Feb. 09, 2025

“LIVE BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT

“(PERSEVERANCE) WATCH OUT FOR WORLDLINESS!”

HEBREWS 12:14-29

*The Enablement Of God’s Grace:

As we run the Christian race, what is our goal?

The goal of our race is explained in verse 14 “peace with all men and holiness before the Lord.”

Yes legalism, too, can be a form of worldliness, masquerading as spiritual maturity.

Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:”

The positive side, pursue peace with all people.

Romans 12:18 “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

What a contrast!

The second positive command is to "pursue holiness” vs.14

Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”

So we have to run the race by faith with God’s grace.  

*We need to look at faith in three directions:

1.  Look Back- The Bad Example Of Esau- Hebrews 12:15-17

*The First Warning- Don’t Let Anyone Come Short Of Grace:

Hebrews 12:15 “looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.”

*The Second Warning- Don’t Allow Bitterness To Take Root:

Deuteronomy 29:18

vs.15 “…lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.” 

*The Third Warning-Don’t Tolerate The Esau Syndrome

Hebrews 12:16 “Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.”

Genesis 25:27-34 

The message to us is clear: Don’t trade your priceless spiritual inheritance for the perishable things of this world.

Hebrews 12:17 “For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.”

So the application: If we fail to press on in peace and purity vs.14, and become entangled by worldliness vs.15-16, we can eventually end up in the irreversible condition of Esau vs.17.

2.   Look Up- The Glory Of The Heavenly City- Hebrews 12:18-24

The spiritual marathon of faithfulness is rugged, long, painful, and exhausting, marked by trials and challenges that strengthen us and grow us throughout our journey.

Mount Sinai represents the Law and all its rigid requirements. With frightening sounds and images like trumpets and whirlwinds, fire and gloom, darkness and death:

Hebrews 12:18-21 “For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20(For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” 21And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

These are described in Exodus 19:10-25, and Deuteronomy 4:10-24.

Turning the eyes of the reader’s minds away from the dread of Sinai, he then describes the heavenly beauty of Mount Zion and God’s city, Jerusalem.

Hebrews 12:22-24 “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”

This mountain represents the personal, loving presence of the living God, “the heavenly Jerusalem” vs.22, His city, our city!

Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

3.   Look Ahead- The Unshakable Kingdom- Hebrews 12:25-29

“Don’t turn away from Jesus!”

Hebrews 12:25 “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven.”

“do not refuse Him who speaks…” vs.25

Hebrews 2:1-4

Haggai 2:6 “For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land.”

Hebrews 12:26-27 “whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

The positive side of the warning comes:

Hebrews 12:28 “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”

Hebrews 12:29 “For our God is a consuming fire.”

Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord,
“And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”

The basis of this proper response is the fact that we have received “a kingdom which cannot be shaken” vs.28.

How can we resist worldliness?

*First, adjust your pace after starting the race.

*Second, calculate the cost before you quit. 

*Third, get a grip on the gift of grace. The Christian life is powered by grace, not the Law, by faith, not works, by love, not selfish ambition.