Sermon Tone Analysis

In many ways Labor Day seems more like New Year’s Day than Labor Day.

September marks the start of a new school year, for businesses it marks the start of the most important shopping season and for churches it marks the start of a new year of choir, Sunday school and bible studies.

So the question, “What am I going to pursue for the next 12 months is not an inappropriate question to ask this weekend.

Moreover, Labor Day also causes us to ask the question, “What am I laboring for?”

We are all working for something.

Some are just working to make a “living.”

They have very simple needs.

Others are laboring to “get rich.”

Some are laboring for status.

Others are laboring to make a better world for others, especially their children.

As he concludes his sermon, the author of Hebrews is urging us to labor for holiness.

Let’s turn our attention to Hebrews 12:12-17.

As we examine this text we see three things pertaining to the pursuit of holiness:

The Necessity

The Method

The Obstacles

The Necessity

We begin with the necessity.

The one sentence that jumps out to us more than any other in this passage is found in verse 14: “Strive...for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

At first glance this verse appears to teach that we are saved as a result of attaining moral perfection.

We know this is not the case because this would not only contradict what the rest of Scripture teaches about salvation, but it contradicts what the author has already taught us about salvation.

It is not our perfection that saves us, but Christ’s.

So, what does this statement mean in Hebrews 12:4?

It means this:

We must have the holiness of Christ imputed to use through justification.

We must have holiness infused in us by the Holy Spirit through sanctification.

The point the author of Hebrews is making is that holiness through justification and holiness through sanctification are inseparably joined: True saving faith WILL strive for holiness through sanctification because every true believer has the Holy Spirit.

If a person claims to be a believer, but is not striving for holiness, this is a sign that they may not be a true believer and have not been justified.

The author of Hebrews will speak to this in verses 15-17, but first I want us to look at verses 12-14, where the author gives us the method by which the Holy Spirit works in us to create holiness.

The Method

The first tool the Holy Spirit uses is found in verse 12:

This is a citation of Isaiah 35:3-4.

The author’s original audience would have recognized this, but because we are not as familiar with the Old Testament, let me read these verses for you.

The context of Isaiah 35 makes it clear that the way God’s people are strengthened and healed is by trusting in God and His promises.

The process of sanctification is a daunting one.

In this life, “the world, the flesh and the devil” battle against us all the time.

We have even more reason to fear “the world, the flesh and the devil” than the ancient Israelites had to fear the Assyrians and Babylonians, but God says to us, just as he said to Israel, “Be strong, fear not!

Behold, your God…will come and save you.”

This is why Paul could write to the Philippians:

Having this confidence in God and His promise to full sanctify us leads us to the second tool the Holy Spirit uses to sanctify us:

Once again the author of Hebrews cites the Old Testament, this time Proverbs 4:26-27:

The point the author of Hebrews is making is that we need to use Scripture to carefully examine the direction our life is taking.

For example:

The final method the Holy Spirit uses to sanctify us, is by our striving “for peace with everyone.”

Just as there is an inseparable link between justification and sanctification, there is an inseparable link between our love of God and our love of others.

The apostle John puts it like this:

Our love for our neighbor is one of the most powerful means the Holy Spirit used to make us like God, because “God is love.”

At the end of this passage, the author warns us of three obstacles.

The Obstacles

The first is “Graceless” Faith: “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.”

Saving faith is a gift of God.

In our fallen state we would never repent of our sin and trust in Christ.

The origin of true saving faith is not from within, but from God. Sadly, the faith many profess is a faith manufactured by human effort, rather than by reliance upon Christ.

You may have notice that this first exhortation is corporate, “See to it that no one fails...” We can’t judge the validity of someone else’s faith, but we can and must encourage one another to continually seek and rely upon the grace of God.

When you see a brother or sister struggling in their walk, we need to do all we can to encourage them to continue to turn to God for His grace, rather than turning to their own efforts.

The second obstacle is found in the last half of verse 15: “See to it…that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble.”

This is a citation of Deut.

29:18:

The author of Hebrews is saying that we all have a responsibility to make sure that false doctrine does not arise in the church, for it is like a deadly poison and will bear bitter fruit.

When false doctrine or practice is found in the community of faith, it must be rooted out before its poison bears its bitter fruit.

We see recent examples of this in the Roman Catholic Church and in many Protestant denominations.

There are some things which must not ever be tolerated.

The sad thing about all this is that because of false doctrine or false practice some will never come to saving faith.

The sanctification process never begins because the person never comes to Christ!

There is one final obstacle to holiness—Worldly Sensuality.

This is found in verses 16-17: See to it...

The example the author of Hebrews points to is Esau.

Esau’s birthright was his being heir to the covenant of salvation as the first born.

Remember, it was through Abraham and his dependents that salvation would come to the world through the promised seed.

It is this promise that Esau sold for a bowl of beans!

Because he sold his birthright, it was through is brother Jacob that the Messiah would come!

This is a warning every generation has needed to hear, but I think our generation in particular needs to hear it.

We live in a society that is obsessed with gratifying its sensual desires.

We have all know people who were born to a Christian parent and thus were Covenant Children—heirs to the promise of salvation just like Esau, but they sold that promise for the pleasures of this world!

The tragic thing about our sensual appetites is that we can become enslaved by them.

I can’t tell you have many times I have talked to person and they will say something like this, “Pastor I know I need to get back in church and I plan to soon.”

Sadly, “soon” becomes never.

They know they need to repent.

Their desire for salvation will even bring them to tears, but like Esau they never do.

This final warning is a fitting ending to this sermon.

I began this sermon by asking you what you are pursuing this “year.”

Are you pursuing God and His holiness or are you pursuing the things of this world?

If you are not “striving” for God’s holiness, you may find yourself in the position of Esau.