Finishing Well

Take your Bible and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12 and before you know it We'll be done with the book of Hebrews. I know it's hard to believe but yes We will finish this book unless of course the Lord comes again And then we won't but we won't need to finish it then will we? But the book of Hebrews is all about the supremacy and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ our Lord If you've been with us, you know that everything about the book of Hebrews points to Christ How supreme he is how sufficient he is and the right of Hebrews is trying to convince his audience who are all Hebrews To understand that you need to move from the Old Covenant to the new all the past symbols and all the past Rituals that you have done have all been fulfilled in Christ He was he is a supreme and sufficient king of the universe to do that you must by faith Come to him so in Hebrews 11 verses 1 and 2 he defines faith for us he gives us a definition of faith and Then verses 3 all the way through chapter 12 verse number 3 he demonstrates faith to us he defines it that he demonstrates it through a whole bunch of Old Testament characters who walked by faith and not by sight a Whole bunch of individuals who knew what it meant to believe wholeheartedly in all that God says and then behave accordingly to all that God says And he culminates that with Jesus Christ our Lord in Hebrews 12 verses 1 to 3 That he is the author and perfecter of our faith and we are to consider him consider his person his passion His position and then he moves from the definition of faith to the demonstration of faith to the discipline of faith in verses 4 down through verse 11 of Hebrews chapter 12 Because he wants you to understand that as you roam through the race, there's much discipline that takes place That discipline comes from the Lord

We told you it comes in one of three categories correctional discipline Preventional discipline or Instructional discipline and no matter what it is It's all for one purpose That's called Confirmational discipline it all conforms us to the image of our God And when you come to verse number 12 where we are today in Hebrews chapter 12 now you come to the determination of faith The determination of faith faith is determined to do something it's determined to finish well That's what faith does The Christian life is you've heard it many times It's not a sprint It's a marathon

You understand that it's not how you start It's how it's how you finish And that's particularly true in in when it comes to those who make professions of faith They they jump on the Jesus bandwagon But fall off the bandwagon because they're really not committed to the Christ anyway And so he exhorts them to finish well, so he talks about the determination of faith as he does He's going to give four Exhortations Four commands four things that you need to do Okay, one is to strengthen The other is to straighten The next is to seek and the fourth is to see okay So we'll look at those with you this morning Hebrews 12 verse 12 says therefore Therefore what? well, if you've gone through discipline and you've gone through whether it's correctional whether it's preventional or instructional You know that it's going to end up well because it says in verse 11 all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful But sorrowful yet to those who have been trained by it Afterwards it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness Because all that discipline that comes your way as a child of God God is doing something great in your life And because God is doing something great in your life Therefore now you are going to be involved in other people's lives If you're gonna finish the race, well, there are certain things you're going to need to do

You're gonna need to understand so he says therefore Based on what I've just said about faith the definition of faith the demonstration of faith the discipline of faith Therefore you need to be determined to live that faith With the people around you so he says therefore Strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees That are feeble Strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees That are feeble Notice it didn't say strengthen your hands or your knees It says strengthen the hands and the knees Now it's true you should strengthen your own hands and knees Why he goes back to the race metaphor, doesn't he? He hopes you understand that that the Christian life is a race and you know that when you get tired in a race your arms begin to to drop to your side and in your in your knees become weaker and weaker and So it's almost like a coach

You got to keep the arms pumping You got to keep the knees going you got to keep keep going forward but you want to be able to strengthen the knees and or the hands and the knees that are feeble and weak you Have a great responsibility Because there are people around you That are gonna have a hard time and this is all throughout the book of Hebrews Sometimes we forget about it go back with you would to Hebrews chapter 3 in Hebrews chapter 3 He says this in verse number 13 But encourage one another day after day as long as it's still called today Said none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin He's incorporating your life with everybody else's life to encourage them then chapter 4 verse number 1 Therefore let us fear if while a promise remains of entering his rest Any one of you may seem to have come short of it then verse 11 of chapter 4 he says this Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest chapter 6 verse number 1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ

Let us press on to maturity Then at Hebrews 10 24 and 25

He says let us hold fast the confession of our faith That's verse number 23 without wavering for he who promises faithful and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds Not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encourage you one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near so all throughout Hebrews The right of Hebrews is trying to encourage his audience those in his audience who are believers Right, because you know that when he talks to them as as holy brethren, they're believers, but it refers to them as brethren

They're Jewish people not necessarily believers and there are some that were on the fence Some that were teetering as to whether they should come all the way to Christianity Well, they should forgo the old covenant and embrace the new covenant So he says as you engage in this race Know this that you need to strengthen

It's it's where we get a word Orthopedic it means to straighten up and so he says listen you need to be involved in Helping to straighten the lame and the weak You need to be able to do something with those who are struggling Coming alongside of them and helping them now Where did he get this from? well book of Isaiah listen to this chapter 35 as Isaiah is prophesying about Israel's future He says this Verse number 1 of chapter 35 of Isaiah The wilderness and the desert will be glad and the Arab all will rejoice and blossom like the crocus It will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy The glory of Lebanon will be given to it the majesty of Carmel and Sharon They will see the glory of the Lord the majesty of our God now encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble Remember as you read the book of Hebrews He quotes voluminously from the Old Testament He gets this from Isaiah chapter 35 The king is going to come and because he's going to come everything about the land is going to change Everything about your life is going to change But until that time you need to make sure that you encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble say to those with anxious heart Take courage fear not behold your God will come with vengeance

The recompense of God will come he will save you In other words you need to be involved in helping those people who are weak and feeble and You do that by helping them understand that the Lord is going to come It is true that we are to strengthen our arms and hands and feet Our bodies when they grow weak How do we do that? Oh, he was 12 1 2 3 fixing your eyes on Jesus the author and perfected of our faith Why because as you examine his person as you examine? his passion and his position Exalted to glory That's your future

Hope But there are people all around you that need to be strengthened and You need to engage in helping those who are exhausted who are wearing out This is this he says oh by the way, Job did this Job I'd share that with you this morning It says of of Job in Job 4 verse number 3 behold, this is Eliphaz speaking you have admonished many and You have strengthened weakened hands Job was known for this Your words have helped the tottering to stand and you have strengthened feeble knees Now, okay

Once again Job is the greatest Old Testament character the greatest character in the scriptures and This man engaged in strengthening the exhausted Helping those with weak and feeble knees that he might move them on to maturity That's what he was known for No wonder he was the greatest man in the East That's what his testimony was

God said he was the greatest man on the planet And God's never said that about anybody else except job So therefore he was involved in this kind of ministry Listen for us to finish well Having been disciplined by our Lord having determined to follow the Lord We want to make sure that we're dedicated enough to help those who are weak in their hands and feeble in their knees So the right of Hebrew says therefore strengthen the hands of the weak the knees that are feeble and make straight paths For your feet so that which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed Now think about this for a minute Not only are you to strengthen? the people around you But you are to straighten the path before you In other words, it's a word that means to smooth out It's it's a word that that deals with clearing a path Because as you're running a race, you want to make sure that there's no obstacles in your way And so you want to clear out all those obstacles? Whatever they may be The right of Hebrews earlier on in Hebrews 12 said that we are to lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us That takes us off course and so Excuse me

Those things that that our weights are not sin necessarily, but they're things that weigh us down Things that keep us from being all that God wants us to be so when you're running this race and you are Making a straight path you are smoothing out that path Why because there's people behind you that are following? For the word for a path is trochia, which means a path that's been laid because of the wheels of a chariot or the wheels of a cart and That path is made so that other travelers will be able to follow in a smooth path In other words, you are creating a path that is so smooth because you're clearing all the obstacles So that those who follow you Won't engage in those obstacles But have a clear path to follow you to Christ So in other words, not only do I have responsibility to finish well when it comes to strengthening the people that are around me but Straightening or smoothing the path That is before me Why? Because there's others that are following and a lot of people that are following as It was in the book of Hebrews were people who weren't really committed to coming to Christ Now, it's not true that we are to let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our father Who's in heaven? We are to live such a life that people are able to see Christ in our lives But I find it very interesting as you read this text it says and make straight paths for your feet, right This is for you so that you clear a path So that which is lame may not be put out of joint In other words, it's a medical term that means to put out of joint permanently now, who are the lame? It's good question it could be It could be a weaker brother But I don't think that's what it's talking about Because again, he's gonna quote from the Old Testament He's gonna take a word from the Old Testament that was used to describe the lame And that's found in first Kings First Kings chapter 18 and you know the story well, it's Elijah on top of Mount Carmel Where he summons 450 prophets of Baal He's going to challenge them But the challenge is not so much for the for the the prophets as it is for Israel Because Israel is teetering on the fence Israel is in no man's land

Are they gonna follow Baal? Are they gonna follow the true and living God? What are they going to do? So God has called Elijah that great prophet of Israel To come in and set out a challenge to the people of Israel So when you come to verse number 21 of first Kings 18 says Elijah came near to all the people said how long will you? Here's your word same word used Hebrews 12 when translated by the Greek subdued Which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into English

It says this How long will you hesitate? Between two opinions if the Lord is God follow him, but if Baal Follow him How long will you be lame same word used? so the right of Hebrews is Picking up on Old Testament language To talk to people who are Israelites because Israel would know this right there Hebrew people We might not know we're Gentiles, but but the Hebrew people they would know it And they would recognize all the way back on Mount Carmel that Elijah posed this challenge to vacillating Israelites non-committal Israelites those who have yet to give their life to the Messiah and Follow God wholeheartedly

Do I go after Baal? Do I meet my own needs? Do I follow the true and living God? What do I do? Elijah poses the challenge to them Who you sir, how long will you hesitate how long will you remain lame? So the right of Hebrews picks it up and says listen, you need not only just to strengthen the people around you But you need to smooth the path before you why because there are people that are following That are hesitant They have yet to make a decision to follow Christ They have yet to give them all the way to follow Christ and to serve him and you know about that it's even in our church There are people here that that are professing Christians, but not don't truly possess Christ as Lord and Savior And they're teetering on the fence

Maybe they're people in your own family and they can speak a lot about Christ, but they really had not come all the way to Christianity by giving their life to him and submitting to his Lordship The right of Hebrews says listen, you have a great responsibility you want to finish the race well You want to make sure that that you are being used by God in a magnificent way? Go make sure you're you're like like Job was way back 4,000 years ago He says listen you need to understand something need to strengthen the people around you and Smooth the path that's before you why because people are in that path and they're following you and they need to be able to see Christ in you and They need to be able to understand that you are committed to following Christ serving him honoring living for him without any hesitation Because you're sold out to following the Lord God of Israel That's what he's concerned about so He says listen Make straight paths for your feet So that which is lame that which is hesitant that which is on the fence as they were back in 1st Kings 18 May not be put out of joint permanently, but rather be healed They might come all the way to the saving knowledge of Christ And be completely restored and then he says this Not only do you? Strengthen the people around you and Smooth the path that's before you but you need to seek peace and Sanctification For without that those who follow you Will not see the Lord This is very very important the word pursue seek Dorkio, which means to hunt

It's a hunting term never been hunting When you go hunting you go to track down that which you want to obtain, right? If you go out and you don't track it down day one you go out day two Don't find a day two you go out day three, but you hunt it down You track it down You want to capture it? He says listen you need to seek peace This is not you seeking peace with God You already have peace with God and the unbeliever can't seek peace

Why because there is no peace for the wicked the unbeliever didn't seek peace and The other believer doesn't seek sanctification But the believer is to seek peace not with God he has peace with God He is to seek peace He is to hunt for peace

He's a track down peace with all Men In other words, you're a peacemaker That's what we are we're peacemakers We're not warmakers We're peacemakers That's what we do And we are to seek peace with all men not just some men But all men believer and unbeliever alike He says very simply listen seek peace and sanctification with which no one will see the Lord our lives are like billboards, right and Sometimes the only only Christ people who ever see is in and through your life in mind And so we are to seek peace with all men The Bible says in Romans chapter 12 verse number 18 If possible so far as it depends upon you be at peace with all men if possible as Far as it depends upon you Be at peace with all men

Well, how do you do that? Well, never take your own revenge beloved leave room for the wrath of God for it is written vengeance is mine Repaces the Lord but if your enemy is hungry feed him He's thirsty Give him a drink for in doing so you will heat burning coals on his head Do not be overcome by evil But overcome evil with good How do you seek peace by overcoming evil with what? With good not seeking revenge because you're leaving that with God

God is a is is the God of vengeance not you But you you are to be kind to your enemy You ought to give him a drink if he's thirsty and and and feed him he's hungry because in so doing you are showing kindness To him you are seeking peace as much as it depends upon you pursue peace track down peace hunt peace with all men and Sanctification With which no one will see the Lord In other words our lives are to be holy lives Truthful lives clean lives So that we in no way put a stumbling block to somebody else who might not be able to follow our God As we follow him Now I know that salvation is ordained by God. I understand that I know salvation God called people to himself But on the on the human side of things we don't want to be the hindrance We don't want to be the the block that keeps people from seeing Christ or We don't want to be the block that people use an excuse for not seeing Christ We just erase the excuses by pursuing peace Interesting these two things are alike in in Matthew 5 Matthew 5 it says blessed are those who are pure in heart

They shall see God that sanctification verse 9 Blessed are the peacemakers For they should be called the sons of God How do people know you're a son of God? You're a peacemaker That's how they know Blessed are peacemakers because they're called the sons of God How do you become a peacemaker? Well, first of all, you have to love the maker of peace, right? You have to love the maker of peace Who's that God himself the God of peace? He's the prince of peace He's the God that bestows peace and man is Just having me just by bet by faith

Is it peace with God? So if you love the maker of peace listen, you need to leave the menace to peace What's the menace to peace? Selfishness arrogance pride Listen to Proverbs chapter 28 verse number 25 says this he That's proud in the heart stirs up Strife the arrogant man stirs up strife Did you know that? Let me ask you a question Is there strife in your home? Ask yourself what causes that strife the proud in heart stirs up Strife The arrogant man the selfish man

You see you have to leave the menace to peace and the menace to peace is an arrogant prideful Selfish heart that wants things done my way think about the last time you had argument with your wife or your husband What was it over a lot of it has to do with your own inner heart your own inner spirit wanting to get your way And do it in your timetable because you know what's best and So there is that that arrogance of a heart that causes strife in our family Listen, you might not be the The one who causes strife, but whenever there's strife around you you'd ask yourself the question What's the common denominator to that strife? Is it me? Is it my selfish attitude? If I'm gonna be a peacemaker, I have to leave behind arrogance. I have to leave behind selfishness I had to leave behind a proud heart. I had to lead Leave behind those things that I want to do That I might fulfill the needs of somebody else as to what they want to do That's being kind that's overcoming evil with with good So if I'm gonna be a peacemaker, I have to to love the maker of peace. I have to leave Behind the menace to peach which is peace, which is my own selfish heart and Then I have to labor to make peace Labor to make I got to work at it. I got to work at it

Let me tell you something once a month It's not working at it Okay You got to work at it

You go don't go hunting once a month You got it you only eat once a month eat Throughout the whole all winter time you go out hunting as often as you as it takes to track down that which you need to obtain Well here you're to you're to obtain peace You're to hunt it down track it down until you get there do all you can to be a maker of peace labor work hard It's not easy It's not easy to make peace But you have to work at it And as Christians we should never be the cause For strife in the life of an unbeliever We should always be the cause that leads them closer to Christ because we want to make peace with them When I live in peace with them when a man's ways, please the Lord He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him Are you pleasing the Lord? How do you do that become a peacemaker Love the maker of peace Leave behind the menace to peace labor to make peace And then live as a messenger of peace We are messengers of peace right and Sometimes that message is all muddled because of our strife that we cause in Relationships and the right of Hebrews says listen There are people around you In your assembly that have yet to see the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ They don't embrace the Christ yet So you need to strengthen those for a week and feeble You can do that You've been strengthened You can strengthen them At the same time you can smooth out the path So that there are no obstacles in their way and you don't want to be that obstacle because you want to live for Christ and honor Christ So you'll make a smooth path for them to understand who Christ is And then you want to seek peace pursue peace hunt it down and Sanctification Sanctification without which They will never see the Lord And you want them to see the Lord if you live an unholy life They're not gonna see the Lord right because you want to present a God who was holy holy holy so you live a holy life You don't live a stressful life and Unpeaceful life you will live a peaceful life striving to make peace With all men and sanctification because you want them to see The Lord less verse 15 Once you strengthen The people around you Straighten the path before you seek peace and sanctification for those who follow you You want to see to it? That you pastor those Around you See to it is the word Episcopal we get the word Episcopal which is a bishop an elder an overseer a shepherd a pastor Do you know that you're supposed to be engaged in pastoring work? You think that's my job? You know, we pay you to be our pastor

Oh, no No, you're the pastor You're you're you're the Episcopal you're the one that's engaged in shepherding those around you So you can't get out of responsibility You are shepherds He says see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God See to it In other words, he says see to it that no one comes short or Comes too late or is left out or who falls away from the grace of God See to it Those in your assembly make sure they see the grace of God make sure they understand the grace of God You're to shepherd those people

Do they really believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are they really committed to Christ? You want to make sure they are because if not listen carefully it says this That no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled Wow a root of bitterness Where do you get that from Old Testament book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy chapter 29 Moses says these words That there will not be among you a man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God Moses the concern about people turning away from the Lord our God Israelites turning away from the Lord our God Remember he's writing to Hebrews

So the Hebrew people know Old Testament

They know Deuteronomy 29 They understand this they get it He says this To go and serve the gods of those nations that there will be not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit or Wormwood a root of bitterness See that this is this It shall be when he hears the words of this curse that he will boast saying I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart in order to destroy the watered land and the dry the Lord shall never be willing to forgive him but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will turn against that man and Every curse which is written in this book will rest on him and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven Then the Lord will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel According to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of the law The right of Hebrews gets all of his arguments from the Old Testament She makes it clear See to it

This is your responsibility You want to finish? Well Shepherd the people around you the people in your assembly be Be the the the bishop to them be the the overseer of them Make sure that nobody around you no one in your family No one in your church family fall short of the grace of God because if they do if they fall away and if they're on the brink of making a decision and they don't make a decision because They might use you as an excuse

You don't want to be used as that excuse They might have an excuse but it should never be you right because you're a peacemaker You live a life of sanctification and holiness But for those others Right who are around you who might fall short of the grace of God You wanna make sure that a root of bitterness doesn't spring up because if it does it will defile many Not just a few But many those who in He's taking this from Deuteronomy 29 God is telling the Israelites

Listen if you do this If you develop a root of bitterness The anger of the Lord will be so strong against you That he will bring all the curses upon you God's strongest words are always reserved For those who know the truth Because they've heard the truth But yet do not commit themselves to that truth God's strongest words are always reserved for them because they apostatize the faith they fall away That's why we've we've gone through all these warnings in the book of Hebrews and next week Go through another one as we go through Hebrews chapter 12 But God gives these warnings Make sure that you give your life to Christ So it's not impossible to renew you once again to repentance

That's Hebrews 6 verses 4 to 6 right and so it's important that you realize that as another person In the assembly who loves the Lord Give this great incredible privilege and responsibility to shepherd those around you to oversee them to pastor them To make sure they don't fall short of the grace of God to make sure that a root of bitterness does not spring up in them Because they'll defile many People who fall away from the faith people who apostatize the faith

They defile so many people in the process example that Esau that's next who says and That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau Who sold his own birthright for a single meal? For you know that even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing He was rejected For he found no place for repentance Though he sought for it with tears Remember Esau He saw was born first Jacob was born second Esau Was the rightful heir to the blessing because he was the firstborn but Esau was willing to sell out his birthright For a bowl of stew Remember that you know the story book of Genesis And Jacob then would be the one who would inherit the blessing

Yes, Jacob. I have chosen the Lord says Jacob I have loved Esau. I have hated why it's got said Because Esau was a godless person There was nothing Esau that wanted to that moved him To want to inherit the blessing What was the blessing the blessing was the Messianic line That was a blessing In Esau Esau was the man in in the book of Obadiah is About the destruction of the Edomites the Edomites are descendants of Esau Do you know That there is no Group of people no people group in all of Scripture That has more curses pronounced on it Then the Edomites the descendants of Esau

Did you know? Why because the root of bitterness defiles many And the Edomites were defiled people They were an immoral people that God's people Remember Esau He was an immoral man He married two Hittite women two daughters of Canaan Which was against the law of God as God spoken to Abraham and to Isaac his father But Esau didn't care because the birthright didn't mean that much to him Oh, he sought it with tears, right? He cried That was a worldly sorrow, not a godly sorrow Second Corinthians chapter 7 verses 9 and following talk about a godly sorrow versus a worldly sorrow

Esau of the Old Testament is like Judas in the New Testament Judas wept too But it was a worldly sorrow, not a godly sorrow And Esau was rejected by the Lord And when the Bible says, Jacob, I have loved Esau, I have hated It simply is a reference to the fact that Esau is representative of all the godless people who reject their Messiah and will not follow him because they love the things of the world more than they love the things of God Esau chose meat over the Messiah Esau chose temporal over eternal Esau chose physical over the spiritual That's why God hates Esau

Because God is against all those who are against him And Esau represents that And so we had this great responsibility We had this great responsibility to make sure that we strengthen the people around us, that we smooth the path that's before us, that we seek peace and purity with those who follow after us And we see to it that we pastor, shepherd, oversee everybody in our church and our family and ask them, do you know the Lord? Have you given your life to Christ? Have you come all the way to Christianity? Are you sincere about your walk with the Lord? That's a great question

Why? Because we don't want any root of bitterness springing up in you because you come short of the grace of God and fall away and remain out of joint Why? Because there's an example in Scripture of a man named Esau who chose the world over what God had to offer And a root of bitterness leads you to that You want to finish well? You finish well by determining to do what God has called you to do as you run the race for the glory of his kingdom Let's pray Father, we thank you for today We thank you for a chance to look into the word and be challenged. I'm challenged

Father, it's not enough to be challenged We've got to be changed We need a purpose in our hearts to do the right thing. I pray for everyone in the room. I pray that we'd be peacemakers, that, Lord, we would love you, the maker of peace We leave behind that one menace of peace, our arrogant pride and selfishness, labor to make peace and live as a messenger of peace because people need to be at peace with God And Father, we realize that there's even some even in our own assembly who might not have given their life to Christ, have not bowed the knee to you as king

May we be faithful shepherds, overseers, imploring them, encouraging them, coming alongside and strengthening the weak and the feeble, that we might minister to them in a very special way, that we might finish well the race that is before us In Jesus' name, amen.