Bible Study

Alright, last time we left off in the book of Hebrews, otherwise known as the Never Ending Study. Well, hopefully not. Hopefully not. We are drawing nigh the end, but probably not tonight. We started chapter 12 a month ago already, didn't we? A month ago, I think we started chapter 12. And Mr. Petty picked it up from after the first couple of verses, and then we left off somewhere around verse 10, 11, 12, somewhere in there. If you remember last time, Mr. Petty was talking about the chastening that comes from God. Verse 5, 6, 7, 8, talk about that.

In fact, in verse 11, it says, "...no chastening seems joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." So it's talking about that chastening that God gives us. And that's not the kind of chastening that oftentimes we think of when you think of punishment, because it doesn't have to do with punishment. But it is a correction.

And there's a difference between correction and punishment. So this does not mean punishment. It's instructional. It's the guidance that God gives. It's the training that God gives, the education in the spiritual realm that God gives. And yes, it can be challenging at times, no doubt. But the point is that this kind of chastening that comes from God is aimed at increasing the character of Jesus Christ in us. And that was the whole point of this section of Scripture where Paul talks about this chastening that comes from God, that we're helped by God to eliminate the things that don't match up with God's way, with His mind, and encourages us in the good.

So that's kind of where we left off last time talking about that. And it talks about the results of that kind of guidance, that kind of instruction, that kind of whole training is really what that Greek word means. The whole education, the whole training of a child in the way that might be used in the Greek, but for us, our whole training, our whole life, spiritually speaking, that God's guiding it and leading it.

And if we respond, what happens? It says that there's a product. The product from that kind of guidance, God tells us here, it yields peaceable fruit of righteousness if we are trained by it, if we're trained by it. This is kind of a strange word here, if we're trained by it. Do you know what that word trained means in the original Greek? Literally, it means to wrestle naked. So if you wrestle naked, wow, you are going to yield some fruit, but not the kind of fruit we're talking about here. That's kind of weird. Now that would be taking the literal meaning of the word.

It's talking about a Greek wrestling school. But what's the idea of what he's saying here? Not that we should wrestle naked. That's not what he's talking about here. But what did they do in these wrestling schools? Well, they're working out. They're training their bodies, and they're training their minds for physical combat. And so Paul's using this word to help us to get the idea that we need to put everything into the spiritual training that God's giving us. That's the point he's trying to make, so that we should be educated by it. We should vigorously exercise ourselves, mainly our minds, into developing the character of Christ.

So that's why he used that word in that way. Even though it sounds kind of strange, he uses that word to help us to realize the intensity that we're supposed to dedicate ourselves to as we strive to follow God's way. So we can yield this wonderful fruit if we're willing to put our mind to it and willing to take God's guidance and His direction in our lives as He chastens us, as He trains us, and as He educates us. So that's the goal that Paul is trying to help us to see. Now because of that, he goes on then in verse 12.

He says, therefore, because of these kinds of things, strengthen the hands that hang down and the feeble knees. Is that a pretty good description of how we are sometimes? Especially when it gets to be this time of the night and it's feeling kind of tired and I just ate a nice meal. I feel kind of like hanging down and just relaxing.

Well, sometimes he's saying spiritually that's the way we are. You know, our hands are drooping. You know, our knees don't feel very strong. I think the King James says something like, lift up the hands that hang down. Which literally is telling us to strengthen them. The word here, to strengthen, is a word that the medical people would have used way back in the first century to reset a bone.

So if something's become dislocated or broken, they would reset it. Because if you've broken your arm, you're not going to be able to lift it up. You're not going to be able to use it unless it's reset. And so this is talking about this, a medical kind of a term that realizes that a paralyzed leg needs to be braced. You need to be strengthened. And in a way, I think it's kind of leading us to think of being reinvigorated. You know, and so no matter how long it's been since God called you to His way, there's always room to be reinvigorated.

So He's telling us that. As God directs us and guides us, now's the time to step it up. Now's the time to be reinvigorated with God's way. So He says, strengthen your hands and your knees. And that's how we walk. That's how we accomplish things. And He's not just talking about physically walking in a calm, but He's talking about spiritual things. Strengthen those things so that we can accomplish even more spiritually speaking.

Verse 13, He says, Take straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated. That's what New King James says. But rather be healed. So straight paths. That's our goal.

Because oftentimes we may find ourselves kind of going one way and then we're a little bit off of God's path and now we've got to get back on and we end up kind of weaving our way down life's road. But Paul's encouraging us instead to make a beeline for the kingdom. Make a straight path to God's kingdom. And so when you think about the way that He uses this imagery here, does it remind you of maybe the kind of Christian that you are? What kind of Christian am I?

Would I say here I'm kind of a lame Christian? Or am I a reinvigorated Christian? Am I a Christian who's walking that straight path? That path that is worshiping God. That path of faith. That path of holiness. That straight path that has God's Word ruling and guiding and leading me. Rather than kind of being unstable, rather than being irregular, rather than stumbling around, we're encouraged here to take that straight path.

Maybe that reminds you of a couple of the Proverbs talk about the path of God. About God's Word. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. God's Word is going to light the way of that straight path. That light goes out. How difficult is it to find your way? Pretty tough. Pretty tough to find your way. So if God's Word is lighting our path, then we're going to be able to make that straight way to following Him. In fact, I wrote down Proverbs 2, verse 8.

If you want to turn over there really quick. Proverbs 2 and verse 8 is another one of those passages that reminds us of the straight path. Maybe Paul had a couple of these passages in mind.

Proverbs 2 and verse 8. Here in Proverbs 2, he says, He guards the path of justice and preserves the way of His saints. So that almost fits in with what Paul was saying about the instruction that comes from God, the chastening that comes from God, His direction in our lives. Well, as long as we follow that, verse 9 says, then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity, and every good path.

That's a straight path, a path of equity, a path of righteousness, a path of justice. So when we follow that kind of a path, that is the straight path to God's way. So we're to make that straight path, which reminds us we've got a choice in this, don't we?

We've got a choice in whether we're going to choose this path or some other way. And so we've got to make sure that's our choice. And Paul's encouraging us. We can do this. We can choose what's straight, the opposite of what's unstable, the opposite of what's lame, he says in verse 13. And we can choose to be whole, or he says, to be healed. Rather, be healed. Put those bones back together and let's do what's right and walk the right way. Paul also wrote something like that to the Ephesians. Remember he talked about walking to them? I think it's in the beginning of chapter 4 in Ephesians, if you take a look over there.

Ephesians chapter 4, yeah, right at the very beginning of the chapter. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1, he talks about walking that straight path. He says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. And how do we do that? Well, we do it by the chastening of the Lord, by His direction, by His guidance, by His training. He says we can walk worthy with all lowliness of mind, gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

That's the kind of path I want to walk. That's the kind of path God wants us to choose so that we can be whole. And the implication is if we're not walking that path, we're falling off in the ditch and we're going to get hurt and things are going to be dislocated if we do. So we've got to be walking that straight path. In fact, He says, let's step it up a notch. If we flip back to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. Verse 14 talks about stepping it up just a little bit.

So walking that straight path, making straight paths for our feet. Now in verse 14, He says, pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. So this doesn't just mean it would be nice if we had some peace. This would be a nice idea.

Or wouldn't it be wonderful if we could possibly, hopefully, maybe have peace? Well, that's not what He's saying. This word for pursue really means to run after it. To run after it. So not just walking past, but now we are going to move. We're going to take this on the move. We're going to run. We're going to run after peace. It's like running in a race. Paul uses the same word to talk about a race that we run.

And of course, at the beginning of chapter 12, we talked about that race we're in. And now we're running toward the ultimate goal, which is God's kingdom. But peace is a result of running after that goal. And so He says, run after it like you're running in a race. And if we don't do that, if we're not running after peace, which is a guide for our lives, and if we're not having the holiness, we're not building the character of Jesus Christ, we're not putting on His mind, He says we're not going to finish.

We're not going to complete the goal. We're not going to be a part of His kingdom. And then He says nobody's going to see the Lord if you don't do these things. Now one of the strange things about that verse is people take that out of context sometimes and take that seeing the Lord as a very literal kind of a thing. You know what some religions feel about that particular verse? That that somehow supports the idea that for eternity, you're going to stare into the face of God.

And so when Paul mentions this, that no one will see the Lord without these things, some people think that that's talking about the beatific vision, is what they call that. That somehow in heaven you'll stare into God's face forever. Anybody else think that's kind of boring? Sounds kind of boring to me. It's not talking about that at all. He's talking about the return of Christ, really, that we're not going to be a part of the family. We're not going to be in the kingdom. We're not going to be a part of what God's ultimate purpose is if we don't grow, if we don't love people, if we don't love God.

That's a different way of saying, pursue peace and holiness, isn't it? Those are the two great commandments. You know, love God, love people. That's what it's all about. And so he's saying, without those things, you're not going to be there. You're not going to be there. And so it's not talking about any kind of beatific vision or anything like that. And so as we go on, he gives us a couple of warnings now. A couple of warnings come up as we get into verse 15. So he says, if we don't do these things, we're not going to be there. So verse 15 says, 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. So the first thing we've got to do, he warns about, is be sure we're looking carefully. Looking carefully. Well, what are we looking carefully about? This is an interesting word. Here, looking carefully is from the base word episcopal.

You know what an episcopal is? Well, let's look at an example of an episcopal. 1 Peter 5, verse 2. It talks about in the episcopal, which has that same base word. 1 Peter 5, verse 2. In fact, we can go back to verse 1 to see the context here.

It's written to the elders of the church. The elders who are among you I exhort. Peter starts. Verse 2, one of the exhortations, he says, Shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly. This episcopal, same word that Paul used looking diligently, is the word overseers. Overseers, the same word in a different format is the same word for elders. They are overseers. So when you go back to Hebrews 12, Peter exhorted the elders to take oversight of the church. Well, what's Paul telling us here when he says, Look carefully. Look carefully in the sense, meaning to look over or oversee.

Well, what are every one of us supposed to do? We're supposed to oversee ourselves. Look diligently at yourself. Look over yourself. Like an elder would oversee the congregation. You look over your own life. Look carefully. Look carefully at your own life. After all these instructions he's given about making straight paths and pursuing holiness and peace, how are we doing with that? He's saying, Look diligently at yourself. Take stock of yourself.

Overseers look after something. And as overseers of our own lives, we look after ourselves. And we make sure that we're not, it says, falling short of the grace of God. And so the exercise that we're supposed to do is that exercise of looking at our own lives because he says, By this many have become defiled.

Many have failed. They haven't met the standard that God set. And so in a way it's almost saying that we've already been there, but that we've got to maintain. He says, We've got to be careful, lest we fall short. Lest we fall short. This same word was used just a couple of chapters ago. If you go back to chapter 4, take a look at Hebrews chapter 4, right at the very beginning of chapter 4, this idea of looking carefully, lest we fall short, is also used in chapter 4, right at the very beginning of that chapter.

Here he talks about entering his rest. It says, Since a promise remains of entering his rest, let's fear, lest any of you seem to have come short of it. Coming short of it is the same word that's used to fall short. Falling short literally means to come late. To come late. That we didn't reach the goal. And of course he's using this idea of a race, still has that in mind all the way back from the beginning of the chapter here, that we don't want to be left behind.

We don't want to be left behind in a race. We don't want people to lap us. We don't want to fall short of the goal. We want to make sure we finish, that we cross the finish line. So we don't want to fall back in the pack of this world.

Not that we're running against others, but we're running against ourselves. And so he says, look carefully. Take over sight of your life so you make sure you're not left behind. Because that's not what God has in mind for you, and that we fall short of the grace of God. So we can have a choice in our life, whether to follow God or not. So we can leave God's grace behind if we're not careful. And he says, one of the signs of that, end of verse 15 back in Hebrews 12, he says, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.

So a root of bitterness could be one of those causes that would make us fall short. So what about this bitterness that he says is springing up? Any of you tried to pull dandelions before? Pulled a lot of dandelions, but never to very much success. They always seem to grow back, don't they? Because what do you have to do? My mother taught me. Maybe Mom's watching tonight. Hi, Mom. But I was a kid, we had to pick dandelions once in a while.

So I'd just yank them out of the ground, and I'd get a root maybe about that long, and then, uh-oh, it broke off. So I went and told my mom right away that it broke off in the ground. Okay, no, I didn't do that. But when they started to regrow, it was obvious it didn't get the whole root, and it just kept growing back. If you don't get that entire root, it seems to just spring back to life, doesn't it?

Or have you ever dealt with sumac? Sumac, oh, we had sumac in our yard one time. It's a little tree-like kind of bush, right? And you could pull it right out of the ground. But it had these runners that would go all over the place. And you could pull that little tree out of the ground, but if you didn't get every single root that went, it would be springing up right next door. And it was ridiculous. Same thing with the other thing that we had problems with, box elders.

They were a pain because they had all these little roots, the similar type of thing, and they were all over the place. And you might pull up this one here, but here's the tree starting growing a couple of feet away again. And it reminds me of this particular passage in Hebrews 12, that if you don't get out the entire root, it doesn't take long before it starts springing up all over again. And this bitterness, the root itself isn't bitter. It's not the root that's the bitter part.

Did you notice what it says here? It's not the root that's bitter, but the root grows into this plant. It springs up, and then what does the plant produce? The plant produces bitterness. It produces a fruit or something that's poisonous. And of course, spiritually speaking, there's lots of things that can be like that. It could be festering anger, holding grudges, maybe people that bother us. But the point is that he's making here, it's deadly. It's deadly. It's poisonous. It will take us down spiritually. And so I think we could ask ourselves, what is it that causes this kind of bitter fruit to sprout in my life?

Or we could say, what is it that causes this kind of bitter fruit to sprout in the church? Ever thought about that? There is a little bit of insight that's given to us back in Deuteronomy 29. And maybe it's a little surprising what it tells us back in Deuteronomy 29.

I think Paul did have this in mind when he wrote this. So take a look there in Deuteronomy 29, and we'll begin in verse 18. Deuteronomy 29, verse 18.

Here God is giving instructions. He's giving a second giving of His law, you might say, as the people are coming into the Promised Land. And He's giving instructions about following Him. And following these instructions, He's talking about false worship, idols. And He says He's giving these instructions, so that there, this is verse 18, so that there may not be among you a man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the God of these nations.

And that there may not be among you a root-bearing bitterness or wormwood. Wormwood is one of those plants that bear poisonous or bitter, bitter fruit. So God says, follow Me. Don't go all these other paths. Follow the straight path of God's way. Otherwise, this root that bears poison, bitterness, can sprout up. Well, what is it? What is that bitterness, this root that He's talking about?

Well, let's go on in verse 19. 19. And so it may not happen when He hears the words of this curse, that He blesses Himself in His heart, saying, I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of My heart, as though the drunkard could be included with the sober. All right, what's He getting at there?

What is He saying? All right, He hears this word. You know, things are going to go difficult. If you don't follow God, you'll be blessed if you follow Him. All right, and then you say, I'll have peace, even though I follow the dictates of My heart, as though the drunkard could be included with the sober. So what is He getting at, and how does that fit with what Paul was writing? I had to look it up in another translation. Here's what New Living says in verse 19.

It says, Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves, thinking, I'm safe, even though I'm following the desires of my own stubborn heart. This would lead to utter ruin. So what it seems that Paul is talking about, what Deuteronomy was warning about, is this root that bears a bitter fruit is someone that has the wrong view of themselves. They have the wrong idea of what God's plan is and what eternal life is all about, because they're saying, I'm not drunk, when in actuality they are.

Or in other words, I feel pretty good about myself, when in actuality they're a terrible sinner. I feel safe. I feel good. I'm okay. I guess I've grown as much as I can. You can think of all the different ways to mention this, because when it comes down to is a basic misunderstanding of what our calling is all about. We're called to grow in grace and knowledge.

We're called to put on the mind of Christ. Philippians 2 tells us that if we think we're okay and we've somehow reached the goal when we haven't, we can't feel that kind of a confidence that, well, everything's fine with me. Because Paul is telling us, wait a second, that's not true.

You might say, well, I don't do that. Well, have you ever felt, well, I'm a part of the church. I've been baptized. I'm okay. I think that's a little bit of what Paul is talking about here. Just because you're a part of God's people doesn't mean you're truly with the program. There was a whole mixed multitude that came out of Egypt, and not everybody was with the program, were they? In fact, it came down to just a handful in the end.

And so Paul's giving us that warning here that, well, just because I'm a member, or just because I'm a leader, or just because I have this position, we certainly cannot take security in that and think somehow that we escape God's judgment. Paul's being pretty straight out with this whole idea. And he says, that's not.

We cannot be presumptuous people. We can't presume that. And so what is he telling us here? Well, many become defiled by that frame of mind, by that attitude. And so he's telling us, wait a second. We've got to develop this intense determination to grow in faith, to grow, well, you just got done saying, grow in holiness, growing in the mind of Christ, putting on God's perspective. In fact, he just got done warning us how many times throughout the book of Hebrews. He says, look out, don't neglect so great a salvation. Remember, he said this three or four times already. And so we don't want to take it too far out of context. He's reminding us of that constantly.

We've got to fight a daily fight of faith to maintain our relationship with God. So he's telling us, don't get hardened. Don't fall away. Don't let this kind of a bitterness come into your mind where you think everything's fine and you don't have to grow anymore, that you've already secured your place.

He says, no, there's more to go. The race isn't over yet. We're not quite finished yet. And so he reminds us, don't take your calling lightly. Don't take your calling lightly. It's a warning. And so when we go to the end of the day, we look at that, be sure we're not being prideful. Be sure we're not being conceited.

Salvation is not an automatic thing, is it? It's not an automatic thing. It requires a life of vigilance. We have to fight the good fight of faith. We have to pursue and run after peace and holiness. And that's going to take some spiritual dedication, doesn't it? Absolutely it does. Because otherwise, we'll be, he says, defiled.

We'll be defiled. Literally, that word means to be stained. We'll be dyed the wrong color. We'll be stained and dyed the wrong color. We don't want that. So what do we do about it? Well, fortunately, it doesn't leave us there because that's pretty heavy. That kind of weighs on us a lot. What do we do about it? Is there a solution? What can we do about it? Well, he gives us the cure. There is a cure for that root of bitterness. What is it? Repentance. Repentance is the cure.

Paul reminds us of that cure, well, actually it wasn't Paul, but over in the book of Acts, we'll find the apostles when they are dealing with Simon the sorcerer. It's in Acts 8.

Let's see, where is it exactly? Yeah, in Acts 8, look at verse 22, we kind of see a little bit of the...

It's not any different for you and I, is it? The solution for us, the cure is not to be in an attitude of repentance, so that God can direct us, so that we actually change the way we think. That word to repent really means to change our mind. So we change our mind. We see ourselves as we really are. So we repent. We ask God's forgiveness. We ask for His guidance in our life rather than our own presumption of thought. Rather than, well, I know the way to go. I'm okay. Well, no, I need God's direction. I need His perspective in my life at all times. And so we're told that's the perspective that we have, and that's really the cure to digging out those dandelion roots that are so pervasive. You know those little tools they have for digging out dandelions are about this long and have a point at the end. I guess if we could think of that in a spiritual way, we want to dig down deep inside of us and root out those little pieces that are still there. Because if we don't, the fact is they're going to start growing back. And so Paul gives us that way that we can. That cure is to get that great big long tool of repentance, and that can begin to set us on the right path then. All right, let's flip back then to Hebrews once again. Hebrews 12. Hey, look at this.

We're actually past two verses, so we're doing pretty good tonight. How are we doing on time? Oh, we're not doing very good on time. Okay, back to Hebrews 12. In Hebrews 12, he goes on then and describes some of the results of this root of bitterness. And he says, "...lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know afterwards, 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 once again, we see the solution is repentance, and we've got to be careful that we don't fall in this category. Suddenly, we're told that we could be a pornos, which is a pornicator, the same word that we get the word porn from. You know, sexually immoral, that's what it's talking about. Profane, unholy, that's what he's talking about here. An unholy person like Esau. Okay, why bring Esau into the picture? Well, what did Esau do? Remember the story of Esau? He was so hungry that he sold his brother his birthright. And it was a whole banquet meal, wasn't it? That he sold the... Okay, no, it wasn't. Just a bowl of soup, right? Or more or less. That was it. He sold his birthright because of his appetite.

Because of his appetite. Did he really respect the blessing, the reward of being the firstborn, of having the rights of being firstborn, the birthright? Well, he didn't. He didn't. He was not like a Moses. If we look back just a page or so in my Bible, look at Hebrews 11. What did Moses do? Verse 24 in the faith chapter. Moses is described in Hebrews 11, 24. By faith, Moses, when he became age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the world. What did Moses do? Did he look to the reward? Nope. He looked to the bowl of soup that was right in front of him and said, I'm famished. I've got to have it. And so what do we treasure?

Do we treasure the reward that's down the line? Or do we have to have everything right now? Do we treasure the fact that we are children of the covenant of God? That's what we are. Do we realize that we have birthright promises? God's called us. We can be the firstborn. Do we prefer the temporary over the permanent, even though the permanent may be as harder to see sometimes? Do we prefer what will come in the kingdom of God rather than what's going on right now? You see, Moses was able to see that. And of course, there is a time that's coming when there won't be any pain that will be too great, or there won't be any care that takes us off track. And there won't be any tears that get in the way of striving after that blessing. When things start getting rough in this world, boy, things are going to be a little bit different. But it's once again a reminder for us, never give up on the blessings and the inheritance that God has in store for us. So we're compared to Esau here. And it's a good reminder. I wrote down the translation that's in the message for verse 16. Look at verse 16 again. Here's what the message says. It says, when Esau, or watch out for the Esau syndrome. I like the way that says it. The Esau syndrome. What's the Esau syndrome? He goes on and says, trading away God's lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. That's pretty cool, the way He says that. Are we ready to give away the kingdom for a short-term goal? You see, we've got to see the big picture is what it's reminding us. See the big picture. Then, of course, I think there's a little bit of a misunderstanding in this passage as well when you think about what happened to Esau because he gave up his birthright. Then it says, you know, afterwards, verse 17, 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 is this telling us that, okay, later Esau realized that was a dumb decision. It was foolhardy to choose the bowl of porridge over the blessings. And did he then seek God for repentance of his sin? And God said, sorry, you're too late. Is that what this is saying? I don't think so. I don't think it is. I don't think it's telling us that God rejected Esau's true repentance. Does that make sense? I mean, when you really begin to think about it, what was he seeking diligently with tears? When we read it in English here, it sounds like he was seeking repentance with tears and that somehow God rejected that. Well, does God reject true repentance? I sure hope not. Is there a time period that God says, well, you can repent of this sin up till this time. After a week, you're out. Is there some kind of timeframe that's connected? I don't think so. Not that I'm aware of. But sometimes we might get this idea that somehow Esau truly repented and God said, sorry, you're too late. Get out of my sight. What was Esau diligently seeking with tears? Well, I think we've got to go back to the original story to find that out. Go back to Genesis, chapter 27. Genesis, chapter 27 gives that story of Esau and Jacob and the whole thing and the blessings that would come, because this comes down to the end of the story. When finally that birthright promise is going to be passed on. And in Genesis, chapter 27 is where we could pick up the story. Okay. In Genesis, chapter 27, who received the blessings of the birthright?

Well, Jacob did. His younger brother received the blessings, as was prophesied. Of course, Esau sold it for that bowl of porridge, didn't he? Now it comes to pass that the blessings are passed down to him. Isaac passes on those blessings to Jacob. What happens? Esau comes in after this has happened. And he says to his father, what's going on? Verse 34, Esau heard the words of his father. He cried with exceedingly great and bitter cry. And he said to his father, Bless me, me also, O my father. What does Isaac say? Your brother came with the seed. He's taken away your blessing. He's taken away your blessing. Well, what happened? Verse 37, Isaac tells him, Indeed, I've made him your master. He received the birthright promises. That's what Isaac passed on to him. All his brethren, I've given to him as his servants with grain and wine. What shall I now do for you, my son? That's what Isaac asks Esau. What does Esau say? Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me also, O my father. Esau lifted up his voice and wept. So what did Esau seek diligently with tears? Repentance or the blessing? He wanted the blessing. He wasn't truly repenting in God's sight. So when you go back to Hebrews 12, to think that God has a limit on true repentance, not thinking correctly. His perspective was God loves repentance. He wants repentance. He encourages repentance. But Esau wasn't seeking repentance. Esau wanted that blessing. So it says, he sought the blessing with tears. He sought the blessing with tears and he found no place for repentance. See, the true repentance that God was after, that's not what Esau was about. And so that's a good reminder then for us to make sure that we're seeking the thing that's most important.

The most important thing is the repentance aspect of that. So if you flip back to Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12, there's a translation that's called God's Word.

There we go. Whenever I sit down, I'm pinching the mic. Okay, try not to pinch the mic. It winds when you pinch it.

All right, we'll not pinch the mic then. All right, did you hear Hebrews 12, 17? I'll read that again then in God's Word. Here's what the God's Word translation says, verse 17. You know that afterwards when he wanted to receive the blessing that the first-born son was to receive, he was rejected. Even though he begged and cried for the blessing, he couldn't do anything to change what had happened. And so we see pretty clearly that it was the blessing is what he diligently wanted, but that was already decided. He decided himself to sell it to his brother. And so it shows us the significance of what true repentance is all about, how we really need that kind of repentance in our life. It's a good reminder just because we're crying and tearful doesn't mean it's true repentance, doesn't mean it's sincere. It has to be something of the heart, doesn't it? It has to be true repentance. And I think this whole section is also a reminder that there's never a day when true repentance is beyond our grasp, because God loves the fact that we repent and we change.

Then he goes on to make an interesting comparison as we get to verse 18. Let's notice it here.

Verse 18, he says, You have not come to the mountain that may be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness, and tempest, and 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. For they couldn't endure what was commanded. And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. Now Paul paints another image. He paints an image of Mount Sinai where God gave the Ten Commandments. God gave the law. So he brings that to mind. Now why would he do that? Well, he's talking to the Jews. He's talking to Jewish converts. He's reminding them of their spiritual heritage. Because certainly this would be something at the forefront of their minds. Remember, just a couple of chapters ago, he talked about the Day of Atonement. And he talked about the physical things that happened on the Day of Atonement. And then he explained what?

The spiritual significance of those things. Guess what he's going to do now? He's going to do a similar thing as he compares and contrasts what's going on between Mount Sinai and, verse 22, Mount Zion. What's the difference between those things and what should we gain from that?

Well, a couple of interesting things as we think about this. This is an unbelievable sight. If you could just imagine what that was like. If you look back at Exodus 19, it describes the whole scenario there of what went on as God was about to give His law and the people prepared for that.

It's also interesting. These words of Moses in verse 21, they're not recorded anywhere else.

So Paul must have had extra insight or revelation to record these words of Moses saying, I'm exceedingly afraid and trembling. This must have been quite a sight.

It's also interesting that one of the verses that's taken out of context in this little section of 18-21, it says in verse 20, they could not endure what was commanded. So some people would like to take that particular verse out of context. And guess what they say about that? They say, oh, that old covenant, it was so harsh and so difficult and so mean, given by this fearful God, that the people couldn't endure the commands that God gave.

But that's not true. But that's not true at all. What couldn't they endure?

Well, they were afraid of the sound and the trumpet and the mountain burning with fire and the blackness and the darkness and the tempest. That's enough to be fearful of, isn't it? Isn't that enough that they'd say, I don't want to endure that? It wasn't the command itself.

They weren't able to endure the whole process of how God was showing His awesomeness, His power, His authority. And so that was really what they were getting at here. And they were trembling at that word that was spoken. Well, I can't help but think, do I tremble at God's Word?

Even today, do we tremble at the Word of God? They trembled and said, we don't want to hear that anymore. Moses, you talk to us. You guide us. You lead us. We'd rather hear you than all the smoke and fire and all these other things. So how do we feel about the Word of God? It was a terrifying sight. Now, the other side of the comparison, though. The other side of the comparison in verse 22, he says, but you, instead of coming to this mountain where God gave His 10 commandments that was burning with fire, He says, you've come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to 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, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

So what's the comparison? The old was really bad, awful, and terrible, and the new is wonderful and spiritual and loving. No, that's ridiculous because it's the same God that's giving them.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So what's the point here?

Well, He's showing really the spiritual nature of all these things. When He talks about Mount Zion, He's talking about your call to the church. We're talking about the church of God, the city of the living God. We're looking forward to the establishment of God's government on this earth. The New Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem also can represent the church of God. We're citizens of that city. That's what we're about. And He says we've come to that very presence of God. And of course, in that presence of God, we see some of the things that are there. We see an innumerable company of angels. That's a myriad of angels. It reminds us of what's over there in the book of Revelation. Revelation talks about tens of thousands and thousands and thousands of angels that are there. And as we see what He's talking about, an innumerable company of angels.

And it says to the general assembly. The general assembly part seems to tie in, not with the church, but actually with the angels. That there's an innumerable company of angels that are assembled. Because that word really means like a festival gathering, a real celebration that seems to be talking about. So there's myriads of angels assembled before God. Of course, you read Revelation and what's happening around the throne of God. Isn't that what's happening? Absolutely. The angels are assembled before God. And there's this amazing, joyful convocation that happens as they worship and honor God.

I think of the convocation of angels and the convocation that we have. What is our convocation?

Well, when we come together on the Sabbath, it's a holy convocation. Remember Leviticus 23 reminds us. We have a sacred assembly, a holy gathering, a command assembly before God. And as the angels are having this amazing, joyful opportunity to worship and praise and honor God, I wonder how much of a reflection that is of our services. What we call our services, a festival gathering where we praise and we worship and we celebrate and we honor God. Maybe not all the time, but maybe that's what it needs to be more of. Do we come to God in that kind of a frame of mind?

I think He's reminding us it should be. It should be more like that. That's what it's like around the throne of God. And as angels are worshiping, praising God, is there any reflection of that in our worship? Think about that. He also reminds us here, we are the firstborn, the church of the firstborn. We have rights of inheritance.

He just talked about Esau, firstborn. Our firstborn rights. We have rights as the firstborn of God. We'll be a part of His family forever. And so, we can't trade away our birthright like Esau did. We have the inheritance. We can be co-heirs with Christ.

In fact, so much so, he says that we are registered in heaven. Some translations say we're enrolled or we're written in heaven. What does that remind you of? How about Revelation? And we can quickly go over to Revelation 3. It talks about that in Revelation 3, verse 5. Revelation 3.5. Here it talks about those who receive the inheritance, those who overcome. He who overcome shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels.

So, this seems to be a reference to that book of life, a record of sorts that records those who will be a part of the family. Names written in the book of life. They're enrolled. They're written. They're registered, you might say, because we are registered in a sense for all the rights of citizenship in the kingdom.

In fact, I think Revelation 12 also talks about the book of life and those names that are written in the book of life. And so, that's totally different than what the Israelites experienced at Mount Sinai. And so, we've come, it says then also, to the spirits of just men made perfect. Oh, I skipped over to God, the judge of all.

God, the judge of all. And this is in the context of something that's a very good thing. Some of the scholars say that part of the Greek seems to represent a joyful judge, that it's a joy to come before the judge. And of course, that would be a little bit of a polar opposite of what was happening at Mount Sinai. To come before a joyful judge, oftentimes with judgment, is a time that's kind of scary. And that we're not sure we want to be a part of that kind of judgment.

But here, it seems to represent something that's a very good thing. And of course, if you think about what was happening here to the Hebrews, these were a persecuted people that had very many enemies that would love to short-circuit them. And so ultimately, what's going to happen is God judges people. God's going to judge our enemies as well. That's a fact. He'll judge the enemies that don't repent. And so certainly, that's a fact. Part of the joyful aspect, he's going to be rewarding. God's going to reward His people for the things that are right and good, the things we have done in the name of Christ.

Remember, what is it in Matthew where he says even a cup of cold water won't go unnoticed. So God remembers those things. And of course, coming before God as a judge, just got done saying here in chapter 12 that He's the judge that chastens us, that He guides us, that He disciplines us, and it's for our good so that we can repent and sin can be forgiven in our lives.

So when we look at it that way, that is a good thing. That is a joyful thing. And as we see what we've been called to, He says also, the spirits of just men made perfect. We're just men. How are we just? We're justified by the blood of Christ. Christ's sacrifice justifies us. And we are made perfect. Spiritually mature is what that word means, to be mature. Because we are forgiven, because we've accepted the sacrifice of Christ, we've repented, we can be seen as justified, perfect, sin free. Seems kind of funny, but that's what He's getting at here.

And why would He include that? To the spirits of just men made perfect. Some people say, that's talking about spirits of heaven. That has nothing to do with it. It ties back all the way to the beginning of this chapter. Chapter 12, what did He just say at the very beginning of the chapter? He says, we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Well, that's not people up in heaven. It's not a literal thing that He's talking about here. He's talking figuratively, that all these people have gone before us. He just got done talking about those in chapter 11, these great heroes of faith throughout time. Now what He's saying is that, all right, those people are seen as these great spiritual giants, but they're not the only ones. He's saying that it's not just the famous ones. It's not just the ones that are in the Bible. It's not just the renowned saints that have this great reward ahead of them. This is for everybody. This is for all those made perfect. And of course, through Jesus Christ, that's what we can be. We can have that same reward. So that's what He's getting at. This isn't just reserved for those heroes of faith in chapter 11. This can include every one of us. And why is that? Because, as He says in verse 24, that we have a great mediator in Jesus Christ. We've come to Jesus Christ, the mediator of the new covenant, to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than able. Of course, the blood, what did that do? That ratified the covenant. That ratified the covenant. Just a couple of passages before this in chapter 9. Look over at chapter 9. We'll wrap up this thought here in chapter 9.

Notice what He says here about this blood of sprinkling. What does that have to do with anything? Well, chapter 9 is a good reminder of what's going on here. And in chapter 9, we'll see in verse 18. Look at chapter 9, verse 18. He says, Therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. When Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, what did he do? He took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet, wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you. Likewise, He sprinkled the blood with blood, both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And so we begin to see that's how that covenant was ratified. That agreement with ancient Israel was ratified by the blood of calves. Yet now there's something better, better than Mount Sinai, better for you and I. There's a spiritual covenant, a spiritual contract, a spiritual agreement that God has made with us. And it's better than even Abel's offering. He gets to Abel in here as well. Well, what was Abel's offering? Well, it seems like it was the flock, probably a lamb that he offered. That was a type of what Christ would do. Christ was the reality. The reality was this symbolism, this bloody offering that he gave showed what would come later, the sacrifice of Christ. And so the difference between Abel's blood was crying out from the ground for vengeance and justice. But what about Christ? Christ's blood is about mercy and forgiveness, totally opposite, better than Abel. Even though there's a lot of similarities there, isn't there? Abel was murdered. He was a martyr in a way. Christ as well. Christ's life was taken unrightfully. Same as Abel. He was cruelly murdered, like in the way Christ was. In fact, his brother killed him, didn't he? Christ's family, his own brothers, the Jews, took responsibility for killing Christ as well, didn't they? So there's these different connections between Christ and Abel. And so when you look at Christ's blood, that's where true salvation comes from. The true way that we can be saved, the way we can be just men made perfect, is through the blood of Christ. And so he concludes this comparison on this very important note of how it all points to Jesus Christ. And that's the ultimate goal. So that he says in verse 25, See that you do not refuse him who speaks. So that's a very important lesson for us.

Listen to what God has to say. All right, that takes us a few minutes past the time.

I thought we might be able to conclude chapter 12, but we didn't quite make it. But we at least did more than two verses this time, so that's a good thing.

We'll pick it up in two weeks, and perhaps we'll finish the book. Can we say that? We'll see if we can. Thanks for joining us tonight. Have a wonderful evening, and we'll see you next time.