Latest / Bible stories / Running Towards Holiness Endurance in the Christian Race _biblestudy
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Welcome to our lesson summary, Run Towards Holiness, Hebrews 12
- 0:07Speaker 1: verses 1 through 17. The big idea is don't let
- 0:12Speaker 1: the weight of your current struggle cause you to quit
- 0:16Speaker 1: the race because your hardship isn't a sign of God's absence.
- 0:21Speaker 1: It's the training ground for your future. Whenever I run
- 0:26Speaker 1: on a treadmill, I'm breathing heavy at times. Legs are shaking.
- 0:31Speaker 1: I feel like they're getting heavy. And I'm wondering if
- 0:35Speaker 1: I'll make it to the finish line. This is really
- 0:39Speaker 1: a picture of life. In the Christian life, the starting
- 0:44Speaker 1: pistol has been fired the moment we trusted Christ. And
- 0:49Speaker 1: we run this race until the Lord calls us home.
- 0:54Speaker 1: The original audience of Hebrews 12 felt exactly like that.
- 0:59Speaker 1: They were tired. They were at wit's end, limping and
- 1:03Speaker 1: tempted to walk off the track of life because, yeah,
- 1:07Speaker 1: life can be extremely hard at times. If that sounds familiar,
- 1:13Speaker 1: then this passage is literally, as one scholar said, our
- 1:18Speaker 1: survival manual. It teaches us. That just because the load
- 1:23Speaker 1: feels heavy does not mean you are on the wrong road.
- 1:30Speaker 1: Sometimes the weight is just part of the workout. And
- 1:33Speaker 1: the coach is not against you. Because when God disciplines you,
- 1:38Speaker 1: he's not trying to break you. He's trying to build you.
- 1:43Speaker 1: That correction is really proof that you and I belong
- 1:47Speaker 1: to him. And you and I are not running alone,
- 1:51Speaker 1: as a matter of fact. You do not have to
- 1:54Speaker 1: be faster or the fastest person on the track. Just
- 1:58Speaker 1: stay in your lane and run a steady pace so
- 2:01Speaker 1: that you do not trip somebody behind you. So what's
- 2:07Speaker 1: our charge? Do not let one bad lap define your
- 2:12Speaker 1: whole race. Fix your eyes on Jesus. He finished. under
- 2:19Speaker 1: worse pressure than you and I are facing right now.
- 2:23Speaker 1: Lean on the people God placed around you and do
- 2:26Speaker 1: not trade something eternal for something temporary like Esau, which
- 2:32Speaker 1: we'll see in just a second. Because one day, like
- 2:35Speaker 1: Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, 7, we want
- 2:39Speaker 1: to say, I have finished the race. And I've given
- 2:43Speaker 1: you some questions to ponder. You can always use those questions.
- 2:49Speaker 1: As you teach your classes, it is totally up to you.
- 2:53Speaker 1: So the first thing that I saw in the passage
- 2:55Speaker 1: in verses 1 through 3 is look back. You aren't
- 2:59Speaker 1: the first to run the race. In other words, focus, focus, focus.
- 3:05Speaker 1: In the Christian race, you will get tired. For example,
- 3:10Speaker 1: in a steeplechase. If you've ever seen the steeplechase, there
- 3:14Speaker 1: are obstacles. It's a long race, right? And there are obstacles,
- 3:19Speaker 1: there are barriers, there are hurdles, there's water and other
- 3:22Speaker 1: things designed to test a runner's endurance. You and I
- 3:27Speaker 1: will experience the same thing in life. However, we need
- 3:31Speaker 1: to recognize we're not the first to run this race.
- 3:36Speaker 1: The author of Hebrews, which we don't know, by the way,
- 3:39Speaker 1: some speculate that it's Paul, but we're not really sure.
- 3:44Speaker 1: So I think it's safe to say the author of
- 3:46Speaker 1: Hebrews is. says in verse 1 that we need to
- 3:50Speaker 1: look back and recognize we're surrounded by a cloud of witnesses.
- 3:54Speaker 1: The witnesses back in chapter 11, just to be clear,
- 3:58Speaker 1: they are not spectators. Let me make that very clear.
- 4:02Speaker 1: That's not what the author is saying. They're not spectators.
- 4:06Speaker 1: They're not in the stands. They're not cheering us on.
- 4:09Speaker 1: They're not looking at us. But what the author is
- 4:12Speaker 1: emphasizing is this. Their faithfulness to God to endure hardship
- 4:20Speaker 1: is a testimony to us. That's basically what he was saying.
- 4:26Speaker 1: Their lives are witnesses to us that God will help
- 4:30Speaker 1: us run and finish the race before us. God is
- 4:35Speaker 1: going to help us endure this race of life. Moreover,
- 4:42Speaker 1: the one who provided the ultimate example of endurance and
- 4:47Speaker 1: Who helps us finish the race is Jesus Christ. Since, again,
- 4:53Speaker 1: this is not a passive event. It's active. We actually
- 4:57Speaker 1: have to be actively involved in the race. The question is,
- 5:01Speaker 1: what can we do in the meantime to maintain endurance?
- 5:07Speaker 1: Number one, we got to drop the dead weight. Drop
- 5:10Speaker 1: the dead weight. When my daughter was in middle school
- 5:13Speaker 1: and high school, she dominated the 400 and 800 track events.
- 5:17Speaker 1: It was a thing to see. We have plenty of
- 5:20Speaker 1: video to prove it. And none of the races were close.
- 5:25Speaker 1: It was fun as a parent to watch, to scream.
- 5:28Speaker 1: We're screaming. While we were screaming, I have no idea.
- 5:33Speaker 1: She knew exactly what she was doing and none of
- 5:35Speaker 1: her races were ever close. But the one thing that
- 5:38Speaker 1: I noticed about her, is that she never stepped on
- 5:41Speaker 1: the track with extra weight on her. Never. Not even
- 5:46Speaker 1: one time. When she was off the track, when she
- 5:48Speaker 1: was warming up, she would have her sweats on. But
- 5:51Speaker 1: when it was time to race, when it was time
- 5:53Speaker 1: to perform, she'd take those sweats off and anything else.
- 5:57Speaker 1: Because as Pastor said it, he said it so many
- 6:00Speaker 1: years ago, and he still says it today, if you're
- 6:03Speaker 1: going to run well, you got to run light. Yeah,
- 6:06Speaker 1: she didn't carry a backpack. Because even if it was
- 6:12Speaker 1: not wrong, I mean, it was legal if you wanted
- 6:15Speaker 1: to carry a backpack. I don't know why you would
- 6:16Speaker 1: want to do that. But as it relates to a race,
- 6:21Speaker 1: it would have slowed her down. And when you're serious
- 6:24Speaker 1: about finishing strong, you drop the dead weight. In a
- 6:28Speaker 1: Christian race, there are some weights that are not sins. Therefore,
- 6:33Speaker 1: to maintain endurance in this race, some of us need
- 6:36Speaker 1: to cut off that Toxic relationship. You know exactly what
- 6:40Speaker 1: that is. You know who that person is. We need
- 6:43Speaker 1: to cut out those bad habits. A packed schedule that
- 6:48Speaker 1: is draining your energy. And robbing our time. Your time.
- 6:54Speaker 1: With God. Time alone with God. Time alone in prayer.
- 6:57Speaker 1: Time alone in Bible study. Or that temptation that you
- 7:00Speaker 1: keep on entertaining. If it is slowing our walk with God.
- 7:07Speaker 1: It has to go. We got to drop the dead weight.
- 7:10Speaker 1: But not only drop the dead weight, that's the A
- 7:13Speaker 1: section of verse 1, but the B section of verse 1,
- 7:17Speaker 1: he says not only do we need to lay aside
- 7:19Speaker 1: every weight, he says also lay aside every sin that
- 7:25Speaker 1: so easily besets us. We all have that one sin
- 7:28Speaker 1: that so easily ensnares us. That word means something that
- 7:32Speaker 1: wraps around your feet and tangles you up. In other words,
- 7:38Speaker 1: it messes up your walk. That's basically what he's saying.
- 7:42Speaker 1: Some believe the writer is pointing especially to the sin
- 7:45Speaker 1: of unbelief. That goes back to the problem of Israel.
- 7:49Speaker 1: That was their problem. That was their struggle. Because that
- 7:53Speaker 1: has been, as a matter of fact, the warning throughout
- 7:57Speaker 1: this book, in the book of Hebrews, the sin of unbelief.
- 8:02Speaker 1: In a race, it only takes one loose shoelace. to
- 8:07Speaker 1: send you face first on the track. Sin works the
- 8:11Speaker 1: same way. It may not trip everybody else up, but
- 8:14Speaker 1: it could, by the way. But it will trip you
- 8:18Speaker 1: and slow your endurance. For some, it's pride. For others,
- 8:24Speaker 1: it's the sin of anger, out of control, that is. Yeah.
- 8:29Speaker 1: Be angry and sin not, right? But when you go
- 8:32Speaker 1: beyond being angry and you commit sin For others, it's lust.
- 8:39Speaker 1: Still others, it's jealousy or fear or bitterness or doubt.
- 8:43Speaker 1: And the list goes on and on. Your struggle may
- 8:46Speaker 1: not be mine, but we all have sin and come short.
- 8:50Speaker 1: All have something that tries to wrap around our steps.
- 8:57Speaker 1: The key is to call it what it is. You
- 8:59Speaker 1: cannot ignore sin, much like what we're seeing today in
- 9:02Speaker 1: this country. You cannot ignore sin. You can't overlook it.
- 9:05Speaker 1: You can't put a band-aid on it to fix it. No.
- 9:08Speaker 1: Our inheritance as believers is too valuable to lose momentum
- 9:14Speaker 1: over one unchecked habit. Let me make sense out of that. Now,
- 9:19Speaker 1: when I talk about unbelief, I'm not talking about a
- 9:21Speaker 1: believer losing salvation. No. Salvation is a done deal. Once
- 9:26Speaker 1: you have trusted Christ, it's set. It's a done deal.
- 9:29Speaker 1: We are saved for all eternity. But what I am
- 9:33Speaker 1: talking about is in the life of a believer, now
- 9:36Speaker 1: that I am in Christ, because he's talking to believers,
- 9:40Speaker 1: now that I am in Christ, I should never have doubt,
- 9:44Speaker 1: I should never have unbelief, or I should not struggle,
- 9:48Speaker 1: I should say, that I can't make it through, that
- 9:51Speaker 1: I cannot endure this trial, or that trial, or this,
- 9:56Speaker 1: whatever it is that, whatever storm you're going through in life,
- 10:00Speaker 1: we should never doubt God our inheritance in the end
- 10:06Speaker 1: is at stake remember 2nd Corinthians 5 10 says for
- 10:12Speaker 1: we shall all stand at the judgment seat of Christ
- 10:16Speaker 1: to be judged for those things done in the body
- 10:18Speaker 1: both good and bad your my our rewards are at
- 10:25Speaker 1: stake and if you want to run well in this
- 10:28Speaker 1: life because i don't know about you i want all
- 10:31Speaker 1: that god has in store for you identify the sin
- 10:36Speaker 1: that keeps tangling you up and trust christ to give
- 10:39Speaker 1: you the power to step over it to get through
- 10:43Speaker 1: it so identify the tripwire But then he says the
- 10:47Speaker 1: most important thing right here in verses 2 and 3,
- 10:50Speaker 1: keep your eyes on the pace setter. In long races,
- 10:55Speaker 1: if you ever notice, and the author uses this metaphor
- 10:59Speaker 1: that you keep hearing me bring up. Since he kept
- 11:01Speaker 1: bringing it up, I'm going to keep bringing it up.
- 11:03Speaker 1: I'm just following what the text says, what God says here.
- 11:07Speaker 1: This metaphor of racing, of being a runner and comparing
- 11:12Speaker 1: it to a believer. So in a race, in long races,
- 11:16Speaker 1: typically you... You've probably seen them. Sometimes there's a pace setter. Today,
- 11:22Speaker 1: I think they refer to them as rabbits, right? That's
- 11:26Speaker 1: someone who runs ahead to set the rhythm or the
- 11:30Speaker 1: pace and keep everyone on track. They sacrifice their own time.
- 11:37Speaker 1: This is somebody who's specialized. They're probably better than the
- 11:41Speaker 1: field that's running behind them. They sacrifice their own time
- 11:45Speaker 1: to help other runners achieve their personal best. If you
- 11:50Speaker 1: lose sight of the pace setter, you lose rhythm. If
- 11:53Speaker 1: you focus only on your feet, you could possibly stumble.
- 11:57Speaker 1: But if you lock in, like most runners do, on
- 12:01Speaker 1: the one ahead, the pace setter, we're talking about Jesus Christ,
- 12:05Speaker 1: you endure. The witnesses in chapter 11 ran their race,
- 12:10Speaker 1: but they ran their race in light of looking forward
- 12:13Speaker 1: to Jesus Christ, the ultimate example. They look forward to
- 12:19Speaker 1: Jesus in faith. We look back in faith at the
- 12:24Speaker 1: one who finished. The work has already been done. The
- 12:27Speaker 1: text says to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author
- 12:33Speaker 1: and finisher of our faith. He endured the cross, despised
- 12:38Speaker 1: the shame. In other words, this is his example before us.
- 12:42Speaker 1: For the joy set before him. The joy was the
- 12:47Speaker 1: finished work of salvation for his people. As for us.
- 12:52Speaker 1: And when he was done. He sat down at the
- 12:55Speaker 1: right hand of God. In other words it meant the
- 12:57Speaker 1: race was complete. The work was done. He said it
- 13:00Speaker 1: from the cross. It is finished. He did not turn
- 13:06Speaker 1: back when it hurt. They pierced him in the side.
- 13:09Speaker 1: They beat him. They nailed him to the cross. but
- 13:13Speaker 1: he finished. You know why he finished? I like what
- 13:15Speaker 1: Tony Evans said. He made it through Friday by keeping
- 13:20Speaker 1: his eyes on Sunday. I love that. Verse three says,
- 13:24Speaker 1: consider him talking about Jesus Christ so that you may
- 13:28Speaker 1: not grow weary and lose heart. When you feel like quitting,
- 13:33Speaker 1: look at the one who kept going under the worst
- 13:37Speaker 1: conditions than yours. The only way we can endure this,
- 13:42Speaker 1: And finish this race. Is to keep looking back at him.
- 13:46Speaker 1: The author. And finisher of our faith. Remember. We're not
- 13:50Speaker 1: running in our own strength. First Peter 1 5. I
- 13:53Speaker 1: said it earlier. First Peter 1 5 says. We are
- 13:56Speaker 1: kept by the power of God. That means the same God.
- 14:00Speaker 1: Who preserved the witnesses in chapter 11. Is the same God.
- 14:05Speaker 1: Who sustains and preserves you and I. In this race today.
- 14:10Speaker 1: That's why. We can endure. Keep our eyes on the
- 14:15Speaker 1: pace setter. But then secondly, look up. Hard times are
- 14:19Speaker 1: times of development. Verses 4 through 11. This is the formation.
- 14:23Speaker 1: This is what God does to us or through us.
- 14:29Speaker 1: Suffering is training. A lot of times we hear that
- 14:33Speaker 1: word suffering. Oh, God. We view it in a negative sense.
- 14:40Speaker 1: There is a goal behind suffering. When children You know,
- 14:45Speaker 1: when children are little and they go through what, you know,
- 14:48Speaker 1: they call them growth spurts, their legs ache at night, right?
- 14:53Speaker 1: Their legs are hurting. They're in pain. You know, we
- 14:57Speaker 1: call them growing pains. Well, there are other, there's another
- 15:01Speaker 1: way of describing growing pains, but in this sense, yeah,
- 15:05Speaker 1: growth spurts. Nothing is wrong. In fact, actually something is right.
- 15:11Speaker 1: They are stretching into what they are becoming. It hurts.
- 15:16Speaker 1: They're growing, in other words. It hurts, but it means
- 15:18Speaker 1: they're growing. That's the picture in Hebrews 12, 4 through 6.
- 15:23Speaker 1: Suffering is not always punishment. Sometimes it's training. The word
- 15:28Speaker 1: chastening here comes from the Greek word paideia, paideia, which
- 15:37Speaker 1: means child training. See that key word there? Child training.
- 15:44Speaker 1: God is not a harsh judge trying to break us.
- 15:47Speaker 1: He is a loving father shaping you because you and
- 15:53Speaker 1: I belong to him. We are his child. So he
- 15:57Speaker 1: takes us through on a daily basis child training. The
- 16:02Speaker 1: sophisticated theological word you heard me say it multiple times.
- 16:06Speaker 1: It's the process of sanctification. Yeah. A coach pushes the
- 16:12Speaker 1: athlete he believes in. A father disciplines the child he loves.
- 16:17Speaker 1: If God corrects you and I, it is proof you
- 16:21Speaker 1: and I are his. So do not look down in despair.
- 16:26Speaker 1: Look up and recognize he is developing you. And remember,
- 16:31Speaker 1: Jesus endured the cross again because he saw the joy.
- 16:36Speaker 1: He saw Sunday, yeah, on the other side. Pain is
- 16:41Speaker 1: not the end of the story. Growth is. Suffering is training.
- 16:46Speaker 1: Got to change our mindset. Pain has a purpose. Verses
- 16:50Speaker 1: 9 through 11. Nobody enjoys a gym. I don't know
- 16:54Speaker 1: about y'all, but I have a treadmill here at home.
- 16:59Speaker 1: I got a bike here at home, but I also
- 17:01Speaker 1: like to go to the gym. Especially when I get
- 17:05Speaker 1: on the treadmill, at least I got a whole lot
- 17:06Speaker 1: of different things I can look at. I can look
- 17:08Speaker 1: at all these big TV screens. I can look at
- 17:11Speaker 1: other people working out and I got to have some
- 17:14Speaker 1: kind of distraction. I'm just not a, I'm not a
- 17:16Speaker 1: big fan. Okay. Of just, ain't no joy going to
- 17:22Speaker 1: the gym. It is, but everybody loves the results, right?
- 17:27Speaker 1: I know I do. I step on that scale. I
- 17:29Speaker 1: love it. You know, the thing about these commercials and
- 17:35Speaker 1: it's so funny, these commercials are really hilarious to me.
- 17:38Speaker 1: When you see somebody, like in these workout commercials, you
- 17:41Speaker 1: see somebody on a treadmill, you see somebody on some
- 17:44Speaker 1: kind of, you know, workout equipment that, you know, that,
- 17:48Speaker 1: that they're trying to sell to us. Right. And if
- 17:51Speaker 1: you notice in the commercial, and this is probably true
- 17:54Speaker 1: with most commercials, everybody always smiling, you know, even if
- 17:58Speaker 1: somebody is running, you know, they, They're smiling. I'm like,
- 18:01Speaker 1: I don't smile. I've never seen anybody else for that matter.
- 18:05Speaker 1: When I come in the gym, I don't see anybody smiling.
- 18:07Speaker 1: If anything, people are looking like with that strained look
- 18:10Speaker 1: on their faces. Or if we're lifting weights, we're straining.
- 18:15Speaker 1: In real life, there are good days, no doubt, that
- 18:19Speaker 1: I have at the gym. And then there are those
- 18:21Speaker 1: days when everything hurts. That's how it is spiritually. Hebrews 12,
- 18:27Speaker 1: 11 says, discipline does not, there is a key word,
- 18:31Speaker 1: feel good at the time. And it doesn't. Like, man,
- 18:37Speaker 1: get on that treadmill. That's tough. But later, when I
- 18:41Speaker 1: get off that treadmill, it produces peaceful fruit of righteousness.
- 18:45Speaker 1: He's talking about holiness. If you are in a season
- 18:49Speaker 1: of pressure, You're not being punished by God, although at
- 18:53Speaker 1: times God will punish us. But remember, even when he
- 18:57Speaker 1: does discipline us, we get that divine spanking from him.
- 19:02Speaker 1: He's still shaping us. He's still growing us. He's still
- 19:07Speaker 1: molding us more into the very likeness of Jesus Christ.
- 19:11Speaker 1: It lets us know, remember, we belong to him. God
- 19:14Speaker 1: is not trying to break us. He is building us.
- 19:18Speaker 1: Muscle only grows when it is stretched and stressed. Faith
- 19:23Speaker 1: grows the same way. Yeah, the pain, I know, it's real.
- 19:28Speaker 1: Pain in life is real. Storms in life, they're real.
- 19:31Speaker 1: Trials are real, but so is the purpose. And the fruit,
- 19:37Speaker 1: in the end, it's worth it. Then he says, look ahead.
- 19:43Speaker 1: Help the person limping next to you. Verses 12 through 13.
- 19:49Speaker 1: This is more of a community. Now he's talking about
- 19:51Speaker 1: the family of believers. Not just your family, the family
- 19:57Speaker 1: like my family, the Fisher family. No, I'm talking about
- 19:59Speaker 1: the Christian family. Now he's talking about a shared endurance.
- 20:04Speaker 1: Look around. Help the person limping next to you. So
- 20:07Speaker 1: first of all, he says in verses 12 through 13.
- 20:10Speaker 1: Really here in verse 12, the writer says, lift up
- 20:14Speaker 1: the hands that hang down and the feeble knees make
- 20:18Speaker 1: straight paths for your feet. So what that means is this.
- 20:23Speaker 1: That means the race is not just about you finishing.
- 20:29Speaker 1: It is about making sure the people around you do
- 20:32Speaker 1: not fall apart. In other words, look out for others.
- 20:37Speaker 1: The goal is to move from me, this me mentality,
- 20:41Speaker 1: to us. Check your neighbor's knees. In other words, see,
- 20:48Speaker 1: here's the thing. Let me pause right there. I like this.
- 20:51Speaker 1: Because once upon a time, if you grew up during
- 20:55Speaker 1: a time that I did, I'm 62. You grew up
- 21:00Speaker 1: during the time that I did. Once upon a time,
- 21:03Speaker 1: everybody in the neighborhood knew everybody. At least in the
- 21:06Speaker 1: neighborhood I grew up in. Let me just say it
- 21:07Speaker 1: that way. Everybody knew everybody. I could be way down
- 21:10Speaker 1: the street and get in trouble. And before I got home,
- 21:12Speaker 1: my mama knew. Because whoever saw me doing something, misbehaving,
- 21:18Speaker 1: they had mama's number. Because everybody in the neighborhood knew everybody. Everybody.
- 21:24Speaker 1: We don't really live. And everybody looked out for each other.
- 21:27Speaker 1: We don't really. It's almost as if. Everything has changed. Well,
- 21:31Speaker 1: not almost. It is. We don't really look out for
- 21:36Speaker 1: each other. We don't check on each other anymore. But
- 21:41Speaker 1: he's saying right here, and what I'm talking about for believers,
- 21:44Speaker 1: in other words, look around. Somebody near you is tired.
- 21:48Speaker 1: Somebody is discouraged. Somebody is barely holding on. Their faith
- 21:52Speaker 1: is shaking. Their hands are hanging low. And instead of
- 21:57Speaker 1: judging their pace... Y'all can't keep up with me. No,
- 22:01Speaker 1: this is a collective effort. We are called to strengthen them.
- 22:06Speaker 1: Do not say you need to run faster. What you
- 22:09Speaker 1: ought to say, what my wife always tells me, and
- 22:11Speaker 1: I love this when she says this, because I think
- 22:14Speaker 1: she knows it strokes my ego. Whenever something is bothering me,
- 22:18Speaker 1: my wife will say, baby, I got your back. I'm
- 22:21Speaker 1: going to tell you something that just makes my whole day.
- 22:23Speaker 1: I don't care what I'm going through in that moment.
- 22:26Speaker 1: That just, that energizes me. That's, that's what he's saying
- 22:30Speaker 1: right here. Don't say something negative. Like you just need
- 22:33Speaker 1: to run faster. No. How about you reach out and
- 22:36Speaker 1: help them look out for others. Look around because other
- 22:42Speaker 1: people around you are hurting. Help them get through this
- 22:47Speaker 1: race to endure. But then in verse 13, furthermore, he says,
- 22:54Speaker 1: he says to make straight paths again for your feet
- 22:58Speaker 1: so that what is lame may not be. I wish
- 23:01Speaker 1: I would have changed this to the message version because
- 23:05Speaker 1: it kind of I know it's kind of it's kind
- 23:07Speaker 1: of choppy. It's kind of you. You pretty much would
- 23:09Speaker 1: have to look at different translations to really understand what
- 23:12Speaker 1: he's saying. Here it is. That means the way you
- 23:15Speaker 1: live affects the people around you. If you walk with integrity,
- 23:21Speaker 1: you leave a clear path, is what he's saying. If
- 23:24Speaker 1: you live carelessly and recklessly, you leave potholes. Someone weaker
- 23:30Speaker 1: in the faith may stumble over what you refuse to
- 23:34Speaker 1: fix in your life. In other words, watch how you live.
- 23:38Speaker 1: Straighten your walk. Your life is not just about you.
- 23:41Speaker 1: Your children are watching. Young believers are watching you. People
- 23:46Speaker 1: at our church, they're watching. If they followed our exact
- 23:51Speaker 1: steps today, let me say it this way. If people
- 23:54Speaker 1: can walk in your footsteps, would they grow stronger in
- 23:59Speaker 1: Christ or would they struggle over the same sinful issues
- 24:04Speaker 1: you never dealt with in your life? So he says
- 24:09Speaker 1: run or live in a way that makes it easier
- 24:13Speaker 1: for somebody else to make it home and finish this race.
- 24:19Speaker 1: Help each other out. Your faithfulness to God can keep
- 24:24Speaker 1: someone else from quitting. The Christian life is not a
- 24:29Speaker 1: solo sprint. It is a long distance team race. And
- 24:37Speaker 1: sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is look
- 24:41Speaker 1: around long enough to lift somebody else up. It's called edification,
- 24:47Speaker 1: by the way. And the last thing, verses 14 through 17,
- 24:51Speaker 1: look out. Don't trade. There's a warning here, by the way.
- 24:56Speaker 1: Don't trade forever for right now. Chase peace and holiness
- 25:03Speaker 1: is what he talks about in verse 15. really 14
- 25:07Speaker 1: through 17, the writer shifts from encouragement to a warning.
- 25:11Speaker 1: Holiness is not accidental. It should be intentional. The text
- 25:15Speaker 1: says follow peace and holiness because without holiness, no one
- 25:20Speaker 1: will see God. In other words, if you don't have
- 25:22Speaker 1: a relationship with Christ, that's what he's saying. Because again,
- 25:25Speaker 1: you can't lose your salvation. If you don't have a
- 25:27Speaker 1: relationship with Christ, you will not make it to heaven.
- 25:31Speaker 1: But for the believer, that means this race is not
- 25:34Speaker 1: just about finishing. It is about finishing clean. Yeah, priority
- 25:40Speaker 1: means choosing what pleases God over what pleases us in
- 25:45Speaker 1: the moment. Then he says to watch carefully so that
- 25:50Speaker 1: no one falls short of the grace of God and
- 25:53Speaker 1: that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble.
- 25:57Speaker 1: Bitterness does not stay small. It starts underground. quiet and
- 26:01Speaker 1: it's hidden but if you do not pull it up
- 26:04Speaker 1: early it's like weeds it spreads and poisons the whole
- 26:10Speaker 1: community you impact other people around you one offended hurt
- 26:15Speaker 1: heart can disturb a whole church i've seen churches split
- 26:20Speaker 1: over that one grudge can divide a whole family for
- 26:23Speaker 1: that matter in this in this divided nation i ain't
- 26:28Speaker 1: going now i'm not going to go there i Let
- 26:30Speaker 1: me just stick with the text. If you let hurt
- 26:33Speaker 1: sit long, it turns into something that contaminates everybody around you.
- 26:39Speaker 1: Choose peace and holiness. Last thing, guard your heart from bitterness.
- 26:45Speaker 1: Verses 16 and 17. Here's the warning about Esau. Esau
- 26:51Speaker 1: was hungry in the moment and traded his birthright for
- 26:55Speaker 1: one meal, bread and lentil stew to Jacob. In Genesis 25.
- 27:00Speaker 1: So he's referring back. Genesis 25 verses 33 through 34.
- 27:05Speaker 1: He chose short term relief. Over long term blessing. He
- 27:10Speaker 1: chose comfort. Over covenant. He was more concerned about the
- 27:14Speaker 1: things of this world. Than the things of God. He
- 27:18Speaker 1: chose appetite. Over his inheritance. He satisfied his craving. And
- 27:24Speaker 1: lost something sacred. But in contrast. He chose comfort. If
- 27:29Speaker 1: you go further down in the context, Moses chose to
- 27:36Speaker 1: suffer with the people of God rather than enjoy the
- 27:40Speaker 1: fleeting pleasures of sin because he was looking ahead to
- 27:44Speaker 1: the reward. Yeah. In Hebrews 11, 25, he was looking
- 27:50Speaker 1: ahead to the reward. One man traded forever for right now.
- 27:57Speaker 1: The other refused temporary pleasure, that's Moses, because he valued
- 28:02Speaker 1: eternity more. The writer is telling us not to repeat
- 28:06Speaker 1: Esau's mistake. Do not let one emotional decision undo years
- 28:11Speaker 1: of faithfulness. If it costs you your peace, your family,
- 28:17Speaker 1: your witness, or your calling, it's too expensive. It leads
- 28:21Speaker 1: to bitterness. It leads to regrets. Like Esau, again, Genesis 27,
- 28:27Speaker 1: 34 clearly says he regretted it, but it was too late.
- 28:30Speaker 1: Moses walked a path that Christ would later fulfill perfectly.
- 28:37Speaker 1: Jesus endured the cross once again for the joy set
- 28:41Speaker 1: before him. We must guard our hearts from trading eternity
- 28:46Speaker 1: for the temporary. You got to look towards Sunday because
- 28:51Speaker 1: resurrection is coming, y'all. You got to look towards the
- 28:55Speaker 1: future what god has in store god has an inheritance
- 28:59Speaker 1: waiting for us at the finish line of our race
- 29:02Speaker 1: so here is the question that i want to leave
- 29:05Speaker 1: you with as i close will you live for the
- 29:09Speaker 1: craving of the moment or the priority for the crown
- 29:15Speaker 1: that lasts forever amen amen to god be the glory