I'm pleased that Hebrews chapter number 12. Hebrews chapter number 12. We've been just about a year working our way through this book on Sunday mornings. a book that presents to us the assurance of our eternal salvation on the basis of the work of Christ and what it means for the way that we live, which is perhaps where things get a little tricky for some of us. Let's go ahead and stand, please, and because we've been away from it for a couple of weeks, I want to go back to verse number three. and read to the end of verse number 17, although that's a far larger portion than we will handle this morning. I'm sorry, maybe I should start with verse number three. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet 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 loveth, 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 he be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you. And thereby many be defiled. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know that how 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. Let's pray. Father, I pray as always that you would help me to be faithful to the text of Scripture, and that we would hear your words as they are, not myths or fables or stories, but the instruction of God for his people. And Father, I pray for all of us that as Jesus ran the race you had for him, and as Paul desired that he would finish his course with joy, so that we would be ambitious to live as faithful believers to the end of our earthly lives. And I pray this for us in Jesus' name, amen. And you may, of course, be seated. Well, we've noted that the pastor in Hebrews is likening our Christian life experience to being that of a marathon runner. That we are in this for the long haul. And certainly, folks, there was a moment in time that you trusted in Christ. You may not really be able to clearly remember it. But you were not born a believer. And that is a precious event that you can recall the day you came to faith in Christ. But it is far from the end of the story. It is far from the end of what the Lord has for us. What the Lord has for us is a race. And sometimes the race is hard. And when we met together on this passage two weeks ago, the conclusion was the race is sometimes hard because it is the will of the Father that it be that way. That part of the chastisement, part of the overall course of instruction that God has for his people, is one of difficulty. And while the modern gospel message may be one of unbridled peace and prosperity, the Bible message is that this will be fraught with perils and difficulties, and that is the will of God. Sometimes people will use the analogy of getting on an airplane to describe salvation. You get on an airplane headed for New York City, and the airplane's going to New York City, and you're going to New York City, so you get on the salvation airplane, and it's going to heaven, and so you're going to heaven. There's a sense in which that's absolutely true. But I think if one of the Bible writers were to undertake the analogy, he would put it something like this, knowing nothing about airplanes. When you get on the boat that goes to heaven, it's going to heaven. That doesn't stop the fact that you are expected to row like crazy. It's not a pleasure boat. It's not a sightseeing cruise. It is a working vessel. And the laborers are expected to labor. The book of Hebrews, the longest recorded sermon in the scripture, The longest recorded sermon in the scripture is an exhortation to the people of God to maintain the profession of their faith. Why would people abandon their faith? What happens to us, folks? What happens to people? that they walk one day out of a church building and they never go back into another one? What happens to people that one day they close their Bible and they never open it again? What happens that people in effect lock their prayer closet and they never visit it again? What happens to people? And the likelihood is that you know people like that. The likelihood is that you know of somebody like that. My pastor, the man that led us to Christ, called them once-wuzzers. Are you a Christian? Well, I once was. What happens to us? And I think in a very large and broad sense, folks, what happens to many people is that the race is grueling. And they give up the race now, not talking about one losing one salvation, and neither is the pastor in Hebrews. That's not the point. The pastor has spent a lot of time in the book of Hebrews pointing us to the greatness of Christ. How great is Jesus Christ? Well, he's greater than all of the angels. And he is greater than Moses. He is greater than an entire religious system that God himself implemented. And he is so great that this one man, Jesus Christ, in one act, his death on the cross and its resurrection, accomplished eternally what could never be done even one time by all of the people and all of the animals that were sacrificed. A very weak and poor analogy, but it would be, folks, almost like saying that Jesus is so great that in one play he broke every record that had ever been held by anybody or ever would be held again. In one snap of the football he broke every record. He outstripped every player. His greatness cannot be measured. And because of this, the pastor is adamant, because of this, those who are his true people, true believers, will, will have eternal salvation. But there is equally this, that God expects those who are true believers to live like it. And no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. Now, Christians are supposed to be joy-filled people. And there is a joy. And without going back into it, Paul embraces the tension in the book of 2 Corinthians that we're always joyful and yet always sorrowing. I don't want to go down that road. I just want to touch on this this morning. Chastening doesn't always seem to be joyful. The Bible is the word of God. It is a wonderful thing. It is precious. It is more to be desired than our earthly food. That's the way that it is extolled. That is its ideal. But is it really a delight every day? Is there not almost always some pull of other thing? Is the same not true for prayer? It's one thing to sing sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer. But what happens to us when we set the clock and determine to pray for an hour? How hard that seems. I know that the scripture demands and expects my obedience and promises me joy and blessing for having done it, but sometimes obedience is an uphill battle, isn't it? I know that the things that God brings to my life are trials from my Heavenly Father who is acting in my own best interest. Nevertheless, I sometimes bristle. No chastening seems joyful for the present moment. And some people do turn their back on their profession. That is very sad, and as we work our way through the text, we will see just how seriously God takes that. It is not a thing to be done lightly. But this morning, I wish to call our attention primarily to verses 12 through 14, right? Because here's the flow of the argument. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. Now, what are we gonna do about that? What are we going to do about that? What are we going to do about the fact that we have to take algebra but we don't really like it? Or what are we going to do about the fact that we have to take English grammar and composition but we don't really like it? Some branches of Christianity, folks, and there are plenty of them in fundamentalism, Believe that there is something wrong with you if you struggle as a Christian. We have songs in our songbook that reflect that movement. It was an entire movement in the late 19th century that occurred primarily in England, but had its influences in America that developed a theology, something along these lines, that God would bring you to a moment of crisis, a personal crisis in your life. And you would be brought to a place where there was nothing for you to do but break. And when God broke you, then the light would shine and all would be peace and happiness and ease and contentment forevermore. That's not the picture that the Bible portrays, but it sure would be wonderful, wouldn't it? Just to be brought to that place where you are broken and then every day is glorious, happy sunshine. Right? You'll never be blessed and have peace and sweet rest until all on the altar is laid. That's one of those songs. But the Bible picture, folks, is really one of much more of a day-to-day Christianity and living out one's life as a believer. So in verses 12 through 14, God tells us what the response ought to be to those times when the chastening is unpleasant. It is not all unpleasant. But at times it is wearing and God's people get worn down. Verse number 12, wherefore, Because of verse number 11, wherefore lift up the hands which hang down in the feeble knees. Once again, the language of the marathon runner continues. That someone who has been running and running and running and running is at the point of physical exhaustion and now we take that imagery of somebody who has run themselves ragged and now we build upon that how they should be dealt with spiritually, those who have drooping hands and weak knees. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees. And I think the responsibility in the text in the verse is twofold. I think that there is some personal individual responsibility that is being levied here. David encouraged himself in the Lord. David encouraged himself the Lord. But I think also there is the expected mandate to help those who are struggling, to minister to those who are struggling, folks. We are a congregation and there is a very real sense in which the perseverance of our faith is a congregational activity. That we are to minister and help each other. In Hebrews 10 24 the pastor said, let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Now the question then becomes, how would I do that? How would I, or how would you, supposing that I am the one with drooping hands and weak knees, how would you help me? Let me ask you, we're gonna come right back to Hebrews, but let me ask you if you would please to turn to Isaiah in the Old Testament. Because obviously, folks, these men who are writing to us the New Testament are just saturated with the Old Testament and their language and their imagery so often comes right from those precious Old Testament texts. So, Isaiah chapter 35, and I think you'll see it straight enough, it's a very short chapter. Let's just look at it in its entirety. Isaiah chapter 35 and verse number one. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. You see where the pastor's been. He's been in Isaiah 35. But wait a minute, because we're not done in Isaiah 35, because that's the what. Strengthen and confirm. Here's the how, verse number 35, or verse number five, verse number four. Say to them that are a fearful heart, be strong, fear not, behold, your God will come with a vengeance. Even God with a recompense, he will come and save you. And he goes on then through the rest of the passage to describe that, which is what we are waiting for, the kingdom. I said I'd read the entire chapter, but I don't think we need to read the entirety of the chapter. You can read it on your own. In other words, folks, how do we do this? How do we encourage each other in our weakened state with the word of the Lord? With the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord is sustenance for the people of God. Look, there's nothing wrong with taking a break. There's nothing wrong with getting away. There's nothing wrong with going on vacation. There's nothing wrong with leaving it all behind for a few days or a couple of weeks. I'm not arguing against that. I do that myself. But what does God say to us in the times that we are spiritually weakened? When we are weakened, sometimes by the very nature of the work, we strengthen each other with the word of the Lord. We're not looking for psychological support. We're not looking for materialistic support. We are the people of the Lord. We are the people of the living God. We are the people of the God who speaks and His words give life. Say to them that are weak, your God reigns. You're a little weak right now, but God reigns and the kingdom is coming. And the end in the best possible sense of the word is not terribly far away. So to go back to Hebrews chapter 12. What is the word of the Lord to us? What should we say to each other when the chastening of the Lord is particularly difficult? We minister to each other with the word of the Lord. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 13, and make straight paths for your feet. Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Again, back to the imagery of the runner. Right here you are, you're running, and you're running, and you're running, and you're running, and you're tired. And your legs burn, and your legs hurt, and your shoulders are drooping. And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. Wouldn't a shortcut be a nice thing? Wouldn't a shortcut be a nice thing? In 1980, a lady by the name of Rosie Ruiz was declared the winner of the female segment of the Boston Marathon. She was hailed as a celebrity for a week. And the questions began to emerge and the suspicions began to raise. And on the eighth day, it was revealed that Rosie Ruiz had not run the entire Boston Marathon, but had run only a half a mile of the Boston Marathon. She had let everybody else run. almost 100% of the marathon before she joined and became the victor. Of course, she went down in disgrace. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a shortcut? Make straight paths for your feet. Now, there are other passages, folks, particularly in the book of Romans chapter 14, particularly 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10, in which we are specifically prohibited from placing obstacles in the way of our brothers and sisters. No stumbling blocks. Don't place an impediment to the pathway of your brother. But here once again, folks, and I think that there is both an individual sense and there is a kind of corporate sense in which what we do is make sure that we are on the straight path. The straight path. Or as it's come down to us, even in secular vernacular, the straight and narrow. In other words, folks, the antidote to the weariness of the race is not to go off the rails. And once again, let me ask you, if you will, we'll come right back to the book of Hebrews, but turn, if you would, to the book of Proverbs, chapter number four, because once again, our pastor has gone back to the Old Testament for his material. Proverbs chapter 4 and verse number 23, keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet. Let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. Make straight paths for your feet. Make straight paths for your feet. Again, the church, I think, the pulpit has a clear responsibility to set before the congregation the straight path, what God's expectations are, what God's word says, the way that you should live. But folks, we all have, I'm not just trying to preach to you and I'm certainly not trying to condescend, but we all have some responsibility to think about the way we're living and where it's going to end. You know, a huge part of God's wisdom, when he talks to us about wisdom, is the ability to, at some general level, anticipate down the road what today's conduct is going to result in. I know it seems great. Today, I'm quitting. I'm done. Finished. That's great today. That's great today. By the way, without getting into it, just go back to Hebrews chapter 12 and just look down a couple of verses. Lest there be a fornicator, profane person, or Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Today. And we'll go back, and we will go back, we'll look at the story. Jacob said, sell me your portion of the will. And Esau said, what good does my portion of the will do if I starve right here, right now? So I will sell you my portion of the will. Foolish decision. Make straight paths for your feet. We're doing it now. We're making decisions now. We're thinking about now. What will today's decisions mean tomorrow? And if you go, I don't know, I take exception to that because you have a book in your lap that is filled with admonitions about what happens to people who make wrong and right decisions. Just read Psalm number one. Just read Psalm number one. two totally different views of the world, two totally different ways of acting, two totally different outcomes. So again, back to Hebrews chapter number 12. Chastening doesn't always seem joyous. This doesn't mean that the Christian life is a downer. This doesn't mean that we're doomed to gloom and despair every moment of the day. But folks, to live as a Christian can be exhausting and tiring by design. And so the Lord says, well, what you need to do is you need to be strengthened in the word and you need to stay on the straight path. And you need, verse number 14, interestingly enough, you need to pursue peace. which would perhaps not necessarily make the list if we were putting together the kind of list of things we would, right? What's it gonna, right? I mean, you know, I mean, you just led one of your children to the Lord and they've called upon Christ and now you're gonna give them some instruction, right? Well, you need to be baptized. And by the way, if you are a believer and have never been baptized by mercy, you need to be baptized. and you need to read your Bible, and you need to pray, and you need to learn to serve. Well, here's one. You need to hunt down peace. And that's what the word pursue refers to, follow refers to. Be on the hunt. Be on the hunt for peace. And I would suggest to you that the word all means just that, all. It means those that you love, and those that love you, and it means those that don't love you, and it means those that you don't love. Remember folks, that this sermon doesn't just have as its purpose, right? It's not like the pastor was sitting around thinking, what should I preach? What should I preach? I know I should preach on maintaining your Christian profession, but he was reacting to a congregation who was going, you know what? Being a believer in Jesus is hard and we think we'd like to give it up. And he's going, you can't give it up. You can't give it up. In fact, five times in the book of Hebrews. He cautions them about what it means when people walk away from it. If they give it up. Well, these people don't like me very much. Pursue peace with all men. Pursue peace with all men. He's not saying that peace is always the possibility. No believer has found peace always the possibility. David said, I'm for peace when I speak, they are for war. I can't even talk to them without them going on the war path. Paul told us to pursue peace as much as liest in us. Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers. Here's the issue, folks. We can either dig our heels in and be stubborn or we can be on the hunt for peace. That's what the pastor is arguing. Pursue peace with all men. Now, I hope it goes without saying, and I don't wanna go down this point, because this is really a whole separate sermon, but when we're talking about pursuing peace, truth is not on the table. We don't surrender biblical truth to pursue peace, but we surrender ego to pursue peace. sometimes money, sometimes our stuff to pursue peace. We should be willing to surrender our reputation for peace. We should be willing to make amends for peace. There are lots of things that we can do that put us in the pursuing peace category of people. rather than the allowing the root of bitterness to build category of people. And then finally, back to verse number 14. What is God's advice to us? What counsel would God give us in light of the fact that it is his will that chastening can be hard? Be strong in the word. Stay on the straight path. Be on the hunt for peace with people. Don't add to the difficulty of the Christian life by being in needless conflicts with people. And pursue the sanctification that you've been given. Back to verse number 14, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. I think you can see pretty easily that the command to follow peace is also a command to follow holiness. It's just not written. I mean, he could have written, follow peace and follow holiness, but it's not necessarily for him to do that particularly in his language. Holiness here refers to sanctification. Okay? Oftentimes the Bible word holiness refers to the absence of sin. But here it is a word that is describing sanctification or consecration, the idea of having been set apart. Biblically, our sanctification exists at three levels. If I can just run through this quickly. When you got saved, you were sanctified, you were set apart. You were consecrated from God's use from that time forward. For me, I mean, I just remember the day, I don't even know why I do. April 4th, 1978, called upon the Lord to save me from that moment. I'm not talking about being set aside to become a pastor. I'm talking about being set aside for whatever God had for me. On that day, I got set aside for him, consecrated. That past tense is described and used in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 2.11, for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. He set us apart out of a crowd of all of humanity. Those who called upon the Lord got set aside. They are his. These are my brothers. Those over there that don't believe in me, they're not my brothers. These are my brothers. Past tense. Set apart for himself. There's also a future dimension when our sanctification will be finally complete, when we really will be completely the Lord's, when there will be no impediment to being His and serving Him. But there is the present dimension, and this is what the pastor is talking about now. We will deal with this when we get into the book of 1 Corinthians. We have, on the one hand, been set aside for God's purposes. And now the task of the life of a believer is to live out that sanctification. And sometimes we call that growing in grace and knowledge, and sometimes we call that becoming more mature. But it's all describing the same thing, that we are living out the set-apartedness that defines us. that we belong to the Lord. And actually, you might have a note in your Bible. I'm just using it to reinforce this. You may have a note in your Bible. I don't know that any English translation deals with it this way, but what it reads is like this. Follow peace with all men and the holiness, the sanctification, Right, which if you go back to Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 10, for they barely, for a few days, chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. From the very beginning, folks, God's agenda for our salvation is that we would be like his son. I am not simply an idle bystander to that. I don't just go, I believe in Jesus and I'm going to live any old way that I please, whenever I want, wherever I want, doing whatever I want, and I'll see him in heaven. Now this idea of sanctification is one of the great challenging ones, right? Because as soon as sin is discovered or uncovered or exposed or revealed, we begin to call into question whether or not we're really saved. But we're in the pursuit of the sanctification that we have been given. The set apartedness, if I can put it that way, to which God has placed us when we called upon Christ. And God is active in that, which is why you have verses five through 11 in the chapter. God is raising us as his children. Now there are some people, they're parents, I hope that none of us are those parents, but there are people who have children, and then almost as if the children are little wild animals, they're just kind of on their own. But the right kind of parents are raising children. When my wife and I, we were on a trail this year when we were in Smoky Mountain National Park. I don't remember where we were going. We were just walking up one of the seemingly never-ending mountains to see some sight that you couldn't see when you got there, most likely. But up the hill we trudged. And here's a young couple with two elementary-aged children, you know, fourth, fifth grade. Mom and dad weren't raising their voice. I mean, they weren't screaming at the kids, but it was obvious that these kids knew that when their parents spoke to them, there was an expectation of obedience. And I just said, kind of nice to see parents who are in charge of their children. Some complete stranger said to me, boy, isn't that true? Well, folks, God is completely in charge of his children. God is in charge of his children. He's raising us for a purpose. And he is actively raising us, each and every one of us. And that chastening is not always a joyful thing. And so we have thoughts like, I don't need this. I'm tired of this. I shouldn't have to put up with this. And here's what the Lord says. Get the word and get some strength. Stay on the straight path and make sure that you're following the straight path. Don't add to the burden by engaging in unnecessary fights. Pursue peace and pursue the sanctification that I've already bought for you. You are actively engaged, folks, in the exercise of your Christian life. Let's pray. Father, we do not think for one moment that we could ever earn our salvation or merit it by our works. But neither should we think for one moment. That you are not tremendously concerned about everything we do and say. and that your grace is available to us to live, not simply in obedience, but in victorious obedience. And I pray that for all of us in Jesus' name, amen.