Hebrews 12 C

{12:12} Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees
{12:13} And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
{12:14} Follow peace with all [men,] and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord
{12:15} Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
{12:16} Lest there [be] any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
{12:17} For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
{12:18} For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest
{12:19} And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; [which] voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: {12:20} (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart
{12:21} And so terrible was the sight, [that] Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
{12:22} But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels
{12:23} To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, {12:24} And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than [that of] Abel.
{12:25} See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more [shall not] we [escape,] if we turn away from him that [speaketh] from heaven
{12:26} Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
{12:27} And this [word,] Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
{12:28} Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: {12:29} For our God [is] a consuming fire.

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Hebrews
{12:15} Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled

Failing of the grace of God.

But... haven't we been told that it is by grace we are saved through faith?

Don't we believe that it is by grace alone we are saved?

Haven't we been taught that we have grace just by saying we have grace, believing we have the grace of Jesus?

How can we 'fail of the grace of God'?

Surely we need to understand this because we don't want to 'fail of the grace of God'. Isn't that like hearing Jesus say in that day- get away from me, I never knew you? Even though people are crying out to Him as if they honestly believe they are His?

Matthew {7:21} Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will
of my Father which is in heaven. {7:22} Many will say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy
name done many wonderful works? {7:23} And then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye
that work iniquity.

Certainly if we fail of the grace of God we'd be among those wouldn't we? Simply because we are taught that it's impossible to fail of the grace of God. Taught falsely that our actions mean nothing. Taught that if we have any action of our own and think we are saved by it we are wrong. Over and over in the Bible people are told of God's covenant and how they should obey it to be God's people. Obeying is an action that results in God's favor, disobeying His disfavor. Jesus doesn't do away with the fact we need to obey God, He even says he didn't come to do away, but to fulfill. If Jesus would have us live with Him as our example then we will obey. The only way it's possible is by His grace. He makes it possible through His mercy. His mercy doesn't absolve us of consequences of our actions. If we're taught that no matter how we live- even if we live in complete and utter sinfilled ways- that we can obtain grace while we continue living that way not availing ourselves of the mercy of Christ to walk in His way, then we won't have the grace of God- we will fail of the grace of God, we will be among those who cry out to Jesus and we will hear Him say- 'I never knew you depart from me ye that work sin'.

Hebrews
{12:15} Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled


Dict.bitter (bît´er) adjective
bitterer, bitterest
1. Having or being a taste that is sharp, acrid, and unpleasant.
2. Causing a sharply unpleasant, painful, or stinging sensation; harsh: enveloped in bitter cold; a bitter wind.
3. Difficult or distasteful to accept, admit, or bear: the bitter truth; bitter sorrow.
4. Proceeding from or exhibiting strong animosity: a bitter struggle; bitter foes.
5. Resulting from or expressive of severe grief, anguish, or disappointment: cried bitter tears.
6. Marked by resentment or cynicism

Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary

Duet.

{29:18} Lest there should be among
you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth
away this day from the LORD our God, to go [and] serve
the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a
root that beareth gall and wormwood;


A root brings forth life in tiny shoots. A root bears those shoots, without the root the shoots would not grow. Root of bitterness, root that beareth gall and wormwood.

Are we the root and our actions the tiny shoots?

Duet. {29:18} Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go [and] serve
the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; {29:19} And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: {29:20} The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.

Actions such as ... doing as we please regardless of how we are taught in Christ and believing we are still with Christ.

Hebrews {12:12} Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees
{12:13} And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
{12:14} Follow peace with all [men,] and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord
{12:15} Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
{12:16} Lest there [be] any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
{12:17} For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Lift up our hands and knees- make straight paths for our feet- be healed.
Follow peace with ALL men.
Holiness with ALL men.

Without this peace and holiness we will NOT see the Lord.

Looking diligently!

Watching out for anything that will hinder our walks with Christ!

Matthew {26:41}
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit
indeed [is] willing, but the flesh [is] weak.

Mark {13:33} Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye
know not when the time is.

We have to look diligently lest we fail of the grace of God.
We have to examine our lives and see if we are defiled by the actions of our heart. Truly if our heart is the root and our lives the shoot that springs up, we need to look diligently at our lives- our actions that make up our lives and pray that anything we do that would defile us, any sin that we cherish, any action that we know Jesus would not have us commit is done away with. If we holdfast to our sinfilled ways choosing like Esau to live for the moment of pleasure and self-satisfaction, we too will be seeking repentance with tears and we won't find it- we too will fail of the grace of God.

Follow peace with all and holiness.

Peace and holiness found in Christ Jesus and necessary to us because without the peace and holiness of Chirst in us, living is us and controlling our actions, we will not the Lord.

Where do our actions stem from?

Where do our lives get the motives for those actions?

Oh wretched man that I am...who will deliver me... Christ Jesus.

Deliver us Jesus. Deliver us from the insidious evil that would have us live our lives with excuse after excuse for our ungodly behavior. Deliver us from the root of bitterness.

We don't want to fail you, we don't want to fail of the grace of God.

Have mercy on us Lord.

Through the mercy and grace of the Sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now and forever.

Amen.