Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
The brethren to go on with Hebrews 12 or someone else on something on the heart suggested we go on with Hebrews 12 verse 12.
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet with that which is lame. Be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Fall of peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God.
Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled, must there be any fornicator or profane person, as he saw, who for one more slow meat sold his birthright? For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, where he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. For your not come unto the mouth that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and Tempest.
The sound of a trumpet, the voice of words, which voice they that heard and treated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. But they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with the dark. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, into an innumerable company of angels.
To the General Assembly and Church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that she refused not him that speaketh. Where if they escape not, who refused him that spake on earth much more? Shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven?
Whose voice then shook the earth.
But now he hath promised, saying yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. This word yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of those things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably.
With reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire. Thinking of a verse before we.
Move on, not to go back, but in Second Corinthians Chapter 7 and verse three, I would like to read it. I believe as it's in the new translation. The apostle says I speak not this to condemn you, for I have said before that ye are in our hearts.
To die together and to live together. And it's been mentioned, I know, but I'd like to just add this to emphasize the the thought that we're in it together.
And in the case of job it was mentioned how that.
Job had to pray for his friends and it was mentioned about Peter that he was to help his brethren.
And if we understand, I believe that what this government of God is over us for we we understand somewhat of his dealings with us.
Job, a man who was exemplary, he could say the Lord giveth.
Many times I've done things and I've pushed something and.
Worked my own schemes and when I got something I really wasn't settled. I had a little edge in my conscience that wouldn't let me say the Lord give it.
So when time of troubles come, I was settled on that issue. But Job could say the Lord giveth.
Job would give no credit to Satan, he said. The Lord taketh away.
And he triumphed. He said blessed be the name of the Lord. But that wasn't enough. It wasn't the end.
These verses that we've read come afterward. After what?
Job had to say I am vile. He did not. I was vile, but I am vile. That wasn't enough. I abhor myself.
So that he wouldn't become her hero in having learned this lesson and to pray for his friends, God made him one. He bound them up together.
Peter the same way he was able to strengthen his brethren. So here we have a verse that tells us that we are beloved as though we were sitting by the deathbed of each other, so that we can enjoy one another in resurrection and light in Christ.
00:05:04
And you know, I believe the thinking of this the other day, too.
The bottom of our troubles the Lord touched on with Peter, when he, as it were, stood Peter up in the midst of the disciples, and said.
Now, Peter, do you love me more than these love me and I?
Wonder, you know, Suppose He would stand us up in the midst of this group today and ask us, do you love me more than the rest do?
But what? Our hearts respond.
Or suppose he stood me up in the midst of Christendom?
The extent of his thoughts would carry me on out to all his own. And say, publish, Thou mean more than these.
Or our hearts would respond wrongly, probably. But what he wants to do is to bring us together.
The trial is not over. Can we say it this way? The trial is not. We don't see the afterward until we are living together. After we have died together. We really are in it together. And in so doing, He makes Christ everything.
And he has chosen such a way, as one writer has said, to bring us into blessing.
As makes Christ everything, and he would bring you and me into the full joy.
What we have in Christ and this government over us has its end in glorifying Him. We read in Second Thessalonians. He will come to be admired in his own and this work of government that he has done in leading each of each of us through this scene and making Christ more and more and more to us.
The moment by moment basis we'll just read down one day to His glory.
So we need to look up, as he says here, and lift up our hands and be encouraged, but not forget what he's getting at.
That is, that together we might have Christ for our joy. We have had something already on some have felt a little bit more explanation would help.
But do I understand this then to be?
That every believer has a nature now of holiness.
And.
A person who doesn't have this will never see God.
We have a practical application here, do we not, in this verse? And so we're to pursue peace and holiness in a practice down here. And that's our testimony as believers. It doesn't simply we have something inside that no one knows about but God. But the point here is that there is such a thing as the evidence seen in this world of what we do have. Is that right?
I think the reason it comes in here and looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God.
Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. That it is what our brother was just saying too. That it's important that we realize that God is dealing with us in grace. None of us can ever claim that we deserved anything from His hand, but His judgment and every blessing that we receive is entirely undeserved and must be followed.
Go on with a sense of this.
Peter thought he was a little better than the rest of his brethren and he was really off the ground of grace, wasn't he? Paul could say, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And brethren, I have often noticed that speaking here of these roots of bitterness, that really they often have their roots when God was dealing with some individual. Perhaps there was.
An individual or a family who were going through a trial and we started pointing the finger.
We started making out that God was having to deal for some particular reason or something like this, and the families got stirred up and roots of bitterness began. And I believe it's because we're off the ground of grace, because if the Lord has to deal with me, it's because He does it to do me good at my latter end. But when we start looking at one another, we're really taking our ground above the other and feeling well, that brother needed.
But I didn't, and how often we see as we trace these things that they spring from that very feeling in our hearts that we have never really got into the presence of God, to recognize that we ourselves are the subjects of grace. Let's never forget this, brethren. We're saved by grace. We stand in grace, and it's grace that will be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
00:10:23
And so if the Lord has to deal with you or with me.
Let's realize that we would be exactly the same but for the grace of God.
And so, just as God our Father is seeking our good through that discipline, let us on the other hand, seek the good of another, not because we are better than Him, but simply that we desire that there should be those precious fruits produced in His life. And that's why it says, follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
I believe it's a very important issue, and I think in my observation I have noticed how often difficulties in an assembly begin when God began to deal with some individual or family.
And instead of taking a gracious attitude and realizing that I could have been the subject of it myself, it was only the grace of God that it was any different with me then that helps me to seek that brothers good. And those roots of bitterness don't get their start.
I believe we have to watch that and always remember what is brought before us in Hebrews. As he says in the last chapter, it's a good thing that the heart be established with grace.
I was thinking of the expression the root of bitterness springing up. A root doesn't spring up unless there's nourishment for it, and how well it is for us to keep the fundamental base of our thoughts and.
Attitudes toward one another in the humble attitude.
And in love toward others. I don't believe a root of bitterness is a spontaneous thing. It is a reflection of an attitude that has been nourished and the root springs up. So may we be more occupied with esteeming others better than ourselves, and being occupied, of course, with Christ.
It's so good to see in Israel's experience how God would teach us.
Most valuable lessons I was thinking over in Jeremiah chapter 32 how that the nation there will not be a full recovery until they are brought to the state of Seoul, where they keenly feel the division between them and where there's a deep and a longing feeling of loss in regard to.
The 10 tribes that are dispersed over in chapter 31 of Jeremiah.
It says in verse 15. And thus saith the Lord, a voice was heard in Rhema, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children because they were not. Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears. For thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord. And they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine ends, saith the Lord, and thy children shall.
Again to thine own border. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself. Thou hast chastened me, and I was chastened as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented, and after that I was instructed. I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, gay, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Now notice this language.
Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him. I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord. While I believe all of this indicates the Lords desire to bless His people and to bring about a full restoration. And we see that once that is brought about, there will be that warmth in that true unity and oneness among the people.
That's the only way there can be real blessing and restoration. The trouble with the root is that it may travel a long way before it springs up. There are certain trees, like a wild plum tree that has long roots, and you'll find, if you trace it, that a new tree will spring up perhaps several feet away from the original tree. And that's true of many plants.
00:15:10
Now the whole thing is that it should never take root.
If it takes root and is allowed to go on, it will spring up and cause trouble. And so there should be the judgment of these things immediately. And there's a responsibility on the part of both, that is.
Thou shalt an all wise rebuke thy brother, and not suffer sin upon him, if it is evident it's the kindness to call attention to the brother or sister.
Something that may cause trouble among the Saints of God.
So we should be, we should be in self judgment ourselves, but we should also be seek to be a help to another who may not realize that what he's saying or doing is going to cause trouble. Because in many points we all offend and in many points we're ignorant, two of them of the principles of scripture of the Kingdom. But we we need our help, the help from our brother.
And not to sit and censure on them.
But to be a help to correct what may be wrong, because it affects all the people of God. And so that that route, if it travels a long way, it may cause a lot of trouble where it could have been checked immediately and then that trouble wouldn't come. Another. We should always do it in the spirit. Shouldn't we have Galatians chapter 6 considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
And we see so beautifully in the prophet Jeremiah.
That if God was going to warn his people of judgment that He was going to have to bring upon them, He chose a man who could say all that my head were as water as in mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people. He was one who entered into what it would mean when God had to deal, and if it were necessary, and it was necessary for him to announce judgment upon them, He.
Did it in the spirit that he he entered into it with tears himself.
Even the blessed Lord Jesus himself, when having to announce judgment upon Jerusalem, we see that same blessed One. Of course, He was perfect in all things, but He wept. There was no tendency in Him ever to be like others, willful, but nevertheless, He felt what was going to come upon the people because of their willfulness and their disobedience. And I believe, brethren, if they're just mentioning why the chapter ends as it does.
It's just exactly in keeping with all this we find first, the mention of Esau, because Esau was a man who acted after the flesh, and all that he was concerned about was that he had lost the blessing. That was all that he cared no care for his sin, only that he was concerned about what he had lost. And then the Spirit of God takes up the two different ways in which we can approach these things. We can approach them in the ground of.
That was Mount Sinai, where the law was thundered. And surely if plenty of us stood there at Mount Sinai, if there was any wonderful man of God, it was Moses. But he feared in quake too, as he stood there. And the psalmist could say, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no flesh living be justified. But then he shows that that isn't the ground on which we stand before God at all. We stand upon Mount Zion, which.
Grace. And so the whole subject is taken up first, how the Lord has to deal with us in chastisement for our good and for our blessing. And then it seems to me the whole attitude in which we approach these things, whether it's in the attitude of grace or whether it's in the attitude of law, or whether it's not. Looking at ourselves and realizing that if we stood there at Sinai, we'd be just like Moses. We'd be quaking too, because.
Who of us could ever boast? Well, I think it's beautiful the way it's all opened up in this chapter about discipline and the way it affects others and the way it affects ourselves in a special way, it seems to me, in connection with the Hebrews to whom the book was written.
Or we call them Jews. The Messiah had come to the Jews, the Lord Jesus. He had been presented.
To them, and they had the opportunity to receive them in grace. And instead of that, like Esau, they sold their Messiah, They sold their birthright in order to get just a few carnal privileges under the Romans.
00:20:16
Back in John 11, it says the Pharisees and those leaders of the Jews say about Jesus. If we let him thus alone, the Romans will come and take away our place and nation.
So they sold their Messiah, Pilate says to them. Behold your.
King, they said. We have no king but Caesar.
Now the book of Hebrews was written to Hebrew Christians who had.
Heard and made a profession of the Gospel of the grace of God.
And the warning here is to not fall from the grace of God.
To go on in it, the book was written.
Probably about five years before Jerusalem was destroyed. Now here were those who had professed.
And the warning is about Esau.
Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
That's what happened to the Jews a few years later. Their place was taken away.
Still there when the book was written, but the place was taken away, the city was destroyed, and so those who.
Rejected. The Messiah didn't go on in grace. It was a warning to those to whom the book was written. Go on in grace, you have no place.
In the old order of things, as Jews under the law, Christ died under that the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
So here was Esau. He wanted just a mess of pottage. Well, that nation that doomed Jesus came, they said.
If we let him alone, the Romans will come and take away our place. They had a place. It wasn't very much of A place, but they had some authority under the Romans and they said we want that instead of the Messiah. Well, they sold their Messiah and they lost everything.
Well, now the warning to us today, if we've made a profession of grace, we must go on in grace and practice grace every day of our lives. That's the way of blessing grace. And it's the person who is the place now. It's no, it's no physical center. It's no Jerusalem in that sense. It's the person who is everything. And when we have him, we have a place too. So that nation.
How they have sought a place.
With tears for nearly 2000 years and that little company that's back there now, they've found a wailing wall for how that expresses. He found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. They've just got a wailing wall over there. That nation that rejected their Messiah. All blessing today comes through the Lord Jesus in grace.
My father.
But he didn't cry for in repentance, and that was the trouble.
He he wept, but he wept for the blessing. I wonder sometimes if this isn't a picture of a of a profession of Christ. Souls will weep over their sins, but they'll never repent of them.
There are two nations that will not receive an inheritance in the Millennial Day.
That are mentioned in scripture and one is Edom.
And justice because they had a perpetual bitterness for Jacob.
They they would not repent of their bitterness against their brother.
And so the book of Obadiah gives us the picture there of their destruction. In fact, in the 83rd Psalm we find there the leader of the confederacy against Israel.
00:25:04
To destroy them from being a nation.
But they will never receive an inheritance. Their inheritance will be taken away by Israel.
But there's another nation too, and that's the Philistines. They will also lose their inheritance.
But there were those who represent the profession.
Religious profession within the land.
And they're going to lose their place and their their land is going to be a place of shepherds for the children of Israel. Instead, it's solemn.
Because they never repented either. They were perpetual plague to Israel and.
There will be nations who will be blessed in the Millennial day.
Like Syria?
In Egypt, 19th of Isaiah.
But they will be blessed in the millennial day, the sovereign grace of God.
But God in righteousness is answering to what they have done for his people. And even though they were a wicked nation, both of them the nations, but still there were some things that they had done for Israel. For instance, Egypt preserved the Christ child when Joseph went down into Egypt.
And.
So we find that God will never forget what is done for his name. I don't say that's the basis of which they were spared, but I I believe that God remembered it. Your sovereignty spared them and will spare them in the millennial day. But.
He rewards that which was done to his name.
And.
So that it's a very sound thing we have right here in this passage, the.
The secret behind it is repentance.
Repentance.
And that's what we find with the prodigal son. There was repentance and sometimes, you know, in repentance.
And there doesn't need to be any words. It's it's every bit evident. And the father throws his arm around his prodigal son and all his son has said, father, I've sinned, that's all.
But the father knew it was down in the heart.
And so it doesn't necessarily a lot of words.
But it's the heart in a true repentance, and that's necessary too for salvation.
There has to be a complete turning around.
And acknowledging.
What God sees in me, and that's what happened to Job, I think, to an understanding of the Epistle to the Hebrews. We need to always see that there are actually three classes in the Epistle to the Hebrews. There are those who are real, that is, true believers in their hearts, and those are addressed and encouraged to go on. Then there is the mere professor.
He is warned that if he gives up the profession, it would be apostasy, and for him it would be a terrible thing to give up even the profession. That is, there may be some sitting here, you're not real, but you're here at the meeting and you're under the sound of the Word, and that's a very great blessing. And God in His goodness may deepen the work in your heart and bring you to true repentance and salvation.
But then the third class are not addressed at all.
But the warning is given of the awful end of apostasy, and apostasy is turning one's back upon Christ. And so that's what we see brought before us all through the Hebrews. And I think it helps us to understand, if I can say again, those who were real are encouraged to go on. We are not of them who draw back on the perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
God again in the 6th chapter of Hebrews it says. But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and the things that accompany salvation.
Though we thus speak so we see that those who are real are often put to the test, but it only proves the reality of what they have. And then there were the professors and that warning, and then apostates. Well, I believe the discipline of God brings this out. And so when trial comes into the life of the real believer, he is exhorted to realize that this is sent in love for his good and.
00:30:12
That he might be encouraged and he might be restored where there has been failure and go on for the Lord. But if a person is only a professor, and we've seen this often some terrible sorrow will come into their life and they turn against God. They actually despise what God has done. And that's a very sad and solemn thing. And eventually leads if they're only.
Professor to the giving up of God altogether, or of Christ. And so they'll say, why did this happen to me? If God is a God of love, why did all this happen? And so I believe that the whole subject of God's dealing is taken up here the right way that we should take it and the blessing that God purposes in it.
But what we can expect to see in the world and perhaps in the life of a believer, maybe there might be someone here. You've come to the meetings, you've made a profession, and then a terrible sorrow comes in your life. It's overwhelming. And God is testing the reality of what you have. If you're a true child of God, you can see the hand of God in it. But the devil is going to whisper, Oh, it's no use.
God has allowed all this. He's turned against you and so on.
And So what a solemn thing it is when God begins to deal. But what a blessing for those of us who know the Lord and who receive it as from a loving Father's hand, the Father of spirits, the one who knows this exactly what is best for us. And he's dealing with us for our good and for our blessing. And so I think that it's very important for us in these trials to see how God is speaking for our good.
But it's also solemn for those who are professors that when God speaks, do they turn away? Do they turn their back? Says in the I think it's in Isaiah. The people turn not to him that smite at them. God has perhaps sent a trouble, and he doesn't intend man to turn away, but rather to turn to him. But now Esau was an example brought up in the same place of privilege and favor as his brother there was.
Real work in his soul. He saw his birthright. When he lost the blessing, all that he was concerned about was not his own sin. No recognition of need of repentance, but only that he lost the blessing. And then he turns in bitterness toward his brother and hates him, Hates him to this very day because he got the blessing and he didn't. What a picture of the whole human race, shall I say. But oh, I feel it's so important for us, brethren.
When these trials come to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.
And we'll never be able to cast our care upon Him until we have first humble ourselves and realize that it would never have happened unless God our Father saw that it was necessary and for our good. Unless an apostate, unless He had made a profession, could He and.
You see, Esau knew of the promises.
He was well aware of all that was involved.
But he despised it in his heart.
I do not think that it's it's a one step downward. I believe it's more than one step downward. I believe there are opportunities for him. We find that in the third chapter of Hebrews that the first thing is that they heard.
And they didn't receive the message and then their way was wicked. You find that in Judas he was he was 3 1/2 years with the Lord Jesus and he heard all that precious ministry. But then we find the next picture was that he had the bag and carried the money.
And he was a thief, so it was evident, although the other disciples didn't notice it, apparently. Still there was the evidence there of a of a wicked heart already.
Showing itself. But then that wicked heart departed from the living God. He went out, and it was night. And that was the last step in which he showed himself to be a true apostate.
I'm not saying apostate from Christianity because their Christianity hadn't come in, but from Christ which is the same thing really. So there has to be first the profession of Christ before 1 can be an apostate of Christianity. It's really giving up known or professed truth isn't it? Apostasy and turning away from God.
00:35:20
May I just elaborate a little on that? Because occasionally.
We encounter some who we are confident are the Lords, but they're disturbed by the expressions.
Found in Hebrews chapter 6 and again in chapter 10 in regard to those who, having been in the truth, willfully sin, and there's no hope for such. I know perhaps in our company today there are some who are holding that in question and wondering whether they are lost.
Although they have in faith accepted Christ as Savior, they are lost because they have gone back into sin.
So that they're very much, but our brother Hayhoe gave to us as well as what our brother Londina just said, that we need to distinguish that those who are spoken of in Hebrews are those who never were believers, but who did hear the word, were under the sound of it. They even enjoyed it. They entered into the work of the Holy Spirit being in the company.
But of themselves, there was no real life.
So we do have eternal security, those who are really the Lords though we may, sadly.
Revert to sinful ways. We still are his, the children of God. No way of repentance as we have.
In verse 17.
And we think of this in the light of the need of repentance, but also there is that which hindered the repentance. And that was his feelings toward his brother. They really came between him and his really owning before God what he was. And this can be so with us. It can be feelings towards others.
That really keep us from the way of repentance.
Would we say that that it was really after he had sold his birthright, then he had those feelings?
Hatred toward his brother. And because of those feelings toward his brother, he didn't find a way of repentance, and this prevented him from coming to the place where he could get the blessing. Because there's only one way to God, isn't there?
And that is?
Through repentance.
Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ cometh to me. I will in no wise cast out. The gospel is very simple. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that thou shalt be saved in thy house. Verily, verily, I send you he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me half everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment.
So we need to have the helmet of salvation on and the one who simply.
Who just saved, we might say, and believe that he has eternal life. The enemy is going to to try to disturb him and make him feel that, well, he's not living up to it. But I'd like to see one person in this room that can stand up and say I have lived up to the profession. There's not one can say that because we stand by grace.
Sovereign grace. And so it's a question.
Of what God does and simple faith in what He does, we have to confess our sins.
And the provision is made.
That he will forgive those sins.
Upon confession, not asking for forgiveness, but confession, that's the point, confessing the sin itself. And so I believe that we're simple before God and realize that it's all His work and we take that attitude that we believe His word, what it says, even though we may fail.
The simplest believer can go on in the enjoyment of knowing Christ as his Savior and unconfessing his sins if he if he does, sins.
And go on happily in the Lord. He doesn't need to be disturbed by what Satan says, that he's not a believer just because he's done something wrong.
00:40:01
We shouldn't do things wrong, but there's no man on earth that sinneth not, Solomon said. And we should repent of that which we've done. But still we mustn't be disturbed by Satan, and I believe that he does. He wants to disturb all believers that he can in verse 17.
There's a way that applied to Esau, and there's a way that applies to the gospel of the grace of God.
He saw, knew what the birthright was. It was really Christ, the line, the promise down through Abraham, Isaac, and then it transferred to Jacob instead of Esau because he sold it.
That was the final thing for him. He could not get it back. He sold it. Now the afterward, I believe the gospel, the grace of God.
Applies after a person leaves the earth. The sin of man hath power on earth to forgive sins. We can't say that anybody is an apostate. God could, but we can't. The gospel of the grace is for all. It's to whosoever and the chief of sinners was saved, and a lot of lesser ones and big ones too have been saved since, and they still can be saved.
But it's a awful warning to have this kind of a warning now that you sell.
If you sell Christ in the gospel, the grace of God, there's going to be an afterward. There's going to be a time when the gulf is fixed. Well, it was so sad with Esau. He sold it. He could not get it back. He found no place of repentance. It's not that he wanted to repent and God refused him. There was no willingness on his part to repent. He wanted the blessing apart from repentance. We have to remember that Cain and Abel both.
The same God but one came without any recognition of his sin and guilt, bringing the first fruits of a cursed ground and presenting it to God, and he was rejected, whereas Abel came with the recognition that sin had come in. So he puts between himself and God the death of a sacrifice, and he is accepted.
And so with Esau, he wanted to get the blessing, and there's many people who would like to get to heaven some other way than through the death of Christ.
I've heard people say, but we all believe in the same God. Well, I say again, Cain and Abel believed in the same God, but Cain approached God the wrong way and he was rejected. And he saw he wanted to get the blessing, but there was no recognition of his guilt. And the scripture says, except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And so coming to God with no recognition of guilt and wanting to get salvation apart.
Work of Christ it is impossible, but it isn't. I think it's important to see it isn't that God turns away someone who comes with reality. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. But no one would come unless God worked by his Spirit. And so there is such a thing, brethren, and it's a solemn thing by spirit shall not always strive with man, and God may give up after a person has over and over.
Refused. It's the most solemn thing, as our brother said, we can't point to that person and say that person is an apostate and God will never save that man. We don't know, but we know there is such a thing and we find that in the Scripture that there is such a thing as God giving up and no longer striving. And Esau was an example of that. And, and so the point in this passage here is, I believe the awfulness.
Of trying to come to God in any other way but through the work of Christ. There is no other way that we can come before Him. And if we have come in that way and been received by then salvation is secure, because all the promises of God in Christ are yay and in him. Amen to the glory of God by us.
Perhaps someone might say, But why then are those warnings? Why are people addressed and warned about turning back?
Well, because let me put it this way, supposing that.
There's someone sitting right here in this meeting. He's been coming, or she's been coming regularly to the gospel meeting and sitting under the sound of the Word. And then one day they tell us, well, I've decided to go to such and such a place where the Bible is denied.
00:45:05
The finished work of Christ is denied. The blood of Christ is not preached. Don't be mourn that person. We may not feel they're saved, but we certainly warn them and tell them it was a blessing that you had a birthright, that you had perhaps of a Christian home to be sitting under the sound of the Word with the gospel constantly presented. But we warned them that if they turn their back upon that privilege and go where the gospel is never preached, it may end up.
Solemn end that we have of Esau that they tread that course. The Spirit of God ceases to strive and they end in the lost eternity. So there is a warning to a professor but again, just to make this point clear. The warning is not to a real believer that he might give up. The warning is to a person who merely has the profession. The encouragement to the believer is to rejoice in what Christ has done and then in a practical.
Way to walk in the enjoyment of it and recognizing that there needs to be in our lives practical holiness. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.
Chapter was referred to and I just want to make this remark that it says for it is impossible for those who are once enlightened. Now the point of impossibility is not that God cannot save them, but the point is that if they rejected grace, there is no other way. I believe that's the point there if they have rejected grace as Esau did.
There is no other way.
To be saved, God has no other provision.
Made for salvation other than through the blood of Christ, the.
So some have stumbled over that and they said, well, it's impossible now I've sinned. But that's not the point at all. The point is one who has rejected the way of salvation, there's no other way that God has for them. He can't save them in any other way but through the blood of Christ. Esau in relation to the Jew today, because I think it's so interesting.
The times in which we are living and the remarks about Esau wanting.
The blessing.
Without getting it in grace, you might say.
He had sold it. The Jew today wants the blessing. They want the place, they want the land, they want the nation, and they're trying to get it without Christ.
They won't have it without Christ. They won't get that blessing without Christ.
They're going to go through far more tiers than they've ever gone through, the Lord said to them.
I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until I drink it new with you and my Father's Kingdom. He said, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, and you will not another verse says, Till ye say, Blessed he is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. I can't get that, but you may know it.
They're going to have to confess that Jesus is their Lord before they get the blessing.
But they sold out under the law, and they sold out Jesus come in grace, who was their king, and they cannot get it, just as Esau could not get that blessing in that way. Again, it's going to have to be in another way. The day of grace goes on.
And there is a time when the day of grace will close. Any person who gets blessing today has to get it under Gray.
And they have to get it while they're on the earth, just as they were determination of the time of the law and salvation and accepting the Messiah as their king who would have brought in the Kingdom and blessing to the Jew as a nation in that time. So there's going to be a close of the day of grace, and then there's going to be an entering into judgment and all what judgment before the New covenant ever is taken up for the Jew for their blessing under the New.
But we in grace come in getting all the blessings of the new Covenant without being under any covenant relationship at all. These things are brought out in this book. So what a warning it is to us who have heard so much of grace. Would anyone turn to anything else for blessing? We need to realize that in that passage that says.
00:50:09
Jacob have I love, but Esau have I hated. There's a history connected with that.
That is considered after a period of time when it became clear and evident.
That Esau had a perpetual hatred against his brother and his descendants, so it reaches on to their final outcome and attitude toward their brethren. I was thinking too, that Scripture does make a a distinction between the children of wrath and children of disobedience. I believe a son or a child of disobedience is in a very hopeless state, but we wouldn't want to say who is in that condition.
There seems to be no hope laid out and we're among those of that sort, but we couldn't say who was in that condition because God is very merciful and sometimes we see that he'll save one who perhaps has heard the gospel many times over. In fact, just this trip we heard of an 80 year old man who was saved. So he's able the Lord can do it. But that's a terrible state to be in the son of disobedience that.
That there was a constant refusal of the grace of God until there was no more opportunity. That was not said until the history was over, though. That's in Malachi where that was said. That Jacob have I loved and he so have I hated. So it wasn't known as to what God's attitude was until her history was closed.
Oh, and Jacob that he loved was that he valued the promises.
And Esau did not.
It's interesting, or I mean, I think it's important to remember that those two boys were not only brothers, but they were twins, very much alike. And we look so much alike down here, professors and possessors. Let's make sure that we're possessors, not just professors here where we have come to, but first of all, where we have not come to.
We are not come unto that mouth, that Mount Sinai, where where Israel were not able to, or nor even a beast go near it, because of the awful character of that mountain of judgment and.
All these things that are mentioned are connected with Israel's history and what the law without Christ, what the law itself would bring upon them because they couldn't keep it.
But He does go on to tell us where we are come to, and that's the part we are especially interested in, is it not? But to have the other before us first gives us that contrast to show what grace has done for us, because we stand entirely undressed if we not. The understanding perhaps of Mount Zion is important to see at what point God chose it in Israel's history.
When they were first brought into the land, as we know, the Tabernacle was pitched in Shiloh.
And they possessed the land, shall I say, in a conditional basis. That is, if they were obedient, God would bless them and give them the enjoyment of the land. If they were disobedient, then there was to be judgment. So some were to stand upon 1 mountain and pronounce a blessing for obedience, and on the other pronouncing a curse for disobedience.
So the whole possession of the land when they first entered was a conditional basis.
And on that basis they forfeited it all together. They failed under Joshua, they failed under the prophets, they failed under the priests. Everything broke down. And so after all had failed, even when God gave them a king, why it broke down? Then? It says he chose the Mount Zion that he loved. And then it speaks in the Psalms. This is my rest forever. Here will I dwell.
It's the grace of God that came in to provide a place where he could bless his people, not on the ground of what they deserve to tell, but sovereign grace. And so David pictures to us Christ as the warrior king who comes in judgment, sets everything right, and then Solomon reigns in peace. The Lord Jesus came into this world.
Accomplished the work of redemption by secured.
But it isn't until finally the Lord comes out of heaven and judges evil that that center will be established upon earth, and for 1000 years blessing will go out on the ground of pure grace to this world when a king reigns in righteousness.
00:55:15
Well, he shows us that that is the ground on which we stand. If we possess any of our blessings on a conditional basis, we'd be just like Israel. We'd forfeit everyone. We'd have no good given to us at all. But he brings us to Mount Zion.
And opens up a picture of this glorious day ahead when the grace of God is fully displayed in the blessing that will take place in this earth and also in heaven. It will be a wonderful time. Well, that's where we stand, brethren, and that's what's ahead of us. And it's good for us to be in the good of this. But let me say again, I think it's also very important that we realize this in connection with the dealings of.
God that when the Lord deals with us, if we get occupied with our deservings, or something like that, why, let me quote the verse again. Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no flesh living be justified. He gave any of us what we deserved. It would be judgment, but He deals with this for our good and for.
To draw us nearer to himself may make us appreciate grace more.
And that the character that will be in full display when the Lord takes His rightful place might be seen now in a practical way in our lives. That the life of Jesus would be seen, but less, as it were. Each one realized that this is where we stand on the ground of grace, with a view of coming glory before us.
And the Lord, by His ways with us, is in a practical sense fitting us for that time when we'll be there, and every hindrance will be removed then, because we'll be with Him, like him.
You know, cayenne is really the figure isn't not as you were saying of God's mighty intervention and grace securing it to David at that time. I was thinking there in Zechariah 12, we see how the Lord will intervene in a future day to deliver Israel to deliver.
Jerusalem and the very fact of his wondrous grace and goodness that would deliver that nation.
Will bring them to a national repentance, and a brother brought this to my attention the other day, that that national repentance is on an individual basis. It might be well to take a look at that. And I believe that this sets forth the principle that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.
Here in Zechariah 12 we see this, this deliverance of the people, and then then comes the real repentance. In verse 10 I will pour upon the House of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of what? Of grace. Isn't that lovely? The spirit of grace and of supplication. And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.
They shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his brethren. And then, as we read on through, we can see how very individual and real the repentance was. Now two or three brethren mentioned the other day that perhaps there ought to be more exercise corporately as to the things that have happened among us, but I believe it will come about corporately more in a.
Way when we as individuals feel it as we should. And you see that there were none exempt, whether it be the Kingly family or the priestly family or the prophetic family or the Levitical family, there were none exempt, even their wives apart, which indicates that it was a very real and a deep work in their souls. And now notice over in.
Ezekiel 36 and Ezekiel 36. You have the same occasion here.
Where it says in verse 31, Then shall ye remember your own evil ways and your doings?
That were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations, and so forth. What brought this about? Well, if you read in the earlier verses, you can see it was all the goodness of God at work among the people, and how He would intend to bring them into blessing. And mentions all this in verse 30 and so forth. And 29. And that all indicates his great goodness to us and all brethren.
01:00:08
What a kindness and a mercy of God that we can enjoy the fellowship and the measure of peace and quietness and stability. It is indeed the goodness of God, and we ought to be very keen and sensitive to recognize our failures and shortcomings, and to judge those things before him, that there might be that true and individual repentance. It will then reflect corporately on the whole testimony.