Address—R. Thonney
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Love Divine.
Let's pray.
Blessed God our Father, we're so thankful.
For the Lord Jesus, our glorious Savior. And we do ask this afternoon, as we have another opportunity to open Thy word, that Thy Spirit would have liberty in speaking and in hearing.
To use Thy precious word as thou to see fit. We confess our weakness, our insufficiency, but Lord Jesus, we're looking up to Thee, that glorified head in heaven.
And so we ask thee to give according to Thy thoughts, not our own. We ask for blessing for many that are already on the road for blessing. And they might go with a real sense of Thy presence with them, Father, and that they might meditate on Thy precious word we've had before. As we pray, Father, give thanks in that most worthy name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Like to turn to the book of Hebrews chapter 12.
Let's read this chapter. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross?
Despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin, and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children.
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My son despised not the chastening of the Lord.
Nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?
But if ye be without chastisement were of all our partakers, then are ye ******** and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, We gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but He for our Prophet, that we might be partakers of His Holiness now.
No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless. Afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way.
But let it rather be healed. Follow 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, lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as he saw, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye 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. For ye are not coming to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and Tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, the voice of words, which voice they that heard, entreated, that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.
For 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 a dart. 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, than heavenly Jerusalem, and to.
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 you refuse not him that speaketh.
For 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 sane.
Yet once more I shake not earth only, but also heaven. And this word, yet once more signifying, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receive in the 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.
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This chapter has been a favorite mine for many years and brethren, this is the chapter the Lord laid on my heart this afternoon as they thought about being up here.
We're living in days when there's been a lot of trouble and discouragement and trial.
We need to be refocused on what our goal is, what is the purpose of our being down here in this world? We need to understand that and understand it clearly.
And Paul here we believe to be the author of this epistle.
Starts out in verse one, speaking about this great cloud of witnesses around. He's referring back to the 11Th chapter where you have so many of those witnesses of faith from the Old Testament we have.
Abel, we have Enoch, we have Noah, we have Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, we have Joseph, we have Moses, and there's quite a few more listed there.
They're all to encourage us. God gives us faith. Let me tell you, if he gives you faith, he's going to try that faith. And it's an individual trial.
The trial he puts you through is not going to be exactly the trial he puts me through, but we have those.
Stories in the Old Testament. And if you read through the stories in the Old Testament, you're going to find that there was failure on the part of those witnesses of faith.
None of us, brethren, can go through life and say I've made it without any failure. We all have it. But it's an encouragement. They didn't just when they had the failure, they didn't just stay there. They got up and they moved on. And now the encouragement to us is.
To having these witnesses of faith about us to take courage as well, he says. Here let us lay aside.
Every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us.
You know, there's things that hinder running as we ought to run.
If a person is going to run a race, he doesn't put on heavy boots and a heavy overcoat. Even though it might be cold outside, he tries to keep it as light as possible. Why? Because his objective is to get to the goal and get there first. He has to have that objective clear before his mind and every circumstance is judged.
Necessary or unnecessary according to how it contributes to that athlete getting down to the goal.
Brethren, God has given many material things to us in this country.
But I fear, and I hope you don't think I'm pointing the finger at you tonight or this afternoon. I'm pointing a finger right here.
I am surprised what a good pack rat I am and how much stuff I have stowed here and there around my house.
You know, those things are not necessarily wrong in themselves, but their weights that don't let you run as you ought to run. And you know, one thing that I really believe helps us to evaluate that is to get before our souls the goal before us.
Here it is the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.
That's the goal, Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross. Christ in glory is our goal.
Have you got that before your soul? I have to confess that so often there are so many heavy distractions that I lose sight of the goal and I need to step back from time to time.
And refocus and re evaluate things in my life.
So that I am free to run as I ought to run as a Christian. Brethren, the goal is of such tremendous worth that the Apostle Paul, who was privileged to be caught into the 3rd heaven to see the glory, when he came back, he didn't have words to be able to say even what he heard up there, it was so glorious.
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That he was a ruined man as far as pursuing anything of glory here in this world. He wasn't interested. He said, I've lost it all, and I count it all but lost for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Oh, I just longed to see you, dear young people, get on fire for the Lord.
I'm afraid we who are older haven't really gotten on fire properly. That would make you get on fire too. But let me tell you, if you get a glimpse of the glory before you, that high calling of Christ Jesus in glory, I tell you, nobody's going to be able to hinder your running like you ought to.
You know, in my years in Bolivia.
It was interesting the Lord seemed to bring us into contact with quite a few.
People that ran in the car races of Bolivia. I probably told some of these stories before, but it it helps to understand what I'm talking about and.
I had the opportunity to meet up with, I met up with, actually took my car to him to tune up and I got to know him. He was a mechanic. He had a mechanic shop and I learned later that he was one of the ones that ran. They have their races over the Bolivian roads down there. If you know the Bolivian roads, you'd see that it's quite a challenge. Those roads are and.
So in the course of our contact with that man, he got saved.
And he really showed evidence of getting the light turned on in his life.
But I never talked to him too much about racing. That was his big thing, and he kind of detected that I wasn't exactly all for it, although I'd never said anything that was wrong.
One day, I don't know if he was a little bit upset at me when I got to his house to visit him, he asked us over for Bible readings. And one day he comes in and he says, what's wrong with car racing? It's a good clean sport. I don't see anything wrong with it. Might as well. I don't see anything wrong with it either, tell you the truth. But I'd like to ask you a question, I said.
Supposing I'm racing between the cities of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.
And would it be all right for me to stop and take some pictures along the way? You know, some pretty scenery along the way? Maybe that would be all right if I stop and take some pictures. Oh, no, no, no, you don't do that, I said, what's wrong with taking pictures? Something morally wrong with that? No, no, no, there's nothing morally wrong with it. But when you're on a race, you don't do that, I said. You got it exactly.
When you know where you're going and you know the prize, that's before you.
There's a lot of things in life that are not wrong in themselves.
But you just don't do them if you really want to get the price.
And, you know, I'm amazed at how people sacrifice to earn earthly prizes.
I think the price for the car race is down there in Bolivia was not enough to recompense.
What they did to their cars on the race up here, I guess they get pretty good hefty prizes.
But brother, what is the price that is set before our soul? I think we lose sight of it. Christ in glory, eternal glory.
You believe that?
I don't know if we really believe it. You know, it's easy to say, yeah, I believe it.
Your response is not what you say with your lips. Your response is your life. You show whether you believe that or don't believe it.
And we need to refocus, brethren, the glory is before us. We're getting down to the end of this present dispensation. At any time, things are going to start happening in major sort in this world.
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We're coming down to the end.
Are you trying to make some earthly objective down here? Earning a good bunch of money? Having a nice fancy car? Nothing wrong with that in itself, perhaps. But let me tell you, you're falling far short of the goal that God has in mind for you. And this afternoon I'd like to refocus your vision.
To something beyond this world.
This world is too fleeting, too vain.
Don't be looking at that.
Lay aside the weights.
There is sin too. Sin is a positive hindrance in running.
The race and then it says verse two looking unto Jesus.
O brethren, it has been sad to me to see, in all the difficulties the Lord has seen fit to put us through, to see that we start looking in other directions than on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You're not going to get your directions until you have Christ before your soul.
How important it is we get occupied with one side and another side and this. They say this and they say this, and what's right? Brethren, let's refocus on the Lord Jesus Christ. He has allowed it, yes, but why? He has something to say to us.
And we need to listen to what he has to say to us.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
It wasn't easy for him.
It was awful.
But did he ever turn aside? Did he ever say I'm not going to stand for all this injustice?
Not one word of it, he bowed.
To all the injustice that was done to him recognizing when Violet said I have power to.
Lusty or power to crucify the He said, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.
He recognized that Pilate had power.
Did Pilate use his power rightly?
Go away. But did he submit to that power that was so unjustly?
Executed upon him? Yes, he certainly did. Oh, the blessing that has resulted.
Because of that, running the race.
You know, and I know there's trials in your life and there's trials in my life, tough ones. I don't have the solutions. Ones things that really impresses me as I travel around in the Americas is that nowhere is life easy. It just isn't.
Up here we have plenty of material things, but let me tell you, the Lord knows how to put the thorns in the nest so that life is not easy up here either.
It's hard.
The Lord Jesus went through this life perfectly without one flaw, and He's the one we are to be looking to.
You're having a rough time. Look to him, He had a rough time. They hit him in the face, they spit in him, they crowned him with thorns, They nailed him to that cross, but he went straight on. Never varied from that course that was set before him. I love what it says here. Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame.
And is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. What was the joy that was set before him?
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I love to think of it, brethren, that it was when he went back into glory.
To be able to say, in the words of John 17, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do completely to God's glory. That work was finished. No human eye was there to witness that when Jesus went back into the glory, but all the glory of that moment.
And I'm sure it includes you and me too.
As we will be there in that coming day. But that was the joy that was set before him. And then there were the heavy things that he had to go through. But because of the joy that was set before him, he went through it all. Now, brethren, the application to us is you've got heavy things in your life. I have no doubt that everybody here could tell me about some heavy thing they got in their life.
But.
Look at the goal before you. There is every reason to go on.
I sometimes put it this way, put the negatives on one side of the balance.
Put the positives on the other side. What's greater?
No question about it, the positives are far, far outweigh the negatives. We have every reason to continue on brethren, with our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. How easy it is to get distracted and be looking at this brother, that brother, this sister, that sister.
Not called to be looking so much at them, were called to be looking at the Lord Jesus Christ and following Him.
It's a another comment I should make in verse one is that it's a long distance race. It's a race that lasts our whole life long. We should run with patience or endurance. Keep on. It's not easy. Keep on.
Keep on.
And then we come to verse 3-4. Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind.
I enjoy the way the old version in the Spanish reads in that verse. I can transliterate it. It is.
Reduce your thoughts to Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself.
Consider him. Reduce your thoughts to him. You know our thoughts. Go helter skelter in One Direction and another.
Sometimes they say we have weight weight reduction programs.
We need thought reduction programs. Don't allow your thoughts to go just any direction. Control your thinking.
It's important to think right thoughts. Don't let your mind be occupied with wrong thoughts.
And maybe you haven't been treated like you should have by your brethren. Are you supposed to be thinking about yourself? Reduce your thoughts to him. I tell you we are in this country a self-centered generation and I have never seen a generation that is so unsatisfied because.
They're thinking about themselves. It's miserable.
To have to think about yourself all the time.
Let's change our thinking. Let's think about Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.
Yeah, maybe I haven't been treated right, but I shouldn't be thinking about myself. The Lord is the defender of his people. He'll take care of the accounts that are not straight. Leave it with the Lord. Go on.
Reduce your thoughts to Him that endured such contradiction of sinners.
Against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds, I detect.
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That there are those who are weary.
Thank.
Reduce your thoughts to him, brother and sister, and the Lord Jesus.
He went through it all. He never gave up. Where is he now? He's at the pinnacle of glory. That's where we're called to as well. Don't give up.
You have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. Some of our brothers and sisters in this world do resist to blood.
Hear about stories of the Muslim countries of over in China.
Where some of the Lord's people are losing their lives in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Don't hear about that in the Americas.
They're much more. They do, but.
We haven't gotten to that point yet. The Lord Jesus went all the way. All the way.
Then with verse five we have another subject that is introduced. It's the matter of.
Discipline.
We're to get our focus right first in the first three verses.
But then he says in verse five, and this is an important area of our lives to.
You have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children.
My son despised not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
This is a subject that is perhaps not pleasant to think about, but it is important to understand.
In the sense that we're speaking here, every single believer in the Lord Jesus is under discipline, not talking about assembly discipline here. We're talking about the discipline of a father and his family and we're all under his hand of discipline. He loves us and that's why he disciplines us. Whom the Lord loveth, He chasing us.
And scourge us. That's a harder word yet.
You ever felt that? Have to confess, I feel it quite odd. Thank God for it, I've noticed.
In South America, sometimes their families that don't know how to discipline their children properly and a child that is not disciplined properly.
Is a child that is living in an uncertain world.
Sometimes their dad or their mom all of a sudden fly off the handle in a rage.
Either up to that time they can get away with it.
But we have a Father who is completely faithful.
O brethren, isn't it wonderful? I know I have a father that if I get out of line, he loves me too much.
To let me go my own way. I'm going to feel his hand.
And if we are truly believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have felt his hand in discipline.
There are three reactions.
That we can have to discipline. Notice verse five speaks of two of them. My son, despise not thou the chasing of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Despising the chastening of the Lord is just acting like everybody has problems. I'll get over it no problem. Not recognizing.
The Lord has something to say to us in that, you know, if we would listen to the Lord in the little things in life.
He wouldn't have to speak heavier, but the reason why he has to speak so loudly at times is because we don't listen.
When he speaks in the little things, every single circumstance in your life and mine is ordered by a hand of one who loves us supremely in the glory. He doesn't allow one circumstance in your life without a reason for it. I'm more and more convinced of it, Brett.
Still remember how I struggled and I was my youth I used to work at a hospital in Chicago and there was an accident in the hospital and one of my.
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Fellow laborers there got pinched between 2 trucks and.
Killed right in front of my eyes.
And then in the course of legal procedures I got charged with his death and taken to law for a lawsuit of a half $1,000,000. Let me tell you, my mind was spinning. I thought I was losing my mind for a while till I read everything comes directly from the hand of God.
You know, we look at instruments, we look at circumstances, and we tend to blame them. Brethren, we've got to get beyond that. We've got to see the hand that orders every circumstance. He has a reason for it now, still remember?
When I read that little article.
Just hit me like a sledgehammer and I knelt beside my bed and I said OK Lord I know you got something to say to me and here I am. I want to hear it. And the peace that came into my soul never left.
The trial and the hearings went on for another four years and the Lord finally brought me out on top without any problem. But he had something to say to me and I guess I was kind of hard headed.
And he had to speak pretty loudly to get my attention.
Oh, isn't it wonderful that he is a faithful father, that he will not give up? I may be stiff necked and hard headed. Who's going to win out?
Me or him?
He's going to win out every time. He'll win out. He's not in a rush if you want to be hard headed with the Lord.
Go ahead.
He is going to win out in the end. He loves his people and that's what makes him discipline his people.
I really believe that.
That he's disciplined us.
Has gathered to his precious name. I don't profess to know.
Every reason why I know he has his reasons. There's been things that have exercised me. One thing that I feel exercised about, brethren, I just pass it on for your consideration is that in Speaking of the precious truth of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to seek to make Christ the focus and not ourselves.
It has come to me, and I've been challenged by it, that so often when we present the truth, we make ourselves the reference point.
Seek to reword the way you express those precious truths so that we are not the reference point. It's Christ that must be the reference point.
God is jealous for the glory of his Son. He's not going to give His glory to another.
When on the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah were seen there with the Lord Jesus.
Those 3 disciples that were there as well witnessing it.
Saw those two and I imagine it would have been impressive to them.
To the greatest servants of God in the Old Testament, Moses, Elijah, they were looking at for the first time.
Without realizing it, Peter got his eyes off the Lord and started thinking about them.
And, you know, he started talking before he knew what he was saying. It actually says.
He didn't know what he was saying.
Sometimes we do that, don't we? We start talking before we know what we're saying.
And he says, Lord, it's good for us to be here. Let us make 3 tabernacles, one for they put the Lord first, one for Moses, one for Elias. What was the problem with what he said?
He put the Lord Jesus on the same level as those two servants.
And immediately a cloud covered those two servants. They disappeared.
And a voice out of the cloud says, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. They fell on their faces. And well we might when we're in the presence of the Lord of glory, if we start looking at people.
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And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only.
May it be so with us, brethren.
So 1 improper response to discipline is despising it, the other is fainting under it. It's saying, oh man, all these problems, I can't take this any longer. I can't go on like this. That's fainting under it. Neither he that despises or he that faints gets the blessing. God has a blessing in mind for you if he's disciplining you.
And neither of those responses are proper, the proper response we have down in verse 11.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless. Afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby. How important it is to be exercised when the Lord speaks to us, not trying to justify one position over another. There are clear scriptural principles.
That should guide us. But brethren, it's not a matter of justifying.
It's a matter of getting into the presence of the Lord and humbling ourselves in recognition.
That he has something to say to us.
Let him speak. You know, I've been reading through the book of Job again recently and it is so beautiful to see in that book.
How after Job's trials came on him and then the worst trial of all, his three friends began to accuse him.
And he starts defending himself.
And every time he answers. First of all, his friend. In their defense, it's interesting how.
His answer, somewhere in the answer, it all of a sudden turns from the friend he's talking to to God. And we know that Job didn't get out of the woods until he got into the presence of God. That's the answer, brother, to get into his presence, to realize he has something to say to us. If it's individual, if it's collective.
That's very important. He has something to say. Let's be exercised.
Verse 12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down.
And the feeble knees. There's a picture of discouragement.
Hands hanging down.
Feeble knees.
Let's encourage somebody that's going through it.
Not go and try to interpret for them what the Lord has to say to them. The Lord is fully able to tell that person what he has in mind. But encourage him, saying, say to him, brother, the Lord loves you. Don't be discouraged. He has something good in mind for you. That's what it means to hold up the hands which hang down.
And the feeble knees. He's not trying to destroy us, brethren.
He's working for our own good, but there's things in our lives that need correction. It's so that we can be a partaker of His Holiness because of that, that he disciplines us.
And then verse 13 and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed.
You know, brethren, we are called in one body.
And what I do necessarily effects others around me.
And I think I have liberty to do a certain thing.
But I'm to consider those around me. If I don't make straight paths for my feet, there might be someone lame that will get turned out of the way.
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Let's be careful the effect we have on others, the way we react.
What was said yesterday about being angry and sinning not was very good to think about because anger gets out of hand so often.
The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Now there are things to be angry about and like was mentioned yesterday.
The Lord Jesus was angry, but not for what they did to Him.
He was angry because they impeded blessing for others.
We tend to get angry when they do something against us.
That's not the example we have in the Lord Jesus. Think about it.
Lord help us in these things.
Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed.
Then verse 14 follow peace with all men. We are to be peacemakers.
We had in Ephesians 4. We are to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Brethren, am I known as a person that goes around stirring up trouble?
Making problems.
Should be one. We should be known as peacemakers. They are the children of God.
Follow peace with all men and holiness. Peace is not at the expense of holiness.
Without which no man shall see the Lord.
Looking diligently, verse 15. Lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up, trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.
It's not looking at each other with suspicion, brethren.
But it's looking diligently, lest any man should fail of the grace of God. What does that mean?
Fail of the grace of God.
It's reverting to the principle of law instead of grace.
It's easy to happen. I have to confess that it happens to me so often.
Or if I could just be more faithful to the Lord, the Lord would bless me more.
Is that a right thought?
That's law. That's the principle of law. You get what you what you do.
That's not right.
If I live like I ought to, I might enjoy my blessings more, but I don't get more blessings because of.
What I how I act?
But our minds, we tend to revert to that principle so easily.
You know, there's no more powerful principle to incite us to Christian living than the principle of grace.
Paul said to Timothy in Second Timothy chapter 2.
Thou therefore, my Son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Understanding grace properly makes a person strong.
Somebody has given the illustration of what happened years ago.
In the United States when there were still slaves around.
Slave market in the South. There was a young woman put on the platform and there was an Englishman standing there and English people were not supposed to have slaves. So everybody was surprised when he started bidding on this slave.
She was a young, beautiful woman.
And the price went up and up and up.
And she looked at that Englishman with quite a bit of suspicion.
And anger in her eyes.
What in the world does that guy want me for?
And finally, the Englishman gave the highest price and bought her.
And the slave came down off the block and was given to.
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Her new master.
And he took the key of the chain that had her bound.
And unlock the lock and took the chain off and said.
I bought you to set you free. You're free to go now.
She didn't know what to do.
And according to this story, she finally fell at his feet and said.
Sir, I'll serve you forever.
What created that tremendous change in that slaves heart while she wasn't a slave from then on, but what created that tremendous change in that young woman's heart?
Grace.
When you look at the cross, dear brethren, and see what the King of glory.
The eternal Son of God did for a wretched Sinner like me.
Can I be claiming my rights in this world?
I don't have a bit of understanding of what he did for me if I do.
Now our place is to.
Be surrendered at his blessed feet. Grace is a powerful principle. Grace is not accommodating sin. I think we understand that. In fact, there's the strongest type of condemnation given in the book of Jude, those that turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness. In other words, saying, oh God's gracious, you can sin a bet and then God will forgive you.
That's lasciviousness.
And that is strongly condemned, that is a person that does, that does not understand grace yet.
No, but grace is the most powerful principle to make us live like we ought to as Christians.
It says in Titus chapter 2 The grace of God has appeared to all men.
Teaching us that.
That denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live holy, righteously and godly in this present world.
Grace teaches us how to live, how to live rightly. It's not law that teaches us so. This is why it's so important to be careful in our relationships, one with another. Blessed any man fail of the grace of God. Why is that so important? Because when we fail of the grace of God.
There is something that springs up in the soil.
Their roots of bitterness.
Brethren, I want to speak pretty clearly on this matter of roots of bitterness.
Don't allow it in your heart. I know maybe you've been treated like you shouldn't have been treated.
But reduce your thoughts to the Lord Jesus, the King of Glory. He was treated far worse than any of us could be.
Leave it. Don't hold grudges. You know, sometimes we Americans think that we're pretty good guys.
Somebody does something bad to us and we just kind of pass it over.
But inside we're doing the slow burn.
Don't allow that to happen.
Get those roots of bitterness out of there.
Remember, older brothers used to challenge us. Do you have any hard thoughts about anybody in the sphere of your acquaintance? Do you?
Let it loose.
Remember a sister telling me some time ago about how she and her husband were treated in a certain place?
And she said to me, you know, I just said I just, I just, I just can't handle it. That's just too much. Can't handle it. Sorry, can't handle it. I'm not going to let loose of that. She said she was able to.
Hold on to that bitterness for about two days. After two days, she says.
I knew I was ruining myself worse than anybody else.
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Let loose of it.
The Lord Jesus forgave us so much. Shouldn't we be able to forgive others too? Read the end of Matthew 18. Brethren, that parable, We don't have time to do it right now. There is a parable there, a likeness of the Kingdom of heaven.
In which there is a man who was a 10,000 talent debtor.
I figured it out one time. I think it was approximately $10 million. He owed something that naturally speaking, he would never be able to get out from under him, and he was frankly forgiven.
And then he didn't want to forgive one of his fellow servants. It was, if I remember right, it was something maybe about in the order of 10/15.
He didn't want to forgive them that much.
What happened to that fellow? He was returned to the other.
The one that had frankly forgiven him and he was delivered to the tormentors. You know what the tormentors are? Your own conscience and heart and a person that holds grudges and bitterness in their heart.
Is delivered to tormentors. Let it loose, the Lord.
Delivered you from a lot more. He forgave you so much more. Let it loose.
Leave it alone.
Let those roots of bitterness be pulled out.
Before they contaminate many, that's happened too much amongst God's people.
But notice going on here it says lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, profane person, profanity is treating that which is sacred as common. That's profanity.
And that birthright, we heard about it this morning in the Sunday School. That birthright.
That was his. He treated it as if it was only worth a mess of pottage. He was a profane person.
He sold his birthright, and notice says verse 17. For ye know 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. There's a parentheses in there, and I think it's important to see that he did not seek repentance with tears. He saw never repented of what he did in despising his birthright.
What he sought was the blessing.
With tears. He sought the blessing with tears, but he never repented. And that's why later on in the Old Testament it says in the book of Malachi Esau, have I hated. Why did God hate him? Because he held that which was sacred as common and he never repented of it. He didn't even seek repentance. He sought the blessing and he lost the blessing because he had despised his birthright.
Lord, keep us from that. Time's up, brethren. But I just want to say before we finish, is that these?
Verses that follow give a tremendous contrast between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. Mount Sinai is the law and Mount Zion is grace. These two principles are contrasted.
It is evident that we cannot obtain blessing on the grounds of law, but there is a tendency to go toward that. Again, it's a natural tendency of our human hearts. I see it in myself so often.
Putting people under a sense of obligation, it won't work. It won't work.
You've got to understand, grace, we have come to Mount Zion. We have come to the place where grace reigns. Brethren, oh, how important it is if I take up the law to condemn others. Remember, Brother Clem Buchanan told me this and it really has hit home with me. He said if I take up the law to condemn others, I'm going to end up condemning myself.
And that's the truth of the matter, brethren. We're not under that principle of things.
Or under the principle of grace.
And grace, as I say again, is not.
Overlooking sin, it is not accommodating it.
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But it actually shows what Jesus suffered to deliver us from sin. It's the most powerful principle. So he ends up this chapter saying in verse 28, we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace. He doesn't say let us have zeal. He doesn't say let us have a rigid principle of law. No, let us have grace.
Whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. Let's pray, Father, we're thankful for thy precious word. How clearly it speaks to us. Help us, Lord Jesus, to listen, to know what you have to say to us.
In these difficult times were passing through. Pray Thy blessing on our dear brethren.
And the way home again. We pray for Thy blessing the rest of the afternoon here too, in that most worthy name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.