i invite you to turn this morning to hebrews chapter 12 hebrews chapter 12 and um we'll be looking it's found on page 1196 i want to just set the context read the first two verses we'll skip down to verses 12 and our text this morning is verses 14 through 17 let me say up front um this is the last warning section in the book of hebrews and um it's not an easy section you know I was really blessed by Dr. Ferguson last week to hear him preach on Joseph and the consoling mercies of the Lord and then the love of God, you know, in John chapter 17. And now you get your pastor back and we got to deal with the apostasy of Esau. I realized that's difficult. But I also want you to know the heart of a pastor here is to not avoid sections like this. I think that's our tendency but to listen to what the lord's telling us because the goal in this remember the goal that's in front of us here the goal in this is to keep all of us on the track and that's why it's so important to listen to what are those things that pull us off so he's given us a lot of good examples and now we study an example of someone we don't want to emulate and that's why this is so important today so beginning at verse one this is the word of the lord therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and the sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God and verse 12 picks up this this comparison again and metaphor of the running race therefore lift up your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed and now our text strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the lord see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of god that no root of bitterness springing up springs up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like esau who sold his birthright for a single meal for you know that afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no chance to repent though he sought it with tears and that's our text this morning from hebrews chapter 12 well a few weeks ago i was at a track meet for calvin watching our boys run and there was a particular running event and a young girl took a nasty fall and it's one of those things where the whole crowd just sinks you know their hearts just sink for this person um you know here's a runner trying to run the race and she takes a nasty fall and she rolls down the track a few times and your hearts go out to someone like this and she had a choice at that point didn't she she had a choice you're either gonna you're gonna walk off the track or you're gonna get up and finish that race even if you're last and as you know some of the most inspiring things we witness is that person who has taken the tumble and then gets up and finishes that race in everyone's eyes it didn't matter if she was last place the courage that she had to finish the race the courage that she had to get back up and run and i want you to kind of keep that little illustration in front of you today as we look at this passage that is so important this is what the author of hebrews has been using to help us a metaphor to help us understand the Christian life. It was a common metaphor in the first century running race to sort of capture what life is. And he is taking this in the common writings of the day and using it to capture the Christian life. But remember, he cataloged for us a long list in chapter 11 of those who have gone before us, who have run this race with endurance, and they walked by faith. That was the common denominator, wasn't it? No matter what they faced, whether they were sawn in two or whether they changed and saved kingdoms, whatever God had for them, they lived by faith. They all lived by faith and the promise of a better country. They had hope that is set before them. Remember, faith is the substance, the reality of what we're hoping for and what we have strong confidence in what we've not seen. Well, now we come to today the final warning in the book in Hebrews. And instead of giving us a catalog of those who do not live by faith, which is really remarkable when he wants to encourage us, he gives us a long catalog of those who do live by faith, but he sets before us one individual now who does not live by faith in his life. To have us think about him. And that person is, of all he could have chosen in the Old Testament record, Esau. A child of the covenant. A child of the covenant who threw it all away. That's what I want to consider with you this morning. That we would have a good understanding of what apostasy looks like in the life of someone. I was in the Central Valley not so long ago and had a mother of a childhood friend come up to me in tears because my childhood friend who had been raised in the church has now denied the faith and is living as an unbeliever in complete darkness, hating the whole thing, and no one can talk to him about it. No one can talk to him about it. She said, can you talk to him? And your heart just sinks. I knew this kid. We sat in the church pew together. We were in Sunday school together. Did everything together. And he's gone. From the faith? Well, that's what we have to deal with. This is what we've got to think through. Because it may very well be that there's a young person sitting here now that's going to try this. And we do them no favors by sugarcoating everything and making this light and fluffy and thinking there's nothing serious to this. this is what the author this is pastoral care this is his best pastoral care because he's looking at everyone saying listen stay in the race he has dealt with this already with numerous warnings in the book the story here is not uncommon to us it's confusing for us because when we hear stories like this we immediately think oh was salvation lost did they have it and then they did they lose it what happened this is the hard reality of christian ministry this is the struggle this is one of our biggest struggles in christian ministry so jesus described in the parable the sower i encourage you to go back and read matthew 13 the different kind of responses to the word where some stay around for a while but then when things get hard, they're gone. And this is the difficulty in the covenant of grace. There is what we call an outward administration of this by baptism. It welcomes us into the family of God. Sprinkling is put on and we are outwardly members of the church of Jesus Christ. But none of that matters unless the substance of the covenant has been received let me be really plain with that unless we have moved from simply receiving to becoming a believer in it this is what mason illustrated for us today right from becoming or even being a make-believer hiding in the pew to becoming a true believer unless it has so entered your hearts nicodemus you pharisee and teacher in israel you're not born again because there is that reality of hearts who have not yet been born again in the kingdom we always deal with this struggle and the potential that there will be apostasy and that's why ministry beloved it can't just be about entertaining us this is eternal salvation that we're talking about these are eternal issues because we deal with this problem i just raised of hearts not born again what do you think happens in the life of the covenant community well what he's dealing with here is just that he's addressing the the real problem of apostasy if i may put it in terms of the metaphor that is presented some will be dropping off the track and will not run with the race with endurance and will quit some will step off some will not endure and because this is a big concern in the book of hebrews he's been wrestling through what's causing that what was causing the problem was this church was facing persecution their friends and among the jews were persecuting them the government was coming against them and they said what good is this there's no power in this we're not experiencing power from the reign of christ what is this and it was having the effect of exposing true colors in people is what it was i mean covid kind of did that in many ways didn't it it just exposed things in people we never thought it would expose that was shocking just a virus did that and so what is the purpose here today he's a pastor this is a sermon that is in the case made um dennis johnson makes this case this this whole this whole book is a is a sermon it's a pastoral sermon um because he can't read into hearts but he knows actions and he's concerned to keep every single one of the flock from apostasy and that's that's always the goal as i said from the beginning and so this is the final warning in the book today it has the important goal that's the single great goal is to keep you boys and girls on the track so that's the metaphor in front of us so i want to spend a moment with this important passage and looking at the calling that he has for us here the concerns to watch for and the character he wants us to consider so that we don't step off this this track remember last time he spoke of the discipline that god is giving us so um that we shouldn't despise that discipline members don't despise the discipline of the lord what why the lord disciplines us in life is that it has a it's a correcting mercy to keep us so we face certain things and we may not all always even discern whether it's the discipline of the lord but it's it there are ways in which he's working at saying to keep us don't despise that and then in verse 12 he he called us to strengthen our hands and our feeble knees still thinking about the race and how do we do that well here's all of us who have been concerned about how to live the christian life i think you get something of that now notice verse 14 carefully pursue peace with everyone and holiness or the holiness without which no one will see the lord now that has been a very controversial verse on the surface some have read this and thought and books have been written on this on holiness that that is saying to us if there's not enough peace in your lives and there's not enough holiness in your lives, you're not going to see the Lord. Has that even been in the train of thought in the book of Hebrews? That has not been in the whole trace of Hebrews. There has been nothing that has insinuated that. He already said before, we do see Jesus. He was made a little lower than the angels, but now is crowned. The point is, we see Him in His work. A sacrifice was made for us. A great sacrifice was made for us. Propitiation was made. Cleansing of conscience was made. What he is telling us is that there are two great benefits that the sacrifice of Christ has secured for you. What are they? Peace and holiness. These are special gifts he's given to the church. Remember Dr. Ferguson, the other night, if you were here, prayed for, when he preached on John 17, when Jesus prayed for the church that we would be one, that's a peace that Jesus is praying for that we receive because of his work. And think of the joy of this in a culture so divided. One of the things we do enjoy, if your eyes are open to this, it's peace of our fellowship with one another. It's beautiful. This is a gift of his sacrificial death. We enjoy peace with each other. this is the family of god this is zion we pray for the peace of zion we're going to have peace forever together that's a gift of christ to you the second gift is holiness in other words christ has given us another gift he's not so much talking about personal holiness here he will in the next chapter he's talking about notice here the second gift that you are consecrated through his sacrifice. He's speaking of sacrificial consecration. Just like, you know, we say in baptism, your children are holy. They are sanctified. They're set apart in Christ by virtue of the covenant. We have been made holy. This is what the whole book has told us. His sacrifice on the cross has consecrated us as a people to god a holy people our consciences have been cleansed so two gifts peace holiness you're set apart as his people he's given you peace now it just seems obvious to me if somebody walks away from this all and rejects christ and apostatizes apostatizes remember apostasy is knowing the truth receiving the truth believing the truth as it is in jesus and turning away from christ rejecting him as the sacrifice what are the two friend twin fruits of apostasy i think you can look at it from that angle it's the exact opposite what is the first thing that happens in apostasy somebody breaks the fellowship don't we always see that and they find a place where they can practice sin without any consequence. And what does that cause in the life of the church? What does that cause in the holy family? What it causes is not peace. It causes fracture. It causes pain. And it causes, that's why discipline is so difficult. You know this. This is what John was describing. They went out from us because they're not of us. For if they were of us, they would have remained with us. But now they went out from us to demonstrate that they were not of us. That's not peace. That's division. That causes us as the body of Christ untold pain. And it causes parents untold pain when it's their children. The sad fruit of apostasy is no peace in their life. And what's the second sad fruit? Well, that's what he's describing here. It's holiness. He has made His people set apart and sanctified from the world. What happens in apostasy? It's separation from the body. It's a willing choice to separate from the body that despises the two benefits of Christ's work. And I think you see this. You are rejecting the separate status that you have and you've chosen to go from the holy community back to the world. and that was one of the things about church discipline when paul said cast them out into the world there was a status change so that hopefully god would shake them back up and bring them say what am i doing i want to come back in but this is their own choice in apostasy to step from the holy sanctified community back to that see see see what he's saying here he's not talking so much about personal sanctity or personal peace he's talking about the objective things jesus gave you peace and a separate status pursue that receive that enjoy that but in apostasy all that's ditched he's concerned about this and so he describes for us in this concern what it looks like in someone's life what does apostasy look like in someone's life we all have to guard this and notice he says watch carefully lest he says lest here three times watch carefully look carefully notice the first lest lest anyone fall short of the grace of god unless you seem to he said earlier fall short of entering the promised rest and that comes right out of deuteronomy 29 17 lest there be among you a man whose heart turns away from the Lord your God. It's despising the grace of the Lord. It's forfeiting the grace of the Lord. It's saying, I'm going to be okay in the stubbornness of my own heart. I'm going to go do what I want to do. And no one can tell me different. That's what he's talking about. Hearts that are hardened in sin and choose that sin and they will not listen. They're forfeiting the grace of God. Second, he says, watch, lest there be among you. What typically happens in this path? A bitter root growing up, causing trouble and bitter fruit. He's so concerned to keep you. What's a big problem for people in life? Well, if you follow Deuteronomy 29 again, make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of the nations. So it turns aside to false worship. Make sure there's no root among you that produces such bitter poison. Here's what he's saying. You're going to face hard things in life. And some of these things we looked at are appointed. But there is a real danger in our hearts. It's my heart, real danger of a root of bitterness springing up. Anger. We get angry. We're bitter at life's circumstances. We're bitter that this thing has happened. We're bitter at God. We're angry at God, deep down. And that bitterness spreads. It's like a cancer. And it spreads disloyalty. And it spreads this disloyalty to the covenant people. it just has bitter fruit in its life it causes problems for everyone it's bitter and poisonous he says it defiles he says that's a danger to watch for in your life forfeiting grace and bitterness ruining you and the third moves us into the third he provides a character to consider that demonstrates for us the prototype of all apostasy, and that's Esau. Esau embodies everything that we're talking about. What did Esau do, just stepping back from it? He divided the family. He pursued sin. He rejected the grace of God. A root of bitterness rose up in him. Remember how angry he was. He was sexually immoral and profane. he wants you to have a clear example of what apostasy looks like and so verse 16 16 he gives the third watch carefully lest there be any fornicator or profane person like esau who for a morsel of food sold his birthright for you know that afterward when he wanted to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought it diligently with tears trace the story just for a minute with me you know the story one day he's hungry he's out hunting and he comes in and he says feed me that red stew that you make for i'm weary jacob you are a good cook jacob says sell me your birthright i'm so hungry i'm about to die what's a birthright to me and it says then he despised it so he sells the birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup such an important story in Genesis because apostasy has its characteristic of living to gratify the desires of the nature to live in that in the moment it's all about personal gratification in the moment it's all about this world this life living in the moment and there's no faith as we saw in the life to come those were illustrative of the promises of god that the birthright and the blessings he was willing to give all that up as the right of the firstborn son for soup which shows he despised god's covenant he had the inheritance rights he sold them and so that when isaac even through the deception gave the blessing right to jacob he should have been he should have been blessed but isaac there represented god's action because of esau's disregard of the covenant it jacob is blessed and what is it what happens remember that and he puts on the clothes and he's blessed and esau comes in and realize what's happened when esau heard the words of his father he cried with an exceeding here it is great and bitter cry he had already sold it bless me father bless me the kind of person who lived not cherishing any of this until he realized what was lost now the interesting inclusion here is that he was a fornicator or sexually immoral genesis says he had married canaanite women he had already married a canaanite woman knowing that this would cause division in the family and not peace in the family. He was known as sexually immoral in seeking all these unbelieving wives. So this is Genesis. Esau was 40 years old when he took to wife Judith, the daughter of Biri the Hittite, and Beshemoth, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. Listen to this. which were of grief of mind to Isaac and Rebecca. I've said this before. I had a pastor years ago when I was in college. I was contemplating marrying a gal. And he said in the sermon that when we marry outside the Lord, knowingly, we are rejecting his covenant and are being traitors to him it hit me like a ton of bricks that was exactly what i needed to hear and i figure someone needs to hear it today typically what we see in paths of apostasy is covenant marriage disregarded and where you see the great compromises in marriage itself often. I mean, I say to our young people, if you're pursuing marriage with someone who is of grief of mind to your parents, and hopefully your parents have enough wherewithal to make that known to you if that person should be a grief of mind. Precisely because they are questioning and are concerned about the spirituality of the person and whether they're truly following the Lord and because there's no faith, if they claim it to you and they have enough love to say that to you, consider Esau. Consider Esau. Look at what he caused in the family through this. Division, bitterness, the whole thing. Nothing but bad fruit after bad fruit after bad fruit. Genesis 28.6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac, so with no spiritual insight, Esau went to Ishmael and then took more wives from him. What a mess. Here's the saddest thing. When Esau saw what he lost, He wanted it all back. But he was rejected. But notice, he found no place for repentance even though he sought it diligently with tears. I know that's confusing for you. It's not how... Read it carefully. Let me explain it. The antecedent to this is the blessing. Meaning, he wanted the blessing back. He sought the blessing back. He wanted the firstborn rights back. But there was no place. There was no repentance in his life. There was no desire to repent in his life. even though he sought that blessing with tears. That's what he's saying. He wanted the blessing. He sought the blessing, but there was no place for repentance. And the whole story is summed up this way. He was born in the covenant community. He didn't believe the gospel. He heard a lot of sermons. There was no covenant consecration. There was no receiving of the holiness of Christ for him by faith. And his life was characterized by bitterness, departure, sexual immorality, disregard for marriage, and he lived for personal gratification in the moment, throwing away everything that was good for him. That's the summary. And I think we needed to hear that today. Heard a lot about faith. I went through how many figures in Hebrews 11? How encouraging was that? But we have to hear this too. In saying this, what do I want to say in closing today? This is not hopeless. That's not his purpose is to say Esau couldn't have repented. It's not his purpose. He didn't come to Christ. He didn't believe Jesus. We need to pray for people on this path diligently. That there would be genuine repentance in their lives. And Christ has that power to give that. he does not say he was rejected because he really wanted to repent and God didn't accept his repentance. Did you hear me? That's not what that says. He was rejected because he sought the blessing back but no desire to turn to Jesus. The goal of all of this is to lead us to repentance. But I want you to keep in this today in closing the story of the prodigal up front. He did this. The prodigal son was in the father's house, had been given everything, but he didn't love his father. He just wanted the money. And then one day, once he got the money, he said, I'm out. And he went and wasted his life in sexually immoral living, is what it said. you might all say there's an apostate there's an apostate but those are the ones Jesus came to get and one day what did he do he came to himself and he said what am I doing I'm living in the pig slot I've ruined my life I've done all these terrible things I'm going to go back to my father and I'm going to say dad I'll just be a doorkeeper in your house Psalm 84 I'll just be a servant just let me in and the father throws a robe on him and the father kills the fatted calf and the father receives him in that's what we need to remember here you receive by faith and pursue by faith what christ has given you what he gives you are beautiful things peace with god and peace with man and ultimately anyone considering apostasy knows your life's not peace your life is a war and your life's at warfare with god and he gives you a separate status which is the very thing you're trying to seek for and not finding happiness. Consecration into a life that matters. And I think he encourages us in the end here, you know, you're in the race, strengthen your hands. I know the race isn't difficult. It's like what Mason said, sometimes I wonder, you know, in the middle of the race, why am I doing this? Or why is it going like this? Or why is this so difficult? But his beautiful testimony was getting to that. finish line is wonderful and that's what the christian life is sure it's a momentary affliction but something so good is held out for you run to jesus today he loves you he died for you he gave his life to forgive you he himself says in the next section remember this when all your difficulties come, I have promised I will never leave you nor forsake you. So that I might boldly say, next section, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? This is the confidence he wants you to enjoy. Be strengthened today and renewed in him. And remember in your own race, whatever it is, in the difficulties of the moment, run with endurance. Keep your eyes looking forward don't look this way don't look that way look at who's in front of you it's christ his arms are open to you and know that anything in this moment whatever is ahead of you is far better than the momentary afflictions of this life may you be encouraged today and may we learn from the life of esau how important it is that we need jesus and to trust in him let's pray Heavenly Father, thank you today for your gospel to us. And thank you even that you care to give us challenges like this. That we would be kept and preserved. And that we would remember how wonderful you are. Thank you, O Lord, that even though we can't read hearts, you can. And you also have the power to change the heart. And so, Lord, may all those who are not believing be believing by Your Spirit. And bless us and strengthen us in our race. We might be a light to those in darkness and that we might have great confidence that the Lord shall never leave us nor forsake us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.