No One Left Behind

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,

Romans 14:19 NASB95

So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

And Romans 12:18 says,

Romans 12:18 NASB95

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

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,

Hebrews 10:10 NASB95

By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

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,

Hebrews 4:1 NASB95

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.

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,

Matthew 7:23 NASB95

“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

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.” That’s not a given; some opinions are vile and wicked, and no one has a right to them. But even if someone does have the right to their own opinion, they don’t have a right to poison others with it. Someone might say, “These are just my private feelings,” but when they share them in the Body, they aren’t private anymore, but public. We must guard against others being harmed when roots of bitterness spring up.

So while we hope and pray that every believer confess bitterness and repent of it, we must see to it that if bitterness is revealed, the effect on other believers is kept to a minimum.

SEE TO IT THAT NO ONE IS IMMORAL OR GODLESS

See to it … that there be no [sexually] immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. 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 12:16–17)

Esau was a man who worshiped his own appetites and desires; he gave up his birthright for a single meal. It is possible for any Christian to lose sight of the promise of God, and trade that promise for a moment of contentment or pleasure. Esau had it his way for a while, but eventually his sin caught up with him. By that point, it was too late to repent. He tried to undo what he had done; I think it’s fair to say that he was truly shattered by the circumstances.

But here’s the thing – being sorry about what you did isn’t repentance. Feeling bad isn’t repentance.

Second Corinthians 7:10 says,

2 Corinthians 7:10 NASB95

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Esau experienced worldly sorrow. He was sorry that he lost his inheritance. He was sad that he was left without anything. He grieved that Jacob got what he should have received. But there was no place for him to repent. There was no way for him to undo what he did, and go back to the beginning.

A lot of people think that they can get right with God later, on their own time. They have the opportunity to be godly, but refuse. “I can always repent later,” they think. “I’ve got my whole life to live; I’ll serve God later.” But ‘later’ may never come. The Lord may give them over to their sin. Their death may come sooner than they expected. In all likelihood, they won’t care later on, not until, like Esau, they realize what they’ve done.

Someone might say, “Oh, God wouldn’t reject someone who was genuinely sorry.” Yes, He would, and He does. He rejected Esau.

Hebrews 3:12-13 says,

Hebrews 3:12–13 NASB95

Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

When we see people, especially those who claim to be Christians, whose lives are marked by sexual immorality and godlessness, we must call them to repent and believe the Gospel now, and not wait. We must warn them that the time may be coming, exactly when no one can say, when repentance will not be possible.

BRINGING IT HOME

Let’s bring this home.

Why are we called to an energetic life, pursuing peace and sanctification?

Because this life is not a game; it’s for real, and counts. This world is not a test. It is not a simulation. What we do here matters for eternity. How we live before the Lord and one another matters.

We have exactly the number of days between today and the day of our death to pursue peace with all.

We have exactly the number of days between today and the day of our death to pursue sanctification.

Every day lived means one day less to live in holiness before God and peace with others.

Tonight I want to look back at today and be able to say, “I pursued peace with others; I pursued holiness.”

We must also see to it that no one is left behind. People get tired and discouraged. Suffering wears us down; so does sin. The grace of God is the answer.

Bitterness and unforgiveness can grow like a cancer in anyone’s heart. Immorality and godlessness don’t suddenly appear; they’ve been lurking for a long time.

Let’s leave no one behind.

I urge you to commit yourself afresh today to pursing peace with all people, and pursuing the holiness of God.

If you know a Christian who is openly bitter, or engaging in immorality and godlessness, won’t you pray for them, lifting them up before the Lord in urgent prayer? Won’t you pray about speaking to them yourself? The Gospel is not just for non-Christians; it was made for the people of God. You can remind them that Jesus bore their sin entirely, and they don’t need to keep it any longer. Jesus satisfied the justice of God for them and for all His people. You can gently urge them to repent and believe for the cleansing of their conscience before the Lord.

If you know someone who claims to be a Christian, but their life denies the Lord, won’t you pray for them? Won’t you lift them up before the Savior, and ask for Him to intervene? Won’t you ask for the opportunity and the words to speak to them?

In all of this, we entrust ourselves to the Lord. None of us can speak in pride, because, apart from the grace of God, any one of us could find ourselves committing any sort of sin. We pray as those who have been rescued and redeemed. We speak to others as those who have received mercy. We know how close we ourselves came to destruction, and we don’t want to see anyone left behind.