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Hebrews 12:18-24, Deuteronomy 9:19, 1 John 4:18-19

The Matchless Grace of Jesus!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 25, 2020

Esau chose the physical world over the spiritual world. He preferred what he could touch and taste and enjoy in his body at the present rather than what had been promised in a future spiritual realm. Choosing to live in the moment always leads to deep regret and many tears. Further, it leads to a fear of God and the reality of a divine judgment that no one living for the pleasures of the flesh can stand up to. But the writer of Hebrews wants his readers to understand that in Jesus we have a new position with God. Even though we’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s standard, we’ve found grace and forgiveness in Christ. In Hebrews 12:18-21, he encourages us to remember that we’ve not come to a mountain of Judgement. He writes, “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.’”

The epistle had already mentioned what a fearful thing it is for sinners to fall into the hands of a living God. The picture of God given at Sinai is the picture of the God who caught his children worshipping the golden calves after he had delivered them from Egypt. In Deuteronomy 9:19, Moses expressed his fear of God’s judgment. He said, “For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you.” Yes, even Moses was fearful of God executing his full wrath on sinners and the people drawing near to Mount Sinai were sinners just as Esau was. He had turned from the promises of God and reverted to the pursuit of things physical. This is the case of all of us! But we now live under grace not law.

We have not come to Mount Sinai to face God’s judgment. We’ve come to Mount Zion to receive God’s forgiveness and mercy. Hebrews 12:22-24 goes on: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are 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.” In Christ we are accepted by God. His love casts out fear. John tells us about this in his first epistle. 1 John 4:18-19 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.”

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Hebrews 12:17

Learning From History!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 19, 2020

Looking out for each other is important because there are consequences in life that certain sin brings. There are choices we might make that can never be reversed. This was the case with Esau. He was presented as sexually impure, given to lusts of the flesh. Hughes described him, “Esau was completely earthbound. All his thoughts were on what he could touch, taste, and suck. Instant gratification was his rule of thumb. He was void of spiritual values. Godless! Esau was like a living beer commercial—bearded, steroid-macho, with two things on his mind: sexual pleasure and physical pleasure – food, drink, sports and sleep. ‘Hey, you only go around once. You’ve got to get it while you can.’ He was the prototype of modern godlessness…”[1] This kind of lifestyle robs a person of the more important things in life as well as peace with God. It leads to regret and tears.

When Esau grew up and came to his senses it was too late for him. The author of Hebrews says of Esau in 12:17, “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.” The pursuit of the pleasures of this world will eventually leave you empty. The spiritual blessing he disregarded completely in his youth was something that Esau later wanted but was unable to have. He had cast it aside and nothing could give it back to him. The pursuit of the “gusto” of physical things destroyed his sensitivity to spiritual things. Carter observes, “The sinful nature, if allowed to remain and assert itself, will deaden and ultimately destroy the spiritual sensibilities and leave man incapable of sensing, responding to, or knowing God…”[2]

It appears that the writer of Hebrews is presenting the historical story of Esau to his readers hoping that they will hear it and take it to heart. He wants them to learn from Esau’s bad example. Unfortunately, the old saying “the only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history” is often the case for many. The “fool” as described in Proverbs falls into the same sinful traps repeatedly. The smart man falls once and learns from his failures. The wise man, on the other hand, watches others fall into the trap and avoids it himself.  The writer of Hebrews wants his readers, both the original ones and us, to be like the wise man. The writer is urging us as Brooks says, “Do not be like Esau, do not slight the favours of the gospel, do not prefer the temporal to the eternal or the material to the spiritual, do not choose the things of the body over the things of the soul, do not turn away from ‘the truth of Christ’.” [3]

[1] R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul, vol. 2, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), 184.

[2] Charles W. Carter, “The Epistle to the Hebrews ,” in Hebrews-Revelation, vol. 6, The Wesleyan Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966), 165.

[3] Richard Brooks, The Name High over All: A Commentary on Hebrews, Welwyn Commentary Series (Welwyn Garden City, UK: EP, 2016), 405.

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Hebrews 12:16, Genesis 25:29

Looking Out For Each Other!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 19, 2020

Taking care of one another seems to have been the focus of Hebrews 12:15. We are charged with looking out for one another. Picking up on his exhortation, he adds in Hebrews 12:16 that we are to “see to it…that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.” There should be accountability in the church regarding our sexual conduct. There is nothing wrong with sex! It’s God’s creation as He made us male and female. It’s just that the society and the church should restrict those urges and restrain them within the bounds of matrimony. The word for “sexually immoral” is the Greek “pornos” from which we get pornography, but it literally means “fornication.” In general, it refers to sexual behavior outside of marriage. The writer says more about that in Hebrews 13:4. He writes, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

In Esau’s case the desires of the flesh took precedent in his life over the spiritual realities that were presented to him in the form of the blessings he received from his father as mentioned earlier in Chapter 11. According to ancient history and implied in the Genesis account of Esau, he was sexually impure. Hagner observes, “It is also clear that Esau is portrayed in Jewish tradition as guilty of sexual immorality.”[1] Kent Hughes does some great research on this issue. He writes, “Philo of Alexandria in his Questions and Answers on Genesis made this observation regarding Esau: “The hairy one is the unrestrained, lecherous, impure and unholy man.” The Palestinian Targum on Genesis 25:29 describes him as coming home exhausted on the same day he sold Jacob his birthright and saying that on “that day he had committed five transgressions,” one of which was adultery with a betrothed maiden. The indictment from extra-Biblical literature parallels the revelation of Holy Scripture – that Esau was a pornos subject to the whims of his tomcat nature – the archetype of the twentieth-century testosterone man. His essential sensuality made God quite unreal to him – as lust always does.” [2]

It seems to have come down to the fact that Esau had no interest in spiritual truths but lived his life going after all the gusto he could get. Brooks says, “The material took precedence for him over the spiritual. The ‘here and now’ was more important to him than the things to come. With his ‘birthright’ went the inheritance of his ‘blessing’, and he lost them both in a cavalier fashion.”[3] We should be looking out for each other in this regards.

[1] Donald A. Hagner, Hebrews, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011), 223.

[2] R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul, vol. 2, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), 182.

[3] Richard Brooks, The Name High over All: A Commentary on Hebrews, Welwyn Commentary Series (Welwyn Garden City, UK: EP, 2016), 404.

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Hebrews 12:15, Deuteronomy 29:18

A Very Real Coronavirus!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 19, 2020

The first part of Chapter 12 addressed the issue of discipline for those whom the Father loves. Discipline is not always consequences we face for bad behavior. It’s often just a father’s way of helping us become better sons and daughters. Hard times and difficult trials can result in good things in our lives if we respond appropriately. We often need to be encouraged toward the right attitude during our times of trial. No one should be left behind in this regard. We must look out for each other and encourage each other onward to love and good deeds. But everyone doesn’t always respond to discipline in the right way. The writer of Hebrews warns us about this in the second half of Hebrews 12:15. He writes, “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.”

As usual, the author of Hebrews is looking back at the old Testament and is pulling out a phrase that many of his Jewish readers may be familiar with.  He quotes from Deuteronomy 29:18 which says, “Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit…” On the march from Egypt to the Promised Land the whole company is charged with looking out for each other and encouraging the right response to hardships in the wilderness. There were many in that trek that grumbled about the hardships, mumbled against the leadership and complained about their circumstances. At times these malcontents even attempted to arouse the whole company to turn around and go back to Egypt. I think this is what the writer of Hebrews is concerned about. Many of those who came out of Judaism were being cajoled and enticed to desert Christ and return to the rituals, regulations and religion that they had been redeemed from by Christ.

It’s been readily observed by many commentators that the “root of bitterness” is referring to a person. One commentator asks and answers this question giving all the references that see this phrase as referring to a person. He writes, “QUESTION—To what does the phrase ῥίζα πικρίας ‘root of bitterness’ refer? It refers to a person who introduces evil into the group.”[1] Yep, one person, unable to respond to discipline correctly, will wreak havoc in a group. They become unfit for fellowship with God as well. Greenlee again observes, “The aorist tense suggests finality. It refers to becoming unfit for fellowship with God; it refers to apostasy. The defilement would come from association and imitation.”[2] Discouragement becomes a contagious disease. Carter says, “Discouragement has probably robbed more people of their faith and courage, and consequently their Christian victory, sheared more people of their strength, and beclouded the future outlook of more men than any other known spiritual malady. Discouragement is a disease the germs of which breed rapidly in the unsanctified heart. It is an extremely contagious disease capable of incapacitating for service a whole contingent of God’s army, and thus giving the enemy an easy victory. Discouragement is Satan’s most effective weapon.”[3]

[1] J. Harold Greenlee, An Exegetical Summary of Hebrews, 2nd ed. (Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2008), 517.

[2] J. Harold Greenlee, An Exegetical Summary of Hebrews, 2nd ed. (Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2008), 518.

[3] Charles W. Carter, “The Epistle to the Hebrews ,” in Hebrews-Revelation, vol. 6, The Wesleyan Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966), 163.

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Hebrews 12:15, 1 Thessalonians 4:18

No Man Left Behind!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 19, 2020

The author of Hebrews is concerned for each individual and wants to be sure that each one receives God’s grace offered in Christ. He wants every single one to experience the marvelous grace of God. Hebrews 12:15 begins, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.” He seems to exhort each one of us to look out for the other in this regard. It sounds like the Marine Corp motto for troops in the field. One commentator quotes from an ancient commentator, Chrysostom, who says, “As if they were travelling together on some long journey, in a large company, he says, ‘Take heed that no man be left behind;’ I do not seek this only, that ye may arrive yourselves, but also that ye should look diligently after the others”[1]

Back in the early chapters of Genesis after Cain bludgeoned his brother to death, God confronted him and asked him “where is your brother, Abel?” He answered God in Genesis 4:9 saying, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper.” I believe the answer to Cain’s question according to this verse and many others is an obvious “yes, yes you are!” We are often exhorted to “love one another in both the Old Testament (Leviticus 19:18) and the New Testament (Matthew 22:39). The Epistles mention it at least 10 times! Earlier in Hebrews the author challenged us to “consider how to encourage each other to love and good deeds.” It might be said that the “good deeds” referred to here is specifically responding to God’s discipline positively.

Chapter 12 begins with the teaching that God allows hardships and pain into our lives for our good. It’s the perfect Father’s way to discipline us. We always think of discipline as being the consequences we get for something we’ve done wrong. But this is not played out in the Scriptures. Discipline in this context is what coaches do with their athletes to help them become better players. He presents before them formidable obstacles that makes them stronger and faster. God, our loving Father, presents us in life with challenges that press against our faith to make it stronger. During those times of challenges, we need to remember that all these things, even the death of loved ones, will work out for our good. Even when the promises don’t seem to be coming true in this life, we’re to remember that this isn’t all there is. There is another life beyond the grave. Paul reminds the Thessalonians of this truth as their loved ones were passing away while the promises of Jesus’ return remain distant. He reminds the sufferers that even those who have passed on before them will be raised back to life and those who remain alive will be reunited with them on that day. He then closes with “Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). He wants us all to know that no man will be left behind!

[1] Marcus Dods, “The Epistle to the Hebrews,” in The Expositor’s Greek Testament: Commentary, vol. 4 (New York: George H. Doran Company, n.d.), 370.

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Hebrews 12:14, Psalms 34:14, Romans 14:9, Galatians 5:22, 1 Peter 4:12-13

Suffer for Jesus: Rejoice with Jesus!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 19, 2020

The writer of Hebrews wants his readers to trust God to have their best interest foremost in mind regardless of their life circumstances. God is a perfect Father who is in control and will work all things out for good. He does not say that “all things” are good. But that in the recipe of life they will work together to make us better than we would have been without them. Like the paralytic, healed through faith, trust God. He will work it out. Then he adds in Hebrews 12:14, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Earlier in Hebrews we were instructed to “strive to enter His rest.” Although our eternal rest awaits us in the Kingdom, there is the certainty of that destiny based on God’s promises, that gives us rest today. The Christian life consists of both “resting” and “wrestling.” They seem contradictory but when we understand that the “wrestling” involves standing firm in the “rest” given to us through our faith in Christ, it makes perfect sense. The idea of putting forth effort to live at peace in the world is in both testaments. In the Old Testament we find it in Psalm 34:14 which says, “Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” In Romans 14:19 Paul says, “So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.” And as you well know, the third fruit of the spirit found in Galatians 5:22 is “peace.” Let me explain a little. It does take effort to live in peace with others. We need to wrestle with emotions, unkind thinking and actual wrongs we’ve experienced. But when our focus is on the certainty of our eternal destiny with God in Heaven, it becomes easier to let go of offenses in this life. Trusting God in His omniscient, eternal perspective to know what’s best is the true key to peace in all our dealings in life.

Back in Hebrews 12:10 we read that God allows difficulties, trials and hardships of all kinds into the lives of His children so that they might “share His holiness.” The striving for “righteousness” is not an exhortation to become better or to try harder. It’s an exhortation not to lose our confidence and trust in God. He is always working out things for our best even when things seem to say something different. But He seems to work the most through our hardships. We’ve also read in chapter 11 that without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith that holds on, doesn’t slip back and stands firm in the face of the most difficult of trials is the faith that seems to please God the most. As the author of Hebrews says several times, “look to Jesus,” “consider Jesus” and “think hard about Jesus.” His sufferings brought great glory and that’s His plan for us. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4:12-13, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”

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Hebrews 12:12-13, Joshua 7:10, Isaiah 35:3-4, Luke 5:24-25

It’s always all about faith!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 19, 2020

When Joshua lost the battle at AI after his incredible victory over Jericho, he fell on his face and wept before God. Joshua 7:10 tells us that God spoke to him and said, “The LORD said to Joshua, ‘Get up! Why have you fallen on your face?’” It seems that those being addressed by the writer of the book of Hebrews may very well have fallen on their faces in light of the persecution they were experiencing. They had left their older forms of religious ritual and put their confidence in the person and work of Jesus and were suffering because of it. They were asking “why does God allow such suffering to come on us who are believing in His Son?” The answer is seen in Hebrews 12:7-11. God allows suffering in many different ways in our lives to make us better not bitter. Now in Hebrews 12:12-13, the writer gives us clear instructions on how to capitalize on the pain we have in life. We need to do three things.

First, “get up.” Verse 12 says, “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees.” This seems to be a direct quote from Isaiah 35:3-4. It says, “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not!’” The Greek word for “weak knees” is the word from which we get paralysis. Jesus forgave the sins of a paralytic that was brought to him by his friends and the religious leaders challenged His right and ability to forgive sins because they believed only God could forgive sins. Jesus didn’t deny that truth but identified with the God who can and does forgive. Luke 5:24-25 says, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – he said to the man who was paralyzed – ‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.’ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.” It was through faith that the paralytic was healed. It’s faith, trust in God through the times of hardship and trials of life that can get us back on our feet.

Next, the writer continues with the idea of healing for the crippled. Hebrews 12:13 says, “…and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” We’ve already heard the writer instruct his readers and us, to keep our eyes on Jesus! We read in Hebrews 12:2, “…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.” It was through faith all the heroes mentioned in chapter 11 persevered through trials and hardships without experiencing their deliverance on earth. It is through faith that Jesus healed the cripple. It is only through faith we can find true peace with God.

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Hebrews 12:11

Looking Beyond the pain to Jesus

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 19, 2020

You’ve heard it said that trials can make you bitter or better. The author of Hebrews explains that all things, good and bad, come to us through the loving hands of a perfect Father who loves us and always has our best interest foremost in mind. No hardship, trial or loss in life is pleasant. But if we face them as Job did, we can come through them better than we were when we first came into them. Job said, “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” and “naked came I into the world and naked from it I will go. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” The writer of Hebrews wishes that all our trials and difficulties in life make us better. He writes in Hebrews 12:11, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Tanner explains, “The author acknowledges that God’s discipline seems at the time to be more painful than joyful. Yet by cooperating with God, we are trained by it. The word trained is from gymnazō, from which we get the word “gymnasium,” a place of training. Like any athlete who has learned that grueling workouts eventually pay off, so God’s sons must focus on the long-term benefits rather than the immediate pain. That benefit is not larger biceps, but the peaceable fruit of righteousness – righteousness that conforms us to the Lord Jesus.”[1]

To tell a person in the midst of their trial that God intends it all for their good seems trite and insensitive. It can be, but that doesn’t change it. It’s our response to the trial that will make or break us. Gromacki explains this well. He writes, “When a person perceives the act of chastisement as an end in itself, and not as a means to an end, he fails to comprehend its true purpose. God wants the believer to become productive through the discipline. The child of God should yield “the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” God is the spiritual husbandman who prunes and cleanses the believer so that the life of Christ will be manifested through him (John 15:1–5). It is “peaceable” in that the rebellious spirit has been changed into quiet submission and it is morally right. The only child of God who will produce this fruit is the one who is “exercised” by the chastisement. He willingly accepts it and learns by it; however, some harden themselves and are worse off as the result of the divine attempt to correct.”[2]

[1] J. Paul Tanner, “The Epistle to the Hebrews,” in The Grace New Testament Commentary, ed. Robert N. Wilkin (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2010), 1088.

[2] Robert Gromacki, Stand Bold in Grace: An Exposition of Hebrews, The Gromacki Expository Series (The Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications, 2002), 204.

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