Sermon Tone Analysis

Our text this morning is Hebrews 12:14-17,

14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; 16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.

17 For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.

(Hebrews 12:14–17)

As the book of Hebrews urges genuine faith in Christ, it often appeals to the individual within the group.

But the church of Jesus Christ is more than a gathering of individuals who have some shared values or beliefs.

The church is the Body of Christ; it possesses a supernatural unity and cohesion.

Our mutual life in Christ calls for mutual care and concern.

While each one must live his or her own life, the others around them are charged with strengthening and encouraging them.

This is even more important in times of suffering or difficulty, since division and separation become easier when we are insecure.

That’s why the writer of Hebrews speaks of our mutual obligation to one another: no one is to be left behind.

Let’s look at Hebrews 12:14-17 together.

THE PERSONAL COMMAND

We begin with a command to personal devotion:

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

(Hebrews 12:14)

The word “pursue” means striving for something, putting forth the effort necessary to achieving a goal.

Our faith is not meant to be passive, but active.

The Lord calls us to put our hearts AND our backs into the exercise of our faith.

We are to pursue peace with others.

PURSUE PEACE

Peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but the presence of relationship.

Peace with all men doesn’t mean an absence of conflict with the 7.7 billion people alive on earth right now, but mutual love and care with all of those in the sphere of your life.

Romans 14:19 says,

And Romans 12:18 says,

We are to pursue peace with all those which whom you have personal contact, especially with those in the church.

I want you to notice that we are pursue peace with all; whether or not we can actually achieve peace is as dependent on them as it is us.

But we are to make the effort to be at peace with all, to keep ourselves available to them, to seek to care for them with godly love and tenderness.

Do you need an example of showing peace to those who have not behaved as friends?

Look no further than the Lord Jesus.

In less than 24 hours He was betrayed by one disciple, denied by another, and abandoned by the rest.

Luke records His first appearance to the eleven disciples.

They were startled and frightened and thought they were seeing a ghost, but Jesus said, “Peace be to you.” (Luke 24:36-37).

If we name Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we must pursue peace with others.

PURSUE SANCTIFICATION

We are also to pursue the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

Sanctification speaks of being completely dedicated and consecrated to the Lord.

Sanctification is not simply good behavior, although that is part of it.

To be sanctified means to live as one who is holy before God.

It is not merely avoiding sin, but pursuing righteousness.

That means living in purity, keeping ourselves from defilement, and pursuing the holiness of Jesus Christ.

I want to emphasize that while we are called to live in sanctification, we don’t sanctify ourselves:

Hebrews 10:10 says,

The Father sanctified us perfectly and completely.

He didn’t leave anything for us to do, except to live out what He has done in us, and that’s the command we see in Hebrews 12:14.

To pursue sanctification means living according to the gift of righteousness every day.

Let me remind you that sanctification is part of the work of salvation God does within us.

Salvation begins with justification – rebirth, the gift of faith, forgiveness of sins, Christ’s own righteousness being credited to the sinner.

Those initial acts of justification will never be repeated in the sinner’s life, because they don’t need to be; they are perfect and permanent.

Justification is the work of God alone.

In that same moment, sanctification begins.

The Christian begins to live according to the righteousness of Christ imputed to him or her.

Through the Father’s will, the Son’s intercession, and the Spirit’s power, the Christian grows over the course of their life in true, faithful obedience to the Father.

Sanctification is the work of God alone.

We do not sanctify ourselves; rather, we pursue the sanctifying work of the Lord.

That means keeping ourselves from ungodly influences, and devoting ourselves to the holiness of Christ.

The final state of salvation is glorification, where the Christian is raised to be exactly like the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

This is also the work of God alone.

The promise of Scripture is that every single person who is justified will also be sanctified, and every person who is justified and sanctified will also be glorified.

Once justification takes place, nothing will prevent sanctification and glorification.

NO ONE IS TO BE LEFT BEHIND

Our relationship with Christ is personal, but it’s not meant to be private.

Every Christian – even those who abandon church and try to live faithfully on their own – is part of the Body of Christ, the Church.

And so as the text continues, it stresses that no one is to be left behind.

Hebrews 12:15 begins with the words “See to it,” and those words apply to the three instructions that follow:

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God.

See to it that no root of bitterness that springs up causes trouble and defiles many.

See to it that no one is sexually immoral or godless.

Let’s consider these one at a time.

No one is to come short of god’s grace

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God … (Hebrews 12:15)

What does it mean to come short of something?

It means to miss it, or to lack it.

We’ve already seen this word used in Hebrews 4:1,

We should be afraid at the possibility that someone we know and love, who thinks they are right with God because of their good works or because they belong to the right church, might not actually be saved, but come short of the grace of God.

Hebrews 12:15, and other verses like it, don’t let anyone say, “That’s none of my business,” or “That’s between them and God.”

The very idea that someone could have adopted a merely cultural religion, or just given themselves to a tradition, should shake us and frighten us.

Jesus said that many will stand before Him and point to all of their good works,

True love means not wanting any to be left behind.

We should consistently caution each other, stir one another up to love and good works (Hebrews 10:25), continue to declare the promise of the Gospel, beware of signs of self-confidence or self-righteousness, keep repentance and confession as part of our conversation and life.

No bitter root is to cause trouble and defile others

See to it that … no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; (Hebrews 12:15)

This is not simply a command to avoid bitterness, although we should.

Bitterness, spitefulness, unforgiveness, are terrible sins, and devastating to the soul.

But you see, roots can’t be seen very easily.

The command is not “See to it that no one has a root of bitterness” –  that’s really not possible – but “See to it that when bitterness crops up it is not allowed to cause trouble or defile anyone.”

Bitterness is deeply personal, but it is never content to remain personal.

The giant sequoias in California require a fire to burst open their seed cones.

Bitterness doesn’t; bitterness is like a dandelion, ready to spread itself through a tiny breeze.

We should certainly hope that those who are imprisoned by bitterness would repent of their sin, confess it to the Lord, and be forgiven.

They have the opportunity to grow in Christ, and experience a new depth of peace and contentment.

But here we must specifically guard against two results of bitterness.

The first result is trouble in the church.

“Trouble” has a broad range of meaning, ranging from annoyance to suffering.

When personal bitterness seeds itself in the church, it causes trouble.

Some will be annoyed; others may well indeed suffer.

So the entire congregation is commanded to guard against the effects of bitterness.

The second result is the defilement of many.

The bitter person might just say, “Well, I have a right to my opinion.”