It is tying in what was just said about God chastening and scourging when necessary His people.
But the emphasis is not on the scourge, that stands out to us because we don't want it. But the chastening is the education in Christ. Do something with what God is doing and has done and will do in you. We talk about Him being yesterday, today, and forever. Well, now so are we, belonging to Him. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Hebrews. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio.
Specifically, how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Hebrews chapter 12 as he begins his message, Training Put to Use. Please open to Hebrews 12 verse 12 and we'll take verses 12 through 17. Now I'm reading from the New King James version. If you're visiting and you have a different version that would account for some of the different words, but not the meaning.
The meaning should be the same. Therefore, verse 12, strengthen the hands which hang down in the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. Lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble and by this many become defiled. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau who for one morsel of food sold his birth right. For you know that afterward when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. Well, the direction I'd like to go in this morning with this paragraph, this passage from Hebrews, is training put to use. If you remember last session in Hebrews, the previous paragraph, we spoke of the chastening of the Lord and we took it apart a little bit and explained from there that chastening in the Greek as used originally in the writings of this letter to the Hebrews who received it is not always that of harshness.
It involves education and information, training, discipline. Then the scourge can be used also to bring back those who are a little bit more hard-headed than the rest of us at the moment. But these are the methods of God with his people to educate them. Well, what do you do with that education?
Are you just, okay, God trained me, okay, God's ministering to me, God spoke to me. Why? Well, to make me feel good.
Why? Well, that's what he's going to address now. What do you do with your training? Training is to be put to use. It's not, well, I've got the certificate, I've hung it on the wall and now everybody shall respect me.
The purpose of training is to put it into action when it is called for. And this is the Christian life. And to sort of highlight this point, I'd like to make a reference from the book of Judges. In the Old Testament, there was a book called Judges and these are not men with long robes sitting over, presiding over a court case necessarily. They did preside over court cases, but they were the leaders in ancient Israel before there was a king.
And they settled many matters and they raised armies and fought against those who invaded the land. At the time that the parents of Samson, when his mother and father, his mother being barren, at that time before Samson was born, the angel of the Lord appeared to both of them. First to the mother of Samson and then to the father, Manoah, by name. And after he had announced that the mother would conceive and bring forth a son and that he would be a Nazarite from birth, that means he would be separated to God from birth.
The father would take up the vine and not to cut his hair. The father asked a critical question. It is a question that he asked then that should be echoed throughout the land of the righteous in all ages. The question is found in chapter 13, verse 12 of the book of Judges. It's the father, Manoah, asking the angel of the Lord, what will be the boy's rule of life and his work? What a wonderful question.
The father was right there. What is this lad's life going to be about? Which direction are we going to raise him in?
In addition to all the things that you instill in a child, manners and discipline and all the other things that go with that, where is this going? This is a question again for all ages, for all who give their lives in Christ. We have work to do. There is a direction for us to go in. Yes, we are to perform the gospel. We are to live out the good news as given to us in the scriptures. That takes everything we have, especially in those areas where we are weak. The work is not automatic.
It involves us directly. We are to encourage those in our lives who are strong. Strong Christians need encouragement, you know, to stay strong. They're going to draw fire from the enemy for being strong. We are to strengthen the weak wherever we come in contact with them, and the door opens to us and we are permitted to strengthen those who are not so strong. Maybe they were strong yesterday and they're not today. Maybe they'll be strong tomorrow, but they're not right now.
Maybe they've never been strong. Then we are to share the truth with the loss. Whenever permitted, not by them, although that is part of it, but by the Holy Spirit. When He opens the door and moves circumstances to that place in our lives and the lives of the one we're preaching to, to share Christ. And so as God works in you, let Him work through you.
But this question comes back. What will be your rule of life and work? What is it for you in Christ?
What does it mean? For me to live in Christ is to what? And so to put to use the training that we got in the last section. Verse 12 now of Hebrews 12, Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees. The word therefore is there for a reason. It is tying in what was just said about God chastening and scourging when necessary. His people. But the emphasis is not on the scourge.
That stands out to us because we don't want it. But the chastening is the education in Christ. Do something with what God is doing and has done and will do in you. We talk about Him being yesterday, today and forever.
Well, now so are we. Belonging to Him. We have a yesterday and not an eternal past as He does. But it is a yesterday nonetheless. We have a today and a tomorrow.
A training in the faith. It's never ending. It does not stop in this life. It is critical. It is not something small to be dismissed.
Every age of Christian in this sanctuary understands what I'm talking about. You might not like it. You might not want it. Maybe you're spiritually lazy.
Maybe you're not. You have to answer that question. But you understand, training in the faith, getting strong in the faith and doing something with it, cannot be neglected, not without consequence. If you neglect what God has worked in you, you will step backwards.
You will miss out. Do you know John Mark in the scripture, the one that went out on the mission field all excited and then got away from it as quick as he could, defeated, went back home. You know that man kicked himself for years. He doesn't have to say it in the scripture. You just put yourself in his sandals.
And you too would be saying, why did I do that? So we read about him later, of course, brought back into the ministry, being very useful to the great apostle Paul. Get John Mark and bring him, for he is useful to me for the gospel. But in between that time of leaving the service of the Lord and then being useful again, oh man, you know the chastenings of the Lord was on that young man. You know the scourge was upon him, but he recovers and he flies out of it and he gives us the book of Mark, the gospel according to Mark.
Hebrews chapter 5, solid food belongs to those who are full of age. That is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. He's saying the mature Christians who have been trained and did something with that training, that's who he's talking about.
They put it to use, they've exercised that which God has worked in them for a purpose. Serving is never ending. Don't be afraid of that. Now this doesn't mean it's unpleasant. Now if you think it's unpleasant to serve the Lord, you likely won't serve or you won't serve long or you won't serve well. Sure there are things in it that are not pleasant, but overall Paul said it was the end of his life, I thank God who counted me faithful, putting me into ministry. Now if you've been in ministry, I'm not talking about pastoral ministry, that means serving the people of God. If you've been in it for any length of time, you begin to think about that verse a little bit differently than when you first started. Before it was, thank God, putting me into ministry. Though I was unworthy, he counted me faithful.
Then years later, thank God, put me into ministry. How do you get me out? And then you recover, you're back in it again because that's what it takes because Satan is looking to break your will to resist him.
He's looking to destroy your will to wage war. Now you can't break his, but you can make him sorry he got out of bed. You can fight back. You can continue. You can keep from letting him break your will. This is given to us in the Spirit. It is not handed to us. It's going to be a struggle.
I have more to say on that. I'll develop it in a moment, but look again now at verse 12 where he says, strengthen the hands which hang down in the feeble knees. Well, whose hands? I can strengthen somebody else's hands.
It's easy. Just, hey, come on, be stronger. What about you, though? Your hands. And if you've never been, if you've never sensed your weakness in the faith, you're in for an edumocation. You will find out what it's like to need your hands strengthened. But he's saying here, therefore, because Christ has worked in your life, strengthen your hands when they're hanging down.
He's getting this from Isaiah 35. And the feeble knees, so nervous, so scared, you can hardly stand. You're ready to collapse under the pressure, the weight of whatever you're facing. So he says, don't give up.
Make an effort to stand upright and be ready. Second Chronicles, King Asa. We're doing Chronicles Wednesday nights, and I'm looking forward to some of these kings. Asa is one. He's a disappointing ending, a brilliant start, and that's a little spooky for all of us.
It should be. Anybody can start well and do well in the beginning. Can you make it all the way to the finish line? Can you say, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I've kept the face. Finally, there's a crown laid up for me.
That's where we're going. And so Asa, Asa, the prophet comes to him and says, but you, be strong. Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded. What stands out to you about that verse?
I'll read it again. But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded. Well, just now reading that, what stood out for me was, but you. I'll get to what stood out to me, but I just singled out all of a sudden reading the verse, but you, it's not for you, it's for you. It's for the believer. Be strong.
Well, if you feel weak now, okay, that might stand out. But what stood out to me was, for your work shall be rewarded. God's not just using you up. And that's the end of the game.
There is a reward at the end. There's a reason to be strong. It's not just an exercise in holiness and faith and religion. There's great purpose in all that God has you go through. Whatever it is you're facing, troubles from someone else, troubles from within, temptation, trial, whatever, fear, loneliness, you name it. God has purpose in those things.
And many times, if nothing else, to show you how much work you have to do. That maybe you're not all those things you thought you were. Maybe that you just need to be fully blown in your dependence on Him.
Blown out, full-blown dependence in that way. 1 Corinthians 16, Paul echoes this, writing to the church at Corinth, he says, Watch, stand fast. That means don't let the feeble knees cause you to collapse or flee. Stand fast in the faith. Remember, unbelievers, those without Christ, they have courage too. They can stand fast, but not in Christ, not in the faith.
That should put a lot of meaning on what we're doing or not. Watch, stand fast in the faith. Be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love. Love's so easy to talk about, isn't it? Oh, you know I love them when you don't really mean it. Or you can love them and not like them, but you better treat them like you love them.
When God says to me, I want you to be strong, your work will be rewarded, I take courage in that. Then I face some monster. It could be a little one. It could just be a temptation, something that I want, that I don't need to have, or maybe I should not have it. I have to face it anyway.
Find that I'm struggling. Okay, what if you face that boogeyman and you lose that round? What do you think God's going to say to you? He's going to call you a weasel, right?
Of course not. God is going to come back again and say, be strong, your work will be rewarded. He doesn't change. He keeps coming back. He keeps long suffering with the righteous as well as with the sinner who is not saved. He comes back and he says, don't crumble. Don't allow the enemy to steal your will to fight just because you've been hurt.
Listen, if there was no such thing as getting hurt, there'd be no need for encouragement. The Bible would have maybe one or two for when you were in a mood, a bad mood. But they're all over the Scripture because this is what it takes. So you go to a great Bible study or you have your devotional time and the word minister you, what are you going to do with that? Now what happens to you? Is it just going to be, wow, that was impressive and then you go and do everything in the opposite direction for the rest of the day?
I hope not. So in verse 13, he continues. He's going to continue throughout this section to make this point. And make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather healed. Clear the lifestyle. Clear the cluttered thinking out of the way. Or there'd be no progress in Christ.
It's just fundamental, a very basic concept. If you do not make the path straight for you to travel, that's what your feet will be doing on that path, and you won't travel it. Challenging, yes, because that's what the Spirit needs because the flesh will strip you of a motivation to go forward in Christ.
Clear the lifestyle. You know, you can have as a Christian a relatively moral lifestyle and be doing nothing for the kingdom. Yeah, you don't sin, you're not robbing banks. Why don't you say you don't sin? You know what I mean.
You're not committing moral crimes against the kingdom, but you're also not doing anything. I'm not singling you out. This is the way it is. This belongs to our faith. There's no sidestepping it.
It's not my intention to make you feel small or uncomfortable. It is my intention to preach the Word in season and out of season, to convict, to rebuke, to exhort with all longsuffering and teaching, for the time will come when they will no longer endure sound doctrine because they have itching ears, and they will heap up for themselves teachers to be turned aside from the truth. Well, I don't want to give you any of that, the turning aside from the truth, the tickling of the ears.
There are many clever things a pastor can write and say that sound so, you know, ooh, that's cute, but you can't call upon it when you're in trouble. What you need is something to jar you. We need that, something to shake us, to move us.
Sometimes it moves us in a jolly way, sometimes in a very serious way, sometimes in a very painful way, but it moves us to improvement, not destruction. And so your lifestyle, if it is set around you, your family, your life, your career, whatever it may be, and you're not doing anything for the king, you don't have a straight path. You need to get out of your pajamas. You need to get into work clothes and serve the Lord. It takes nerve, it takes faith, and it takes action. And without that, nothing gets done. So move away from the self-life to the Jesus life.
Take little steps in the beginning if you're not able to take the big ones. This is what we're discussing this morning because this is what the Holy Spirit is giving us. He says, so that what is lame may not be dislocated or just injured. So that what is already not working well may not be further damaged, that matters would not worsen for you. Stumbling blocks are hazards.
You get hurt with them. You know, and the path that we're traveling down is, don't mention whether it's illuminated or not. Sometimes it is. Sometimes you can see the stumbling blocks. That doesn't mean they're easy to move. Other times, you can't see them. And so you've got to travel a little bit more cautiously at those times. The obstacles that interfere, stumbling blocks that are hazards that cause injury, obstacles that interfere with your walk, slow down the progress and hurt the work, keep it from going forward.
Well, you've got to learn how to blast some things out of the way, bulldoze even others, hurdle some, come up with different ways to deal with whatever is in front of you. And the debris of this life that piles up around us has to be routinely demolished. I'm the one in my family that takes the stuff to the dump. I don't like it too much, especially in the summer.
Those yellow jackets, they can be a little fierce. But anyway, it's routine. The alternative is unacceptable. Then your house becomes the dump.
The debris piles up there. And so it is spiritually. He says, but rather be healed. Be made better. Be restored.
Do something that's progressive. Now, of course, he's not emphasizing here the physical healing. This is spiritual. He's talking about spiritual matters at this point, the attitude of the head and the heart together, not one without the other. And if I get in any head or heart trouble, I'm not going to the world for a solution.
I'm going to Christ. Too bad Christ didn't have the psychologists. Too bad the apostles didn't have them to help him out. Too bad they did not have the psychologists' world, the world of the psychologists to come up with some disorder for them, why they weren't serving well or suffering or whatever it is. We didn't need them then.
We don't need them now. If I'm going to anybody, it's going to be the people of God, God's word, prayer and study, endurance. Now, that does not mean for one moment that God is going to appear like a genie out of a Bible and somehow just sweep it all away and make you better. It does not mean that if that is true, if that is how it works for you all the time, I want to know about it because I'm doing something wrong. What I have found is that when the Bible says endure afflictions, it's not joking.
God is saying take them. You can. Well, I find out also that I don't have a choice many times. Well, there are self-inflicted wounds. I have a choice to avoid those, but I have to face them.
He'll face them with me. It's kind of irritating. This is irritating about God. Don't tell him I said this. I can't force him to do anything. I can't move his hand. Backwards, forwards, sideways. He moves when he's good and ready.
That's what makes him God. You've been listening to Cross-Reference Radio, the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. As we mentioned at the beginning of today's broadcast, today's teaching is available free of charge at our website. Simply log on to crossreferenceradio.com. That's crossreferenceradio.com. We'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to the Cross-Reference Radio podcast. Subscribing ensures that you stay current with all the latest teachings from Pastor Rick. You can subscribe at crossreferenceradio.com or simply search for Cross-Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app. Tune in next time as Pastor Rick continues teaching through the book of Hebrews right here on Cross-Reference Radio.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-04-28 17:03:59 / 2023-04-28 17:13:44 / 10