Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. I've entitled this, Our Obligation to Watch Over One Another's Spiritual Health. Let's just back up a little bit and read where we were a little bit last week and then move on to this week. Hebrews 12, let's start at verse 15. Hebrews 12, verse 15. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled, that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. You recall Hebrews is being written to a Christian community that's struggling, with persecution, with rejection, with mockery, with all kinds of terrible things. They've been through it once already. They've been arrested. They've been beaten. They've been put to public shame. They've had their houses ransacked. And there's more coming. Some have struggled with this. Some have turned back from Christianity to Judaism. Some have doubted. Some are drifting. And he's writing this letter to encourage these people who are suffering, who are struggling, who are in very dark times. to stand firm. They need endurance, he tells them in chapter 10. They need to stand firm. They need to walk by faith. In chapter 11 we saw he gave all those exhortations about all these men and women of faith who by faith faced hard times, bad times, terrible times. Yet by faith they stayed faithful. By faith God used them in powerful and amazing ways. So they're encouraged, they're exhorted to take courage from all those men and women of the past who by faith walk with the Lord. Then he concludes, as we saw the last two times in chapter 12, by saying, ultimately, fix your eyes on Christ. You're running this race, and this race gets hard, and this race gets difficult. Fix your eyes on Christ. the author and finisher of your faith, fix your eyes on him and run this race. Run, Christian, run. Fix your eyes on Christ and just run. Stay faithful. He told him there in chapter 12, we saw two weeks ago, there are hard times aren't a punishment, he's fathering them. God is sovereign over our lives, nothing comes into our lives or the Christian's life that God hasn't allowed. All things do work together for our good. So he's telling them, God's not mad at you, God's not punishing you, God's fathering you. Even though sometimes it's a discipline for his time, it seems hard, it seems rough. He says, submit to him. That's his message, that's the book's message. He told them all about Christ, how great he is, how far superior he is, anything they knew in Judaism. He told them to stand firm, he gave them all his examples. Now that's actually the end of his message. And then the verse, chapter 12, verse 15, and on to the end of the book, it's exhortation, it's application. He's not going to say, therefore, see to it that, see that no one, make sure you see to it, do this, don't do that. He's taken everything he's told him, and now he's gonna apply it and give instructions to this church, and of course, through them to us. So again, let's just back up a little bit. Look at verse 15 again, we were there last week. He says, see to it, my version says, 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. He's talking about holiness. He warns them there, without holiness, and remember, holiness, when it applies to us, means basically separation. Separation from the world, separation from sin. Without holiness, without living a life separated unto God, no one's ever gonna see God. You're not going to heaven if you're not holy. But he told him there, your holiness, your separation, your walk for the Lord, in this instance, consists of, he said there, verse 14, pursuing peace with all men. We have an obligation to be peacemakers. We have an obligation to not be troublemakers, to not be loudmouthed, big mouthed, arrogant. We're to be peacemakers. Remember, this community he's writing to had their families reject them. had their community reject them. There's probably a lot of hurt, a lot of bitterness. So he says then, verse 15, in your peacemaking, don't allow a bitter root, he says, it's a spirit of unforgiveness or bitterness to rise among you. He says they're among the many, meaning the church. In your churches, he says, see to it that you're not bitter towards each other. No one's hurt towards each other. No root of bitterness springs up. Be a peacemaker, be a forgiving Christian. I want you to notice again there, as we start on, verse, 15, the first three words in my version, see to it. That's the Greek word episcopale, where we get the word shepherd from. And it's a plural verb. All of you must see to it that, that's what he's saying here. All of you as a church, all of you as a Christian community must see to it that no root of bitterness spring up, that you pursue peace among all men, that no one falls short of the grace of God. All of you must see to it. That means we are our brother's keeper. One commentator said this is called for sanctified medley, not evil gossipy medley. but shepherding one another. We're to be shepherds, not just the pastors. We're all of you, he says, shepherds. See to it that none of you, go back to chapter 10, verse 24. No, you see what he says here. He's talking about fellowship and the need for the one and others. If you ever look up the phrase one and others, a good Bible study, I encourage you sometimes. There's like 15 of these, 20 of these. Here's another one, chapter 10, verse 24. I'm sorry, yeah, 10 verse 24. It says, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Let us, again, that's plural, us, figure out ways, how can we encourage each other to love more and to live better lives? And notice verse 25, not forsaking our own assembling together. Well, here in chapter 12, he says that all of us have an obligation to shepherd one another, to love one another, to care for one another, and in this context, I hate to use the word police, but help those who are hurting. Help those who are slipping. Help those who are falling into sin. Help those who are developing bad attitudes. Someone should say something. Someone should help those. If you see someone who seems to be falling short of the grace of God, falling into sin somehow, we should love them enough to do something about it, say something about it. That's what he's saying. We'll see more of that here in just a second. But that's our job, to shepherd one another. We're family. Church is not a spectator sport. We just come to church, you sit, you go home, and that's the end of it. We're supposed to be involved with each other's lives, and caring about each other, and praying for each other, and helping each other, especially those who are weak, or struggling, or falling, or failing. Having said that, now let's look at, again, verse 15, we'll move on to verse 16. 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 are defiled. Let me just back up. See to it, all of you must see to it, verse 16, that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single man. Let's just stop there. This is a continuation of that see to it. It's a plural verb. All of you, every one of you has an obligation to make sure that among you, there's no immoral or godless person like Esau. Let's take that apart. Notice the word there, or. Now some say that the immorality there refers to Esau, immoral or godless like Esau was. But I don't think that's right. In the Greek construction here, as far as I can figure it out and all the sources I've checked, the word or there means a separation. It's talking about two things. Make certain, he says, that among your congregation, among your Christian community, there's no immoral person. And also no one who, like Esau, sold his birthright. There's two things going on here, I believe. Let's break this down. The Bible never calls Esau immoral. He may have been, I don't know, but that wasn't his sin. His sin was he despised his birthright, he despised the things of God. We'll get to that in a second. But what's the word there, immoral? It's the word pornos, where we get the word pornography from, pornos, pornea. And that refers to any kind of sexual sin within marriage, without marriage, any kind of immorality, any kind of fornication, adultery, whatever it is, any kind of sexual sin. Remember, we'll see this when we get to chapter 13, any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage is absolutely forbidden in scripture, it's wrong. It's dangerous, it's just evil. He's saying here, see to it, he says, that in your congregation, in your churches, shepherd one another so that none of you are living lives of immorality. Let's talk about this for a minute. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter five. This is something a lot of churches today don't do. It's a painful thing, it's a sad thing, but it's a required thing. Part of our shepherding, and when I say shepherding, I don't mean Paul and I. These verses to all the church in plural. Turn to 1 Corinthians 5. You find Acts, you find Romans, you find 1 Corinthians. They had an incident in their church where a man was being very immoral. He was having relations with his stepmother, his father's wife. And Paul says, you haven't heard anything about it. Notice 1 Corinthians 5, look at verse one. It's reported, it's actually reported, there's immorality among you. Notice verse two. You become arrogant and have not mourned and said you should, the one who's done this should be removed from your mission. You look at this guy in your church, this guy's outwardly, clearly being immoral, and you've done nothing about it, Paul says. Read on, verse three. For I in my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him. Notice verse four. In the name of the Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, Verse five, deliver one over, clean it out. Verse seven says clean him. In other words, get your church together and throw this guy out. Now certainly they were to exhort him, talk to him, but this immorality in the church can't continue. Read on, down to verse nine. Paul says, I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. He goes on in verse 10 to explain, I don't mean immoral loss of the world. You're going to always be around them. In the church, he says, don't let immoral so-called Christians, in fact, he says that. Notice verse 11, but actually I wrote to you not to associate, meaning in your church, in your congregation, with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or adulterer, or revolter, or a drunkard, or a swindler. In other words, someone who claims they're Christian, but they're living in immorality. Paul said that's a so-called brother. Why? Because Christians don't do that. Now Christians sin, Christians fall. He's talking about someone who lives this way, this is what they're doing, this is their life, this is who they are. But notice Paul here says, and again verse 17, but those who are outside God judges remove the wicked man. Now that's hard. We've had to do that here time to time over the years, it's always a painful, heart-wrenching thing to do. But here back in Hebrews, he's telling all of you, have to make sure that none of you are living immoral lifestyles. That's our obligation. We're not to be nosy busybody. We're supposed to love each other enough to know someone's doing something immoral. Someone in this church should say something to them. And not always just Paul and I. Someone should love and say, hey, what are you doing there? Is this what I think it is? We should be talking to people. We should be helping them. We should be rebuking them if possible. I have a new sheet there. Following Jesus, and immorality are opposites. You can't say I'm following Jesus if you're sleeping with your girlfriend. You can't say I'm following Jesus if you're practicing homosexuality. You can't say I'm following Jesus if I'm doing any kind of immorality on a regular basis. That's who I am. You can't say that because Jesus would follow you a whole different direction. Again, on your sheet, even though the modern Christian, of course that's in parentheses, even though the modern Christian church has greatly relaxed its standards to approve of sex outside of marriage, it has. I've heard firsthand of several churches in this area who tell their people, it's okay if you want to live together before marriage, God knows you love each other. Many things like that. The Christian church has relaxed its standards to approve of sex outside of marriage, cohabitation, homosexuality, transgenderism, which is a word I hate. But the word of God is clear. Even though the churches out there are proving of all these immoral lifestyles, they're departing from the Bible when they do so. The Bible's clear, and he says here, all of us have an obligation to make sure this church, whatever Christians we're associated with, are not living lives in morality. Let me just show you some verses. It's important we look at these. We're gonna rifle through the scriptures here for a bit. Go back to 1 Corinthians 6. This is a reminder of how serious this is. Because today in our age, we've gotten so locked. I know you guys are up on this, but so many churches are not, and so many people don't know this, aren't taught this. Christians sit in their pews and never hear this talk. And so they think, well, everybody else is doing it. Hey, I love her, et cetera, et cetera. The Bible's clear. Look at 1 Corinthians 6. We'll just walk through some verses here. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9. Notice this, Paul says this several times in the scriptures. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Whenever he says do not be deceived, it's because many are deceived right here. Don't be deceived, he says. Neither fornicators, that's sex, that's just immorality, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, that's those who cheat on their wives or cheat on their husbands, nor effeminate, that's lesbianism or gay men, or homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers," notice, "...will inherit the kingdom of God." Paul says, don't be deceived. In your churches, you have people who live like this. But don't be deceived. They're not going to go to heaven living like that. Christianity changes you. Christianity makes you better. Yes, we do sin. Yes, sometimes Christians fall to these very sins, sadly. But they don't live like that. The part of our exhortation is to exhort them, please, you need to stop this, you need to repent of this. But notice the next verse, which is one I love, I never want to leave this out. Verse 11, such were some of you. Some of these Corinthians were homosexuals, they were adulterers, they were effeminate, they were drunkards, they were all these things. And Paul says, such were some of you. But notice, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, you were that. because of the saving power and the bondage-breaking power of Jesus Christ, you're no longer there. That's what we need to insist on. Look at verse 13. Food's for the stomach, the stomach is for food, but God will do away both of them, yet the body is not for immorality. You were not created by God to be an immoral person. Second Corinthians, next book over. Second Corinthians 12, verse 21. I'm amazed, I guess I shouldn't say I'm amazed, but how the modern Christian religious movement in America has gotten so far from it when the Bible is so clear. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 21. Paul's writing to them, but they still haven't dealt with a whole lot of these problems in their church, so he says here, verse 21 of verse chapter 12, I'm afraid that when I come again, God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and have not repented of notice, impurity, immorality, and sensuality, which they have practiced. Paul says, when I get there, and if you haven't dealt with these people, Paul says, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to deal with them myself, and you're not gonna like it. Because Paul's saying, your church, you cannot allow this in the church of Christ. Paul says, and if I get there and have to deal with this, I'm gonna have to humiliate myself and do some things you're not gonna like. I often wonder what that actually looks like when an apostle does it. But that's what he says. Turn to Galatians, chapter five. A few books to your right. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. Galatians chapter five, verse 19. Paul says it again, what he just said in Corinthians. Galatians 5.19, now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. Notice, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Notice the word practice. Yes, Christians sometimes fall to any one of these sins, sadly. But those who practice, this is the way you live, Paul says, you are not. A Christian, you may say you are, the church may tell you you are, but you're not. That's a serious thing, it's a very serious thing. Let's go to some more verses. Ephesians chapter five, very next book. Remember, Paul was dealing with all these formerly, these Gentile churches that were formerly pagan, and they were bringing into the churches all these old ways that they had to cast off and get rid of. This is one of the big ones, but Ephesians five, notice verse three. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, such as is proper among saints. It just shouldn't even be part of your church. The fact that immorality is in the church, as Paul says, this shouldn't be. It's just not what Christianity is. Turn to Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, chapter three. In most of Paul's letters, he mentions this problem. Colossians chapter three, verse five. Colossians 3, verse 5. Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead. In other words, you die to these things. If you're a Christian, this should be dead to you. Immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry, verse, because of these things, the wrath of God will come. You see, every one of these passages, Paul says, if this is how you're living, you're not saved, you're under God's wrath. And the churches need to teach this. That's a powerful, powerful thing. One more, 1 Thessalonians chapter four, very next book. 1 Thessalonians chapter four. I've heard people say to me who were cheating on their wives, but God brought her into my life at just this time. Doesn't that mean something? In other words, maybe it's God's will I do this. I've heard that more than once. This puts a lie to that. 1 Thessalonians four, verse three. This is the will of God. This is what God wants for every one of us, your sanctification. That is that you abstain from sexual immorality. That's it. That's God's will period. And of course, back in Hebrews 12, we'll get there eventually in Hebrews 13 verse four, he says that marriage to held an honor among all and the bed under your file, but fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. So what he's saying here, chapter 12, verse 15, see to it. That's a plural verb. All of you must seek to it. The word means shepherd. All of you have an obligation to shepherd your own people so that none of you are immoral. That's a serious thing, a serious, serious thing. And we have that obligation. I tend to think if someone in the church ends up being thrown out for immorality, it's probably sometimes a failure of the congregation. Why didn't they confront them earlier? Why didn't, if they saw something, why didn't they go to them? You don't always know these things until it comes out later, but we have an obligation to love each other enough, he says here, that all of us, not just the pastors, all of us, that's a plural verb, must see to it, must shepherd each other so that none of us end up in the sin of immorality. We're to be each other's keepers. We're to be brothers and sisters to each other. We're to be family to each other. The Bible is clear, absolutely clear on this. You must deny God's word to say otherwise. To say, okay, well, I can be immoral, I can live in a moral lifestyle, and God doesn't care. The Bible has the exact opposite. Remember, you just said earlier, we're called to holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Now again, be clear, sometimes Christians fall to these sins. That's a sad thing when they do, but they don't live in it. They repented it when they're confronted. They come back to the Lord, confess their sins, they feel bad about it, and they move on. No one lives like this who's truly a Christian. So that's part one here. Look at it again there, verse 15. See to it, all of you must shepherd each other to make sure, verse 16, that there's no immoral person. Then he says, or that there's no godless person like Esau. let's say in a sentence as it should be, all of you must see to it that you shepherd one another so that in your congregation there's no one godless like Esau was who sold his birthright. Now this needs some explaining. Let's talk about this, what Esau did, who Esau was. Let's work through this. Now Esau was the older twin brother of Jacob. Remember Abraham and Isaac. Isaac had two sons, twin sons, Jacob and Esau. Esau was the older by probably a few minutes, but he was the older. And in their culture, in their time, in the way it worked, the eldest son would carry on. When the father passed away, the eldest son would carry on for him. Now this family, that's an even more prestigious thing than it usually was. Remember God made all these promises to Abraham, through your seed. All these promises to Abraham, I'll make you a great nation, I'll make you mighty, I'll bless the whole earth through your seed. That same promise was repeated to Isaac. Isaac had those same promises to Abraham. Whoever Isaac's successor was would be the next patriarch, would be the next one in the line of the Messiah. You could say this would have happened with Abraham, Isaac, and Esau. He's the firstborn. But you do know the story, and God had said already, even before they're born, I've changed the order here. God's going to do this thing through the younger, not the older. But for now, I have the verse there on your sheet. Here's what Esau did. Esau is going through life considering he's the eldest son. He will be the heir of Isaac. Here's what he did. It's on your sheet. Genesis 25. Once when Jacob, that's his twin brother, was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, let me eat some of that red stew, for I'm exhausted. Therefore, his name was called Eden, which means red, the red stew. Jacob said, sell me your birthright now. Give me your birthright. Turn all your rights to the firstborn over to me. Esau said, I'm about to die. I doubt that. I think that's hyperbole on Esau's part. I don't think he was literally going to die unless he had some of this stew. But you know how this goes. I'm about to die. What use is a birthright to me? Jacob said, swear to me now. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. By the way, you know the verse, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated? Jacob was a real rat, wasn't he? He's a real rat. Here's his brother, even if he's about to die, using this stew as leverage over him. Later on in life, he goes in and deceives and steals. And the fact that it isn't surprising God hated Esau. It's surprising that God could love Jacob at all. Jacob was a real rat. And how many times in Scripture did God say, I am the God of Jacob? Isn't that amazing? What a flawed person Jacob was that God chose him. He's in the line of Abraham. Anyway, Esau, it says there, despised his birthright. Remember, God had already predicted that Esau would not be the next patriarch. And God in his sovereignty had said, I'd chosen Jacob the younger, which is way out of line societal anyway. But anyway, God is sovereignly orchestrating this, that Esau is not going to be the next patriarch. He doesn't know that. And here, Because he's hungry, he says, what's my birthright to me? I don't care about that. Give me some of that food. You can have my birthright. And the Hebrew there says he despised or he belittled. He called it of no value. It doesn't mean anything to me. The idea of being the spiritual head of this family and carrying on the promises God made to Abraham and being in this line of the Messiah, that doesn't mean anything to me. Give me some of that soup. That's what he did. He sold everything. The best thing about him, he sold. In fact, liberty in the Hebrew for a bit of food, I mean in the Greek here, just for a little bit of food, just for a meal because he was hungry, he sold his birthright. He was callous and wicked about this. Notice your text here, it calls him godless. The word godless means profane or secular, non-religious. This is the opposite of holiness. He's secular. He's profane. Esau had no concern over God's promises to my grandfather. I don't care about some spiritual seed. I don't care about what God's doing in the world. I'm hungry. Feed me. He was secular. He was profane. He was godless. Like how much of our society is today. They just never think about God. God doesn't mean anything to them. They just live for the day. They live for their pleasure. I'm hungry, feed me. It doesn't matter. And these great spiritual blessings and this great spiritual heritage that's being passed down. He said, I don't care. What does that mean to me? I'm hungry, feed me. And he sold his birthright. He's godless. He cared nothing for spiritual things. It didn't mean less to him. As it says there, again, reverse. 16, that no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal of liberty for a little bit of food. For you know, even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected For he found no place for repentance, though he sought it with tears. So it's afterward. Now think about that, afterward. He sold his spiritual heritage literally for one little bit of food. He so despised, he could care less about these promises made to Abraham and his responsibility as the eldest son and what his role would be in all of this if he got the blessing. He didn't care at all about that stuff. He was hungry, he wanted to eat. Says he despised it, means he treated it with contempt, it was worthless. Paul would mention those whose God is their belly. All they care about is what feels good to me. I don't care what God said, I don't care what God wants, I'm hungry, I'm gonna eat, I'll do whatever I like. Whatever feels good, do it. That's basically the world's idea. The admonition here is to make sure that we don't allow any of us to treat God's grace and promises with contempt. by turning away for worldly, earthly. Remember what Moses did? By faith, Moses forsook Egypt. By faith, Moses would not call himself son of Pharaoh's daughter, but instead chose to suffer ill treatment with God's people. That's what he's saying here. These Hebrews he's writing to, remember, are facing persecution, very hard times. Their life is falling apart. Nero's about to decimate the Christian population. And he's saying to them, be careful you're not like Esau. You have great promises in Christ. You have been given great truth. You've experienced the grace. You've seen the glories of Christ. Don't let this trouble or these problems cause you to throw that away just to protect yourself or to be accepted by your family or to be accepted by your synagogue or to have the community welcome you back. Don't let all these worldly temporary things cause you to give up on the prize and what you're running towards in Christ. That's his admonition here. Because notice what he said, we just read it there. He says, afterward, later on in Esau's life, when his father's dying, this is many, many years later, his father Isaac is dying, Esau now realizes, wait a minute, I'm the eldest son, I get all the blessings, I get all the inheritance, now it means something to him, now he thinks he wants it. Years ago, it didn't mean a thing to him, he actually sold it for a little bit of food to his brother. Now, all of a sudden, he desires to inherit this blessing. It's dawned on him what this is all about. I'm going to be my father's heir. Isaac was quite wealthy. But it also says that when he came to it, verse 17, afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. That literally means disqualified. It was too late for him. Now, God had determined since before they were born that Jacob would inherit the blessing, not Esau. Now, God did that, it's amazing when you think about it, through Jacob's lying and cheating. Jacob's mom said, go in there, Isaac was blind, couldn't tell who's who, go in there and wear your brother's clothes, put hair on your hands because your brother's a hairy man, take in some of this stew just like your brother makes it, and tell your father you're actually Esau, not Jacob. He deceived his father. He lied to his father. It was a terrible thing to do. Jacob was not a very admirable person. But then Isaac, by mistake, gave all the blessings of Abraham to Jacob, just as God had intended. He gave all those blessings to Jacob. When Esau comes in later, he's out in the field doing his thing. Father, bless me. He said, I can't. I've given all the blessings to your other son, to your brother. He says that when Esau finally came in, now he wants this blessing. Now he wants the inheritance. After having despised it years ago and probably most of his life, it meant nothing to him, now it does. But now it's too late. He can't have it now. It's already been given away. It's too late for Esau. He says that he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. Now that phrase has been used, and I think abused, by a lot of people. Let's understand this. I've done a lot of studying on that exact verse for several good reasons. I spent a lot of time on this, not just here, but months ago. First of all, we must be clear on what's being said here and what's not being said. Now get this, Esau, it says when he sought for repentance, he wasn't repenting of sin, seeking salvation. That's not what Esau did. Esau wasn't sorry for his sins and asking God to forgive him. He was sorry he'd sold his birthright, and now he wants it back, but he can't have it, so he's all working up and crying about it. That's what Esau did. He tried to undo what he did. He tried to, the word repentance would mean to, I made a big mistake years ago, but I want it now. Well, it's too late. Isaac said, I've given it to your brother. Your brother has the blessing. I can't give it to you now. He blew it, big time. That's what he's sorry for. Esau was not seeking repentance for sin and looking for salvation. He now realized what he had done and he seeks to undo it, but says, but no place was found. It's too late. The blessing is gone. I've already given it to Jacob. I can't give it to you. It's too late. This is not teaching. Now here it is. This is not teaching that if someone sins grievously, No matter what they do, no matter how bad they do it, but at some point in their life, they come to repentance and they beg God for forgiveness. God's gonna say, nope, sorry, I'm not forgiving you. And it's not teaching that. That is against every tenet of the Bible truth. Let's talk about this some more. He wasn't seeking salvation. Had Esau been repenting and seeking God's grace, he would have got it. That's not what he was doing. Esau was a carnal man, a sensual man. All he wanted now was the blessing, which Esau foolishly threw away years ago. That's the example he's using here. Let's take this apart. First of all, God's word is clear. There's two kinds of repentance. 2 Corinthians 7, Paul says, on your sheet. It says, Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret. But worldly sorrow brings death. True repentance, true sorrow, true repentance is when you're sorry for your sin. I'm sorry for what I did. Lord, I know it offends you. I know it's what put Christ on the cross. I'm sorry for my wickedness. Lord, I'm gonna change and I want you to forgive me. That's true repentance. Lord, I'm sorry. Lord, I don't like what I did. What I did was evil. What I did was corrupt. What I did was bad. And Lord, I'm seeking repentance and I'm seeking your forgiveness. That's true Christian biblical repentance. But he says, worldly sorrow brings death. Yeah, it is. You get caught. I'm sorry I got caught. I'm sorry I hurt my family. I'm sorry it came to this. That's worldly sorrow. That's not repentance. You see that sometimes. Someone, say they're in immorality, and someone confronts them. Oh, I'm sorry, and they feel bad now because they've been outed. They've been exposed. They brought hurt to their family or shame to somebody. But that's not really repentance. That's not true godly sorrow. Esau was sorry. Esau was feeling real bad because he had acted so foolishly in giving away his inheritance. Now he wants it back and he can't have it. That's what's happening with Esau. But understand what I'm saying. Esau is not an example. He's not being used here as an example of someone who sinned grievously, but then repented and asked God's forgiveness and couldn't have it. Some verses in your sheet that say that. This is only three out of many I could have given you. Luke 24 at 47. Jesus says repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations. Part of the gospel message is this. If you'll repent of your sins and turn to Christ, you'll be forgiven. That promise goes to anyone and everyone, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, no matter how long you've done it, if you'll be willing to repent of your sins and look to Christ to be your savior, you will be forgiven. And there's not a single sinner God's gonna say, I'm not gonna forgive you, who does that. That's the promise of the gospel. That's clear. Next verse, Matthew 11, Jesus said, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden. Anyone who has this burden of sin, the burden of wickedness on their heart, Lord, I'm evil, I'm wicked, Lord, I'm coming to you. All who do that will receive mercy, will receive rest. There's none who come to Christ that Christ says, no, you're not, I don't want, no. Don't ask me to forgive you because I'm not going to. Anyone who truly seeks mercy finds it. Esau wasn't doing that, he was just seeking his inheritance back. John 6.37, all the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me knows I will never cast out. There's no one who ever sought Jesus for salvation who was turned away, no one. I hear this verse is used sometimes by several big names to say, you know, you get sinned and you get sinned and after many mornings you don't listen and then you repent and come to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. It may just be too late for you. The only time it's too late for you is when you die. This is not an excuse to go on sinning and think, well, I'll just get saved in my deathbed. But I'm saying this is the truth of scripture is anyone If Osama bin Laden would have came to the Lord in repentance, God would have forgiven him. If Adolf Hitler had gotten on his knees and said, Lord, I'm sorry, I repent, forgive me, he would have been forgiven. Doesn't matter how wicked you've been, how evil you've been, how long you've been that way. The gospel is clear. Salvation is offered to all who will repent and turn to Christ. They will be forgiven. Don't ever let this verse be used to say, well, it's too late for me. I can't, I've sinned too bad, I've done too much. Christ will never forgive me. If you really want it, you'll have it. If you seek it, you'll find it. If you knock, the door will be open. That's what Jesus said. Be clear on that. I say that because I've heard preachers use this badly against us. And people go around, Christians, boy, maybe I've sinned too much, maybe I've done too much, maybe I've gone too far and I can't be forgiven now. Yes, you can. Anyone who sincerely calls on the Lord, Lord, save me, Lord, help me. will find their help in their time of need. That's the gospel promise. That's not what's being said. So what is being said here? What is he talking about? What is the warning he's given us here? Well, Esau thought so little of the spiritual blessings that were offered to him, he was willing to trade it for just a little worldly comfort. It says that he despised his birthright. Think what that birthright was. That was the heritage of Abraham, becoming part of the godly line of the Messiah. carrying on the patriarchal line. It would have been Abraham, Isaac, and Esau, though God had chosen otherwise. But he thought so little of that. Spiritual things meant nothing to him that he turned all that away. He actually sold it to his brother just so he could have a meal because he was hungry. He thought so little of spiritual things. In context, these believers that Hebrews is writing to are facing some terrible times. Difficult times, times of persecution. And he's telling them, listen, you need to be focused on Christ. You need to be focused on the promises. Don't let the promise of getting friends with your family again, or the idea of maybe getting accepted by my community, the idea of maybe if I go back, and I go back to the Judaism, maybe I just won't have to face this person. Don't let those things, these worldly temporary things, cause you to despise what you have in Christ. Look at this verse as quick. This is his message all through Hebrews. Go back to chapter three. The writer here is concerned about these Christians. Some have already turned back. And as they do that, and they stay that way, they're facing terrible condemnation. But notice what he says here in chapter three, verse 12. He exhorts them all through this book to watch out for this. Chapter three, verse 12. Take care, brethren. You know that word take care is the same form of the verb see to it. It's plural. All of you take care, brethren, watch out for each other, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God, but encourage one another day after day, as long as it's still called today, that none of you will be hard. In other words, watch out for each other. Be careful, brethren. You're facing some difficult situations here. It's easy for Satan to tempt you. No, if you just turn away, if you just go back to Judaism, if you just give this Christian stuff up, you'll be okay. You'll be safe. Your family will accept you again. You'll be accepted by your community again. These problems will stop. He says, take care, brethren. Don't let that happen. Look at chapter four, verse seven. Chapter four, verse seven, he again fixes a day, today, saying through David, after so long a time, as has been said, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, and drop down to verse 11, therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest that no one will fall. Be diligent. There is a rest in Christ, there is a freedom and promise in Christ, but be diligent to make sure you don't miss that. So he's telling them, he's worried about these people. Look at chapter four, verse 14. Therefore, says a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Verse 16, therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. Don't let these things push you away. Don't let these things make you decide to turn back. Chapter six, verse 11, after talking about these who have turned back, he says, chapter six, verse 11, We desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end. Notice the next verse. That you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit their promises. Don't let this wear you down. Don't let this cause you to think about turning. Don't let this make you sluggish. That word there means slow, dull of hearing, dull of thinking. Think clearly about the hope and the promises God has given you. Don't let these problems or these persecutions, he says, cause you to slow down and get sluggish and start turning back. Don't do that, he says. Of course, we saw this several times. Now, chapter 10, he ends all this teaching with these exhortations. Chapter 10, verse 23. Chapter 10, verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope known as without wavering, stay strong, follow after Christ, chapter 12, verse 2. Verse 35 of chapter 10. These are the concluding exhortations before he gets to this chapter 11. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, because some were in danger of doing that. Confidence in what? Confidence in Christ, confidence in the saved to the uttermost salvation he offers. Don't lose your confidence in Christ that this is all gonna work out well for you. Read on. Verse 36, you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. You need to stand firm and stand fast. See what he's doing here. All through this letter, he's telling them, you've got to stand strong. You've got to stand fast. You've got to, the modern words, buck up. Get strong in this. Be in for the fight, because it's going to get rough. It's going to get tough. But don't think about turning back. Don't do what Esau did. He saw it was carnal. He saw for just a few worldly pleasures, threw away great spiritual blessing. Don't do that. That's what he's telling them. That's his message here. And on and on through the book, that's what his encouragement is. And he tells them to do that by displaying Christ before them. Mark chapter 12, verse 2 says, fixing your eyes on Jesus. You have your eyes on the prize, your eyes on Christ, and just run the race. Run, Christian, run. All this is meant to be encouragement and exhortation, and this is warning you, don't do this, don't do these things. He's telling this church to be a church, see to it, all of you see to it that none of you fall into a section of morality or are thinking about turning back on Christ because of worldly, temporary benefits. Some thoughts. You can see this guy, whoever's writing this, maybe Apollos, maybe who knows who, he really loves these people. He knows them well. He's concerned about them. He's a pastor's heart. Please, he says, fix your eyes on Christ. Don't let yourself be pulled away. Satan's, one of his main strategies, especially in times of suffering or hardship or persecution, is to say, just turn back. Just turn off your light. If you stop being a Christian, this will go away. If you stop serving Christ, if you stop being so fervent for the Lord, this will go away. That's always his temptation. Turn back. Just go back into the world. Come back a little bit. Don't follow so hard after Christ. If you just stop following so hard after Christ, this will go away. That's always his temptation. He's saying here, don't do that. Please don't do that. Letter A. We are our brother's keepers. Now, we're not to be meddlers, or busybodies, or gossip. Hey, did you hear what so-and-so's doing? We are, though, our brother's keepers. We're brethren. We're family. You should think of it like that. We are our brother's keepers. We're not to be meddling busybodies, but we are supposed to love each other enough to concern ourselves over each other's growth. Remember he says in verse 15 that no one comes short of the grace of God? How do you know that's happening? Well, you see it in bad attitudes, in bitter spirits. Maybe they stop coming to church. They start, whatever. It's not hard sometimes to see this. Someone seems to be, like chapter two, verse one, drifting. Or someone seems to be getting hardened. Or someone seems to be avoiding fellowship. Those are all signs that maybe they're falling short of God's grace. And we, not just Paul and I, the verse here says all of you, we have an obligation to shepherd each other. My brother, are you OK? I'm concerned about you. My sister, are you all right? Can I pray with you? Is there a problem? Privately, of course. We should be doing these things. We are family, and it should greatly concern us when one among us drifts, or one among us falls into sin, or one among us, God forbid, departs from the Lord. We've seen that. That is so heartbreakingly painful. Galatians 6.1, Paul said, it's on your sheet, brothers, if anyone is caught in any trespass, he's talking to you, plural, brothers, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too, but no, he doesn't say if anyone in your church is caught in sin, call the pastor. You who are spiritual, meaning you who have enough Christian sense to know how to be gentle with this and not be proud or Aaron, that's not just Paul and I, that's should be, should be, most of us. Go to them. Say something. Do something. Love them. Back to obedience. Back to Christ. Keep watching yourself as you too be tempted. Don't get proud over this. This isn't just for Paul and I. Colossians 3.16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you. In the word you there is plural. Let the word of Christ dwell in all of you. Doing what? Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts that go. The word admonish means to, hey, I don't think that's right. I don't think you should be doing that. Admonish means to correct. Admonish means to, I think this word in the Greek, I had to check, is the word nuthateo, admonish, get in their face. That doesn't mean in a nasty, worldly, evil way. Admonish means to, hey, my brother, I'm a little worried about you. Are you OK? Hey, my sister, is there something wrong here? Can I help? You need encouragement? Admonishing one another, teaching one another. And that's not, again, that's not just Paul and I. All of you, these are plural words here. First Thessalonians 5.14 in your sheet. And we urge you. And again, that word you is plural. We urge all of you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. In other words, shepherd one another. That's what a shepherd does. A shepherd with his crook, with his sheep. If one sheep is lagging behind, he goes and gets it. Come on, catch up, come on. If one sheep is hurting, he dresses its wounds. If one sheep is causing trouble, he deals with it. That's what a shepherd does. So I encourage you brothers, all of you, admonish one another, shepherd one another. That's so important. Most churches, if you can believe the Barnard reports, I'm a little skeptical sometimes, but if you can believe what he says in their surveys, most Christians service for the Lord as they come to church, show up, and go home, according to Barnard reports. Church is not a spectator sport. We're family. If you're growing again, my brothers and sisters, we're all family here. I'm sure you're feeling it in your heart now when Paul and Carl are going through such sad times. We love them. We want to come around them and love them and be there for them. That's what family does. And if you're a Christian, your heart says, I want so much to help them and bless them, doesn't it? That's what family does. And he's saying here, all of you have this obligation to shepherd one another in this area. Not to be meddlers or busybodies, but truly care enough about each other to admonish one another sometime when it's needed. Yes, Jesus said if your brother offends you, go to him, go to your brother. Yeah, you're right. We have, don't be surprised, and I love this, Yeah, it's deeper than that. Yeah, it's deeper than that. But if someone in this church, or any Christian you know, is falling in, don't be surprised if someone comes to you. Hey, are you okay? Hey, what's going on? I haven't been in church for a while, you all right? And that shouldn't be, you shouldn't take that in the spirit of, oh, they're just being nosy, busybodies. Hopefully they're coming to you because they love you. Because they love the Lord. because they're obeying these commands. These are commands, by the way. All of you must make sure. All of you must shepherd one another. It's a command. It isn't an option. You don't have the option to opt out of this. And I'm glad to know, and I know this for most of my Christian life, that there's lots of men and women that have my back. If I get out of line or bad attitude, someone's gonna tell me about it. Someone's gonna tell me, hey, Ricky, okay. That's how it should be, I know that. If I'd ever do some kind of wickedness or evil, someone would come after me and try to stop me, try to love me back. I know that. That's how it should be. Letter B, to follow Christ is to flee immorality. We saw these verses. He says, make sure there's no one among you who is immoral. Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 says, you deal with this. Churches have to deal with this. Now again, Christians sin. Christians fall to this sin. But these are some of those who live, this is their life, this is what they're doing. This is how they are. We have an obligation as brothers and sisters to help one another. In this area alone, it's not a bad idea to be accountable to each other. One great thing people can do, I remember we were discussing this a little while ago, there's websites where you can, accountability websites, where everything you do on the internet, somebody else is gonna know you did it. So you're accountable, things like that. Or if you're struggling with this area, you should go to some brother or sister and say, I need accountability, I need someone to ask me, how are you doing in this? How'd you do this week with accountability? Because we love each other, not because we're nosy, busybodies, because we love each other. But we are to make sure We're commanded in these verses that we watch out for this, that no one's falling into immorality, which is so destructive. The Bible's so clear on this, it amazes me how the mainstream churches today just ignore this. It's an obligation of ours, and it's the right thing to do. Letter C, we must walk by faith. all through this letter he's saying that. He ended chapter 10 by saying that. Chapter 11 is all about those who by faith, by faith, by faith, don't go with your eyes, you must walk by faith. Satan will say, look, don't follow that. If you just come back and do this, you'll be fine. Walk by faith with our hopes fixed on Christ. That's chapter 12, two and three. I thought he concludes this. You must fix your eyes on Christ. And run, run, Christian, run. Fix your eyes on Christ, Lord. You are the source of my strength. You are the one I obey. You are the source of my power. You are my rescue. You are my help. And whatever else comes, whether it's persecution, or troubles, or problems, or heartache, these things come, sickness, all these things, fix your eyes on Christ. Walk by faith. Do not allow ourselves to be turned back to the world for the passing pleasures of sin. A lot of times, I've experienced this. Troubles or persecutions tend to make you want to, what, go a little crazy, go back into sin for a while, turn God off for a while, just turn that switch, God, you stay there, I'll be back in a few days, right? Problems, sickness, you wanna get discouraged, you wanna allow ourselves to listen to Satan's lies and get depressed, or whatever it is. Let's go back to the passing pleasure of sin. Fix your eyes on Christ. run the race. And you can say there, endure, have confidence. In other words, don't sell your birthright. Let me read it one more time in closing. Go back to chapter four. This is the theme of Hebrews. This is what he's trying to get through their heads. Hebrews four, look at verse 14 again. Therefore, Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin. Notice, therefore, let us, plural, let all of us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. so that we may receive mercy and find help in time of need. He wants these Hebrew believers to learn that skill. You have a high priest in heaven who's there for you. He loves you. He's been through all the things you've been through. Run to him. You have a throne of grace. Run to it. That's what he's telling these guys. You're about to face Nero. Learn how to find grace and help in your time of need from the one who loves you, from the one who died for you. That's the whole theme of the book of Hebrews. That's what he's telling them here in chapter 12. Don't let Satan take your eyes off Jesus, especially when it gets hard. You have great help in your time of need, where? At the throne of grace, where Christ is. Learn, we need to learn that. We need to shepherd each other so we help each other to learn that. Let's close in prayer. Our Father, I confess there's times I've needed to hear this. Lord, thank you. for our Savior. Thank you for the one who has been our high priest, the great high priest, the greatest high priest, who's now passed through the heavens, not just through the veil of the sanctuary, but through the heavens, who's right now at your right hand, Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Messiah, our King, the one who loves us, our brother. Lord, help us. Help me to know how to go before him, to fix our eyes on him and to find all the help we need. in our time of need. Help us not to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Help us not to be like Esau, who just for something trivial and temporary would turn away from you. Lord, help us never, Lord, to fall into immorality and wickedness, which you so hate. Lord, help us to fix our eyes on Jesus, to run hard after him. And Lord, in this life, when it gets hard, it surely does. Lord, help us to know, give us the grace to find the help we need in our time of need at your throne. Lord, you love us. You've promised to meet all our needs. You've promised to walk with us in all situations, so Lord, please, like these Hebrew believers that this saint is writing to, Lord, help us to learn this skill, this spiritual art of running to you with our problems, of running to you as our hiding place, of running to you as one who loves us and will never leave us or forsake us. Lord, teach this church. Help us, Lord, to teach each other, to trust you, to love you, to embrace you and run to you in all times of trouble. We ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen.