Holy Living And Endurance - [Hebrews 12:12-17]

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I don't know about you, but long distance running is a difficult endeavor.
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It was last year, almost on this date, not quite, but almost, the Boston Marathon 2019.
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And the big story was not who won. The big story was Micah Herndon, 31 years old, a
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Marine, ran the race in three hours and 38 minutes. But that's not the real part of the story that's interesting.
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With four miles left to go in the race, his legs started to give out. He started to cramp up.
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He couldn't run very well. But his military training kicked in and he said to himself,
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I have to finish the race no matter what. And so he begins to wobble.
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He begins to run. And with 100 yards left in that 26 .2 mile race, he couldn't go any farther.
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And so he started crawling on the asphalt to try to finish. Micah said, in retrospect, my legs really stopped moving forward.
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So the next option is to crawl. Whatever adversity, whatever trouble you're in,
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Micah said, adapt and overcome. I low crawled until the right hamstring loosened up a little bit.
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So I was able to crawl the rest of the way. When you hear a story like that, what do you think?
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I mean, if you were standing on the sidelines and you were watching him run, crawl, low crawl, what would you want to do?
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My guess is you might want to go help him and pick him up and help him finish. Maybe you say to yourself, do you know what, go, come on, you can finish to the end.
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What would you be thinking if you were running the race along with him? And he finished it, I think, in three hours and 38 minutes.
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What if you were at about 340 and you come up on him and you're like, I think I should give up. But you see a guy crawling to the end.
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I think you'd be encouraged. Today, we're going to look at a passage of scripture where the way you run affects other people.
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Other Christians need to be encouraged as they watch new Christians, old
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Christians, mature Christians run the race. And so if you take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter 12, we're going to talk about a difficult race.
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It's called the Christian life, a race that needs endurance. And the way you run affects others.
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You Christian are going to need encouragement when you run. Therefore, other Christians need to encourage you.
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And you are going to have to say to yourself, I want to run to encourage other people and they will run so they encourage you.
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This is the life of the Christian faith. It's a difficult long term journey and it's not meant to be taken by yourself.
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You're not meant to run alone. I love the book of Hebrews because really the book of Hebrews is all about who
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Jesus is. I planned out how many sermons I have left in Hebrews and it's a sad day to be able to finish in about six weeks.
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And I don't really want to finish so we could just keep extending it, you know, kind of like the what's that house in San Jose, the
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Winchester house. And she thinks the heir to the Winchester gun fortune.
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If I keep adding houses, rooms, did I use this illustration last week?
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OK, I can't remember. You talk so much on the radio and to people, if I keep adding rooms to my house,
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I'll keep living. And so maybe if I just keep adding chapters to Hebrews, I'll stay alive. Oh, that would be bad.
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The Lord would take me home if I added Hebrews chapter 14. Hebrews systematically sets out not with kind of theological discourse, but a pastor's heart.
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He's a pastor writing, preaching, and he's trying to encourage these dear saints who are getting persecuted.
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They're going through trials and troubles and he wants them to finish. He wants them to run the race.
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Well, I mean, you can think of some of your family and loved ones who are Christians. You want them to finish well, don't you?
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You want them to end well. You want them to finish the Christian race, trusting in Jesus, even though even in spite of.
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So this pastor, especially because he's inspired by the spirit of God, he says, I want you to run not necessarily for others primarily, but for the
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Lord Jesus. But in effect, you will help other people. If I had to step back from this passage, I would say, what are the two great commandments?
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Love God, love your neighbor. That's how you're to run the race. As you love God and as you love your neighbor.
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So let's just take a look at Hebrews 12. I'd like to have a little bit review in verses 1 through 11.
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And this morning, we'll specifically look at verses 12 through 17, running the
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Christian race while you help others endure. Hebrews chapter 12.
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How do you run the race based on all this information about Jesus, this great high priest, this sacrificial offering for sin?
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It says in 12 one, therefore, here comes the practical application.
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Here comes the response, as it were, to Jesus, this great Lord and savior, the risen king.
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Therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, all those saints in chapter 11, let us lay aside every weight and saying which clinic clings so closely.
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And here's the point. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
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How do you do that? Well, you look to Jesus. They all in chapter 11 were doing that very thing.
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The founder that is author or captain or trailblazer and perfecter. He ends it as well.
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He finishes what he starts of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.
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There's that word again. How do you endure the Christian life when it's difficult? Well, you follow the one who did endure up into the point of the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
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He says again, consider him. Think about him for a long time, who endured from sinners such hostility against himself.
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What's the purpose? So that you may not grow weary or faint hearted in your struggle against sin and your striving against sin, your desire to live a holy life.
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To say no to sin and yes to righteousness, you may have gone a long way, but you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
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These saints had lost their homes, they'd lost their possessions, but they hadn't been martyred yet.
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So you say, well, I'm trying to run my Christian life. I don't want to take my eyes off of Jesus. That's easy to do. And number two, in verses five through 11, accept discipline from a father who loves his children.
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How do you run a race? Now, here's what I want to kind of help develop that I didn't develop as much last week, but I want to do it this week.
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If I say the word discipline, what do you think of? Maybe your children watching and you say, you know, when
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I hear discipline, I know what I think of. And it tends to be kind of a ministry of laying on of hands if you get my drift.
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Discipline, though, includes that. But discipline is a simple word that just means training.
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And if you understand that, this whole section makes sense because here's what happens. Some people are thinking, is
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God judging America with covid -19? I have no idea. But is
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God disciplining the church with covid -19? That's a good question. Well, what's the answer?
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If the answer is, you know what, discipline is a kind of a spanking of God. Well, I don't know if that's true or not.
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But if discipline is correction, training, preparation for a race to be run, then the answer is every trial that comes our way helps us endure.
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Every trial is like training. So think about the passage here. Do you notice in verse five, have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
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My son, do not regard lightly the training of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
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For the Lord trains the one he loves and chastens every son whom he receives.
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If you read it that way, you don't start to think, well, let's see, David sinned with Bathsheba and his child died because of that cause and effect.
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We don't know if this is cause or an effect with the virus and all that, because I don't have revelation that tells me so.
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The Bible did tell me David lost his son because of that act. But if I say to myself, this is general training of a father who's preparing his sons and daughters to run the race with endurance, then that makes sense.
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The word discipline just means broadly, generally training, education, developing.
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Don't you want your children when they're little? Don't you want to correct them and guide them and help them so that when they're older they can function in society, live for themselves?
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If you're a coach, don't you say, you know what, you're gonna have to run a 26 mile race and there's a development and training and sprints and ladders and stairs so you can run well.
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God uses every trial in the Christian life to prepare you, to mature you, to correct you, and therefore it's discipline.
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There's a verse that uses the same Greek word for discipline in Hebrews 11, but it's used elsewhere.
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And I think you'll notice it very quickly because it's a famous verse. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for what's the next word?
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Training in righteousness, for discipline. So remember, when you come to this section in verses 5 through 11,
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I don't want you to think I did something bad. God is angry with me. God can't be angry with you, dear
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Christian, because his anger was poured out on the son. This is not punishment.
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I also don't want you to think this way, I did something, therefore God is chastening me and therefore it's cause and effect.
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My sin causes. That could be true, but I don't know. Here's what I do know.
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God puts a trial in your life and guess what it's for? Discipline from the hand of a father who loves you.
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It's for training. So I don't want you to think any longer that discipline only means some kind of I did something wrong.
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God spanking me. No, I live in a world and God wants to train me to endure to the end.
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Jesus was a son. He suffered. He endured to the end. I'm a son or a daughter. How do
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I endure to the end? So discipline training.
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I know God's not a coach. But as a coach trained someone to run well,
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God is training us to run well and finish well through trials. Providentially working.
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So never say, as we saw last week, oh, God doesn't love me in this trial. No, no, he loves you.
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That's why he's putting you through this trial to help you. No wonder William Cooper said
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God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.
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Last stanza of that poem. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace behind a frowning providence.
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He hides a smiling face. God wants you to finish. He wants you to endure to the end.
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And without his training, we would never do it. And so receive from the Lord instruction as a
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God would instruct his children. Turn your Bibles, if you would, just quickly to Matthew eight. Keep your fingers on Hebrews.
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And of course, when I teach people to preach, I don't want them jumping all around too often from place to place, to place, to place.
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I call that audible preaching. You ever see a quarterback audible in four, twenty four, six, eighteen, fourteen, thirty two.
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And you're like, so I don't like to do that very often, but once in a while it's important. And so we want to do that today, not an audible, but I want to show you the same thing with Jesus in Matthew chapter eight.
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We might be thinking I'm in a trial. Does God love me? Same thing here. These men were in a trial.
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Does God really care? Fascinating, the similarities between the two, because everything relates to the object of your faith, who the
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Lord Jesus Christ is. Matthew eight, verse twenty three.
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And when he got into the boat, remember, there's this huge storm going to come very soon.
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I think God actually is going to bring a trial into their life. His disciples followed him and behold, there arose a great storm on the sea.
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How great so that the boat was being swamped by the waves. But he. Was asleep and they went and woke him, saying, save us,
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Lord, we are perishing. Here's essentially what they're saying, you don't care, we're dying now, they could have said, we don't want you to die,
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Jesus, you're the Messiah, we've got to keep you alive. To their credit, at least they knew
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Jesus had the power to do things, but they're selfish in my opinion. What are we going to do?
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You don't love us. You don't care for us. You don't concern yourself about us. Jesus, we're going to die and you're sleeping, as one translator translated it interpretively.
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Teacher, are we to drown for all you care? What does he say?
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Verse twenty six. Get the order of this. You think he would have calmed the sea first and then address them?
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He does the opposite. And he said to them, why are you afraid? Oh, you of little faith.
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Then he rose and rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
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Why are you lacking in your faith? We're not talking about how strong your faith is necessarily.
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You've got the wrong object of your faith. You have forgotten my messianic credentials. You are men of little faith.
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You need a clear understanding of who I am and what I'm here to do. One writer said the most critical concern that faces
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Jesus' disciples is not disaster, rather it's the quality of their faith, which is directly proportionate to the accuracy of their perception of Jesus, the object of their faith.
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I mean, it's one thing to say Jesus is God. He rebukes demons. Jesus is God. He heals Peter's mother.
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Jesus is God. He touches a leper. Jesus is God. He forgives other sins. I'm in the boat.
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I'm going to die. Is Jesus really God? When push comes to shove, do I really trust in him?
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Why are you afraid? Oh, you of little faith. He rebukes the wind and the sea.
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And what happens? Calm. Who does that answer? Only Yahweh. Verse 27.
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This is the conclusion. The men marveled, saying, what sort of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?
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Only Yahweh does that. You look at the Old Testament, Jonah, chapter one, Jonah, chapter two, Psalm 104,
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Psalm 107. Who has power over the seas? The implication here is all
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Christological. Who is Jesus? Jesus is not only powerful, but he cares for the man.
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He cares for his disciples. Don't say you don't care for us. I'm the
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Messiah. I'm in the boat. I have power over the world, the seas and the winds and the waves. And I care for you.
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Don't ever say God doesn't care for me. God doesn't love me because I'm in a trial.
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No, no, you need to be thinking rightly about that God who is in the trial with you now back to Hebrews chapter 12.
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People always say to me, well, you know, does God really love me? Of course, we drive them back to Calvary.
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We drive them back to the personal work of Christ, this great pioneer, author and finisher.
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He wants you to endure. And it says in verse seven of Hebrews 12, it is for discipline that you have to endure.
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God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
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If you're left without discipline in which all have participated, then you're illegitimate children and not sons.
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What's the response? What should we look forward to in the middle of discipline? After discipline, for they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them.
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But he disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
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Christian, you want to run the race well and honor the Lord. You keep your eyes on the Lord. You accept his discipline.
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And now we come to chapter 12 verses 12 and following. There's a, a body life aspect of this.
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There's another aspect. And that is you have other Christians that need you and you need them.
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I studied this week a little bit about the Royal family and their children and how much education they have to go through.
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They have to go through a lot of education. You know, Prince Charles and these folks who grow up extra training for Royal children.
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That's been what's happening so far. It's not because God doesn't love us that we're going through this chastening, but he does love us and he gives us extra training.
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But that training doesn't exclude other people. And that's what he's talking about in this section here. Let me read verses 12 through 17.
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And what's your English text doesn't usually tell you is there's so many plurals in here because it's body life.
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Don't think isolated runner. Think team, think of a team trial that you all have to finish or no one finishes.
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This is body life for the Christian. Therefore lift your drooping hands, strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
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Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes troubled and by it many become defiled, that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal.
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For you know that afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
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If the whole response to salvation is love God and love your neighbor, if that's the law, this part has to do with loving your neighbor.
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We're all in the same race, the same journey. It's not an individualistic thing. And so he says run for others.
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If I was going to give you an outline, let me give you some ways to think through the passage. Number one, run well for others.
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Everything about this is running well. Number one, run well for others. Therefore, in verses 12 and 13, run well for others, lift your drooping hands.
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Can't you just see a runner and they're not running well? Their hands are wobbly, their knees are wobbly, they're shaking.
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Strengthen your weak knees, make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
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There's a main verb here. It's make straight and it is plural. What should be strength, arms and knees are now drooping and weak.
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You can think of spiritual exhaustion, spiritual discouragement. You're running the race and you're like, this is getting exhausting.
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I don't know if I can take it anymore. My spirits are low. I'm mentally, emotionally, spiritually exhausted.
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I don't know if I can go any farther. If you knew another Christian like that, you know, Christians like that.
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What do you do? How do you come alongside of them? Isn't there something inside of you that wants to say,
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I want to help them? Other people have helped me when I had drooping knees and arms that wouldn't go.
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Hey, they've helped me. I could put it this way, when you're really down in the
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Christian life and trials are so difficult, have you ever been encouraged by watching another Christian?
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And even though they're suffering and even though they have trials, they're trusting in the Lord, they're not consumed with self, they're reaching out to other people and encouraging them, even though they suffer.
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There's something about watching another Christian run that's helpful. And there's something about Christians who are running well at that time, wanting to help other
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Christians. That's exactly what's happening here. Encouraging other Christians to what? To do better, to keep their standing with God?
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Of course not. That's a slam on the work of Christ, his life and his death and his resurrection.
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No, but in light of who Jesus is, run well, friend, keep running. Verses 12 and 13 are actually from Isaiah, Job and the
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Proverbs. It shouldn't strike us oddly at all that the writer to the Hebrews is quoting
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Old Testament scripture. And so he quotes Isaiah, Job and Proverbs.
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Lift your drooping hands is right from Isaiah chapter 35. It's a messianic prophecy in Isaiah that talks about joy for redeemed people, people who have joy and rejoicing, knowing the
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Messiah is going to come. And so he says, lift your drooping hands. Hey, God is going to intervene.
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Here's the rest of Isaiah 35. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way.
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Say to those with fearful hearts, your God will come. He will come with vengeance, with divine retribution.
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He will come and save you. I'm sure when they thought of this, this section about lifting up these these feeble hands and these drooping arms, they immediately were thinking that's
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Isaiah and the rest of Isaiah 35 is this God is going to come. Hang in there.
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Keep going. This Lord is going to rescue you. Don't be discouraged because of the situation you're in.
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Hope is coming in the future. He also quotes from Job, see that strengthen your weak knees.
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Thankfully, nobody came after my knee surgery and quoted this to me at my bedside, or maybe you did, but the medicine just made me forget.
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What does this have to do? This is a spiritual race and he's using physical descriptions to make you go.
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Yeah, that's right. I just was so exhausted. I've been so spiritually exhausted that I've been physically tired even.
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So have you. Here's Job four. And Job was trying to be encouraged by Eliphaz, behold, you have instructed many and you have strengthened the weak hands.
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Your words have upheld him who was stumbling and you have made firm the feeble knees.
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And then he quotes in verse 13 from Proverbs four, make level paths for your feet.
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Of course, back in those days, we didn't have the track with asphalt and everything perfectly leveled and all that special cushions underneath.
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There's going to be a race. You better go ahead ahead of time and make sure that's flat and ready, especially if you've got people in your church that don't run so well and have ailments and who have needs.
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Here's Proverbs four, ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left.
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Turn your foot away from evil. Here's the point. When you run, you need to run well, looking at Jesus, accepting discipline, and then you need to run looking out for other people.
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Considering other people, you want them to help. I mean, if I would see that Marine crawling on the ground trying to finish,
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I know I wouldn't do it because it's not proper in a race. He has to do it himself. But you'd want to go over there and help him, would you not?
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If you're spiritually discouraged, Christians who are strong should be helping you. You should run the race well so you can be a good example to others.
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Why? Because their salvation is riding on it. No, because you have been saved and you want to reflect that.
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I mean, I could, I could use this scripture to say essentially the same thing for just as the body is one and has many members and you all members of the body, though many are one body.
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So it is with Christ. You are the body of Christ. That's first Corinthians chapter 12.
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As you're running the race, what do you do? I need to make sure I'm helping others. Do you see in verse 13 so that what is lame people in the church that are struggling and hurting and not running with a full capacity?
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They have spiritual disabilities, as it were, may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. You don't want them to run on the path and step on some kind of rock and make it worse.
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You do everything you can to make that a smooth path and help them run the Christian race.
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Number one, you run well for others. Number two, verse 14, you run well with others for others and now with others.
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Still corporate language, still plurals, still thinking team strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the
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Lord. Now, this first scares people, this verse is used by pastors to make people frightened.
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What does this really mean? I don't have enough holiness. Practically, do I make it to heaven?
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So if you ever have to solve a theological problem, here's what you do. Here's the inside scoop. Just between us, my father would say between us girls, go for the easy part first.
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Let's look at the easy part. This is not debatable. Pursue peace with everyone.
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Strive for peace with all men. Listen, you're in a race, it's difficult. And what happens?
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It's easy to get bugged to people when you're in a trial. You're already kind of.
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Ready to be set over the top, and then now somebody else, a Christian, it's easy for them to mess with you and notice the text strive for peace with everyone, not just within the church, but there are people who are persecuting you.
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There are people in the church and outside of the church. I don't mean the building who. Rub you the wrong way and you rub them the wrong way.
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So what does the writer say? Strive for peace, present imperative. It was almost implorative.
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A present implorative is simple. It's a command for everybody. A present implorative. It is a present imperative.
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Plural. You do this. Everyone strive for peace with all men. Does Paul say this in Romans?
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If possible, so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all.
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Romans 14, let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual building.
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Oh, you say this is peace at all costs. No, there are Christian parameters of this, but you ought to run pursuing peace.
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Of course we have objective peace because of the Lord Jesus, the prince of peace. And now we want to have relational peace.
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One with another, you Christian, because of your standing with the
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Lord Jesus and his redemption and forgiveness of sins are commanded to live peaceably with the people around you.
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And now that means the people in your home. That means the people who are 10 feet away from you, the distancing, whoever it is, you are supposed to live peaceably.
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I can't correct every trouble and every difficulty between people, but you're to pursue it.
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Peter said, Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example so that you might follow in his steps for when he was reviled, he did not revile in return.
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When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Ephesians four, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.
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Now, thankfully here at the church, Bethlehem Bible church, we, the church, I don't think we have a big unity problem, but these trials go on for long enough.
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You think, well, are there cracks? What he's trying to say is simple in light of who Jesus is.
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Just make sure you don't try to undo the work of Jesus. If he's building the church, do everything you can as you run to be on the same page.
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I hate, um, sin in my own life and I am sad about it.
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And one of the things I try not to do, and is at the top of my list of things not to do. And that is to divide the church that Christ is trying to build.
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Now he links holiness and peace. What's the connection here? Strive for peace with everyone.
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I think we get that, but what do you mean strive for holiness without which no one will see the
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Lord? What's the link between peace and holiness? That's what you should be asking. Is there a connection?
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Now, if I didn't say anything besides, do you think holy people get along better or unholy people get along better?
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Do you think people are, are pursuing peace? It's easier to pursue peace when you're walking in the spirit or easier to pursue peace when you're walking in the deeds of the flesh.
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He's putting these two things together for two reasons. One, they go together. Holy people are peaceful people.
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Two, Jesus put them together. Listen, holiness and peace.
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He put them together. Matthew five, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.
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Holy people are peacemaking people. Now, when you look at this passage, you ought to say to yourself, what is he not saying?
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He is not saying there's a certain level of holiness you need in your life or you're not getting to heaven.
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Because what would that level be? Dear Christian, more, better and plus one.
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How would I measure this? Wait a second. I'm not going to see the Lord unless I've got more holiness. How do
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I know he's not saying that? Because all of scripture teaches that. And guess what? Hebrews teaches that.
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Go on a little review with me, if you will. Go back to Hebrews two and let's just talk about sanctification and holiness.
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And remember, there's a sanctification that's positional. He sets us apart and there's a sanctification that's practical.
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He's making us more and more into the image of Christ. Are the people he is addressing sanctified already?
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Are they sure they're going to go to heaven? Hebrews two eleven. He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.
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That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers. Move forward, please, to Hebrews 10.
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Hebrews 10 is also teaching that the Christians that are listening are safe and secure, they're sanctified, they're set apart by God.
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He's not going to unset them apart. He's not going to unsanctify them. I could ask you a question. Does God ever unjustify a
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Christian? Does God ever condemn a Christian? Because does God ever unsanctify a Christian? To ask it is to answer it.
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Hebrews 10, 10, and by that we will have been we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, is that positional or practical?
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Of course, it's positional. We are sanctified people. Verse 14 of the same chapter, for by a single offering, he has perfected for all time.
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Those are being sanctified. And even in chapter 13, he talks about sanctifying the people.
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Dear Christian, are you saved by your works? Dear Christian, are you saved by your holy living?
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Dear Christian, are you saved by how much you say no to sin and yes to righteousness? Well, you say, well,
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I want to say no to sin and yes to righteousness. Good, but that doesn't affect your standing.
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Think about it. I use this illustration, I think, earlier. Remember those easy bake ovens.
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Now, if you're younger, you don't know those. But easy bake ovens were,
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I don't know, probably made by Mattel or something. Does anybody know who they were made by? And they had a little cake mix.
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And it was for, you know, I guess boys could do it, too. But they were marketed to girls and they could be five years old and they make a little mix of of the cake and they put it in and plug it in.
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And it was cooked with a light bulb. Remember, the problem was after it was cooked and you wanted to try it as the bigger brother, the older brother, you couldn't get into the thing because it would not open.
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It had a safety catch and it would not open until it was room temperature. Now, that is so shameful.
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It just take a little diagonal pliers or a little needle nose. There's ways to get in there to eat that cake.
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What's my point? I have no idea. I just was thinking about cake. What does that girl do?
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That little daughter who says, you know what, I'm making this cake for Gordon Ramsey, the master chef and all the judges.
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Judging on the best cake, what would he say if he didn't know was made by a little girl and he had to temper it back?
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He would say, this is awful. There's too much this. There's too much that it tastes like it's been baked by a light bulb.
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But what if that same little girl gave that to her dad and said, Daddy, here's my cake. I made it for you.
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Would he accept the cake? Would he look over at the mom, though, maybe and hide his face and there's too much salt.
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But he in love for the child would say, I accept the cake. Why? Here's the point. Don't miss it.
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I accept the cake because I accept you. I accept you, you're in Christ, therefore,
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I accept your works, even though they're tainted. Dear Christians, don't come to this passage and say,
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I have to rework my entire thought process of justification and condemnation and my standing before God because I need more holy works or I'll never stand before him.
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That is not what this passage is teaching. It is teaching this Jesus is holy. He set you apart to live a holy life.
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The spirit of God has sanctified you and your response should be what? Holy living. But he's not trying to have a measurable amount.
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How much do I need? No, no. Whether you're the thief on the cross or whether you've been running for 70 years, you ought to pursue peace with all men and you ought to have holiness.
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I could put it this way. If you look at your life and you see zero holiness practically, then you should probably say, maybe
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I positionally have no holiness. I'm not set apart by God faith alone. But that faith isn't alone.
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You're saved by faith alone. But that faith doesn't stay alone because it does things like pursue peace and pursue holiness.
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This is not a quantitative statement. If there's no holiness in your life, check to see if there's any real
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Christianity. But he's trying to encourage people here to run well. He's not trying to say in the middle of your race, you go, am
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I even in the race? Am I a Christian? That's not what he's saying. He has sacrificed his son once for all for Christians.
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You are not saved by your works. And if you think you need to have works to get to heaven, you're not thinking rightly to be in heaven.
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You need to have the lawgiver, the judge satisfied with the perfect cake baking, as it were perfectly obeying the law.
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And we know we couldn't do that. That's why Jesus obeyed the law in our place and died for our lawbreaking. And we know it's true because he's in heaven.
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So now, instead of God as your judge, the work of Christ has happened. Now, the father sent him in love.
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The spirit applied it in love. The son did it in love. And now he's no longer my judge.
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He's my father. And now the father says, pursue peace, be holy.
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You don't say to your father, how much obedience do I need to have in order to keep my sonship? How much obedience do
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I need to have so I could still be your daughter? No, but I could say to my son, act like an
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Abendroth and he should say, oh, OK, I know that. I'm not saying if you don't perfectly act like an
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Abendroth, you're out of the family. So remember the sweep of scripture, remember the sweep of Hebrews.
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He is trying to say to dear church people, run the race, act wholly, be pursuing peace, help other people.
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But he is not saying, you know, a Christian, if you don't measure up, you're not in because guess what? You're not in because you could never measure up.
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It is true that there are people in congregations always who aren't
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Christians and they need to be told, you know what? You don't have any holiness in your life. Don't call yourself a Christian.
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There were those kind of people who heard this message because they wanted to go back to Judaism. They wanted to go back to holiness through sacrifices.
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And the sacrifice had already come to Lord Jesus. Why go back? This is not meant to scare you.
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This is meant to direct you. And by the way, it's a plural. Dear congregation, strive for peace, have holiness.
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Faith alone justifies, but that faith isn't alone. If you confuse holiness as a condition of your salvation, you're going to be struggling with your assurance the rest of your life.
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But if you say holiness is a consequence, you're going to be just fine. Dear Christian, since you are sanctified, pursue sanctification.
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That's all he's saying. Jerry Bridges, the writer of Hebrews, is telling us to take seriously the necessity of personal, practical holiness.
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That's true, but not to keep your salvation, but because you are saved. One man said about Hebrews 12, quote,
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This is one of the most frightening verses in the entire Bible. Yet, like Aragon's dramatic words to Frodo Baggins in their encounter at the
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Prancing Pony in the Fellowship of the Ring, I don't think we're frightened enough. If you're a
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Christian, that advice is wrong. If you're not a Christian, it should frighten you.
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No holiness in your life? Well, well, there's no fruit in your life, no evidence, then you better check the root.
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But this shouldn't frighten Christians. How holy are you? Well, I've been striving for holiness.
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Well, you're not holy enough. Do you desire God? Yeah, but not as much as I should. Do you treasure God? Well, not as much as I should.
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That doesn't get you anywhere except focus on your own self anyway. How much am I actually doing?
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Remember what Luther said, every time I look at myself, I say, I don't know how
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I can be saved as a Christian. Every time I look to the Lord Jesus, I don't know how it could be lost. The focus of Hebrews is
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Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And in light of Jesus, live a holy life. Don't let anybody tell you
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Hebrews 12, 14 is meant to scare Christians. They have no idea what they're talking about. They look at a verse, they pull it out of context.
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That's called biblicism. If you think you have to please God to keep your standing with your obedience, you don't understand the depth of your sin.
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You don't understand the exemplary, wonderful work of Christ Jesus, faith alone.
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You say, well, I don't think Christians should just lay back and let God. I don't think they should either pursue holiness as a son, as a daughter, pursue holiness.
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Jesus put peace and holiness together. You should, too, you could say to yourself, well,
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I'm not a very peaceful person, I am a Christian. Well, then let's talk about sanctification without which what's the text say?
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No one will see the Lord. If these people say they're Christians and they run back to Judaism or any other works, righteousness system, they're not going to be saved.
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They're apostates. They were a part of us and they left to prove that they weren't of us. Pastor, do you think holy living is important?
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What would you say? Do you think I think holy living is important? Well, if I was teaching a fifth grade class,
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I'd say, duh. But I don't think I'm in fifth grade. Of course, holy living is important.
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You watch the Lord Jesus and you see a holy life and he sets an example for us.
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Do I think holy living is important? Yes, because he died for my unholiness.
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Why would I want to run back to it? But here's the question.
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Do you think holy living keeps you saved? Do you think holy living is the ground of your salvation?
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Do you think holy living is a condition that if you don't live holy, you're not going to go to heaven? You forgot about Jesus.
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And you forgot about how bad indwelling sin is. Do I think holy living is important?
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Yes, but typically it's detached from Jesus. And you know how I know this, because this is my default, even as a dad.
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Do this. Don't do that. Pick up after yourself. Shake your shake the person's hand firmly, say thank you.
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Look them in the eye. I go through all these things. It's just law, law, law and law is good, but it's not the end all.
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I'm just the law parent. And by the way, my conscience, guess what? That's full of law. Everything's law.
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But law doesn't motivate. What motivates? You're forgiven. You're redeemed.
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You're sanctified. You couldn't be more holy positionally. God couldn't love you more.
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He couldn't love you less. God loves sinners. And if he loves sinners, won't he love saints?
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That's what motivation is, is who God is. That's why, as long as I'm the pastor of this church, we're not just going to talk about law and holy living at the expense of the holy one and the one that Hebrews will not let you forget.
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Chapter one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Jesus is holy.
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Here comes twelve. Be holy. Of course, be holy. Living in a sanctified way is important.
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Good works are important. You run well for others. You run well with others.
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And now you run past your time for your sermon. I don't know, what else am
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I going to do today? I tell people land the plane at forty five minutes. It's at forty four. Let me just give you a taste of what we're going to see next week.
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There is something real that's called apostasy. There are people that hang around Christians and they're not really saved.
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And so it's at the tail of this where he says, without holiness, no one will see the Lord for the Christian.
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You think, you know what? The Holy Spirit's working in me and I strive to be holy and I see that in my life.
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For the unbeliever, there's no holiness and there is a very real possibility that people who say they're
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Christians aren't Christians because they're not trusting in the holy one. And here in this section, he begins to talk about.
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Hypocrisy, apostasy and what happens. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble.
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He's talking about spiritual defection, they're not just a typical bitter person. We'll see that next week. And by it, many have become defiled.
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No one is like don't make sure no one is like sexually immoral and holy Esau. He sold his birthright for a single meal and after he wanted it all back, but never got it.
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We're going to look at spiritual apostasy next week. You run well for others, dear
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Christian, because the Lord Jesus and you run well with others. That's the point. I saw an article this week and it was in light of the
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Boston marathon runner or should I say crawler? Here's the article's title.
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Why doctors say crawling across the finish line isn't a great idea. I also found another article this week.
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I kid you not, it was why am I so tired after I run long distances? No, I thought
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I'm in the wrong business. There's a lot of money to be made by stupid questions. Why doctors say crawling across the finish line isn't a great idea.
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And several years ago in 2015, a marathoner crawled on the ground to finish.
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But it's interesting. Here's what the check says that the news account elite runner,
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HYVON, was leading the pack 23 miles into the
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Austin marathon this weekend, but then her body just couldn't go further. She found herself on all fours, refused to get up, refused the wheelchair and crawled the final few miles to the finish line.
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Not a hundred yards, but the final few miles. Quote, somehow she still came in third place.
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You ran the bravest race and crawled the bravest crawl I've ever seen in my life. Race director John Conley told her afterwards, you have earned much honor.
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A native of Kenya, she said, running means you always have to keep going and going and going.
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And then the experts chimed in and they said, for the non -elite crowd, there should never be a reason why a runner should crawl to the finish.
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I get nervous about hearing this story, how it translates through the general population.
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If you're non -elite, don't crawl to the finish. Listen to your body. And then I thought, that's a good sermon ending because we've got a lot of non -elite people here, including myself at the top of the list.
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And we help each other crawl to the end because the
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Lord loved us and we love other people. And that's the Christian life, loving the Lord, your God, and loving other
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Christians. We run well for others and we run well with others. And that's the point of Hebrews chapter 12.
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Bow with me, please. Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you for the
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Lord Jesus, the author and finisher. And his life was a lot different than ours, obviously.
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And I think about what he did, not just enduring trials, but the trial, not just a crucifixion because many have been crucified, but all your wrath, like an eternal hell poured out in three hours, condensed as it were, poured out on your son, the beloved one, the holy one, whom you called the chosen one.
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And so in light of his running, in light of his joy, in light of his suffering, then exaltation, would you help us to suffer well?
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Father, we thank you that you train us. Thank you that you discipline us so that we can make it to the end.
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And Father, when we're crawling, would you help others come alongside of us? And Father, would you help us as we're running?
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Well, when we see the crawling, when we see the spiritually ones who are cramping and knees and elbows and drooping, would you help us to help them?
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so thankful for your enduring grace to the end. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.