there. I don't know if we're gonna get through all my notes today, and that's okay. But i- if we get there, Esau was not that bad a guy But there was one giant difference between Jacob and Esau.
Jacob loved God. Jacob loved God, and he lived a life that demonstrated his love for God. [00:16:00] Yes, fallible. Yes, he made a lot of mistakes. He made a lot of stupid mistakes, just like us. We make mistakes all the time, but he made them loving God. Esau could have cared less. I mean, think about the birthright. We read that, that Esau sold his birthright for stew, and for most of us in modern-day America, we kind of scratch our heads and we think, "What's the big deal?"
Well, what was the birthright? Well, the birthright was that the firstborn son was always honored. The firstborn son was always given a double portion of the inheritance. And we look at that and we think, "Oh, that's just cultural. That's just the way they did." No. The, the honoring of the firstborn is seed theology.
You see, the Jews, Abraham's line was expecting the seed of the woman. They were expecting the seed of Abraham. They were expecting the Messiah to come, and they were expecting the Messiah to come through [00:17:00] the firstborn. And for Esau to just flippantly give up his firstborn privileges was basically saying, "I don't care about any promises from God.
I don't care about any promised Savior. I don't really care about God. I just want to eat." And so the writer of Hebrews calls him an immoral and godless person
Verse 12, "Therefore strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble." And I don't know why the American- New American Standard does it this way, but the pronoun is, is found in the next verse. The pronoun is found in verse 13. And let me, let me give you, if you pardon me a little bit, let me give you the Mike Munoz translation.
Okay? And this is an accurate translation, but it's also a bit of a paraphrase because I want you to hear it the way I think the author meant it. In fact, number one on your outline, and there's a sermon fill-in-the-blank outline in your [00:18:00] bulletin, number one is strengthen what's weak, and then there's another fill in the blank, but we'll get to that.
Strengthen what's weak or... But listen to the Mike Munoz translation. What's staring you in the face? The weak, droopy, slack-jawed hands of yours? The disabled, paralyzed, oh, it's so uncomfortable, knees of yours? Go to the gym. Strengthen them. You see, number one on your outline, strengthen what's weak or stop it.
Just stop it. And I really do think, as I poured into this passage this week, I really do think that the writer of Hebrews in these first two verses, he's taken his gloves off. Stop wimping out. Go to the gym. Do some hard work. Christianity was never meant to be easy, and it's not gonna be easy for any of us.
And you can whine about it, [00:19:00] or you can strengthen your walk. You can strengthen your life. You can live by faith, and you can trust in Christ Jesus. So go to the gym. Strengthen yourself. Look at verse 13, "Make s- make straight paths for your feet." Make straight paths for your feet. And again, this is an athletic picture.
Basically, what he's saying here is stay in your lane. It's a picture of a track runner, and if anyone here has ever run track, you know that once the race starts, you have to stay in your lane. If you cross over into somebody's lane and interfere with them, you will be disqualified from the race, and that's the language that the author is using.
Stay in your lane. Keep your feet in your lane.
So that that which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather healed. And so he continues with this, uh, track analogy, but it's really interesting here because he says, "That which is lame, that which [00:20:00] is crippled, that which is out of joint," and he's describing the readers. Remember the context. These were Jewish believers.
These were faithful old covenant members, and they came to Christ Jesus, and probably, I think, the majority, if not a large portion of this community, were former priests. Because of the way the author writes, they understood the sacrifices, they understood the temple service, and now they're thinking about going back because things are getting tough.
They've had their land taken away. They've been made fun of. Persecution is breaking out. If he's writing in the mid-'60s, persecution has broken out against the church, and it's getting very uncomfortable, and it would be so much easier at this point to go back to Judaism and stop being persecuted. So they're already lame.
They're... And then the text says, "So that that which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed." And this phrase, put out of joint, the New American Standard translators are trying to stick with this, uh, athletic analogy, but it's [00:21:00] really repetition. If something is lame, it's out of joint. And I think a much better translation would be, stay in your lane so that that which is lame, that which is crippled, may not turn away.
And if you study this entire passage, this is a subtle warning, and it's gonna lead to a not so subtle warning towards the end of the chapter. Don't get out of your lane. Don't turn your back on Jesus. Don't walk away from Christ because it's getting a little hard Strengthen what's weak. Is there something in your life that you're struggling with?
Have you talked to somebody? Have you gone to somebody? Have you sat down on your own in the privacy of your own, uh, kitchen, office, bedroom, living room? Have you taken out a concordance? Have you looked up passages? Maybe you're struggling with anger. Have you looked up passages on anger? Have you, have you made a list of things that I wanna start memorizing?
Maybe you're, [00:22:00] you're struggling with lust. Have you looked up those passages? Are you being held accountable? Do you have somebody in your life that's pouring into your life? Are you pouring into somebody else's life? What are you doing to stay in your lane? What are you doing to stay on the straight path?
What are you doing to not veer off? Listen to the words of Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4 verses 26 and 27. The author says, "Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established." It's just another way of saying the same thing the author of Hebrews is saying. In fact, this might be our hyperlink.
"Watch the paths of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left. Turn your feet from evil." Have you ever wondered what is the difference between people who engage in a crisis of faith? [00:23:00] There are some real, uh, popular ones or well-known ones recently, people that have, have engaged in crisis of faith, and the popular word today is deconstruct.
You read about Christians deconstructing, changing their beliefs. Jesus is too harsh. The church is too harsh. And again, there's been some famous ones. You may, may have heard of Josh Harris. I believe the name of his book was I... No, it wasn't I Kissed Dating Goodbye. It wa- it was another one on, uh, uh, courtship versus dating.
But he was popular back in the day, and he has publicly walked away from the faith, and he has publicly had a, quote-unquote, "deconstruction of faith." Or maybe Bart Ehrman. I don't know if you know that name. Bart Ehrman used to profess Christ, and now he writes books, and he teaches, and he is doing his best to lead people away from Christ, and I would argue that Bart Ehrman is a wicked man.
In fact, if you were to ever read his books, he has this way, is he'll spend the entire book telling [00:24:00] you that you can't trust the Bible. He has a book, it's titled Misquoting Jesus, and throughout the entire book, he'll tell you you can't trust the Bible. We don't know what it says. But then in the last chapter, because he knows how to write like a scholar, in the last chapter, he'll add something, if you know what you're looking for, he'll say, "Well, actually, we do know what it means."
And if you were gonna get this book and read it, you wanna get the paperback because in the paperback edition they put, uh, an appendix in it, and he basically crosses out everything he says in the book and basically says, "Yeah, we know what it says. Yeah, there's no question on basically the original text, and you can pretty much trust the text we have."
But the rest of the book is arguing against it. These are people that have deconstructed and walked away from the faith. But then there are other people like Josh McDowell. Maybe you've heard of Josh McDowell. There's been a recent movie out about his younger life. I believe you can find it on Amazon. He lived in an abusive home.
His father was [00:25:00] abusive, and yet he came to faith. Dan Wallace. Dan Wallace is a Greek scholar. In fact, his book on Greek grammar is the standard in the field right now. He has this condition, two times in his life, his, his memory has been wiped out. He has had to learn the Greek language three times because he forgot everything, he had to relearn it, he forgot everything, he had to relearn it.
That's two times. But he didn't walk away from the faith. Here's a name you might know, Horatio Spafford. Just out of curiosity, if you know that name, raise your hand. Horatio Spafford. You'll all know it when I tell you who it is. He was the man that wrote the song It Is Well With My Soul. Had I thought about this illustration, I would have asked you to play it this morning, but he wrote the song It Is Well With My Soul.
But you need to understand something about Horatio. He experienced the Great Chicago Fire, and in it he lost everything. He lost his home, he lost his business. He [00:26:00] was wiped out. And shortly after the Chicago Fire, he gets a telegram. His four little girls, and I can't even imagine this, his four little girls died in a transatlantic voyage.
It was a modern day Job. He lost his wealth and he lost his family And he didn't deconstruct, but he writes the song, It Is Well With My Soul
And so I just want you to think, is it well with your soul today? What can you do to strengthen your faith? What can you do to focus on Jesus? What can you do to consider Him? What are you not doing? Where are you dropping the ball? I'm asking you to be honest, and I want you to know I'm in this text all week.
It's killing me. [00:27:00] I can't wait to move out of this part because I see all kinds of areas in my own life where the ball is dropped and I need to pick it up
Where are you struggling? Number two on your outline, pursue peace and holiness. Pursue peace and holiness. Look at verse 14
Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which you will not see the Lord. Pursue peace with all men, and the first thing you should ask is how do I do that? The second thing you should ask is what is the source of peace? Because there's a worldly peace and it's based on nothing and it doesn't work, and then there's a godly peace, and the author of Hebrews has made it very clear.
Peace begins with Jesus Christ. Peace begins with your relationship to God. In Hebrews chapter 13, the 20th verse, "Now the peace of God [00:28:00] Now the God of peace, I'm sorry. Now the God of peace who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord.
Peace is found in God. In Hebrews 7:2, we have that comparison between Jesus and, uh, the Old Testament figure of Melchizedek. And, uh, the author makes clear Jesus is not an Aaronic priest. No, he's a new high priest after the order of Melchizedek. He's identified with Melchizedek, and Melchizedek means king of righteousness, but it also means king of peace.
You see, the only true peace in this life is Jesus Christ, and if you don't know Christ Jesus, you will never know true and lasting peace. A substitute, a fake peace In Psalm 34:14, and this is our hyperlink, this is the Old Testament passage that the writer is thinking of, and for those of you that are maybe visiting, I like to use this phrase hyperlink because y'all know what [00:29:00] it means.
You're on the internet, you're reading an article, and there's another article you can link to, and if you're gonna understand it properly, you really need to read the whole article. And so often we've gotten into the habit of proof texting, and you can't do that. When the writer of the New Testament refers, even if it's an illusion, but especially if it's a quotation, when he refers to an Old Testament text, he's not referring to one verse.
He's referring to the context, sometimes an entire book, sometimes multiple chapters, and we need to get in the habit of going back and reading our Old Testaments. But in Psalm 34:14, we read these words, "Depart from evil." And it's a commandment in the Hebrew, "Depart from evil." What do you need to depart from in your life?
Is it a job maybe? Is it friends? Is it a, an environment?
Depart from evil and do good. [00:30:00] Seek peace and pursue it. And in the Greek translation, that's the exact same word as we find in chapter 12 of Hebrews, "Pursue peace with all men." And so we need to ask ourselves, and let's be practical, how do I pursue peace with other people? And there's some things that I just...
It's, it's, it's good by way of reminder. Romans 12:18, Paul speaks of peace. He says this: "If possible," and literally in the text, if you're able, if this is even something that can be pulled off, "so far as it depends upon you, be at peace with all men." And the, the idea here, the point here, and believe me, I could do a whole sermon here, is not all men want peace.
Not all men wanna live at peace. There are contentious people out there, and those are the kind of people that Paul says you're to avoid. But if it's in your [00:31:00] ability, if you can possibly do it, we're to seek peace with all men, but we simply need to understand that not all men want peace. The second thing that we need to understand about pursuing peace is we need to understand what disrupts peace.
What removes peace? Sin. Sin in my life, sin in your life, unconfessed sin, sin brought to church can remove peace. But here's a big one, misunderstanding. How often people part ways because of misunderstandings, and the really sad thing in the history and the life of the Church is they won't even talk about it.
And I don't know how much this example will relate to you, but some of you know this, Caleb and I are building a house on the back of our property, and this week we were putting up garage trusses. And we would take them, we'd shoulder them, we'd take them in the garage, we'd put it on a ladder, we'd put it on a scaffold.
I'd get up there, I'd pick it up. He'd climb there, he'd pick it up. But see, there was a problem. We were [00:32:00] both standing on the same side of the truss, and Caleb's tall, and Caleb likes to grab the truss, and his point of balance is to lean it forward. Well, I'm short, and I wanna hang on to that baby, so I'm grabbing the truss and I'm pulling it towards me, and we're doing this the whole way we're trying to put up the truss, until we finally stopped and, "Okay, let's figure this out.
What's going on?" Nobody died. We're all still here. But there was one or two that were a little sketchy. But that's misunder... I, I could, I got a load more, but I won't. That's misunderstanding, and the biggest problem in the Church when it comes to misunderstanding is people won't talk
And this is where I think church discipline is helpful. If you'd like to, flip in your Bibles to Matthew 18. Matthew chapter 18. We're gonna... I'm just gonna read verses 15 and 17. We're not gonna go through this thoroughly, [00:33:00] and we're not gonna go through all of it But I think the first few steps is very helpful when it comes to miscommunication and misunderstanding.
In Matthew chapter 18, beginning in verse 15, Jesus says this, "If your brother sins," if you feel offended, if someone has offended you in church, if you think that person has sinned against you, "go and show him his fault in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother." Now, implied in that text is you gotta listen to him because maybe you completely misunderstood what he said.
Maybe he didn't do what you think he did, or maybe you saw him do something and you misunderstood the action And the text is really clear here, do this in private. Keep the circle narrow. Do this in private. Go... If your brother sins, if you think your brother sins, go to him, show him his fault in private.
If he listens to you, you have won your [00:34:00] brother, verse 16. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax gatherer.
Now, just a, a few principles here. Number one, we already talked about it. Go to this person in private. Seek understanding. That's that first part. Seek understanding. I can't tell you how many people have come to me over the years and told me, "So and so has done this, he's in sin, you need to go deal with him."
And I just look at them and I'm like, "Well, have you gone and talked to this person?" "Well, no, that's your job." No, not according to Jesus. If you think your brother has sinned, you need to go to your brother. If you think your brother has offended you, you need to go to your brother, your sister, and you need to talk.
You need to communicate. And if you're not willing to do that, you have no complaint. In fact, [00:35:00] if you're not willing to do that and it continues to stew, now you're in sin because you didn't go to your brother. Now let's say it doesn't work, you don't agree. The text says take a witness with you. Get help.
And that's another thing we don't often do. Get help Now, if you've ever taken a membership class or if you're planning to take one in the future, which I'm kind of looking at next month to do another one, um, I explain this i- in much greater detail. But if you're gonna bring somebody with you, it should be somebody that knows something.
It should be an actual witness. That's what the text calls for, somebody that knows what you know. If there is no actual witness, drop it and forgive, which is another sermon that I'd like to do at the end of Hebrews. I think we desperately need a sermon on forgiveness because we've, we've all been sold this bill of goods that we're supposed to forgive and forget, and yet that is not what Scripture teaches.[00:36:00]
Yes, if possible, we forgive and we reconcile, but there are times when you cannot reconcile. There are times when you cannot forget. There are times when you must set up boundaries. There are times when you must protect your family, protect yourself. There are times when the other person doesn't repent and doesn't care.
And like Paul says, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men." The point is, we need to talk to one another. We are to pursue peace, but we're also to pursue sanctification, without which no one will see the Lord. And kids, this is... And I've been s- p- I'm sorry, kids, 'cause I've been skipping your questions, but I know this is one of those questions on your handout.
Sanctification means holiness. We're supposed to pursue a type of holiness without which, and this is important, this is one of those verses you should circle in your Bible, without which no one will see the Lord. You see, if you claim Jesus Christ, if you claim, "I have come to [00:37:00] Christ," and your life doesn't change, your attitudes don't change, that which you pursue doesn't change, that which you love doesn't change, you don't grow closer to Jesus, you don't desire Jesus more, you don't put Jesus above everything else in your world, you're not pursuing this holiness, and you're lying to yourself, and that's the American populace.
We live in a country where most people would say, "I'm a Christian," and yet look at our politics. Look at our laws. Look at the number of babies we're killing every year. Look at the number of children we mutilate every year. Look at the megachurches and how many megachurches, no offense, how many megachurches are in California?
Look at California's policies. I don't apologize for that. I come from Arizona. Look what's happening there[00:38:00]
Your life should change Listen to Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 and 13. "So then, my beloved," again, so then is one of those words that so then means based on everything I've written before this. "So then, beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
And the Greek is very clear there. You're not working for your salvation. You're not trying to earn your salvation. You are working it out. You are putting it into effect. You're making it visible. If someone spent a couple hours with you, would they know you're a believer?
We've, we've done this in the past, so I'm just gonna make this quick and I'm just gonna review, but we need to understand the word sanctification. And there are at least [00:39:00] four ways that actually the writer of Hebrews, as well as the rest of the New Testament, uses this word. And one way that the writer uses the word is what's called initial or definite sanctification.
When you become a Christian, you are automatically spiritually sanctified. You're set apart. You're made special. You're made different. You, you're now in Christ. You are now a covenant member. And if this is true conversion, you are in Christ and you have been set aside never to be put back. But there's also what's called an ongoing or a cooperative sanctification, and I think that's what the author is talking about here, and this is where we cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
And I, I've said this a number of times, but you have justification by faith alone because that's something God does. God saves a person. But then you have sanctification, and ongoing sanctification, we cooperate. We read our Bibles. We go to church. We fellowship with other [00:40:00] Christians. We become accountable.
We're open. Are you open? What if somebody after service, "Hey, you know, based on pastor's sermon, I think you've sinned, and I would like to talk to you about it." Would that offend you? Would that make you mad? Would that break your heart? Would you be willing to get together with that person? And sadly, in our environment, how many of you would be willing to do that to a friend?
Ongoing sanctification is a cooperative act. We cooperate with the Holy Spirit. Then there's what's called final or completed sanctification. Someday we will stand in the presence of Jesus Christ hoping to hear those words, "Welcome, good and faithful servant," but we will be free of sin. I cannot wait for that day.
And that's why you can actually buy books, historical books on how Christians die, because there's a sense, and it's not a weird sense if you understand it, but there's a sense that true Christians look forward to [00:41:00] death. They look forward to being freed from sin. They look forward to being in the very presence of Christ Jesus.
And then there's what's called covenant sanctification. There's a sense that if you're in the covenant, you're sanctified. Doesn't necessarily mean you're saved, but you're certainly set apart for a period of time in this life. Listen to the words of Ephesians 2:8-10, and this is a passage you're all probably familiar with.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Salvation through faith by grace is a gift of God. You didn't earn it. You didn't do anything so that He'd pick you, choose you. It is all from God. "Not as a result of works, that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship," God is the one that does the work, "created in Christ Jesus," for what?
Why are we created in Christ Jesus? Paul goes on, [00:42:00] "for good works." Is your life characterized by good works? Again, some of you, I would recommend go home and start journaling. Is your life characterized by good works? Go home and find your best friend and ask them, "Describe me. What do you think of me? What does my Christian life look like to you?
Do I even look like a Christian?" Are you willing to do that? For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. How do we do this? By walking in the Spirit. We covered that a couple of weeks ago. And Paul talks about it in the Book of Ephesians in chapter 4 verse 30, "Don't grieve the Spirit."
Don't sin purposefully. Don't grieve the Spirit. In 5:18, "Be filled with the Spirit." Seek the Spirit's guidance. Ask Him to fill you, ask Him to direct you, but remember what I told you [00:43:00] about Ephesians 5:18. It's parallel with Colossians 3:16. The only way to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with Scripture, to have the Word of Christ richly indwell you Do you take up the sword of the Spirit?
Paul comes back to it. And what is the sword of the Spirit? The sword of the Spirit is the only armor of God, the only piece of armor that Paul actually identifies. He doesn't identify the rest. You have to go back to the hyperlink to figure them out. But the sword of the Spirit he identifies, the Word of God.
Can you wield that sword? We're to seek sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. In Revelation 21:27, it describes the New Jerusalem, and listen to the description. John writes, "And nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it, but [00:44:00] only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."
Look at verse 15, and we're gonna end here. I am not gonna get through my notes, and I'm not gonna try it. But we will end here 'cause I think this is a good spot to end. I would argue in the first few verses, he's focusing in on the individual. He's focusing in on what we need to do to and for ourselves.
But now he's shifting gear just a little bit. The emphasis is shifting, and now he says, "See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God." See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, and he's starting to transition into a warning. He's starting to warn against apostasy, and we've seen that multiple times in the book
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. And then in the second half of verse 15, which I haven't read yet, there's a subtle warning, and then the warning gets explicit in verses 25 and 29, and then there's [00:45:00] warnings found throughout the book. You see, to fall short of the grace of God is to fall short of salvation.
That's how the author uses this throughout the book. See to it that no one falls short of salvation. So how do we do that? And this is where I want to end. We live at peace with one another. How do we do that? How do you know if you're living at peace with the person sitting next to you? Because we form relationships.
You see, I've said this before, to be a Christian is not to be an island. To be a Christian, you must be in relationship, not just with Jesus, but with fellow believers, and if you refuse to enter into relationship with fellow believers, you're a sinking ship. You're not growing. You are hurting yourself
You're not seeing to it that no one falls short because I need your friendship as much as you need mine. Live at peace. Form relationships. Go to church. Remember Ephe- or, uh, Hebrews 10:25, "Don't [00:46:00] neglect going to church." We, we, we unpack that. And why? Because that's where encouragement takes place. Hopefully, you're encouraged from the pulpit.
Hopefully, you're challenged from the pulpit. Hopefully, you're exhorted from the pulpit, and hopefully you talk about it afterwards and you encourage each other, you help each other Confrontation. Believe it or not, to make sure that nobody falls short of the grace of God, when's the last time you confronted a s- a, a, a brother or a sister, a friend in sin?
Because we're all in sin. We all sin somewhere And we get better at hiding it. We, we, we grow out of some of it. Hopefully, we grow out of most of it. That's the pat-- That's what the pattern should look like. But just think about your life. Have you ever confronted a brother lovingly, humbly confronted a brother or a sister in Christ?
And how often do you [00:47:00] pray for one another?
Paul says in Galatians chapter 6 verse 2, "Bear one another's burden. Bear one another's burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Christ." And the only way to share one another's burdens are to live at peace by forming relationships, to go to church, to fellowship and encourage one another, to be willing to confront one another, and then we know what to pray for.
Then I know how to pray for you So let's go to prayer now. Father in heaven, you have given us a lot to think about today, and thank God, Lord, it's a weird way of saying it, but thank you, Jesus, that your Spirit can do a much better job than I can at bringing it home. So Spirit of God, I ask right now that you would teach all of us this morning, that you would bring the truth of this passage home, that you would show each and every one of us individually [00:48:00] where we need to make application, where we fall short.
Spirit of God, convict us. Are we in Christ? Do we know Jesus Christ? Are we just playing a game?
Father in heaven, Jesus, Spirit of God, I pray right now that you c- you would convict every single man, woman, and child in this room right now. Either convict us because we lay outside of your covenant, we lay outside of relationship with you, or convict us where we're falling short because we all know we're falling short.
Convict us, Lord. Let us be in many ways like Jacob, like Samson. Not that we're out there doing impetuous, stupid things, but we're always getting back up. We're always focusing on you. We're always following you. We're confessing our sin. We're being accountable. Spirit of God, make this passage real in our lives, for [00:49:00] we beg of you To change us, to continue to sanctify us.
We want to live in that sanctification without which no one will see you. For we ask this in the name of Christ Jesus and his finished work. And all of God's people said Amen.
