The path to follow is one of peace and holiness, distinct from the profane way of Esau or the fearful way of Israel. This path requires diligence to avoid bitterness and to live by God's grace, actively seeking His will and serving His purposes. It involves loving others with open homes and tender hearts, living a life free from covetousness and centered on God's promises, and leaving worldly attachments to bear Christ's reproach. Ultimately, this path is characterized by continually offering the sacrifice of praise to God, counting blessings rather than grumbling, and living a life pleasing to Him.
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This evening we shall be finishing our study on this wonderful epistle in which we have had in the first section a threefold presentation of the Lord Jesus, first of all as a revelation of God, and then as a Savior from God, and then as a High Priest before God. In this latter portion we looked at the new sanctuary and the new covenant, the new priesthood, and the new sacrifice. And this first section took us all the way from the first verse of chapter one through verse eighteen of chapter ten.
With the nineteenth verse of that tenth chapter, The practical section, which is three and a half chapters long, begins. And in it we have first of all a plea for fidelity, and then a panorama of faith, and the subject for tonight, a path to follow. We've been reminded in a very practical way that God is looking to his people to be true. We've seen the gallery of faith in that chapter eleven, because when we were looking at what we called the panorama of faith, we found that while in the eleventh chapter we have the triumphs of faith, in the first thirteen verses we have the trials of faith, and they are associated with the chastening of the Lord, whom the Lord loveth, he chastened us.
And that was our subject for this morning. Now we're going to read from the fourteenth verse of chapter twelve, and our study for the night is entitled, as you will see, the last line on the outline, a path to follow. Now we're going to divide this into three sections. The first one, the way described. And this will take us through verses fourteen and fifteen. And then secondly, we're going to look at the way compared with Esau's way and Israel's way.
This will take us from verse seventeen or verse sixteen through verse twenty-nine. Then we shall move into chapter thirteen and here we have the way outlined. And we shall go right through to the fifteenth verse. The conclusion of the epistle follows this, and I doubt whether we'll have time even to touch upon that tonight. A path to follow, the way described, the way compared, and the way outlined. We'll read from verse fourteen of chapter twelve, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
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. Now the way is described as the way of peace and sanctification. Now I'd like you to notice the expression all men. I'd like you to notice the expression no man. and then the expression, any man. I'm not going to take time to go into detail here, but all men are to be the object of peace. We are, our concern is to be, to follow peace with all men.
Pursue earnestly peace with all men. And then we read, the importance of sanctification No man, without these things, or without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. And then we reminded of the weakness of the flesh. It says, 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. Now notice that expression, the root of bitterness, will you?
And if you read these two verses, and particularly verse fifteen, very carefully, you will find that if the root of bitterness is there, it springs up. You will find that if it springs up, it troubles you. And you will find that if it troubles you, many are defiled. Now this is the reason why assemblies become barren. This is the reason why believers become unclean. The warning is re-echoed here, lest we fail. That is, we fall short. The grace is available. But we can fall short of it.
And we must be on our guard, lest we fail. Well, we must be on our guard, lest we be embittered. And we must be on our guard, lest like Esau, verse sixteen, we become profane. Notice that sixteenth verse, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birth right. That word profane comes from the Greek word or the Greek root pornos, from which we get our word pornography.
Doesn't it seem a solemn thing? that believers must be warned about this kind of sensuality and greedy short-sightedness. Here, then, is the description of the way that God wants us to go, the way of peace and sanctification, and warnings should we digress from it. Now, the way is compared with the way of Esau, and the way of Israel. We are not to be like Esau, verse sixteen says, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright?
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. Let's suppose that we were going to spend the next thirty minutes talking about Esau and comparing the way of peace and sanctification with Esau's way we would see how foolish, indeed profane the Bible calls him, a person Esau was. He did three things. He sold, he sought, And he sorrowed. I'm not going to take thirty minutes to talk about those things, but you can ponder them at your leisure.
He sold his birthright. It was a rather strange thing, because Jacob went astray here. He got by stealth what God already intended him to have, and he didn't have to go that way deceptively. You know, sometimes we are so anxious to bring things about for ourselves. We run ahead of God and we act stupidly, while if only we were willing to wait God's time. These things would come to us and in God's way. Remember how Jacob suffered for his folly. But Esau is the man that is condemned here because he sold his birthright for a mess of prodigy.
After that, verse seventeen says he sought. He did not seek repentance. He sought the blessing. He wanted his cake and eat it. He was a man who'd sold his birthright and got what he asked for as a price. But then he went out after the blessing again. He sought the blessing. He didn't get it. And so he sorrowed. He sorrowed keenly, for he sorrowed with tears. And he sorrowed vainly, because we read in this verse seventeen, he was rejected. This then is not the way that we are called to go.
Nor is Israel's way the way that we are called to go. Look at verse eighteen, will you? He are not come unto the mount that might be touched. and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more, for they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart, and so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.
Now the path to follow is no more the path that Israel trod than the path that Esau trod. Israel, they came to a mount that was fearful, but not we. It was untouchable, it was fire, it was black, it was shrouded in darkness. and it was tempestuous. They came to a mount that was fearful. Verse nineteen says, they met an experience that was terrifying. Verse twenty says, they faced a situation that was dangerous. And verse twenty one, they saw a sight and heard a sound that was overwhelming.
But, says the Scripture, ye are come unto Mount Zion. Fear is gone, no reason to tremble, no need to quake. Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the company of angels, the church, and God the righteous church, the spirits of just men, Jesus, and the sprinkling of blood. Now these are the things that are mentioned in connection with the way. I hurry over them, because you can read them as the verses unfold. Not Esau's way, not Israel's way, but God's way.
Look at verse twenty-five, will you? See that ye refuse, not him, but speaketh. We must search his word. Let me ask you, how very real a place does the Bible have in your life? How much time do you spend with your Bible? Do you really read your Bible? Do you set aside a time when you sit down with your Bible and a commentary and a help or two and you study your Bible? Or are you content with being spoon-fed? and just listening to the preacher.
You know, preachers sometimes can point out some very interesting and some very thrilling things. But you know, if you want really to be thrilled from the Word of God, you've got to find things for yourself. You've got to allow the Spirit of God to reveal things to you that nobody told you and that you never saw before. And when the Spirit of God teaches you, because you spend time with the Word of God, those things will never leave you. And the Bible will indeed become what you sometimes say untruthfully that it is, the most precious book to you in the world.
We must search his word. Verses twenty-five, twenty-six, and twenty-seven. It says, verse twenty-seven, and this word, yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken. Read the word. Be like the Chinaman who lived by a motto of which he reminded himself every day. No Bible, no breakfast. No Bible, no breakfast. We must search his word. Look at verse twenty-eight. We must seek his grace. Wherefore? We, receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace.
You know, that's a very wonderful word. Grace. God's riches at Christ's expense. This is how somebody has defined the word grace. But you know, something of that grace has got to be manifested in our lives. Believers are exhorted to be strong. But you know, when he came to Timothy, he was told to be strong and to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. You know, in dealing with one another, we've got to learn the secret of being gracious and kindly. And it'll only happen as the Spirit of God works in our hearts, and we are gracious in spite of ourselves.
We must seek His grace. Look at the same verse twenty-eight. We must serve His purpose. Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. You know, you haven't gone so far along the road of life, without it being necessary still to remind you, it is possible to miss the will of God. Are you where God wants you? Are you doing what God wants you to do? Are you serving God's purpose? Remember what I told you at the beginning of the week. Your work isn't done yet.
If it were, the Lord would have taken you home. While you're here, you've still got a job to do for him. Make sure you find out what it is and do it faithfully. We must serve his purpose and then finally we must submit to his dealings. Verse twenty nine, for our God is a consuming fire. Now let us outline the way, or look at the way the Spirit of God has outlined it for us in chapter thirteen and the first fifteen verses. I'm not going to read these fifteen verses to you, just a verse or two here and there.
Look at verse one, will you? Let brotherly love continue. Look at verse five. Let your conversation be without covetousness. Look at verse thirteen. Let us go forth, therefore unto him, without the camp. And verse fifteen, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. Now I want to suggest to you here in closing, and I'm going to take twenty minutes to close, that here we have a word about loving, verse one.
And here we have a word about living, verse five. And here we have a word about leaving, verse thirteen. And here we have a word about laying, verse fifty. Now let's go over these then in these moments as I close. Twenty of them. A word about loving. Nice to chat travel as I have reminded you with a group of preachers called the Pilgrim Preachers. And one day we visited a little Welsh town. and we walked into a little gospel hall that was exactly as it had been twelve years before when the pilgrim preachers visited it and before my time.
And, you know, one day while we were sleeping in that little gospel hall, one of the older members of the party suddenly gave a hoot and rallied into the auditorium and said to us, Look what I have found. And he held up a text that the pilgrim preachers had lost for twelve years. They'd left it behind on their earlier visit. All that time it had been lost. And this was the verse. I wondered why they used to talk at times about having lost their brotherly love. It was a good thing we found it again.
Let brotherly love continue. Now before it can continue, it has to begin. And the Word of God reminds us there is no greater virtue, and one whole chapter in First Corinthians has been devoted to expounding the virtues of love. Though it's called in our King James Version Charity, the word really is love. Let brotherly love Now let's read on here. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body. Now what he said in the first verse is expounded for us in the second verse. If we're going to have a word about loving, here are things that we must include in the kind of loving that we do. We must have homes that are open. Verse two. We must have hearts that are tender. Verse two and three. And we must have habits that are honorable.
Verse four. This is all part of loving. Homes that are open. You know, we see so many young folk going around, boys with long hair and we tuck up and we shake our heads and of course we don't like to see it because long hair seems to us and probably is or was at the beginning a badge of rebellion. But you know, there never has been a day so difficult in which to live as a young person of today. If you think that young people today should be acting just as you did when you were a young person in your day, you mustn't forget that the things that face them and that oppose them are much greater than ever you knew.
The influences that are brought to bear upon them are more subtle. The temptations that are open to them are more blatant and more demanding. I hope that with all of your distress over the young people that are indeed going astray, you stop from time to time to commend those who are not, and make sure that you don't think so much of your wall-to-wall carpet as to be afraid to invite young folk to share your home, lest they spill a bottle of coke on it.
You know, there are some Christians, they wouldn't dare invite young people into their homes. We only just bought wall-to-wall carpet. They'll track in the mud. They'll drink their coax. They'll spill them on the carpet. You know, young people are languishing today because older Christians are not taking the interest in them that they should. And too many Christians are self-centered, and their homes are their homes, and they're going to hang on to them. And God knows there are too few hospitable homes in the Church of God today. Now I suppose that Park of the Palms is probably the exception to the rule. But here it is. We must always remember, part of loving is having our homes open.
And having our hearts tender. Listen, remember them that are in bonds as bound with them. Tender hearts. This is a very caliphate that we're living in. These are days when suffering is taken very much for granted, and it's quite simple to shrug the shoulders and to turn away. But it is demanded of the believer that he do not do that. He must grieve with those that grieve and weep with those that weep. He must remember them that are in bonds as if he himself was bound with them. We must not only have homes that are open. We must have hearts that are tender, and we must have habits that are honorable.
Look at that verse four. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. And you know those of us who are in the work are sometimes very solemnized when we find ourselves time and time and time again approached by Christians with marital problems. Husbands who are cheating their wives, and wives who are cheating their husbands. The Church of God is suffering for want of a word of exhortation like this one. It's all part of true loving.
Then comes the word about living. Look at verse five, will you? Let your conversation, and you know, of course, being Bible students, that that means let your manner of life be without covetousness. Now I've mentioned Greek words as we've gone along, though I'm not a Greek scholar, but here's a Greek word, philodorus, which means love of money. Now the Bible tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil. When it says let your conversation be without covetousness, it is simply saying, will you please make sure that your manner of life is not directed by your love of material things?
It's a grave danger. And again the church is suffering today because so many believers have set their hearts upon things. Now the writer goes on to elaborate. Let's see what he says. Verse is five and six. We must not covet the goods of another. Number one. Not covetous but content. We must not covet the goods of another. Read those verses again. Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Just a little practical word again here, as an aside. You may be saying, Well, I'm not likely to set my heart upon material things, because I don't have any. You know, sometimes this can be a source of discontent. People look around and say, so-and-so's got more than I have. He's got a bigger home than I have. He's got nicer furniture than I have. He doesn't work as hard as I work. You know, believers can become just as guilty on the one side as the other, having good to set their heart upon them, not having them to covet somebody else's. That's not, the Spirit of God says, the way to live. We must not covet the goods of another.
Now look at verse seven. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God. We must not resent the power of another. You know, within the church there are those who covet the office of an elder or a bishop, but they haven't the qualifications. And these are usually the disgruntled ones who resent. the power that the elders before God and from God wield. It says here, Remember them that have the rule over you and who have spoken unto you the Word of God.
Elders we are told are ordained of God. Elders we are told minister the Word of God. Elders, we are reminded, need the prayers of God's people. Pray for the elders of this assembly. Pray for the elders of your own assembly, and never dare to criticize any one of them if you don't pray for them. Maybe if they have their faults and their faults become so apparent, it is because you have failed in the work of intercession on their behalf. We must not resent the power of another. Verse seven and eight again, we must not ignore the example of another, whose faith follow, considering the end of their manner of life.
We must not ignore the example of another. Notice the issue of their life, the reality of their faith, and the secret of their triumphs, and follow them. Now it says in verse nine, Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace. In this word about living, what have we read? We must not covet the goods of another. We must not resent the power of another. We must not ignore the example of another. We must not embrace the errors of another.
We must not look, these verses go on to say, for a material offering. We must not look for a material altar. We must not look for a material sacrifice. We must not look for a material sanctuary. Now these are the things that are mentioned here. Why do we not look for these things as we live? Because we've already been reminded, there's a better sanctuary, and there's a better priesthood, and there's a better altar, and there's a better sacrifice, and so on. A word about living. Now what is said in this word about leaving?
Verses thirteen and fourteen. Simply this, we must say goodbye to the camp, and welcome to the city. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach, for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Goodbye to the camp, and welcome to the city. Are you sometimes convicted, because the verse of a hymn comes back to you with force and makes you feel guilty? Ashamed of Jesus, shall it be? a mortal man ashamed of thee, ashamed of thee whom angels praise, whose glory lives through endless days.
Without they can. That's the place for the Christian, beside his master. Is it to be thought for a moment that they who rejected the light of the world are going to be willing to tolerate his torchbearers? Is it to be thought conceivable for a moment that they who crucified the Prince of Life would be willing to fraternize with his loyal people? Never. Don't be ashamed to get outside the camp. If somebody, when you witness for Christ, says to you, tapping the forehead significantly, you're off your head.
Don't be offended. Don't be resentful. Don't speak hastily and harshly. You smile very sweetly and say, I know I am. And I thank God for it. I'm off my head because I'm on my feet. A man on his head is upside down anyhow. And that's the way I was till Jesus met and saved me, set me on my feet. And that's the reason why I'm off my head. I'm right side up. So the people who live upside down, they figure that's the normal condition. So of course you're off your head. Because you're on your feet.
And you're not going to apologize to anybody for that, are you? A word about leaving. And then finally, a word about laying. Look at verse fifteen. By him, therefore, let us offer the... sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name, but to do good, and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you.
Pray for us, for we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly. This last word then, the word about laying, we offer to God. That's what the verses say. We offer praise to God. Again, that's what the verses say. We are to offer praise to God as a sacrifice. We are to lay it, as it were, upon the altar. And we are to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. And you'll notice it concerns His name.
It concerns our lips. And it involves also thanksgiving. When a preacher comes to Park of the Palms, you know, there's one thing that is very obvious to him. There are lots of happy people at Park of the Palms. You sit there in the meetings and you sing so lustily, and you smile in a nod when the preacher says something that gets to your heart, and it's obvious that there are lots of happy people in Park of the Palms. But let me let you into a secret. The preacher doesn't say at the palms very long that wander among the people before he finds that there's one here and there that has a chip on his shoulder.
Everybody isn't happy at part of the palms. Now that may surprise the visitors. Do you know why it is? We get a chip on our shoulders and we get unhappy when we are taken up with ourselves. And God help us when we get into that condition. When a man is offering to God the sacrifice of praise continually, he doesn't have time to be discontented. What is the hymn writer wrote? Or write? Or the hymn writer writes? He wrote, We grumble on Monday, grumble on Tuesday, grumble on Wednesday too. We grumble on Thursday, grumble on Friday, grumble on Saturday too.
We grumble when it's raining, we grumble when it's dry. There are some people... and they're never, they're like the Irishman. He's wrongly reputed to be. He doesn't know what he wants and isn't happy till he gets it. Now don't you believe that about the Irishman? He may be bigger than you are. But you know it's really very true that we can slip into the way of becoming self-centered and little things that don't please us can begin to loom very large Until at last they fill our horizon and we lose sight of all our blessings.
You know, I've been sorry that in our hymn book, Choice Hymns, we do not have the hymn, Count Your Blessings. You know, Connie Bear and myself were working for months on a new hymn book. I don't know what's happened to it. It's got lost in the shuffle somewhere, I think. But you know, we were both of us absolutely convinced. But back into the hymn book must go count your blessings. Because when people count their blessings, it transforms their lives. You know that old hymn, don't you? Count your blessings, name them one by one. You know how the revised version goes, don't you? Count your blessings, name them two by two. Count your blessings, name them four by four.
Count your blessings, name them by the score. And it will surprise you, there are millions more. And if you take time to count your blessings... you'll be found offering the sacrifice of praise to God continually, and you'll forget how to grumble. Put laying then along with loving and living and leaving, and you come up with what the writer has been placing before us a path to follow. God grant that we might learn it and walk it. for God's honour and for our own good.
And now it is twenty-nine minutes past eight, which gives me one minute to say what a joy it's been to be again at Park of the Palms. I mustn't come here too often, or I shall think it's time I retired to this lovely spot, and that might be fatal in some ways, though delightful, in others. But you know, you'd be very kind to us, my wife and I, and my father-in-law, and mother-in-law, and we have so enjoyed our stay, and we want to say thank you to you all. We don't expect to see you at the breakfast table tomorrow, because we want to get on the road early. But the best laid schemes of mice and men, gang afid lay, maybe we'll see you at breakfast after all, but happy though I've been to be here, because I like to get on the road early, I hope we'll not see you at breakfast.
It has been a joy, and thank you all so much, and goodbye, and God bless you.