The Call to be Different

0:00Hello and good morning again. Please turn Hebrews chapter twelve. We're going to cover again a longer section, verses fourteen through verse twenty-four. We talked, uh Stephen mentioned in Bible study that we met with the Reformed Baptist Association, the TAARBC, and the topic of providence came up in that meeting with them because it providentially happened that the catechism questions that we did on that Sunday were the exact same catechism, or two of the three that we did were two of the three, two of the two that they did during that same Sunday. And that got us on a discussion about God's providence and how the Bible study on Sunday morning seems to always line with the scripture that we cover in the sermon on Sunday, and what we do on talk about on Wednesday night seems to always mesh and intertwine with what we're doing on Sunday morning in both the service and in Bible study. And again, this morning providentially, our catechism questions were over sanctification, and that is one of the big topics we are talking about this morning. So it is true and always the case that when we when we faithfully read God's word, when we faithfully sing songs that are centered around his word, and when we faithfully preach his word, we see his providence in and through it. All the time. So thanks and praise be to him for that this morning. To begin, I'll I'll say followers of Christ are called to be set apart. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. Followers of Christ are called to be set apart. We're called to be holy. We're called to be different than the world. When we look at all the martyred uh saints that we uh consider this morning and reflect on, uh, and that we remember today and certainly pray for today, what do all of those men and women have in common? What they have in common is an unwavering faith and an unashamed commitment to holiness, being set apart. And with respect to the martyrs, that's really what got them killed, wasn't it? So a theme that I want us to think about and have on our minds as we move through the text this morning and think about holiness and sanctification is in the negative this idea of carnal Christianity, as it's called, or a continued uh flirtation with the world. We all do this and all struggle with this in varying degrees. And we talked recently amongst the elders that the reality that most of the world thinks that all you need to do to get to heaven is to die. It's something that Brother Dave has said on many occasions. And as such, professing Christians find no issue with sexual sins, with crude, unwholesome joking, with foul language, with perverse content consumption, and all manner of unholy disobediences. Many don't even understand what sanctification really means. What it means to pursue holiness, to be sanctified in the Lord. And those that do have some clue as to what it means will lean wholly on God's grace so that they can continue in their pet sins, call them. You know this to be true. And it's obviously important, though, to make sure that you don't take away this morning from the message that we are saved by our own works or our own obedience. Nor are we saved by how much we can sanctify ourselves or how much we can progress ourselves towards holiness. We're not saved by that. The reformation that we just celebrated, the beginnings of the reformation, which we just celebrated the last day of October, Luther and many others were adamant to teach and to herald that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And as we read today, no one sees God without holiness. And if any of us would be prone to think that we are going to or that we can continue to live like a pagan and stroll our way right into heaven just because we've said a prayer or done a thing, woe to you. Be warned this morning, and we will return again to the gospel. The salvation that we have been given is by the grace of God, and it is through faith, but through that faith we're called to be different. You are called to be different. We are called to be holy. So that is our theme this morning. The call to be different. Our call to be different. And in that we will strive for peace, we will strive for holiness, and we will strive for the new kingdom. So that's that's where the Lord uh willing will take us this morning. Stand with me as we read our text. This is Hebrews 12. Starting in verse 14. 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 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. For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned. Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. But you come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels and festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enthralled in the sorry, enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. This is the word of the Lord. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the sanctification, Lord, that you have secured for us. May our eyes be on Zion this morning, Lord. And may you speak now for Christ's sake. It is in his name that I pray. Amen. Our text began in verse 14 saying, strive for peace with everyone. So striving for holiness necessarily means that we strive for peace and not strife. I'll say that one again. Striving for holiness necessarily means that we strive for peace, not strife. And this doesn't negate at all our call to be iron, sharpening iron, or to spur one another on to love and good works. But as it pertains to our fellow brothers and sisters, and in a greater sense the world, there is a call to strive for peace as much as we are able. This word strive in the text, verse 14, strive, your translation may say pursue, if you have the NKJ V or maybe the N-A-S-B. And the word strive there in the Greek is really the word pursue. In the negative sense, this same Greek word is used in Matthew 5, in the Beatitudes, where he says, blessed are those who are persecuted. That word persecuted is the same word strive or pursue. In that sense, it would mean to seek after, to antagonize, or to bother, or to go after, to pursue, to persecute. And in the positive it's used in Philippians 3, but I pressed on, Paul says, to make it my own because Christ has made me his own. Pressing on is pursuing, striving. This is chasing, seeking, actively hunting. It's almost a hunting term. So in this way, peace is not just, although it is a byproduct of holiness, but it is something like holiness that we have to pursue. We have to seek after, we have to go after, we have to hunt for peace. It doesn't just happen. Being a peacemaker when you are wronged. For instance, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, he asks the question, why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded than have a vengeful, litigious kind of a spirit? I heard this story, I'll say this very briefly. Many in this room probably all know this guy, Forrest Frank. A story recently came out that he was involved in this very weird litigious battle over the ownership of his songs and all this, and uh his record company ended up taking a large number of the songs from him, and he was forced to make a choice to either fight this record company in a legal way and potentially end up being years involved in a legal battle over the rights of his songs. Uh or he would do as he did, which is just be a slave to this record company and do what they asked them to do and made the records. And um and in that in that way, he has a testimony of just being a peaceful peacemaker, striving for peace, that I'm sure was not difficult or not easy for him to just not be litigious, not be angst, and not be vengeful. This is a perfect example, real world, of what the text is saying to us when we strive for peace, we pursue it. We seek after it, and it is not easy. But church, we are called in our pursuit of holiness to be peacemakers, peaceful people. So then when we look at our call to be sanctified and our call to be set apart, right, our call to be different, there is obviously in the text a clear command and a clear direction and a clear call to pursue peace. We want to be peaceful people. We also strive for holiness. Verse 14 again, strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. And we have to be wise here, church. We have to think critically, which is why it's so important to be diligent in the scriptures, to seek wise counsel, because in our pursuit of peace, we can never be at the expense of holiness. Our pursuit of peace can never be at the expense of holiness, right? We don't compromise holiness for peace because without holiness we cannot see the Lord. In this striving for holiness, there are a number of commands that the text gives us, and this is the rest of that section, starting in verse 15. He says, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. This word, see to it, it's actually one word in the Greek, and this is uh pos. That word might sound familiar to you because we have used it at times. This is the New Testament word for an elder or a minister, pastor. One of one of the more common ones. And that's the word that's used here when he says, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. The command then is really for us all, not just for ministers in this respect. But the idea is for us to be watchful and to watch out for and to minister to one another so that no one falls behind. That no one fails to make it to the end. Right? I was thinking about this, and I was imagining a group of climbers scaling Mount Everest, because we talked about scaling Mount Everest as a family recently. I'm not sure why, but when you scale Mount Everest, you are all tethered to one another, and you have to stop periodically to check on one another so that no one gets left behind or falls or doesn't make it. And in that case, it is as though, in reality, it is, the success of one requires the success of all. And I think that's the idea that is communicated in the text when he says, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. So in our pursuit of holiness, while it is individual and it is personal, there is a corporate or Catholic universal component of it, where we are all together. We are all obtaining grace together, like we celebrate on All Saints Day, looking back and seeing all of those who have finished the race before us. We are together, obtaining grace together. Our faith is preserved by Christ who climbed the mountain first, but also all of those who have treaded that path before us, in front of us, who have kept that path well worn for us, tethered to us, so that we too can make it to glory. So we see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. This is a component of our holiness. The next thing the text goes on to say is that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. This command has to do with this root of bitterness. And the fact that this, at least in my text, in my translation, the root of bitterness is in quotations. I don't know if it is in yours. I think if you have the NKJV, it's not. But the fact that it is in quotation marks should give us an indication that there's perhaps more going on than just what the English word says. And there is. And if we're not careful, we could misinterpret this idea of let no root of bitterness spring up. This is not speaking about bitterness as in a human emotion being bitter. Right? It's certainly bitterness in us and in our congregation can spring up and cause trouble. But that's not what the text is communicating here. This is a reference to Deuteronomy 29, uh, eighteen and twenty. So I'm going to read that for us. This is uh Deuteronomy 29, 18 to 20. Beware lest there be among you a man or a woman or a clan or a tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord. To go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit. One who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart. This will lead to sweeping away of moist and dry alike. The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. This is a command, then, in our text here in Hebrews chapter 15, verse 15. No root of bitterness. This is a command against false teachers, primarily. This is a command against leaders of the church who pervert the word of God, who minimize its commands, who deny the necessity of obedience, and as a result, they lead people astray. They defile the church. Going back then to the introduction, how I began, this idea of carnal Christianity, this idea of antinomianism or anti-law, not caring at all about God's law, or easy believism, which was so prevalent and in many ways still is. These are bitter pills that not only taste awful, but they kill those who take and eat of them. Because at the root, those things are idolatry. They pull us away from the true and living God. Our command then to strive for holiness, our striving to be set apart or our call to be set apart, means that we take very seriously what we teach, why we teach it, why we believe, what we believe, why we believe it. We have very careful oversight over all things so that nothing perverts our teaching, that nothing distorts God's word or leads people astray. Also means that striving for peace doesn't mean that we overlook that which is false, that which is sinful. In the name of peace. Because the words of Christ are just as true when Christ said, I come not to bring peace, but a sword. And I want to reconcile that. If you were having that thought this morning, I want to reconcile that here. With respect to truth and peace and holiness. Our call in Hebrews here this morning, saying, strive for peace with everyone, is primarily to have a peaceful disposition, as I think I have said, Lord willing. To be gracious, to be patient, to be long-suffering, to be kind. It's a personal call to promote peace as a means of holiness, as opposed to being an angsty, curmudgeoned type of person, right? We don't want to do that. The call to holiness, though, the call of the gospel forces us out of our apathetic indecisions. If peace to you means keeping one foot on one side of the wall and one foot on the other side of the wall, meaning Christianity and the world, you're in danger of falling off on the wrong side. The gospel demands that one be either for Christ or against him. As I've heard it said, Christ or chaos, truth or a lie, holiness or sin. We don't get to play both sides in the name of peace. We cannot. This is verse 16, that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. A prime example of this is to look out into the U.S. commerce, entertainment, marketing. You will see that everything revolves around sensuality and godlessness. Preying on lusts, envy, gluttony, excess. The pull towards the sins of Esau are strong. To chase after pagan lusts, to sell your birthright for a single meal, to destroy your legacy, your family to keep up with the Joneses, or to wreck your life running after some fleeting passion. Perhaps just as dangerous as this slow, mindless burn of spiritual apathy and worldliness that is so prevalent. Don't be deceived, church. Such things will lead to your destruction. Because such things are the fruit of a heart that does not know God. And the warning from our text this morning is that many, through tears, after having lived the life that they wanted, immoral and unholy, will cry out to God, but God, remember when I did that one thing. Remember when I went to church on occasion or tried to be a good person. I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. We must take holiness seriously. A life that has been infiltrated by the glory of God, a life that is being renewed and being transformed and being sanctified, it looks different, doesn't it? It has different desires, different affections, has different priorities. Church, I don't know how else to say it, but to say it. A Christian who looks no different than the world, no more set apart than the world, no more holy than the world is no Christian at all. And yes, there are degrees and there's qualifications and there's nuance there. I know, but I refuse to not speak plainly. A fig tree that does not bear fruit is useless, and it will be cursed, and when withered, and the dry branches will be thrown into the fire. What's the remedy? The remedy is to not strive more in your own strength and in your own obedience and in your own holiness, because there is none. The remedy is to cry out to God, who can change your affections and will. Not God, look what I'm doing to gain your favor. But rather, God, I increasingly and continually don't deserve your favor. Please keep me. Please keep changing me. Please keep renewing me. Please keep making me holy. And the fruit of that disposition, that heart, that faith will be the very thing that gets you what you seek. The will of God, striving for holiness, a life of fruit that serves Christ. So the rest of our text, then, the last six or seven verses there, will take us really into next week when we talk about this striving for the new kingdom. Striving for the new kingdom. Only reason why the call of holiness, the only reason why the call to be set apart, the only reason why this call to be different is possible is because of the gospel contrasted against the law. And the Mount Everest illustration was uh was appropriate. I didn't intend to make that happen when I was originally thinking about this, but it worked. Because of the two mountains that are given to us here at the end of our text and are contrasted. The first of those mountains is Sinai, the mountain on which Moses received the law. The law that condemned and promised a judgment against us, as we saw this blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words the hearers beg that no further message be spoken to them. This is a terrifying mountain, isn't it? One of blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest. That even if a beast touches it, it will be stoned. This is an unapproachable mountain, really. One in which the holiness of God dwells, and one in which no man may fully reach. From that mountain comes a word that is unbearable to us. Do this and you will live. But you can't. Do this and you will live, but you can't. Be this holy and you will live, but you can't. Live like this and you will see eternal life, but you can't. We tremble with fear at the foot of that mountain because it promises only judgment and death for us. But thanks and praise be to God that we do not have to climb that mountain or approach that mountain because there is one who is worthy to scale its heights. The person of Christ went up that mountain and did what was required there. He fully fulfilled the holy requirement of Sinai. He pursued peace perfectly. He strove for holiness perfectly, as only God Himself could do. And so by his grace, we don't look to Sinai for salvation as though keeping the law could save us. Because that mountain has already been summited by Christ Himself. We come this morning to Mount Zion by way of the gospel. We come by the way of grace to the city of the living God, our text says. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, where the eternal festivities have already begun, where the instruments are beginning to play and the everlasting songs of worship are happening even now. We come to the holy and the approachable God, having been declared righteous and holy by the Father, through the work of the Son and sealed by the Spirit. Come to all the saints before us, who have already been made perfect and are waiting for us to join the festal gathering. We come to Christ, our mediator, who by his precious blood has shown us the way to this new mountain, to this city of glory. That is the mountain to which we look. This is the unshakable kingdom to which we look. This is the gospel to which we cling. The good news that we hope in. That by God's grace we don't have to climb Sinai and perfect the law. Christ has done that for us. And by faith, He has declared us righteous. That is our justification. He has and is transforming us into holiness, that is our sanctification, and in him, and by his work we will find everlasting peace, that we can be sure of. And because of the gospel and its transforming power, because of the work of Christ to secure your righteousness, because of the intercession of Christ to transform you into his holiness, because of the eternal peace you now have with him, can you not strive for peace? Can the objective peace that we actually have now as recipients of salvation in Christ not flow out from us in patience and kindness and love and compassion and service to one another? Can it not? It can. Can we not strive for holiness? Can we not even now, by the power of the Spirit, act like the holy children of God that we have been called objectively? Can we not with every ounce of strength in us be holy as He is holy? Can we not join arms in unity and carry one another to Zion? We can. Can we not pursue truth, not allowing anything that is false or troublesome divide us or distract us? Can we not turn away from all that is sensual and worldly? Can we not fix our eyes on the blessed purity of where we are headed? We can, church. We can. Not because in the doing you will be saved, but we can because we have been saved. We must not because we hope to scale Sinai. But because by grace through faith, our God in Christ has secured for us the city of the living God. He has saved us from judgment, he has saved us from death to serve the living God. And he is even now perfecting us into his holy image. And if that is true, and it is, why not pursue that now? The call is to be different. Because you are different. In Christ you are holy. You are a child of God. You are walking in the company of saints on the way to Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. Oh, church, let us be different. Let us be holy. Let us climb the blessed mountain together, testifying of the blood of Christ that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. To that we can say amen. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the salvation that you have given us, Lord, as a free gift by your grace, that you have saved us apart from our works, Lord. That by the blood of Christ shed for us, you have secured our redemption, Lord, purchased us from the evil one. And we thank you for that salvation, Lord. We confess that we are wholly unworthy to scale the mountain, to keep your law. We bring nothing to our salvation but the sin that caused a need for it, Lord. And with empty hands we cling to your cross. But we also confess, Lord, that as a result of the salvation that you have given us, Lord, help us to be holy as you are holy, Lord. Convict us of the indwelling sin, Lord. Make it known to our hearts. Let us purge it from among us. That we would be holy, that we would walk in your peace, Lord. That we would be different. Because you have saved us. Because you were different. And we long to be like you. Give us strength, Lord. In the name of Jesus, I pray.