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All right. Well, beautiful singing. So if I’ve not met you, my name is Aaron, and I’m a preaching pastor here at Red Village Church. And I’m glad you’re with us.
There’s a lot of people that are sick right now, and so we’re glad that you’re well enough to be with us this morning.
So if you have a Bible with you, if you’d open up to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12.
Our text of study is going to be verses 3 through 17.
And if you don’t have a Bible with you, fear not, there are Bibles kind of scattered throughout the pews. And our text of study is going to come on page 585 of those blue pew Bibles if you want to find your way there. And as you open your Bible, please keep them open. So we do a style of preaching here called expository preaching. And so as we get to the heart of the sermon, all I’m going to do is just kind of walk us through the text and do my best to try to explain it to us as a congregation so we might hear from God in his word. So Hebrews 12, verses 3 through 17 is going to be our text of study as mentioned.
But this time here, I’m just going to read verse 3. So follow along with me. Verse 3. And then I’m going to pray, ask for God’s blessing on this time, and then we will get to work.
So this is what the word says. Considered him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so you may not grow weary or fainthearted. So that’s God’s word for us this morning. Would you please pray with me? Lord, it is good to be here. Thank you for bringing us together.
Lord, I pray that in this time here, you would bless the preaching of your word for your glory and our good. Please help me to be a good communicator this morning. Help my words to be clear and truthful.
Please help me to not fall into any type of error or even to just be a bad communicator. Help me to communicate well. And Lord, you pray also for the congregation, but through the power of your spirit, that you give them ears to hear. Help them to lean into your word as we work through it this morning. In Jesus’ name, amen.
So Helen Lamell was born in England in 1863. Her father was actually a pastor. When Helen was 12, her family moved across the pond, actually to our beloved state of Wisconsin. In her early youth, her family started to recognize that Helen was a very gifted musician, particularly with singing. In time, she pursued her musical gifts and talents by becoming a traveling musician, where she put on concerts around the country.
As Helen grew into adulthood, her love for music never really waned. So even into her 40s, she moved to Germany just to continue to grow as a musician. It was there where she married, and she rose to the peak of her popularity. However, also during this time, that tragedy hit her in a few devastating ways. So first, she was struck with blindness. Then afterwards, she was hit with the abandonment of her husband, who left her.
And then the third devastation was financial ruins. However, it was also during this time of great devastation that friends would come to Helen and ask her how she was doing. And she would now famously respond with these words, she says, I am fine in the things that count.
Which for Helen, the things that count spoke to her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. She had Christ. Christ had her. In the end, that’s what mattered. That’s what counted. Now fast forward a few more years to 1918, Helen is now in her mid-50s, around 10 years or so, walking through the devastation that she went through earlier with blindness, abandonment, financial ruin.
And Helen came across a gospel tract written by a missionary named Lilas Trotter. And she was a missionary in Africa. And as Helen heard this tract read, her creative and musical juices really were stoked.
And they’re so particular by this one line of the tract, which says this. So then, turn your eyes upon him, look full into his face, and you’ll find the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness. This line grabbed the heart of Helen, and led her to write a very popular hymn that you can still find today in I think basically every hymn book. So let me read you the words of this hymn. So there’s three verses, and I’ll read you the chorus. The first verse is this, O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see. There’s light for a look at the Savior, a life more abundant and free. Verse two, through death into life everlasting, he passed and we will follow him there. Us, our sin, no more have dominion, for more than conquerors we are. Third verse. His word shall not fail you, he promised.
Believe him, and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying, his perfect salvation to tell. Then the chorus. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full into his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Now, I share that with you this morning, both to help remind us where we finished off in our study last week in Hebrews 1 through 2, Hebrews 12, verses 1 through 2. We’re also preparing for our text to study today.
So if you were with us last Sunday where we finished off, we finished with an instruction, which was an instruction to look to Jesus, to turn our eyes upon Jesus, to set the gaze of our heart upon him. The one who we learned in our text last week, who is the author, the perfecter of our faith, the very one for the joy set before him, endure the cross, despising the shame, the one who is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. So that’s where we left off in our text study last week in Hebrews 12, 1 through 2, with an author instructing and encouraging us to turn our eyes upon Jesus, to look full into his wonderful face.
Now today, when we pick up our study, that encouragement, that instruction to look to Jesus, is actually still before us. As we see in our text today, a few helps or means by which God uses to help us gaze upon our Lord Jesus Christ. So if you want to look back at your text starting in verse 3, as you look back there, let me mention that the author of Hebrews is addressing Christians in this text, people who have faith in Jesus Christ. So as we work through this text, as I mentioned, these are means, they’re helps that God has given to his people for us to set our gaze upon Christ.
So that’s a primary purpose, or primary people who this letter is written to, to Christians. These are means, in fact we’ll see three means this morning, by which we are to use to help keep our gaze, set our gaze on the Lord Jesus Christ. So verse 3, the first of the three, which is the means of considering or pondering or meditating upon the Lord Jesus Christ, of who he is and what he has done for us. Verse 3, the text tells us, consider him, consider Jesus, consider, ponder, dwell upon him.
And as you dwell upon the Lord Jesus Christ, consider what he has done for us. As the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who endured from sinners such hostility against himself. Now, the hostility that Jesus endured I think can speak really towards his entire earthly life, where throughout his entire life Jesus faced great hostility, including from those who were closest to him. We see in scripture like even family and friends at times showed levels of hostility towards Jesus Christ, his mission, where they questioned Jesus, where they doubted Jesus. Well that hostility I’m sure is included here in the text. I think the primary hostility that the author is referring to is all that Jesus endured on the cross.
All the events leading up to the cross, including the cross, where through the hostility of sinners, Jesus was mocked and scorned and shamed. Where our Lord was beaten and whipped, nailed to a cross. Where on the cross our Lord had to endure the most painful of deaths.
Where not only did the Lord endure the most painful of deaths and physical agony, but because of sin, our sin, Jesus also endured the wrath of God that burns over sin. Where Jesus died to take on the punishment, the just judgment for hostile sinners like you and me. For us, in this text, friends, this is something that we must set our minds and hearts towards. We must consider, ponder, think deeply about who Jesus is. All that he endured for us, for our salvation. Now it’s important for us to consider and continue to consider the Lord Jesus Christ for many reasons, including the reasons found at the end of verse 3, if you’re going to take your eyes there.
So we might not grow weary or fainthearted. Friends, as hard as life may be, when we look to our Lord, we look to him in ways that we’re considering Jesus Christ. When we remember all that he endured for us, so we might be forgiven. So we might have the hope of eternal life. God uses that as a means to pour his strength on us, even though we ourselves are weak. By the way, as a further reminder, remember the first readers?
They were weary. They were fainthearted. The first readers, they were weak and seemingly growing weaker because of suffering, persecution, persecution for their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, which has caused them to have a lot of complicated realities for them to have to endure. So for them, as they were enduring, to help them continue to endure, the text, the author of Hebrews does not give them some type of self-help pep talk of trying to pull themselves up by their own strength to just muscle their way through it. Rather the help for them, the help for us, the encouragement of this text is to look to Jesus, to ponder, to consider, to meditate, to dwell on all that he has done for us. Friends, because when we look to him, as we consider Jesus Christ and what he endured, that helps us to endure.
As we see and remember what he endured for us, we remember someday we will never have to endure again when we are with him. Friends, there’s a song that sings, as the song sings, when we look full into the face of Jesus, the things of earth, as real, as hard, as difficult, as painful as they might be, when we gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ, even those things start to grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Not that the real, hard, painful things will disappear in this life, they don’t disappear until the next life, but when we look to Jesus, friends, it puts things into proper perspective. There’s actually a verse four of our text that’s telling us, if you want to take your eyes there.
When we look to Jesus by the means of considering him, considering that he endured for us in our salvation, it gives us perspective so that in our struggle against sin we see that we have not resisted the point of shedding our blood. I’m going to say it again, for the first readers, life really was hard. And so let’s hear, this is not like the author trying to minimize their struggle. So for us, we don’t have to read this this morning like, hey, you guys are being a bunch of babies. You haven’t died, it’s not that bad, you haven’t even shed your blood yet. So quit your complaining and just go for it.
That’s not the tone of the letter. Rather, here’s the author just helping his readers gain perspective. Yes, life is hard, but it would be so much worse. Look to Christ. Look to what he has done. Dwell upon what he has done for you.
Give perspective in all the challenges that you face. Friends, when life is hard, without pondering Christ, what happens is we will start to set our gaze on the hardship and we start to lose all perspective. And not only that, we are robbed of all joy and peace that our God gives to us. Those are the very things we find when we look into his face. This morning for us, friends, this means of considering Christ to help us to set our gaze on Christ. Friends, this is so important for us to do and continue to do.
It’s not just like rush past our Lord. It’s rush past considering or pondering. We don’t have this yada, yada, yada. Jesus died.
He rose again. My sins are forgiven. Eternal life. Yeah, I get all that. Can we just move on and get back to whatever is in front of me in this life? Let’s not do that.
Rather, let us ask the Lord to help us to consider and continue to consider who Jesus is, what he has done for us as he revealed to us in the sacred scriptures. I actually want to especially encourage those of us here who maybe walked in this morning where you just feel it in your soul. Just this heaviness. We’re within this heaviness. You just feel it kind of just twisted around in knots and anxieties, but all the complexities of life. Friend, please hear the encouragement of this text.
Please find real, practical ways to consider your Lord. Don’t rush through it just to get back to whatever it is that you’re concerned by. But I can lovely encourage you just to slow down. Gaze upon our Lord. Remember all that he did, all that he endured for you. Sometimes that’s the first means we see in our text to help us look to Jesus.
We just slow down and consider. Keep going in the text. We see the second means that is there to help us to keep our gaze on Christ, which is the help, the means, the discipline of God. God disciplines us to help us look to Jesus. Take your eyes to verse 5. And have you forgotten the exhortation or the encouragement that addresses you as sons?
By the way, the sons here is not simply a reference to gender, but this is a reference to position, status, or culture. You have sonship. This is a place of honor or privilege. So in the text, exhortation, the encouragement the author gives that he doesn’t want his readers to lose sight or forget, we see is a quote from the Old Testament book of Proverbs.
This is from Proverbs 3, 11 through 12. It says this, the text quotes, it says, My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. Now when it comes to the discipline of the Lord, it’s important to understand that discipline is like a training, an instruction that the Lord uses to grow his people, to grow us in ways that we’re trusting deeper in God. We’re actually experiencing more of his love and grace in fuller ways. The discipline is a means meant to take our eyes to Jesus Christ.
So the discipline of the Lord, it’s not harsh. It’s not aimless. It’s not like a purposeless act that God does towards his people.
It’s more like an act of cruelty or abuse. We’re through discipline, maybe God’s trying to beat us down into despair. Rather, God’s discipline, his training, his instruction, is something he uses for our good.
It’s something that comes from his good, kind, loving heart. You’ll see in the text in just a bit. In the end, builds us up.
In the text, God disciplines those that he loves. Because through loving discipline, to say it again, we better see Jesus. We’re more fully setting our gaze upon him.
And the discipline of God is there to strip away anything that might be keeping us from better experiencing him, from more closely walking with him. Which, could there be anything better than that? In Scripture, when it comes to the discipline, the instruction, the training from God, you see they can come in a few different ways. Let me just give you a few.
God might use different things to discipline his people. So in the book of Matthew, some of the discipline that the Lord uses is actually tied to his church. Where the church might discipline a member who is in obvious, unrepentant sin, which is a sin that is not only bringing damage to that person, but also to the reputation of Christ and his church. So the church might use the discipline of God in ways that might remove them from fellowship, with the hopes that the discipline would wake this person up, wake them up in ways that they’re putting away their sin, so they would come back into deeper, truer fellowship with God and the church.
In other places of Scripture, we see how God might use trials of all sorts of kinds to discipline his people, where some of the trials might come our way because of the result of sin. So a trial might be a discipline, almost like it’s a form of a punishment. So just as an example, I’ll give you one. 1 Corinthians, which we read often before we take the Lord’s Supper, talks about the discipline of God, where in that discipline God punished some in the Corinthian church, in ways he caused some to be weak or sick or even died, because how sinful they were as he took the Lord’s Supper. So at times, a discipline that comes in a trial might be a form of a punishment. However, that being said, we also see that not all trials that come our way come because of sin.
Not all discipline is brought on because of a punishment. At times, discipline, instruction, training from God might come through a difficult providence, which is something we just sung about, where for his purposes, according to his wisdom, God might use a difficult, providential trial to instruct us so we are more fully set in our eyes on Christ. Which if you’ve been through or in a difficult providence, a frowning smile, that’s really heavy and difficult, I think you know how God uses that frowning providence to cause you to trust the Lord, seek the Lord, pray to the Lord, depend upon the Lord in ways you may have not done before the trial came your way. There’s a song that sings, one I like, it says, it says, in the valley, that’s where we become more like Christ, which is so true in difficult providential trials, where God is stripping things from us for us to see that in the end, all that we have and all that we need is him.
Once again, context of the letter for the first readers, they were certainly in a difficult providence. A difficult providence, a heavy trial that was not brought on as a punishment for sin, rather a difficult providence that they’re facing. The discipline that God is using in their life, one that they’re having to endure, was actually because of their faith in Christ. Yet that difficult providence, that difficult trial, still was part of God’s good discipline on them. As a difficult providential trial was teaching them, instructing them in ways that’s caused them to look to Christ, the author, the refactor of their faith, to look to him in ways that they’re leaning on him more than they ever had before. For us this morning, it’s important to remember, I think there are two things in this.
First, that God does discipline his people, which he can do in many different ways. And second, he does this. God disciplines because he loves his people. He’s not harsh. He’s not cruel. Rather, he disciplines.
He teaches. He instructs. Because he’s love. Keep going to the text. There’s more information on the loving discipline of God and his people. It’s a great means to help us that are gays in Christ.
Verse 7 of the text. I want you to take your eyes there. It is for discipline that you endure. It’s an instruction. It’s a teaching of the Lord. That you’re using this hard, difficult thing, this suffering, this persecution in your life, so that you would endure, so that you would persevere.
And as you endure this discipline of God in the text, do not forget, do not lose hope, do not lose heart, that even in this, even in this discipline, he is treating you as sons. Once again, sons whom he loves. Sons whom he has good, right desires for. Now, I want you to pause again for us. How often is our first thought towards the discipline of God? Our first thought is like, you know, I think right now this is God treating me as a son whom he loves.
My hunch is we probably more often think the opposite. That when hardship comes our way, whatever they may be, we feel like it’s actually God being harsh or cruel. At least for me, far too often, that’s my first reaction. Something hard comes our way.
I start to question the goodness of God. I doubt the goodness of God. I have real qualms by how he’s leading my life. Sadly, at least for me, far too often, the logic that I operate with, if God loved me, he wouldn’t discipline me. Rather, he’d almost be like a snowplow for me, where his entire purpose in my life is to push every hard thing away. In the text, you kind of get the sense that the author of Hebrews understood that type of logic.
That it’s easy for us to entertain with whatever hard discipline God might be giving to us. So to address that logic, to expose that logic as being untrue, we see the author of Hebrews point to an earthly example to help fight against that false logic. The example we see in the text, the earthly example, is of earthly fathers. Turn your eyes back to the end of verse 7. What son is there whom his heavenly father does not discipline? With the implied answer, none.
Every good earthly father disciplines, instructs, teaches his children. Good earthly fathers, good parents. They’re not snow plows who feel their entire reason to exist is to give their child whatever they want. That’s not good parenting. And that hurts the child. Because it builds up things like entitlement, selfishness, arrogance, pride.
Good parents discipline, teach, instruct their children in the fear and admonishment of the Lord. That’s the loving thing to do. Because, verse 8 in the text, if you are left without discipline, which we all participate in, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Meaning, if an earthly father does not discipline and instruct his child, how could he be his child? How could they even call him a father? Sure, maybe technically he was the father by birth or maybe by adoption.
But if there’s a lack of discipline from earthly fathers, they’re not being good fathers. With a lack of teaching and instruction, not only sinfully spoiling the child, but they’re putting difficult burdens on the child, which in the end will bring so many different types of insecurities and confusion and hurt, including the child feeling illegitimate. Verse 9, besides this, besides these feelings of feeling illegitimate, we have earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for doing so.
In verse 8, without discipline, instruction, teaching for a child, it leaves them feeling insecure. But verse 9, with good, right discipline, a child not only is set up better for life, but they respect their father, they respect their parents. Because over time, the child recognizes how much they needed good, right discipline. So, over my years involved in pastoral ministry, those who have really struggled with their parents, specifically their fathers, were not just the ones who had fathers who were cruel and harsh towards them, or the fathers maybe were claiming to be disciplining, but actually it’s much closer to abuse, which, by the way, that type of pain, that’s also not of God.
Discipline should not be abusive, it should not crush a child, provoke a child to simple anger. But it’s not just those who came from that type of setting who could really struggle to respect their dads, who had a lot of daddy issues. But those who grew up with dads who were kind of aloof, or parents who maybe gave an appearance of being involved, active, present, but in reality did nothing in terms of discipline, instructing, teaching, those who even came from those type of settings really can struggle, because they have no respect for their earthly fathers, for their earthly parents.
Those who come from those settings have so many insecurities, as they battle feelings of being illegitimate children. I’d like to keep going in the text, I’m positive in the text. If we can respect earthly fathers as they sought to livingly discipline us, and over time not only can we see how helpful and important that discipline was in our life, but we also see how much they loved us in that discipline. And if we can see that in them, who are not perfect in the text, shall we not be more subject to the Father of spirits and live? The Father here referring to our good, loving, kind, heavenly Father. The one who is perfect in all that He does.
And friends, that’s the logic that we are to use when we’re being disciplined. A logic we even see in our earthly fathers. We don’t use a logic that makes us think that God is harsh or cruel in discipline. But the logic helps us further respect our God. Helps us to see that His discipline is actually treating us as sons. Helps us to understand that through discipline, He’s showing us that we’re His.
And not only that, we are deeply loved by Him. Verse 10, keep going in this earthly illustration. To keep helping us with this right logic understanding with the discipline of God. We read, for they, meaning earthly fathers, for they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them. But He, our heavenly Father, disciplines us for our good. And one of the great ways He disciplines for His good in the text, so that we may share in His holiness.
Which is always what’s best. To be holy like He is holy. That allows us to experience more and more of Him in our life. More of His peace, more of His joy, more of His comfort. Verse 11, for the moment, all discipline in all of its forms seemed painful. Which is why we need to endure discipline.
Because it can be painful rather than pleasant. And by the way, I know some of you right now are enduring a lot that’s painful, a lot that’s unpleasant. However, as painful as discipline might be in the moment, please be encouraged, please have hope. In line with God’s good heart, His love for His people over time, God is working through the discipline. We see in the text, that it will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are being trained by it. Which continues to underscore the discipline of God is not cruel, it’s not harsh, it’s not without aim or purpose.
Rather, a good, kind, loving Heavenly Father is precisely using all different types of discipline in our life to bear fruit. Fruit of peaceful righteousness in us. Which comes as we set our gaze on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in the moment, not only does all discipline seem painful, but in the moment, we might not understand it. It’s really hard for us to understand the purpose of God, what He might be doing in our life. Friends, based on what we see here in the text, I say it again, we must take heart.
We must have faith. We must understand the loving discipline of God, it’s there. Why? To help us set our gaze on Jesus Christ. Not harsh, not cruel, not purposeless, not aimless, but loving and kind and wise. A means, a difficult means, to a much greater end.
That’s the second means we see in the text, to help us gaze on Christ. First, to ponder and consider Christ. Second, it’s just the loving discipline of God. Keep going in the passage, we see a third thing in the text, in terms of our help. The help that God gives us means that God gives us help to look to Jesus, which is a means of repentance and faith. Repentance and belief.
The word repentance basically means to churn from. In Scripture, most commonly, repentance is tied to churning from sin. We churn from sin, we repent, we churn to Christ. But in the context of this passage, what we looked at last week at least, I think repentance can actually be a little bit more broad.
We’re also churning from every weight and every sin that clings so closely to us. Repentance is churning from and churning to, is always tied to faith. It’s always tied to belief. To repent and believe. That’s the means by which we see Jesus Christ. This is the means we see Jesus actually for the first time.
So if you’re wondering how do you become a Christian, this is how you become a Christian. You repent of your sins. You churn from them.
And you believe in Jesus Christ. You believe in Him in ways that you’re trusting in Him. You’re trusting what He endured in your place.
You’re trusting that He died and rose again for you. Which for some of you here this morning, this is something you may have yet to do. And if that’s you this morning, if you have yet to repent and believe in Jesus Christ, I actually want to plead with you to do that right now for the very first time. To churn from your sin and to churn Jesus Christ and to call upon His name. To believe that indeed He did die and He did rise again from the dead for you. Now most of us here, most of us actually already have trust in Christ.
But for us, how we grow in our Christian walk is actually the same way in which we start our Christian walk. The Christian life is one of repentance and faith. That’s how we grow in Christ. We’re over and over again. We lay aside every weight in sin. We churn to Jesus.
We repent. We believe. And that’s actually the encouragement found in the final few verses of our text. Let’s look back through these again. I’m actually going to go through these kind of quickly here. So verse 12.
Therefore, because of this great loving discipline of the Lord, therefore lift your drooping hand, strengthen your weak knees. Verse 13. And make straight the paths of your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. These two verses here is a quote from the Old Testament book of Isaiah where the people in Isaiah’s day had a similar place to the people of the first readers of Hebrews as people in Isaiah’s days were also like down, discouraged as they were suffering. They had things they didn’t endure. Their life was not going in a way that they’d wanted.
People in Isaiah’s day, I’m sure, felt like they were in a hopeless situation where in their day all they could see was hopelessness in front of them which made them weary, discouraged, beaten down, defeated. And for us, we know what this is like. When life is hard, how weak we can feel. We know how easy it is to be crushed, downtrodden, discouraged, depressed, defeated. We know how every way to life can feel suffocating to the point that all that we can see is this struggle in front of us. In the text, once again, not to make light of any challenges that life might bring.
We are to churn from setting our gaze on that which is making us weak. By faith, we are to churn back to the Lord. Not only does the Lord discipline those that He loves, but as we churn to Him in our weakness, He proves that He is the one who is strong for us. So that by His strength, our hearts may be lifted up and we might find strength and healing that only the Lord can provide. Verse 14, not only that, as we churn to the Lord, we live with repentance and faith. You see in the text, we do so in ways where we strive to live with peace with everyone.
This is part of the peaceful fruit of righteousness that we are to be trained by, to strive to live in peace with everyone. That’s the fruit of repentance and faith. Now, a couple of thoughts here. So this striving, I think, does start with those who are in the faith, like other Christians, others in the same church, where we strive to live with peace with another. But I don’t think that striving actually stops with us. It starts with us, but it doesn’t stop with us.
In the text, we strive to live with peace with everyone, including our neighbors, our communities, places of work, people who are so far different from us. Scripture tells us we are to strive to live peaceful, quiet lives that are holy and acceptable before the Lord. Second, let me also point out just the word strive. So where their minds is at living at peace with everyone, it’s not easy. It’s something we have to strive to do. It takes work.
It takes effort. It takes prayer. It’s turning to the Lord for help. Keep going. The end of verse 14. When we turn from whatever our eyes are set on, and we set our eyes back on Jesus, we also strive for holiness, without which, our text tells us, no one will see the Lord.
We’re going to be perfect in this life in terms of holy living, but as we live a life of repentance and faith, we do so in ways that we’re striving for holiness. We don’t hold on to every weight and sin. We don’t make excuses for every weight and sin. Rather, we strive in ways that we repent. We walk by faith. Because in the end, we want to see our Lord Jesus.
We want to gaze on Him. Verse 15, a further encouragement of the text. A further encouragement we’re to see.
We see in the text that we’re to strive to do this, that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble. Because through it, many become defiled. Now this, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.
This is a reminder of how important our church community is. One of the reasons why it’s so important, because it’s actually one of our main purposes that we have. We’re to help each other in ways that we’re collectively We are to gaze on Christ, not wanting any to fall away from obtaining the grace of God.
The text, Root of Bitterness that Defiles, this is speaking about a story in the Old Testament, the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 29. I won’t go through it now. I’ll let you read through that maybe sometime later today. This root of bitterness reminds us why it’s so hard to live with peace with everyone. Because it’s so easy to have roots of bitterness that can creep into our hearts, that if not dealt with in time, will destroy our faith. Because in our text, bitterness causes trouble, it defiles us.
So even when we have the smallest roots of bitterness in our hearts, we must be quick to repent, turn from it. We must take our bitterness and we must, by faith, kneel to the cross. Which is one of the best ways, right? To root out roots of bitterness. It’s to consider what Christ has done for sinners, and all that He endured. As we look to Christ and see what He endured, how can we be bitter towards others?
So for us, we must repent. We must believe when we see bitterness. Verse 16, repent of bitterness. By faith, turn from it, turn to the Lord, by setting your gaze upon Jesus. In the text, so that no one may be sexually immoral or unholy like Esau. Sexual immorality, real quick, this is any type of sex outside the bonds of marriage between a man and a woman.
This also includes all pornography, all lust of the heart. I think even crude sexual talk is part of sexual immorality. Any and all sexual immorality is not what God would have for us. It’s not holy. It’s what it does, it takes our gaze off of Jesus. And it leads us to passive destruction.
Because in the end, sexual immorality becomes like an idol of our heart. An idol that we must put away with. Esau, he was a character in Genesis. A twin brother, a twin son of a man named Isaac. In the text, in a moment of sinful weakness, lack of foresight, ultimately a lack of reverence to God himself. We see in the text, Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob, which he did for a single meal.
In verse 17, afterwards, even though Esau regretted that sinful decision, and he desired to inherit the birthright blessing, in the text, it was too late. The damage was done. He had no chance to repent, to turn from his action, though he sought it from tears. That’s the warning of our passage this morning, when it comes to our repentance and faith. At some point, whether it be at the end of your life, or when our Lord returns, there will be no more opportunities given to repent. The damage has been done.
No matter how much you might seek after it, when the final judgment comes, there’s no more opportunity to find forgiveness to stand through Jesus Christ. Which is why today, repent, believe, set your gaze on Christ. For us this morning, that’s where we’re going to end our text today. The text just gives us the three means by which we look to Jesus Christ. Considering the discipline of God, repentance, and faith. I just want to address both Christians and non-Christians who are here this morning.
First, I do want to address again those who are here who are not yet trusting Jesus Christ. We’re so glad you’re with us this morning. We’re glad because this morning I want to invite you again, to lead with you again, to consider Jesus.
To consider all that He endured for sinners. Just like you. And this morning, as you consider Jesus Christ, I want to invite you to trust in Him. I want to invite you to trust that He died for you. To take on the judgment of sin. To trust that indeed He rose again from the dead on the third day.
This morning, consider Jesus. Put your gaze of your heart on Him. See Him as the great treasure. And friend, do so today, before it’s too late. Second, I just want to address those who already do believe. Which is the assumption that the author had for his first readers.
This morning, to close, I just want to invite you to embrace these means that God has given to us. That we might always look to Jesus Christ with our life. Embrace the means. And consider Christ. Consider what He endured. Say it again.
Don’t rush. Take time. Consider. I want you to consider Jesus Christ over and over again. Do this primarily as you read God’s Word. Let each passage, in the end, take you to consider Christ.
But also consider Christ in all of the normal everyday life circumstances. Whether they’re joys or sorrows or all things in between. Let those things lead you to consider Christ.
And if you’re unsure how to do that, just ask yourself, in this situation I’m finding myself in, how could I consider Christ? Just tune in that question. It will lead you to consider Him.
In addition, in this life, embrace the discipline that God gives to you. Yes, all discipline is painful in the moment. But that momentary pain, in the end, is leading you to the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Whoever God might be disciplining you, teaching you, instructing you, embrace it. Receive it in ways that not only are you helping understand how much God loves you through discipline, but also embrace it in ways that you’re sending your gaze back on Christ. And finally in the text, embrace our call to repent and believe.
Whatever might be holding you back, maybe an unnecessary weight that you need to let go, maybe there’s a sin like bitterness or sexual immorality, or maybe losing sight of that which is important or having a lack of reverence towards God. Whatever it is, this morning embrace the call to repent and believe. Embrace it while the call is still available to you.
Friends, as I close, let me do so where I began, by reading the words of the tract that gripped the heart of Helen Lemel. Dear friends, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Let’s pray. Lord, I do pray in this time and this moment you’d help us to set our gaze on Christ, whether it be for the first time or just this next time.
And Lord, thank you that in all these things that you have in your word for us today, that all come from your good and loving heart. In Christ’s name, amen.