Hebrews 12:14-29 - Be Grateful For What God Has Given

Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. We are in the end of Hebrews chapter 12 today.

We've got two more episodes after this one, and then I am taking a hiatus on Tabernacle Talk. We've gone through ten seasons of Tabernacle Talk. It's been thirteen full books of scripture, as well as two of the five books in Psalms.

And so I'm going to take some time and do some of my classwork. I'm going to do, honestly, some evangelism stuff within our community.

And we definitely request some prayer for that as we seek to grow God's Church, not just through like getting people from other places to start coming to Tabernacle, but through people that don't know Jesus right now, entering into a relationship

with Jesus and being baptized and discipled and matured and grown right here in our church. And that's where my heart is.

That's what I know God's will is for our church, is that we would share the gospel and see people grow and mature and all of that.

And so I'm going to be taking some steps even personally with some of my free time that I'm working towards sharing the word with people that do not know Jesus. So I would encourage you, keep on listening to good gospel Bible teaching.

I'm going to, on the very last day, I'm going to include some links to some of my friends. Carrie Schmidt has been doing a one year through the Bible journey, as well as a deep dive through the Psalms.

And I know that you would benefit from that, as well as Strength for the Day, which was the podcast that I was, if you will, the producer for way back when with my friend Dennis Fountain there in Moses Lake, Washington.

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Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strength-for-the-day-a-devotional-bible-podcast/id1547987576

And he's continuing on and he's got a daily podcast that he's doing and he's walked through many books of scripture and I would encourage you to listen to him.

My friend Kurt Skelly, and I can't remember the name of his Bible Study Podcast, but I'll throw you guys in a couple of those. And then, as always, I'm a huge Bible Project fan and I listen to their Bible podcast every single week.

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Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bibleproject/id1050832450

And it is such a joy and encouragement and challenging growth to me and my life. So enough talk about everyone else's great Bible Study Podcast. Let's get back into ours.

We have been walking through the Book of Hebrews. The question that is being posed to the author is we're undergoing a ton of persecution.

We weren't going through these same hard times and these same persecutions when we were just, you know, participating in Judaism.

And we've had friends that have left the Jesus movement and have just gone back to being, you know, regular old Jews, so to speak. And should we follow them? Is it worth it to continue forward with Jesus?

And the author has given a resounding yes. And he's told him Jesus is better than anything that we left behind. And he is actually the fulfillment of everything that we were involved in before.

He's our great high priest. He made the ultimate final complete sacrifice for us. There's nothing that we could go back to and still find favor with God.

It's only found in Jesus. And don't be scared of the persecutions and the hard times. All of the people that we look up to in the Old Testament went through these hard times.

And they pursued God. And they loved him even though there were difficulties. And so let's follow in their footsteps.

And as we think about Jesus himself, that he went to the cross and he died for us and bled for us and was, you know, tortured and mocked and hit all for our sake.

So let's look to him and follow his example because that's where a relationship with God is found. And God, if we are his children, then he will use difficult times to make us look more like Jesus.

So that at the end of it, we have the righteousness of God that we have learned to be joyful and patient and forgiving and kind. All those things that are true about our God will then become true about us as we go through hard times.

So that's where we find ourselves now in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 14. I'm going to take this to the end of the chapter.

And here there's kind of a comparison put between, okay, you can now continue in following Jesus, following God's grace, accepting it, that it would enable you through your trials and your hard times, or you can abandon God for something else.

And let's look at the Old Testament and see what happens in those scenarios. So verse 14, pursue peace with everyone and holiness. Without it, no one will see the Lord.

Even though people don't like you, the author says, make it so that you are pursuing having a right relationship with the other person.

There should be, there should never be anyone for a Christian that would want to have a peaceful relationship with us, that we should not also want a peaceful relationship with them. Our world says, hold on to your bitternesses.

Hold on to your grievances. And if someone has wronged you, you need to hold it over their head until they make restitution somehow. And even if they do make restitution, maybe still hold it over their head.

And God says, no, no, no. Pursue peace with everyone. I think of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for theirs is the kingdom of God. It doesn't say just blessed are the peace continuers. It's peacemakers.

Where there was contention, where there was fighting, we pursue peace. Now that certainly doesn't mean in every instance that maybe we have as close of a relationship with someone as we might once have had.

There are some people that through their persistence in sin, it would make it unwise for us to say, hey, pursue closeness with everyone. But we can say, let's pursue peace.

That if they were to say hi, we don't have to, like, you know, ignore them and not speak to them, that we are pursuing having, as far as it lies in us, a good, peaceful relationship with other people.

It says, and holiness, that we're not just having maybe a worldly peace, but we are having a peace in connection with a life lived for Jesus.

We can't say, okay, well, yeah, I'm at peace with everyone because when someone invites me to do this wicked or bad thing, I go along with it. No, no, no, pursue peace and holiness. It says, without it, no one will see the Lord.

That we ought to consistently have a heart of God. I'm repenting from my sin and I'm turning towards you. I'm turning away from what I want to do, from what others want me to do, and I am turning to what you have for me.

Verse number 15. Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many. What an amazing phrase here.

Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God. How do we fall short of God's gift of grace? Well, as highlighted here in the last half of the verse, it is through not repenting of sin.

For these people, they've undergone persecution, and the temptation would be to have a bitter heart against the persecutors, against those that have abandoned Christianity, and that they would be mad and upset, or perhaps God himself, that they would

have bitterness and unresolved anger that would say, in the courtroom of my heart, there's a right verdict and a wrong verdict. And right now, I am like emphatically, my conscience is telling me emphatically, like there is wrong here.

A heart of forgiveness, let's say, root of forgiveness would say, okay, God, I realize that you're the one to whom all justice belongs, that you are going to do what is right by me and by others, that you are the God of vengeance, that when it is

time for justice to be executed, that you will do it on your timetable and not my own. And so God, I am releasing the need, the impetus to say, okay, well, this has to be fixed now. This person has to be punished today.

This person needs to be told off right now, that we say, okay, God, you are going to deal with it in your time as it relates to me. I'm going to forgive them. And you do whatever you want with these individuals.

So how would we fall short of the grace of God by refusing to forgive? If you do not, even as Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, if you do not forgive others, neither will your heavenly father forgive you. Why is that?

It's because we can only turn to God. We can only have a relationship with him based on faith.

And if we are refusing to say, like, God, you are the one in charge, and we say, God, I am the one that should be in charge because I know what's right to do in this situation, and you're in the wrong.

When we've redefined right and wrong, when we have said, God, you say to forgive others like Christ forgave, and I am going to disobey that, then we are not, like, facing God to even be able to have a conversation with him.

We are facing the opposite way of the Lord, where we are not viewing him as sovereign, as good, as Lord. We are facing the world.

We are facing our own thoughts and our own opinions, and we are saying, well, here is what I think about this situation, and if God was really good, he would do this or that to this person.

If God was really good, then I could get even with so-and-so.

As opposed to saying, God, I know what you have said about grace and forgiveness and love and patience and long-suffering and endurance, and so, God, even though I don't understand it and I can't do it in my own human strength, I'm going to choose to

follow you. And it is only as we turn to the Lord, repenting from sin and turning to the Lord, that we can experience His grace. As James 4 says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

And if we disobey God's word, if we are not forgiving others, then we are not being humble, we are being proud. And there is a resistance from God for those that want to say, God, I want you to give me grace. I'm not going to follow you.

I'm not going to turn to you. I'm not going to believe and obey you. But you give me what's good even though I'm holding on to what is bad.

So he says, this root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many. Your bitterness will never stop with just you. You might think it would.

You might think, OK, well, I'm bitter against this sibling. I'm bitter against this boss. I'm bitter against this pastor.

And that's just between like me and them. And if they apologize, then then, you know, I'll forgive them in my heart. But and maybe maybe I'll forgive them.

Or it might just be that I think whatever they've done is too too terrible and I would never forgive. And we might think that we can just hold that between us and that other person.

But the truth is this how scripture says it is this is a root of bitterness that springs up. It causes fruit to come out. There are leaves, there are branches, and it causes trouble and defiles many.

Bitterness, I've heard it said, is when we drink poison and expect the other person to die. And not only that, but it poisons all of our other relationships.

It poisons our relationship with God, that we're living in open defiance of what he has said in his word. And so it damages our relationship with God when we're bitter.

When we are bitter and refuse to forgive and to hand over justice to God, it will then affect how we interact with our family. It'll affect how we interact with everyone that knows us and the other person that we're bitter against.

It'll begin to poison our soul as we don't walk with the Lord. And then it means that it's going to spread out in our words and our attitudes and our actions. You can't contain bitterness.

It is a cancer that will overtake all of your life. So don't allow it to take root in your heart. Root it up through the grace of God to say, God, I don't know in and of myself how I can forgive, but I believe that your grace can make it possible.

I believe that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

And so God, I am asking that you would help me to have a heart state of forgiveness and handing over justice to you, not saying that what the person did was right, but that I'm not going to hold it over their head anymore.

In my interactions with them, I'm not going to treat them as one condemned and guilty.

Instead, I'm going to treat them with forgiveness and with kindness even as God has done for me, even though I was condemned and Jesus took my penalty and took my punishment, and though I should be alienated from God, He loves me and has treated me

with kindness, and I'm going to do the same to others. Verse number 16, Make sure that there isn't any immoral or irreverent person like Esau who sold his birthright in exchange for a single meal.

Here, this word immoral is specifically sexually immoral people that over and over and over again in Scripture, we are commanded not to have as friends those that participate in sexual activity outside of the bounds of marriage.

And that's something that in our world today, that's a deeply unpopular opinion, but it's what the Word of God says.

And I want to encourage you, our world doesn't value sexual fidelity, our world doesn't value sexual exclusivity within marriage alone. They just say, hey, you know, if you got a boyfriend or girlfriend, go for it.

If you got a fiance, then absolutely go for it. But we, as people of God, we should never participate in that ourselves. We should not encourage that in others.

That should be something that we say, hey, like, I can't be close friends with you if you are going to be participating in these actions, especially if someone is a believer.

Certainly if someone's not a believer, then their, like, marital status isn't the primary problem. The primary problem is, hey, they need to know Jesus. And that's the mission at that particular point in their life.

So he says, make sure that there isn't any immoral person who, like Esau said, okay, God has all of these wonderful things for me, but I'm going to choose to give it all away in exchange for this little bowl of soup because I am hungry.

And that's what we do when we are immoral. We say God has this wonderful thing called human sexuality that he has created for us to enjoy, that it is a way by which we bring more people into the world that God loves.

It is a way that we picture like Christ's love for his church. It's a way that we enjoy just like what God has created good in creation. And when we say, OK, God, how you have set this up, I don't want it, like I want it on my terms.

We are exchanging the beauty of what God has for us, that birthright like Esau had, and we exchange it for just a bowl of soup.

And here he says, not only in a moral person, but in a reverent person, that is someone that does not value what God values.

I've mentioned it on here before, but there are some people today that like, church is somewhat okay, it's somewhat important, I'll go there sometimes, but if I've got a ball game, if I've got a camping trip, if I've got this or that, then I'm going

to be gone for that. And they don't view as important with reverence Jesus' bride. And just like with sexual immorality, where it's God has this wonderful thing for me, and I'm not going to value it and use it how He has designed it to be used.

So it is with our irreverence that we would say, okay, well, yeah, I know Jesus died for me. He died so that I would receive His grace. He died so that I would be holy.

But I don't really want to follow in any of that. Like I just kind of want to do my thing. I've got fire insurance and I'm fine.

No, that's an irreverent person. Here the author is saying that isn't someone that you guys should be hanging out with because it is showing absolute disregard for God. And I'm going to continue on here.

Otherwise, we're going to have a 57 minutes episode today. Verse 17, For you know that later when Esau wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected even though he sought it with tears because he didn't find any opportunity for repentance.

Esau never like expressed any sorrow. He didn't want any relationship with God. He just wanted stuff from God.

And here are the authors telling the Hebrews like for these people that they just want their version of life. They want to be immoral. They want to be irreverent where they say it doesn't matter what God has said.

It doesn't matter what God has set up. I just want to do my thing. He says there's no like repentance.

There's no walk with God or hope for eternity in that kind of a lifestyle.

Christians, true believers, not just temporary behaviors, true believers say what God has given me is important and valuable, and so I'm going to value everything that I have in the Lord.

Verse number 18, For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom and storm, to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words.

Here he's talking about Mount Sinai and all of the amazing things that were happening with thunder and lightning and the voice of God speaking and all of that on Mount Sinai when God gave the law to Moses.

He says, Those who heard it begged that not another word be spoken to them, for they could not bear what was commanded.

If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned there, quoting from Exodus 19 and verse number 12, that these people were so afraid of what God was doing in giving the law to Moses on the mountain and what they could see of God, it was

fearful. Verse number 21, The appearance was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear.

He says, instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, a festive gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to a judge who is God of all,

to the spirits of righteous people made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which says better things than the blood of Abel. Okay, verses 22 through 24. This could be like eight episodes in and of itself.

What he is saying is, if the earthly mountain of Sinai caused people to go, I am like in dread and awe of God because of the law.

He says, you guys have come to now this new Jerusalem, to the heavenly city of God, that Jesus himself is there, our judge, our God, the one who was slain on our behalf, the one who is our mediator, our great high priest.

We are coming to the presence of spiritual beings, of angels, to all of those who have been followers of God throughout all of the ages. And we're entering there. We're not just entering some physical mountain with some storms and stuff.

We have now come to this choice between everything of heaven, everything that Jesus purchased and going our own way. And he says, that's the choice that's in front of you.

Verse 25, see to it that you do not reject the one who speaks, for if they did not escape when they rejected him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven.

He says, like, death and not entering the promised land is what awaited those that rejected Moses. And he says, if we reject Jesus, what in the world is going to happen to us?

Verse 26, his voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens, that is not just the earthly realm, but also the spiritual realm. That's Haggai 2 and verse 6.

This expression, yet once more, indicates the removal of what can be shaken, that is, created things so that what is not shaken might remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful.

By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

Here he says, what is on this earth, even right now, what's in the spiritual realm is temporary, and God is going to take away all evil and all wickedness and all sin, and he is going to set up his everlasting kingdom that will never be taken away.

And so let's be thankful and say, God, thank you that even though right now I'm going through persecution, I know that this is temporary, and what I have coming ahead because of what Jesus has done, that is permanent. And so I'm going to worship you.

I'm going to revere you. I'm going to think that you're amazing and awesome. And you are a consuming fire.

That is, you are holy and purging and unable to just like become too flippantly. Instead, you are an incredible God. I've linked in the show notes for this one, the old song, Our God is an awesome God.

He reigns from heaven above with wisdom and power and love. Our God is an awesome God. And certainly, as we think about what we will do with what God has told us, we can have one of two responses.

We can say, God, because you are so good and so amazing, and because of everything that Jesus has done for me, I'm going to worship you. I'm going to obey you. I'm going to revere you.

And I'm going to do what you want with my life. Or we can say, no, I'm going to go my own way. I'm just going to do my thing.

Maybe sometimes I'll think about you. Maybe sometimes I'll interact with you. But for the most part, this life is mine.

And the writer here warns us, let's give our lives fully to this God because he is not just like a real nice guy, but he is God the Judge. He is God who has shed his blood. And so we have a responsibility to obey and to follow him.

Much more could be said, but I think that will suffice for today.

I want to encourage you, pursue peace with everyone, forgive others, love others, pursue a holy life, one that's not sexually immoral or irreverent, that looks at what God has given and says, eh, that's fine. I'd rather do what I want to do instead.

Let's not have that outlook. Let's say, God, you have an everlasting kingdom that's coming down and I can't wait to be a part of it, and I'm going to act right now like that kingdom is already here. I'm going to act like one of your citizens.

I'm going to talk like one of them and I'm going to invite others into that kingdom. Thanks for tuning in today. Hope you have a great rest of your day.