Hebrews 12:12-13 My Best Hope

Hebrews 12:12-13

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed

Addressing a congregation that the Apostle says he is convinced is saved, Paul urges them toward three responses to their suffering for their faith:

• Lift up their hands that are dragging from weariness
• Do the same with their knees that have become feeble and
• Walk a straight path with their feet

In other words, get over their moping about and move ahead energetically in Christ.

What interests me is the motivation for so doing. Paul urges them to pick it up for the sake of others struggling to do the same.

My best hope for a

• cheerful
• powerful and
• successful 

walk with God is to help someone else have the same. We are all in this same boat. We are all pressed down by the world. We are all tempted to "turn out of the way" to back off of our faith and coast along with the world. In order for me to stay faithful I need others to encourage me to stay faithful. In order for them to stay faithful they need me to stay faithful.

So the most effective way for me to have the support I need for my walk with Christ is to support others in their walk with Christ.

Joshua 4:2-3 Just for Today

Joshua 4:2-3

Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,

And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night.

The twelve men drew these stones out of Jordan and Joshua built the memorial alter from them long before they had won the Promised Land. They hadn't even spent the night there yet. God had them do this as a memorial of the day because; any day later than this would be too late.

• They would never be in the same place they were this day again.
• They would never see the Jordan River stand on a heap again.
• They would never spend their first night in the Promised Land again
• They would never again look into the Promised Land with the same faith and expectation they did this day again

They needed a record of the day as the day unfolded. They probably could have, at a later date, figured out a way to get twelve stones from the river, but never would they have opportunity to remove them from the dry riverbed again. To look back and recreate the day would never be the same as to mark the day itself.   

It is for this reason I believe that we ought to journal, mark and record our lives day by day. I do not know that today marks a change in the rest of my life but neither do I know it doesn't. Every day is a treasured gift from God and ought to be viewed that way.

Pull out some stones just from today and build an altar here.

Hebrews 10:14 Perfected For Ever

Hebrews 10:14

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

The point of the verse is the phrase "by one offering". The apostle wants us to see the effectiveness of the offering of Christ. In doing so he makes a secondary claim that is of immense blessing to those who are saved; we have been "perfected for ever".

What God has done and is continuing to do in me as a Christian, and in every Christian everywhere, is a forever thing. It never ends. It isn't revoked at some moment of sin in my life. No contract is broken if I am unable to keep my end of the deal. At the moment of my salvation God made me perfect in Christ Jesus. That is justification. For the rest of my life of earth God continues to work in my heart and soul for victory over sin and perfection in Christlikeness. That is sanctification.

God's covenant with the believer is a for ever one.

Hebrews 9:24 Today's Place of Worship

Hebrews 9:24

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Someone challenged me the other day and said that I could not prove that Jesus left Judaism. I offer this verse as proof to the contrary.

The Bible says Christ did not enter into those holy places made by men, but into heaven itself. The passage goes on to tell us that all those man made structures were to prefigure that which is real in heaven. They were not real in and of themselves – ever.

But we are not in heaven, someone will argue. That is true. Today we have a new place to worship in; a place not constructed by the hands of man but built by Christ Himself. He promised He would build His church. That's not a building of wood or stone. His building is made up of men and women who:

• have professed faith in Christ
• been baptized by immersion as a sign of their faith and
• committed themselves together in union for His cause

That's a Baptist Church!

Hebrews 8:13 Let It Die Already

Hebrews 8:13 KJV

In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

Years ago I pastored a young lady who had a childhood friend who was battling what turned out to be terminal cancer. Since this lady and her family were brand new in our church, they were excited about our church and anxious to get their friends to come there with them. One of those friends, of course, was this woman with cancer. She never came to our church but we got regular updates on her declining condition from the family who had recently joined.

The battle with the cancer was brutal. At one point the friend in our church blurted out to me, "Why doesn't she just give up and die already?" I knew what she meant. I knew she meant well and that death would end the unbelievable suffering her friend was enduring. Still, it struck me odd, almost cruel. As far as I could tell this new member in our church was about as gracious and compassionate a person as I have ever been blessed to know. But she wanted this struggle to be over.

The incident reminds me of the very emotional struggle of replacing Old Testament laws with New Testament faith.

·       There is no question that the new is here

·       There is little debate that it is better

But some refuse to let the fight die.

As strange as it may seem, the gracious and the compassionate position is to urge the old to simply "vanish away."

·       It is not unkind or hateful to urge Jews, especially those who claim to have faith in Christ, to make a clean break from the Old Testament Law.

·       It is an act of love to push Christians who are Gentiles by birth away from Judaistic rituals and toward a Bible believing New Testament Baptist church.

God has a plan that will one day restore Israel's holy and rightful place. But that is the business of the future. Today's business is to lead all men, Jew or Gentile:

·       to Christ,

·       to baptism and

·       to common fellowship in a local New Testament Bible believing Baptist church. 

Hebrews 8:13 Let It Die Already