You will need to remember the biblical truth of this hymn particularly as we go into today's message dealing with Hypocrisy and bitterness of heart he said there in that last stanza Though all hell should endeavor to shake I'll never no never no never forsake Amen turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12 once again Hebrews chapter 12 We are coming out of verse 14. I told you Thomas Brooks did 58 some odd sermons. I think it was 53 or 58 sermons. And I only did 5 in verse 14. So we are moving along nicely here in the epistle of Hebrews as we get to this last section, chapters 12 and 13. And we're moving here to the section as you see in your order of worship. verses 12 through 15. Let's back up to kind of set the context a little bit where we're at, and I'm going to read from verses 2 down to 17. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2 to 17. Hear the word of the Lord. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds. Ye have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loves, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he, whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then ye are bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence, shall we not much more be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our prophet, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up holy hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, let it be rather healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. And may the Lord bless the reading and the hearing of his word. Let's go to him in prayer. O Heavenly Father, we come once again to your word, which is that firm foundation, God, to lead us and to direct us as your people. It is, O God, your revelation to us. It is our touchstone by which we are anchored. May we, O God, as we continue to run the race you have called us on as your sons and daughters, enduring, dear Lord, patiently, whatever it is may come into our life. See it, Lord, for our good. See it, dear Lord, in seasons of chastening. See it, O God, as the clear instruction for us as your people. We pray now, God, that as we come to consider verses 15 and 17, that you would teach us and instruct us. Help us to have open hearts. Help us to have teachable, palatable minds, Lord, by which your spirit and your word will direct and lead us. We would ask you this humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Well, the title of my sermon today is Don't Be an Esau. Now, I know that's not the best grammar, but it just made for a good sermon title. Don't Be an Esau. Or it could be called Don't Become an Esau. And I want to start off with just a couple quotes here from some old divines that I've been studying. This one comes from William Spurstow. I believe I'm saying his name right. He's an old Puritan writer. And he said in the context of this passage of scripture, quote, religion that begins in hypocrisy will certainly end in apostasy. Religion which begins in hypocrisy will certainly end in apostasy. And then Henry Smith, he said, no hypocrite can endure the cross for long. No hypocrite can endure the cross for long. I think for a moment where we're at in this epistle written to this first century church. It's a group of believers. They are professing faith in Jesus Christ. They, we do know, have endured some persecution. There's more on the horizon. They were just instructed about the Lord's chastening in their life. And so there's a sense that they're feeling some pressure, right? And now we move into discussion from peace with all mankind and holiness to dealing with the issue of the root of bitterness in the heart, whatever that may be, we're going to see in a moment, and hypocrisy in the life and the reflection of Esau. You see, what's going on here is that this hoary head, we could say, if you allow me that term, or this experienced, seasoned, older brother in the faith, he's writing to them and he's telling them something that they need to know in this overarching theme of making it unto the end in the Christian race. Understanding that there is coming more severe trials. There's coming more testing of your faith. Coming more bearing the cross. And he wants them to be careful to not look and understand any of that as something as if it's not God behind it. He doesn't want it, in his example today, he doesn't want it to feed like fertilizer, any areas of unbelief that may be residing in their heart. Why has he had to admonish them already so many different ways? Well, we looked at that when we looked at the doctrine of holiness in verse 14. It's because he was well aware that the Christian man, the Christian woman, the Christian boy and girl has a new nature, but fundamentally all still has that old nature. And the old nature can fall into the ditches of unbelief. And there are certain things that come along in the life of a believer that can feed, that can nurture, that can help that root of unbelief begin to manifest and to grow and other things. And if it's not put in check, if it's not dealt with, it can grow into the disastrous plant of apostasy. That's the context. That's why he's going into this. Last week we concluded the short five part series dealing with the doctrine of holiness and we could be tempted to think that now we're moving on and holiness, that whole issue of sanctification and holiness is in the rear view mirror and it's not gonna come up anymore. I told you last week that that's lofty thinking. We're not gonna be able to get away from sanctification and holiness. And here's why, look at verse 14. Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. And most of your Bibles are gonna have what? Nicole in there, right? You see it there? What that is in grammar, the writer's telling us, I'm going to now say something that's going to reinforce what just preceded that. I'm going to now say something that's going to kind of flesh that out for us. And so what he's going to do, here in verses 15 and 17, after He has called us to pursue peace with all mankind and holiness, He's going to take this little short 15 to 17, and He's going to show us a little bit about what this holiness is going to look like and how you're to walk in it. That's what's going on here. And then he stops at verse 18 all the way down to the end of the chapter, verse 29, and he reinforces what he says in 15 and 17 by reminding us and reminding them once again of the lawfulness of who we are as the New Covenant people of God. The difference of living in the city of God and being a citizen of the city of God instead of being under the dark cloud of the Mosaic Covenant. So in 18 and 29, after giving in 15 and 17, this exhortation, Then in chapter 13 verse 1, look with me, he goes back to practically applying what he said in verse 14 about walking in holiness without which no man sees the Lord. He picks up again in verse 1 of chapter 13, let brotherly love continue. So it's almost as if you could be setting wherever this was written, and this inspired apostles writing, And he gets here to verse 14, and he says, well, we parked it for about five weeks. Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Then he's going to say, looking diligently, he's going to start giving them some exhortations of this holiness. Be prepared to walk in holiness. You must walk in holiness. We dealt with that. You're a new creature in Christ, et cetera, et cetera. And he gets to the end of 17, and then he says, Oh, I need to interject this idea of why this is so important and why I believe you can do this and why I know you're going to agree with me in this truth. He goes 18 to 29 talking once again about the superiority of the unshakable kingdom of God, the unshakable certainty of the citizens of the kingdom of God. And then in chapter 13, He picks back up the exhortations, which are just fundamentals of Christian living, which a lot of times we look at them, don't we, beloved, and we say, yeah, I know this, let my love continue, of course I know that, but it's those fundamentals of Christian living that we again and again need to be reminded of. So that's kind of the context there, and that's kind of where we're moving at in today in verses 15 to 17, dealing with the bitterness the root of bitterness in the heart, and the issue of hypocrisy. Well, let's look first of all at the exhortation, beginning in verse 15. It says, Look diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God. Before he gets to the semicolon. Look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God. Some of the modern English translations render it this way, and I think they're good translations. Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God. The NASV says, see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God. All of the English translations, no matter which one you read, they're deriving their main emphasis, make sure, see to it, the authorized version, look diligently, from this Greek phrase, episkopio. Now, Episcopal carries with it the idea to look very carefully, to examine something very carefully, to watch over something, to beware of something, to inspect something meticulously. And we get a better sense of its overall emphasis in the only other place in the New Testament it's used, and that's 1 Peter 5.2. In 1 Peter 5.2, the context there is the apostles instructing the ministers of the gospel. A.J. in his reading of 1 Timothy this morning, he's beginning to get into the issue of church order and responsibility. And we're going to see there when we see the role and the responsibilities that the man of God who's been called into one of the offices of the church is to carry in his own personal character of his life. And here in 1 Peter, the apostle is addressing those men who have been given this very important, very responsible position of preaching the gospel and overseeing the life of God's people and also the doctrine and the purity of the church. And Peter says there, feed the flock of God which is among you. And then here's this Greek phrase in the English, there it says, taking the oversight. But you see, it's this responsibility of taking oversight. Take it. It's responsibility. You do it. You're giving this now as the man of God. It's not an option. Coming with this office is this responsibility to get involved. You have to take oversight. He goes on, he says, taking oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filth and luger, but of ready of mind. Now, what this does, this usage of this phrase that's translated look diligently, be careful, make sure. as it's used in 1 Peter. Beloved, think for a moment. What this does is it's placing the very sober responsibility that all of you expect ministers to exercise in their studies, in their prayer closets, in their dealing with sin in the church. It places that same expectation, that same responsibility as if it were upon each and every one of us. In what way? Are you saying, Pastor Doug, that I have to be prepared to preach a sermon? Are you saying I have to be prepared to deal with all the affairs and the internal, you know, counseling sessions? No, no, no. I'm saying in the context of what it says there in verse 15, all of us have this very weighty responsibility to be careful, look diligently, inspect, beware of than any one of us. fails the grace of God, or comes short of the grace of God. It's not just the pastor's responsibility to make sure, Nolan, that you don't fail the grace of God. It's Grizz's responsibility, it's Mike's responsibility, it's AJ's and it's Brother Ray's to Nolan, and vice versa. You see that? Now, what we're gathering from this is that every one of us who profess to be Christians, who profess to be in the covenant with Christ that he's talked about all through this epistle, who's running the race and trying to make it to the end, we're all to be diligently, carefully mindful of this exhortation. Not just one person. This oughtn't surprise us, should it? Because we know our Bibles, and we're familiar at many places in the Bible, just this epistle alone, where there's been these constant exhortations. But we look at the rest of the New Testament, and it's always exhorting us as Christians to think in the mind of a soldier. to think in the mind of someone who's attentive, who's alert, who's engaged. Have the mind as if it were of an athlete. He's used those kind of examples in the past. Who's training, who's careful of things that will take away from our performance and are running the race. We've seen that over and over again. And so we can conclude where there's a lack of this episcopalio, there is a certain level of opportunity for any one of us to fall short of the grace of God. Let me say that again. We conclude from this exhortation, it's a real exhortation. That's why he put it there. Where there's a lack of this looking diligently, where there's a lack of the episcopal in the body of believers, there is an opportunity in this race we're all running. that one of us is going to fall short of the grace of God. So what does he mean by falling short or failing? of the grace of God." Well, you're going to have to wait a little longer in the message. We have to unpack what the root of bitterness is. We have to look at the example of Esau. And then at the end, I'll come back, I promise, and we'll answer the question, what does he mean by coming short of the grace of God? But at this point, at least allow me to say this. He doesn't mean losing the new covenant realities and blessings that He has already taught us that Christ has purchased and that Christ, only Christ, can secure. What are some of those? Well, let's look back. Go back to chapter 2. Before we move into the second half of the verse, look at chapter 2, particularly verse 17. He said there, wherefore in all things it behooved him, we know the subject here of the verse is talking about the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, taking on there the incarnated flesh of man, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, oh and here it is, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Beloved, that's not what's being taught there. We're not gonna fall short of this new coveted blessing of Christ Reconciliation for his people. That's not what I'm talking about. Let's go to chapter 3 verse 3 This man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he who had builded the house hath more honor than the house For every house is builded. I think I messed up here. I was in chapter. That's not where I wanted to go Oh, verse six, sorry. Verse six, he's describing there the superiority of his priesthood over Moses, okay? That's what he began there in verse three. Every house is built in verse four by some man, but he that built all things is God, and Moses verily was faithful in all his house. Indeed he was, we taught this, as a servant for a testimony of those things which were spoken of hereafter. But Christ, here it is, as a son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast to the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. That firm confidence and trusting in the Gospel through repentance and faith, that's what makes us part of Christ's house. Well, we don't lose that, beloved. We will never fall short of that. We know that most clearly if we go to chapter 10. These other unfolding aspects of this matrix of the new covenant that we all partake of. Chapter 10, starting with verse 10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Read it together. Once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifice, which can never take away sins. But this man, our great high priest, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, He sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." And we went through this. This is that legal categorization of taking a sinner and justifying them by the merits of Christ and putting them in this eternal state of perfection and sanctification on a legal basis. He goes on to say, jump down to verse 19, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest, by what? The blood of Jesus, by a new and a living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say his flesh, that's his sacrifice, giving up himself, and having a high priest over the house of God, Oh, look what it says. Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with the pure water. Brothers and sisters, these texts make it clear that all of these things, this confidence we have, this assurance we have to walk in boldly into the sanctuary of God, into His presence, through the veil, because of Christ. flesh and His sacrifice. These verses make it clear that it is confirmed only by the person and the work of Jesus Christ and not anything in us. So there's no way, I'm saying at this point, that this text can mean that we fall short of any of those blessings, because that all depends upon Jesus Christ. The writer's not contradicting himself in any way, shape, or form. So what does he mean? Well, we will begin to find out as we consider the rest of the verse. So let's go back to 12.15. He says, look diligently lest any man fail, come short of the grace of God. Semi-colon. lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." Okay, now we're getting closer to the meaning of this. What does it mean to fall short of the grace of God? Well, in some way, the semicolon is telling us it's connected with this root of bitterness that springs up Troubles you and thereby many be defiled at this point in the message. I'm going to move into my second heading the bitterness the bitterness of unbelief Now he's doing something here that will tremendously help us and we can't afford to miss. He's making an analogy to Deuteronomy chapter 29, verses 18 and 19. And you know, as we've been going through this epistle of Hebrews, he is constantly drawing parallels with the Old Testament saints to prove points and to teach lessons to the new covenant saints. Now watch this, let's go back to Deuteronomy. to get better at understanding what's he mean here by falling short of the grace of God. Deuteronomy 29. Now the context here of Deuteronomy 29, it's helpful to know, is Moses toward the end of his ministry, toward the end of his life. And the Israelites are going to be going and possessing the land of Canaan. And he gives this series of prayers and mingled in with also sermons. And chapter 29 really is a sermon of Moses. And what he's doing in this sermon is he's looking back and he's reminding the people that are going to possess the land of Canaan, look how graceful and faithful God's been to you. Presently, in the present tense, he speaks about the importance of remaining faithful to the covenant that God had gave them, and then he gives them a future warning of what to expect if you become unfaithful to the covenant arrangement God made with you. That future warning, that cursing of unfaithfulness, is where we're at, and our writer of Hebrews is using it over where we're at in Hebrews 12, 15. So let's look here, that's where we're at in verses 18 and 19. Moses is preaching a sermon, now he's giving them this warning about future unfaithfulness. He says, let's back up just a little bit. Let's go to verse 14. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, the present audience. You see, he's shifting to the future warning. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day, future generations, the Israelites. For you know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the nations which pass thereby. And ye have seen their abominations and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them. And here it is. Lest there should be among you man, woman, or family or tribe, whose heart, read carefully, whose heart turns away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, lest there should be among you a root, you're hearing the parallel now, lest there be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood. And it come to pass when he hears the words of this curse, the words of this warning, that that person who has this root, right, of gall and wormwood, he says to himself, He blesses himself in his heart saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst. All right, now let's jump back to Hebrews 12, 15. Look diligently lest any man fail the grace of God. And here's where he makes an analogy almost a citation of Hebrews 29, 18 and 19, which these first century Jews would have connected. They would have understood it. Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Many be defiled. What is going on in the context of Hebrews 29 as I alluded to, Moses was warning them in the covenantal framework that they existed in. That covenantal framework was temporary blessings based upon obedience. And if you break that, then there will be severe consequences. And he was telling them, was he not, that this outward connection with this covenant that God has made with you as members of this covenant community, that outward connection, that's not enough. There has to be an inward obedience from the heart. And there's going to be some that will think that their outward connection is enough to get them unto the end. It'll be enough. That was the whole idea of the man saying to himself when he hears the curse, Oh, I still have peace. I'm still okay, even though I follow the imaginations of my own heart. You see, what Moses is doing there is he is articulating, he's defining for us what this root of gall and wormwood, what it looks like when it manifests itself in apostasy. Because hypocrisy leads to apostasy, it manifests itself in this indifference, this hardening of heart, to the revealed covenant law of God. And a man will say, I hear what you're saying, but I'm okay, and I'm just going to follow my heart. That's what Moses was drawing to the surface. And notice that he describes that as a beginning of bitterness. I gather that by where he says, thus there should be any among you the root that bears gall and wormwood. The gall reference there is a poisonous plant in the ancient times. The wormwood plant was a plant that they went to to get an herb that was bitter. And so when we come back to verse 15, this is why he's saying, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you. So whatever it was that would lead to manifest itself to a man saying, I have peace even though I know what the word says, I even though I know what God said, I still have peace and I'm going to follow the imaginations of my own heart. Whatever that is, it's bitter. It's not good. It's a thing that we're to be careful of. It has a root. You know, a plant has a taproot, then it has the little feeder roots. Well, this root of bitterness It can feed and manifest itself to where a person is actually in an open, hypocritical, apostate mindset saying, I know what the Word of God says, but I'm going to walk in my own ways. Look diligently lest any man come short of the grace of God. And how does that look? How do you fall short of the grace of God? Lest any root of bitterness spring up spring up and trouble you and thereby many be defiled. Moses here in this Old Testament community was warning them that even though they were outwardly connected to the covenant community, the outward connection alone wouldn't protect them from the wrath of God against those who were hypocrites. Now I think at this point it's helpful for us because we're reading a letter that's being written to new covenant members. And at this point it's helpful for us as we look at this warning to remember that this letter was written to three groups of people that were in the gathered visible church. There were true sincere believers there. They had perhaps been already persecuted. They had spent some time in prison. They had been ostracized by their family, but yet they still continued to bear the cross. And so you could only deduce from that with these people that were in the church. Everybody knew Frank. Everybody knew, that was a bad first century Jewish name, but Frank. They knew, here we go, Saul. We'll use Saul, right? They knew that he had spent some time in prison. They knew that he'd been whipped. They knew that he had his home taken from him and that he was living in hiding. And so either Frank is either crazy or he really is a blood-bought disciple of Jesus, right? But then there were some in the church that were receiving this epistle who professed that they at least intellectually agreed with some aspects of the gospel and its meaning about Christ. But yet there was no real season of testing for them. And so, what the writer's telling them, look diligently, brothers, lest any root of bitterness spring up and trouble you by which many be defiled. Don't make the same mistake as your forefathers. Thinking that just external connection with the covenant community is really the true connection that's going to guarantee you make it to the end. Don't do that. So he's admonishing them, beware of the root of bitterness that can spring up and defile you. The third group of the people were the people that just were... They were there Paul describes this especially it was in the the Greek Context the Roman Greek context the the Gentile context coming to the supper and treating it irreverently You know for whatever reason they wanted to be in the church, but they they were not believers whatsoever And when things got heated up, they'd be the first ones to leave right, but that's who this letter is being written to that's who's reading it and And so he's wanting to warn them, there is a root of bitterness. That root of bitterness is connected with unbelief that's in your heart. And it's only a matter of time when persecution comes around that it will spring up. And when it springs up, it will trouble you and cause big problems. So in other words, just as there were false professors in the old covenant times in that group of people that Moses was talking to, there are false professors in the new covenant era just as well. And so this application could be just as sobering. It could be just authoritatively preached. Because at the end of the day, beloved, me as a messenger of God, I cannot see in any one of your guys' hearts. And so I proclaim this and I say to all of us, brethren, let none of us fall short of the grace of God. And how will that happen? If we allow the root of bitterness to spring up and trouble us by which many are defiled. And so therefore, you saw it back in Deuteronomy, any man, woman, adult, a person of youth, a family, a collection family, anyone who is beginning to show signs of bitterness to the truth of God's word. We collectively are to exercise the episcopal in love and patience. If we don't, it can trouble the church and defile many in the process. We gather from this exhortation and then from this reflection in Deuteronomy that we as the church here are being called to watch for the first signs of apostasy in one another's lives. The first signs of genuine hypocrisy in one another's lives. Look diligently, lest any man fall short of the grace of God. Where do we start doing that? Well, first of all, we start doing it, do we not, beloved, in our own hearts? Going back to Psalms 26 and the prayer of David. Examine me, O God, try me. You know, that's one antidote from hypocrisy. God, I want you to show me these things. Lord, I don't want to be satisfied with these things. Lord, I want to grow in holiness. Lord, help me to fight these things. You're staying close and tethered to the throne of grace and the mercy of God in order to continue to navigate through the Christian experience. But you begin in your own life. But secondly, you begin with patience in a loving way in the life of your brethren, which means we have to exercise amongst one another great maturity, not hastiness. I'm not saying we're policing each other's lives, but you cannot escape the exhortation in our individualistic American lives of what's being said, lest any of you. Moses was telling the whole covenant community, watch out for this stuff. And so, when we're talking, If one of us were to express something that we know is just antithetical to the Word of God, you have a responsibility to follow that up with a cup of coffee or a phone call and say, brother, did I just misunderstand you? Or did you really believe what you were saying about A, B, or C? Hey, brother, I know we need to be salt and wine in the world, but you know, brother, I mean, I see you spending a lot of time, a majority of your time, in fact, with that crowd over there who make it very apparent in their social media groups that Christ isn't allowed to be talked about in their group of people than you do with even the people of God. Now, brother, I know you're a strong man. Sister, I know you're a strong woman in the faith. Oh, but be careful that bad company don't begin to corrupt, right, a good life or a good testimony that you have, you know. That's what we're talking about here, brothers and sisters. That's what we're talking about. Because if it goes unchecked, as we said already, it will trouble the church. As it begins to agitate its own ideas, the imagination of our hearts, in our midsts, in our families, and calls about great controversy. Most of the controversies of the church, the confusion, and the problems, are a lack of taking this admonition seriously. Because we're really more concerned, if we be honest, with ourselves. and making sure we're okay and we're running the race and we're not loving one another in that same way. And if that makes people feel uncomfortable, it will make people in the West feel the most uncomfortable. Amen? It will, brothers and sisters. Example after example in the New Testament shows where the church of the living God failed in this area and it brought great consequences. Take for example the wilderness generation. You had just a couple spies who went to Kadesh and what did they did? They come back and the Bible tells us because of fear, not trusting God, because of their bitterness, the root of bitterness of unbelief, they began to leaven the whole lump of the people of God. And what happened? The Bible says they turned the people against God. Moving up to the first era early church period or the New Testament period. What happens? The apostles came in. They planted churches. They preached the gospel. Many believed. But then there were some in this category people were talking about who apostatized. And then what did they do? They would come back. Some of them went as far as being false teachers. They led many astray, Paul says. According to this text, ask the church of Jesus Christ, we mustn't ever slacken our diligence. Can I say loving diligence? When we talk this way, it's so sad that we're so thin-skinned in the church today that we have to apologize for what we're saying. But we have to not slacken our diligence against what contradicts the truth of God's word and can go on to promote bitterness in the heart. Listen to how Robert Martin, his commentator on Hebrew said it. He said, quote, No church is ever more than just one generation away from total apostasy. And if we fail to guard the purity of the church in doctrine, practice, and morals, our children, if not ourselves, will live to reap the bitter harvest of our own folly. Brothers and sisters, let us walk circumspectly in our midst so that none of us fall short of the glory of God. I want to draw out something that I found in my studies that I thought was very insightful about this Gall and Wormwood analogy that our writer's drawing from in Hebrews 29 to lift up this aspect of what he's calling bitterness. So, we know that he's saying there's a bitterness of unbelief that if it springs up can cause a lot of trouble, right? Well, think about the similarities of these symbols. that Moses is using with the immaterial spiritual realities that the writer of Hebrews drawing off of. Many of you today, well not today, but here soon you're gonna be planting bulbs, fall bulbs, right? I like to do this. And I'll put that bulb in the ground and I'll put some fertilizer kind of dirt on top of it. That way, at the right season, at just the right time, when the conditions are just right, That bulb realizes its true state of nature. And it's going to what? Sprout up. And it's going to bring forth whatever it's made to bring forth. Fruit, flowers, whatever. Right? But it can't do that. You don't even know it's there. I know it's there because I planted it. You were looking to see a big mound of dirt. But I know it's there. It's kind of like that with the root of bitterness. The root of unbelief. It's there. None of us in here can say, my heart is the impeccable, perfect image and heart of Jesus Christ, and I trust God wholly with unreserved faith, and there's not one ounce of unbelief that resides within my heart. There's not one of us who would say that. Not one of us. It's most reflected to us, that reality of ourselves, when something happens. You see, when the conditions are just right, a pressure here, a phone call from a doctor there, a conflict that's just building upon itself, you know, with each discussion, a stressful marriage situation, a season of marriage here. Do you realize that what has been writing underneath that person's Christian testimony, Christian personification, an exterior plastic shell, is a root of unbelief the whole time and when the conditions get just right, That unbelief, that root of bitterness, sprouts forth and begins to question everything that it once professed and believed. Beware, look diligently, lest those sprouts start popping up. And they always pop up at those times. And so when they pop up, oh, exercise the means of grace, beloved. Be in your prayer closet with God. Keep that relationship lively. Keep it real. Be in the Word. Read His Word because that's going to correct your wrong thinking of everything around you. Be in fellowship with the saints. Because a just and a faithful man, his prayers will avail much, right? And he's going to tell you the truth and he's going to walk with you. I was talking with a brother this week about the importance of male-to-male Christian friendships. that the old writers used to talk about all the time. We see it in the Bible, Jonathan and David, and it seems like we just are struggling with that a little bit within the Church of Christ. And there's all kinds of things that are involved in the recipe of why men-to-men don't have good, intimate bonds of friendship. But it's important. It's important. When these pressures come along and this root of bitterness is exasperated and it comes to the surface, oh, deal with it quickly. Because it always precedes ultimate hypocrisy and apostasy. So when you're going through very difficult times in life, that's when you gotta be most diligent to not fall short of the grace of God. That's when you gotta be most diligent when you see another brother or sister going through something. And we have some brothers in this church going through things. That person needs our help. They need our help. This was certainly the case of Esau. who we move to next. You see, Esau had the root of bitterness all along, but when the time came for it to be expressed and just unveiled hypocrisy leading to his apostasy, it came out. It came out. And that's what we have here as the example. Moving on. lest any root of this bitterness springs up and trouble you and thereby many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, as Esau, what did he do? Who for one morsel of meat sold as birthright, For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. Now the writer moves from this wilderness generation, Deuteronomy 29, to another Old Testament example to further strengthen this overall exhortation, not let anyone fall short of the grace of God. Now you all know, most of you do, of who Esau was. He was an individual who, in despising the covenant blessing, from his father Abraham. He placed himself, we already know because he had a root of bitterness and unbelief in his heart, he placed himself in that covenant context in an irrevocable place to where he could not get that blessing back. In the covenant that God made with Abraham, Abraham would pass down his blessing of temporary materialistic blessings generation to generation. And it fell to the first oldest son. It would have been unjust for Abraham to have taken back that blessing from Jacob and given it to Esau. That would have been unrighteous to do. It didn't work like that. The rules were you lay your hands and you bless your son and you give him the blessing. That was the whole scheme behind Jacob and why him and his mother wanted to get the blessing. So Esau, and what he did, he placed himself in that irrevocable situation. That was the covenant context there. So don't conflate what's going on with confusing the new covenant with the context that Esau was in. Here's what I mean. Esau, we're gonna see in a moment, he had a heart of bitterness and unbelief. Finally, the recipe in life, providences, whatever were just right for him to make that final step where he says, I don't even care about this blessing. When Esau made that step, friends, What he said was much more than, I don't care about the blessing. I don't care about the blessing. I don't care about the God who's connected with the blessing. And the tip of the iceberg was his attitude after he had done it as it was recorded in Genesis 25. You know the scripture where he sits down and Jacob gives him the bread, gives him the lentils, the text says. And what's the text say? Esau ate. He drank and he got up and walked away, thereby defying the blessing. It was just this nonchalant attitude of what he professed in a community was the most revealed, revered, consecrated thing in all of their midst, the blessing, the blessing of God that was passed to Abraham and then passed to Isaac. And I, oh, I can't wait to receive that blessing. You see, the entire context of their community revered that as the most important thing. And here's little Esau, daddy's favorite boy. And he was pretending, oh yes dad, just as that blessing is important to you, it's important to me too. Oh yes dad, just as you lead under the shadow and the cloak of this covenantal blessing that God has given our family, I can't wait till it's my turn someday to do it. All the while he's hiding and he's cloaking this bitterness of unbelief. What a hypocrite, what a hypocrite. There's two character traits that are defining the hypocrite that Esau is associated with. He was a fornicator. Some scholars go back and forth about, you know, could you really pin this down on Esau? But the New Testament has to interpret everything in the Old Testament. He was. And you can go in the Old Testament. You can find he had multiple wives and this and this and that. And so he had a heart of a fornicator. He had a heart of a profane man. What that means there in the Greek is someone who's just irreverent. Irreverent to the things of God. Oh, of course, he was there watching Isaac bless the meal before, you know, they would eat. Oh, yeah, he was there at all the important ceremonies. But to him, just going through the motions, that was Esau. That was the hypocrite. It had no real meaning in his heart. And so, what happens? Esau, no faith. No real genuine repentance in faith. There was nothing put in check. There was nothing curbing this indifference, this profaneness to the sacred things of our covenant God. And when the time came where he wanted to satisfy his physical desires, and he had to sell his birthright to someone who did understand the importance of it. Someone who genuinely longed for it. Someone, say what you want about Jacob at this point, at least he had somewhere with all the schemes of God to know there's something real in this and I want it. Say what you want. Jacob comes and presents to him, give me that blessing and I'll satisfy your stomach. And Esau said, yeah, okay, absolutely. Thereby manifesting once and for all that he was a hypocrite. Oh friends, All of us have, that's why my sermon title is, Don't Become an Esau. Because all of us have these places in our heart. And kids, you know, I'm not talking about a physical heart. I'm talking about the seat of your consciousness, the seat of who you are, your soul, your heart, your being. All of us have areas of unbelief. And if we have any hope to make it in the end, if we have any hope of not falling short of the grace of God that's offered to us in the gospel, you have got to put those things in check. And Esau never had any of that. But if you have been born again, as we were working through the doctrine of holiness, you do have that new nature. You do have that. And so walk diligently, Christian. Walk circumspectly, Christian. Check these things that whisper and murmur this root of bitterness that is in you. Oh yes, it's in there. You know it's in there. I know it's in me. And I have to daily, sometimes more, sometimes often, again, depending on the situation in my life, providence, what's going on, come and say, Oh God, remove this root of bitterness. How could I be thinking such things? God, where am I at? How far have I drifted? You are good. You are holy. You are in control. God, I'm not in control. God, help me to be steadfast, faithful, believing unto the end. Don't let me become an Esau and live a life of hypocrisy. which can, if it goes unchecked, lead to me rejecting God altogether and becoming an apostate. So what does the text mean here? I told you I'd come back to answer the question. What does it mean by coming short of the grace of God? I think that these Old Testament examples give us a trustworthy answer to this question. If we are to inherit the blessing promised to us in the gospel and the new covenant as articulated all throughout this epistle. That is the final heavenly rest and inheritance. We must renounce all trust to outward privileges only, including ancestry, what family we are from, our baptism, church membership, what confession of faith you hold to, what tradition you're part of, and we have to rest all of our hope upon the grace of God available to us as law sinners in the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you're hanging your hat on anything, you're running the risk of falling short of the grace of God. This entire passage, beloved, from verses 15 to 17, teaches us that we cannot depend on our outward spiritual privileges as some kind of guarantee of inheriting the eternal blessings that are available to Christ's people. It didn't work for the non-believing Jews in the wilderness, that outward connection. It didn't matter if they had circumcision. It didn't matter if they followed all the laws of Moses. Eventually, there would come a point where a man said, I'm going to follow the laws of my own heart. Check him off. It didn't work for the birthright selling Esau. He was the son of Isaac. The oldest child was there during the whole family's charade until he took that step of selling his birthright. Check him off. It didn't work then and it doesn't work now. The apostles dealing with the same sin problem of hypocrisy and apostasy which can happen in the New Covenant as well. Why? Because of the bitterness, the root of bitterness and unbelief. He begins in verses 18-29, as I said in my introduction, once again bringing back to their minds of what they are confessing that they have in the new covenant. You are not coming to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor do you come into blackness and darkness and tempest. Oh, New Covenant community, in our midst today, all three categories of people that are sitting here, make your calling in your election sure you see what He's doing. Don't play games. The Christian war, the Christian fight, the Christian life, it is real. Look diligently. Don't fall short of the grace of God. What are you currently thinking? Where is your mind? Where is your heart? Where are your affections? And where is your thoughts? Falling short of the grace of God means stop trusting in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that glorious gospel that the second person in the Trinity took upon Himself human flesh, lived a sinless and a perfect life, and gave His life for sinners who could not live that perfect life. And upon giving His life, He made available in a way that a sinner could be made righteous and receive the glorious promise of eternal life with a holy God. When you stop trusting in that, You've fallen short of the grace of God. I'm going to close with this one last thing. I think it's been pretty clear so far about some of the things that we can do to make sure we don't fall short of the glory of God, just understanding the exhortation, the context of the bitterness of the heart, the example of Esau, so forth and so on. But I want to provide you in closing a very simple, it's a guaranteed, it's a bulletproof tried and tested method that you will never fail and come short of the grace of God. You repent and you look upon the cross of Jesus Christ daily, beloved, and you follow the exhortation that's available in 2 Corinthians 10.5. There, the new covenant believer, looking and trusting in Christ, is called to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." Do that in your life. As you're out there surfing on the internet, as you're interacting with other peers, as you're interacting with other family members, knowing you have the reality of Christ in your life, He has changed you. He's given you this new awareness and affection. Begin to exercise this. Because as you're casting down these imaginations, as you're seeking to bring down these things that exalt themselves against the truth of God's Word, you're placing yourself in this involved role of not slipping down into unbelief because you're actually defending it. You're actually ministering it. You're actually engaged in it. I mean, if you don't believe in the faith that you're defending, then I mean, you're the, we're all just the hypocrite of hypocrites, you know? But as those things are being spoken, beloved, what are we doing? We're not allowing, we're not waiting for the root of bitterness to come into this full-formed, bloomed plant, are we? No, we're seeing it early on, and we're dealing with it. So if you have a family member going back, earlier what I was saying, who's bringing up these things that is antithetical to the Word of God, we gently, patiently, and meekly want to go to them and say, you know, let's walk through that a little bit. Want to bring in some kind of heretical thinking that goes against or adding to the finished work of Jesus Christ, we patiently and lovingly want to walk through that with them, not just let it sit there and let them just idle in their own wrong thinking. We want to make sure that all of us don't fall short of the grace of God. And as we sung in the hymn leading into today's sermon, He is faithful never ever to leave us and to help us do that. So we have confidence, don't we? We have confidence based upon His character and based upon the attributes of who He is as a covenant and faithful God. Let's go to Lord in prayer. O Heavenly Father, as we close our time in Your Word, we do ask You, like David did, Lord, to examine us, to try us. And Father, where there are those areas of the root of unbelief and bitterness within our hearts, we ask You to help us to be honest with ourselves, Lord. We ask that Your Spirit would teach us, Your Spirit would grow us, Your Spirit would mature us. Help us, O Father, to remain a humble people. Help us, O God, to confess our sins before You every day, and confess our great need, Lord, to grow more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Lord, every man, woman, boy, and girl in this chapel today, Lord, understands who they truly are in the examination, Lord, of your spirit and your word. And I pray that you would help us, Lord, not to lie to ourselves. But God, help us to lean more and more and trust more and more in who you are and what you can and will do in our lives. And oh God, my Father, I pray, preserve us. Oh, keep us. Lest we wander on our own vain imaginations, Father, and begin to live the life of a hypocrite. Keep our hearts soft and palatable to the truths of Thy blessed Word. Keep our souls attentive, O God, to the voice of Thy blessed Spirit. And, O Father, would You prevent us from ever becoming self-deceived. Help us, O God, to always be at that state of teachability and softness, desiring to be led by the truth of Your blessed Word. Help us, O God, to care and to love for one another in our midst. Help us to have a genuinely sincere concern for one another, Father. God, help us, we pray, to know how to move forward as Your church. Help us, dear Lord, to be careful and mindful of the things that seek to pull us in certain directions that can get us off and cause us to drift. Help us to stay tethered, dear Father, to the anchor of the truth of your blessed word. And, dear Lord, give us faithful brothers and sisters around us to help insulate us, oh Lord, from the many things that seek to cause trouble amongst us. God, I pray for Your church at large. I pray for this little church, Lord. If there's anyone in our midst who, because of the season of life that they're going through, Lord, that the unbelief that indeed resides in every single person's heart, I pray, God, that You would come and You would help them. Lord, I pray that You would remind them of who You are and what You have done, and remind them, Lord, the firmness, the firm foundation they have in Your Word. Give us, we pray as David, that confidence that we are standing on level ground and that we rejoice being in the household of God where You are honored. Oh Father, we pray for our brothers and sisters, the one who are experiencing right now true trials, true temptations that shaking their faith. Lord, may these tests of their faith only remove the dross, Lord, of superficiality, and may they come out as refined gold, being a glory and a testimony to the preserving and the saving power of your blessed gospel. Christ, help us, we pray, as we will do in just a moment in your supper. Look again and again as you're wearied saints to who you are and what you've done, And what will you continue to do in the hearts and the lives of your people? We bless you and we thank you. And help us as we will begin to see next week. What a glorious, wonderful Savior we have. What a glorious and wonderful covenant that we have been made part of. And we are the living stones in the city of God. We bless you and we thank you, O Christ. In your holy and precious name we pray. Amen.