Hebrews 12:12-17 Instructions for Godly Living

In a world of hyper spirituality and emotion based worship, many believers have not been instructed from God’s Word what practical godliness looks like.

For many, they just assume that godliness means feeling joy all the time, or spending every free moment practicing some spiritual discipline.

But God in his grace, has told us in his Word, just what it means to follow Christ.

He has not left us guessing, but has given us clear instructions for godly living.

And Hebrews 12:12-17 is one of those passages that gives us instructions for godliness.

Remember, the Big Idea overshadowing this whole passage is that followers of Christ must strive to live a godly life.

And the Author gives us three practical instructions for how we can do so. He says...

To live a godly life we must, first, set all of our hope on Christ.

Second, We must strive to live at peace with everyone.

And third, we must strive to walk in holiness.

We’ll start with point number 1...

I. To Live a Godly Life We Must Set Our Hope on Christ

Hebrews 12:12-13 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

When the Author says Therefore, he’s saying that everything he is about to say is a direct implication of what he has just said.

Right before this, the Author said the Christian life is a marathon of faith. One that we need to run with endurance.

His Big Idea is that God calls us to run the marathon of faith, to run the distance, and endure until the end.

So with that in mind, he says Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

If you are in a distance race and you are growing weary, near to the point of exhaustion where you want to give up or slow down, the first things to go are your hands and your knees.

Your arms begin to droop down and your knees get wobbly.

You start hunching over unable to catch your breath and unless something changes you won’t be in the race for much longer.

This was the state of the Hebrews. They were in the race but they were losing ground fast. So the Author encourages them saying lift your hands and strengthen your knees!

Get going! Run hard! Don’t give up!

And what you might not notice when you first read this verse, is that the language the Author uses here would have been incredibly encouraging to the Hebrews.

These Jewish Christians would have immediately picked up on what the Author was laying down. When they heard strengthen your drooping hands and weak knees, their minds would have immediately gone to Isaiah 35.

Isaiah 35:3-4 Strengthen the weak hands,

and make firm the feeble knees.

4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,

“Be strong; fear not!

Behold, your God

will come with vengeance,

with the recompense of God.

He will come and save you.”

When Isaiah prophesied these words, he was speaking to the exiled people of God.

God had judged his people for their sin and ripped them out of the Promised Land.

And the faithful Israelites, the faithful people of God were at rock bottom. They had lived through years of wicked kings and false prophets.

They had Watched their friends and neighbors turn from God to worship idols.

And now they were ripped from their homes, living in a foreign land with no hope of ever getting to live in the Promised Land again. They were discouraged, despondent, one step away from giving up, much like the Hebrews.

So Isaiah reminds them of God’s promise to deliver them in a grand new exodus from Babylon.

He says be strong! Don’t be afraid! Don’t give up just yet! A better day is coming! God will come to crush your enemies and he will save you.

Do you see how this would’ve encouraged the Hebrews who were suffering persecution from their enemies as exiles in this world?

And if you think back to the end of chapter 10 which started this whole section, the Author’s encouragement makes a little more sense doesn’t it? The coming one will come and will not delay.

The Author is saying, just like God came and ransomed our forefathers out of exile, Jesus will come and ransom us out of this world. He will bring us out of this suffering and exile into the heavenly Promised Land. He will save us, just like he saved them.

And hearing this, the Hebrews would have had on the forefront of their minds what that promised salvation looked like from the surrounding verses of Isaiah 35.

Isaiah 35:1-2 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;

the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;

2 it shall blossom abundantly

and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord,

the majesty of our God.

He says when God returns to save his people, the desert and wilderness will be carpeted with spring flowers and shaded from the scorching heat by the great cedars of Lebanon.

Skip down to verse 5.

Isaiah 35:5-7 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer,

and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

For waters break forth in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert;

7 the burning sand shall become a pool,

and the thirsty ground springs of water;

in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,

the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

This is a total restoration. Everything that is broken in this world will be made new. The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The paralyzed man will leap like a dear! Water will flood the desert and the desolate wilderness will come alive with life!

This is a picture of God’s kingdom.

All the brokenness and death our sin has wrought in this world will pass away, and we will all be healed.

And with this in mind, the Author of Hebrews says lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees. Don’t give up, but look forward to that day!

In other words, if you want to run the race with endurance and live a godly life, then set your hope on Christ and the salvation that only comes through faith in his life, death, and resurrection.

If you want to live a godly life, then Christ must be the sole treasure of your life. That is what it means to set your hope on him.

Now I know all of this can sound really spiritual. I know it can be easy to say, “Well, I want to set my hope, I want to set all of my life, Christ, but what does that actually look like?

Its one thing to say all of my life is for Christ, its another to actually live that way. So how do we set our hope on Christ? How do we live all of our life for him and his glory?

Well, Hebrews tells us. Hebrews 12:13 Make straight paths for your feet.

Here again the author makes a direct reference to an OT passage that would have immediately come to the minds of the Hebrews.

This time its from Proverbs 4:26-27, but to understand the full weight of what the Author is saying, we need to read it in context.

Proverbs 4:20-27 My son, be attentive to my words;

incline your ear to my sayings.

21 Let them not escape from your sight;

keep them within your heart.

22 For they are life to those who find them,

and healing to all their flesh.

23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for from it flow the springs of life.

24 Put away from you crooked speech,

and put devious talk far from you.

25 Let your eyes look directly forward,

and your gaze be straight before you.

[Remember how the Author of Hebrews said in Chapter 12 that we are to fix our eyes of Jesus]

Ponder [Which means to make level or straight] the path of your feet;

then all your ways will be sure.

27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;

turn your foot away from evil.

Walking on the straight path and not swerving to the right or to the left is a common OT way of saying, “Walk in obedience. Be careful, make every effort to do all that the Lord has commanded you.”

So here’s what’s happening here. The Author of Hebrews has just told them that because God calls them to run the marathon of faith with endurance, they must set their hope on Christ.

They must live all of their life for him and his glory.

Then he says that the way they do that is by making straight paths for their feet which means not swerving to the right or to the left but keeping on the straight and narrow way.

By following God’s commands.

When Proverbs tells us to Ponder the path of our feet, which Hebrews says is the same thing as making straight paths, it is saying, “Consider the way you are going. Consider the path you are going to follow!”

“Is it going to be yours, or will it be the Lord’s?”

The Lord’s path is marked by obedience to his Word. God says be attentive to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Keep them within your heart. Why?

For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.

God’s Word brings life and healing but only if we follow it.

This is the same thing Hebrews is saying. Follow God’s Word Hebrews 12:13 so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

Here’s what all this tells us. To live a godly life we must first set all of our hope on Christ. We must remember the salvation he has promised to bring us when he returns.

The Hebrews are exhausted, doubting whether or not they can keep running the marathon of faith. And the Author is saying, remember what you’re running for!

When you grow weary and tired in the marathon of faith, the answer isn’t to give up and stop running. Its to remember Christ and the promise of his salvation.

To stake your life on the promise that Christ has not left you or forsaken you. That the One who saved you is the same One coming back for you.

And because he is coming back for you, to live all of your life for that day by living according to his Word.

By living with the Word of God as your highest authority.

That’s what it means to run straight ahead and not swerve to the right or to the left.

It means to run for Christ and follow him.

The principle here for us is that when we get tired, and lose focus in the marathon of faith, we need to remember our hope.

We need to stake our life on Christ. We need to live with Christ as the sole focus and purpose of our life.

And we do that by living all of our life according to his Word.

By not swerving to the right or to the left, but by following the path of God’s Word.

To live a godly life we must set our hope of Christ.

II. To Live a Godly Life We Must Strive for Peace with Everyone

Hebrews 12:14 Strive for peace with everyone...

So the Author spent the first two verses saying to live a godly life we must set our hope on Christ and then live out that hope by living all of our lives according to God’s Word.

Think of that command as what it means to live a godly life in general.

In general, we live a godly life by living with God’s Word as our highest authority.

In the rest of the passage, the Author of Hebrews is going to get to specifics. He’ll give us two specific examples of what it means to live a godly life.

First he says we are to strive for peace with everyone, and second he says we are to strive for holiness.

This point focuses on striving for peace and why peacefulness is absolutely necessary for a godly life.

To strive means to eagerly pursue. To run after something with everything you got.

And so the Author commands the Hebrews to eagerly pursue peace with everyone.

Now you might be wondering, why is this one of the quintessential marks of a godly life? Why is it so important for us to strive for peace?

Well, remember the Hebrews are being persecuted for their faith.

So when the Author says strive for peace with everyone, that everyone includes their persecutors.

In fact the word translated “strive” is an intentional play on words. Elsewhere in the NT, that word is translated as persecute.

So the Author is using a pun to say when you are persecuted, persecute your persecutors with peace.

In other words, don’t retaliate. Don’t try to get even. When you suffer persecution, repay them with peace.

This is the Christian’s response to persecution from the world.

Paul said it like this...

Romans 12:17-21 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Paul says when you suffer and are persecuted for the sake of Christ, don’t seek revenge. Instead, trust in God.

Trust that God will not let evil go unpunished. That he will repay the wicked for their deeds.

Christians don’t have worry about getting even because we believe God will execute perfect justice in the end.

Instead, God calls us to bless those that persecute us. Paul says if they are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

In other words, similar to the Hebrews, Paul is urging the Romans to not try and get even when they suffer persecution, but instead to trust God with their suffering. To entrust themselves to the one who judges justly.

Now where did Paul get this idea? Well he got it from Christ.

1 Peter 2:21-23 To this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Christ endured the suffering of the cross because he entrusted himself to God. He had faith that the Father’s plan was perfect. That the Father could be trusted whole heartedly even in the face of unimaginable suffering and death.

Christ submitted himself to the Father’s will. And Peter’s says that his example is one for us to follow.

That when we suffer, we don’t need to fight back or get even, but we, like Christ, can entrust ourselves to the one who judges justly.

This is why Peter says later in the same letter...

1 Peter 4:19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

So from Hebrews to Paul to Peter, you see that a core ethic of early Christians was to respond to persecution with peace by entrusting themselves to God.

And from that little phrase we start to see why striving for peace is so fundamental to living a godly life.

The call to strive for peace is really so much bigger than a call to forgive others and not retaliate. It is actually a call to have a radical, all or nothing faith in God.

A total trust in God and his promises that leads to a life of godliness.

Remember, to live a godly life means to walk the straight path of God’s Word. To not turn our feet to the right or to the left.

To take each and every step saying God I follow you because I trust you. I trust that obedience is good and leads to life, and disobedience leads to death.

That is what it means to live by faith.

And striving for peace with the very people that persecute us is the epitome of a total trusting faith in God.

Thats the kind of faith that can say, God I trust you and I trust your plan for my life without question.

And that is the kind of faith necessary for a godly life.

I’m giving you an argument from the greater to the lesser. If we can live by faith and trust God even when we suffer for doing so, then surely we can live by faith and follow him in other areas of our life.

Striving for peace is is the clearest way we can say, “I trust God and follow him.”

Because if we can trust God in the midst of suffering and persecution, then surely we can trust him in daily obedience.

I think that’s the idea Peter was getting at in 1 Peter 4:1-2. Again, thats that same epistle.

1 Peter 4:1-2 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

Ceased from sin does not mean someone who suffers for Christ “no longer sins at all.”

What it means is that someone who suffers for Christ and goes on to keep obeying his Word in spite of that suffering, that person has made a clear break with sin in their life.

In other words, obedience has become more important to them than anything else, even avoiding pain and hardship.

That Obedience is the deepest desire of their life.

And that kind of faith results in godliness in other areas of our life because we no longer live for human passions, but the will of God.

Application

Peacemakers

So how do we apply a passage like this? I mean, we aren’t suffering like the Hebrews.

Yes, we are seeing persecution grow in our culture, but we aren’t suffering the loss of property, violence, or imprisonment.

So what does it mean for us to strive for peace?

Well for one thing, I think it means making every effort to be known as peacemakers.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:9 Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Striving for peace is intrinsic to our identity as God’s sons and daughters.

So as God’s children, we must be peacemakers.

This is one of the most counter cultural things we can do as God’s people. Our world is full of anger, bitterness, and quarrels.

Hatred and division rule the day; not peace.

And if we are every bit as quarrelsome as the rest of world around us, what kind of witness is that? What kind of name are we giving Christ?

Its real easy here to say, “Well, I’m not quarrelsome? I don’t argue and fight with people. I’m kind to people! People like me.”

But, let me ask you. Do you fight and argue with people on social media? Are you constantly letting your opinion be known and judging others who disagree with you?

Jesus said out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and that we will be held accountable for every one of our words.

Let us not throw away our witness and put a stumbling block in front of gospel just because we would rather make our opinions known than strive for peace.

Entrusting

More difficult to determine is how do we apply entrusting ourselves to God if we aren’t suffering persecution like the Hebrews were.

How do we grow in or live with a radical, all or nothing faith?

How do we live a life that says, “God all of my life is yours!”

Remember, entrusting ourselves to God means living all of our life trusting him. Following him, not just in the big things, but the small things as well.

Jesus said in Luke 16:10 One who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest [that is unrighteous] in a very little is also dishonest [or unrighteous] in much.

The idea here is that small acts of faithfulness, become big acts of faithfulness.

And if striving for peace when persecuted is the Master’s level test of godly living, then we need to look at our lives and ask, Are we even passing the elementary tests of godliness?

Are we entrusting ourselves to God even in the small things of our life, the small acts of obedience, or are we saying I can always get serious about my faith later.”

Let me ask it this way, What are you waiting on to entrust all of your life to God and live solely for him?

Is there some small sin that you keep telling yourself isn’t that big of a deal and that you can hang on to it just a little while longer?

Are you refusing to lead your wife and children because being passive is so much easier?

What is God wanting you to hand over to him? How is God asking you to trust him and follow the path of his Word?

Followers of Christ must strive to live a godly life.

To do that we must set our hope on Christ and determine to live all of our lives for him.

We must also strive for peace with everyone entrusting all of our life to God.

Finally point number 3...

III. To Live a Godly Life We Must Strive for Holiness

Hebrews 12:14 Strive…for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

This verse says something that I wish more Christians, and more churches, and more pastors understood.

Holiness is not an optional extra in the Christian life. Holiness is something that belongs to the essence of what it means to be a Christian.

But we need to be careful here because it could be easy for us to read “without holiness you won’t see the Lord” and fear that unless we live a perfectly righteous life ourselves, we won’t be saved.

But we are saved by grace, and not by works.

So I want you to see God’s amazing grace even in this call to obedience.

If you are going to understand this verse and not chase self righteousness the rest of your life, you need to see how this command connects with the person and work of Christ.

There’s a problem. Unless we are holy, we won’t see the Lord. We won’t be saved.

But all of us know we aren’t holy. All of us have sinned against God.

So the holiness that is required to see the Lord can’t come from us.

But God in his grace sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to live a sinless life. A life of perfect holiness.

And when he died on the cross our sin was imputed, or in other words counted, to him and through faith his perfect holiness is imputed to us.

God justifies sinners. We are declared holy with the perfect holiness required to see the Lord through faith in Christ.

So God himself provides the holiness we need to be saved through the gospel.

And when we believe that gospel we are given new hearts with new desires that no longer want to live in sin, but walk in holiness.

So you see, Christians that are genuinely saved by God’s grace, live out that salvation in practical everyday obedience. In holiness.

So growing in holiness, striving for holiness is necessary in the life of the Christian because it is the fruit of the holiness that only comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

To say it another way. Without holiness we won’t be saved, because without holiness aren’t saved.

Paul said something similar.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

There is a holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

But this holiness does not come from us. It is a result of God’s grace. It comes as a result of God declaring us holy by his grace in Christ.

11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

So God does not love us or save us because we obey Him. We obey Him because God has loved us and has saved us in Christ.

God’s grace is powerful and it transforms us from the inside out.

So when the Author of Hebrews says there is a holiness without which no one will see the Lord, what he is saying is that godliness is proof of genuine salvation.

If someone professes to worship Christ, but they do not live in holiness, if they do not yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness like the Author said in Hebrews 12:11, then they are not saved.

So what this boils down to is if you are saved by Christ, the aim of your life must be holiness.

And in the rest of this passage the Author gives us three ways that we are to strive for that holiness.

But before we get to that, the Author says See to it...

See to it actually translates a single Greek word that is related to the word for pastor or overseer. It literally means exercise oversight.

That means the Author is instructing the Hebrews to exercise oversight over themselves and one another.

That they are to help each other strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Here’s why that is significant. You need the Church! You simply cannot live a godly life without the accountability and encouragement of other believers.

That means if you want to live a godly live and strive for holiness, you need to join the church. You need to commit to a church and belong to a church, and the way we do that here is through church membership.

Church membership helps Christians know who are the brothers and sisters God calls them to help oversee, and at the same time know who they can go to for help and encouragement in their own walk of faith.

If you are trying to follow Jesus on your own, come in from the cold. Your spiritual growth will be stunted without the grace God provides through life in his body.

So the Big Idea here is: If you are not a member of the church you should join our church.

And if you are a member here we need to see that God has given us responsibility for one another and do everything we can to help each other grow in holiness.

Now what does that holiness look like? The Author gives us three things. To live a holy life, we must...

Persevere

Worship God Alone

Live a spiritual life, not a natural one.

1. Persevere

Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.

Fails to obtain can also be translated as falls short.

The Author is urging these Christians to make sure that no one falls short of salvation. That they don’t give up too soon. That they persevere in their faith until the end.

He actually used this same word in Hebrews 4:1 which says Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

The rest being talked about here is the rest of God’s salvation. Its eternal life.

Perseverance has been such a prominent theme in Hebrews that we won’t belabor the point here again.

But I want to remind you that perseverance is necessary for salvation.

That God saves us by his grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and that grace produces in us a holy life that perseveres. That follows Jesus until the end.

To strive for holiness, we must persevere in Christ.

2. Worship God Alone

Hebrews 12:15 See to it...that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.

On first reading this you might assume that the Author is commanding us to not be bitter towards one another.

Which is true. We should not be angry and bitter towards other believers. We are called to love one another.

But that’s not what the author is saying in this verse.

The root of bitterness is a reference to Deuteronomy 29:18. I’ll put it up on the screen but I will read it in context.

Deuteronomy 29:16-20 You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17 And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. 18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, “I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.”

The root of bitterness refers to Idolatry. To turning away from the Lord to worship false gods.

And Idolatry is the root that produces the poisonous and bitter fruit of sin in our life.

Every time we sin we are saying that we love something else more than we love God. And that false love is idolatry.

So the Author is saying, you need to see to it that you worship God alone. That you guard yourself and one another from hearts that love sin more than God.

Beware that you don’t go astray to worship idols. That you don’t go astray to worship good things that you turn into god things.

That’s what an idol is. An Idol is anything we put over God as our highest priority or ultimate desire.

And the author warns that this root of bitterness, this idolatry can spring up and defile many. What does that mean?

Well Paul said in Galatians 5:9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

Leaven, or yeast, is commonly used in the Bible to talk about the growing influence of evil.

The idea here here is that you introduce a little leaven, a little evil, into the dough, and eventually the whole thing will be leavened.

So what happens is some form of false teaching or idolatry makes its way into the church and if left unchecked, can corrupt or defile many.

Here’s how. Say someone in the body lives in blatant sin. If there’s no rebuke, no church discipline, no call to repentance, it says to everyone else in the body that holiness and worshiping God alone isn’t really that important.

After all, if no one cares that someone isn’t worshiping God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, then they aren’t going to care if you or I don’t either.

And before you know it, the whole church has a denigrated view, a low view of God and his glory.

And if God is not glorious, then he is not worthy of all our worship. And if he is not worthy of of our worship, we are free to live however we see fit.

So unless a church holds on to the vision of God’s glory and majesty, that he alone is worthy of all of our worship...

and unless every member, starting with themselves, holds that line, then leaven will creep into that church and defile many.

Perhaps the Author of Hebrews himself said it best.

Hebrews 3:12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

To strive for holiness, we must worship God alone.

And finally, number 3, to live a holy life, we must...

3. Live a Spiritual Life, Not a Natural One

Hebrews 12:15-17 See to it...that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

To understand this you need to understand the story of Jacob and Esau.

Jacob and Esau were two twins born to Abraham’s son Isaac.

And God eventually renamed Jacob, Israel, and chose his line to bring forth the people of God and eventually the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

So for the Hebrews, Esau was representative of everything they did not want to be. He was the exact opposite of the people of God.

And one day, Genesis tells us, Esau came home from working the field and he was starving and exhausted. So he told Jacob to give him some red stew to eat.

Jacob said, No problem brother. Just one thing. I want you to sell me your birthright.

You see, Esau was the older brother who would’ve carried on the family name and received the bulk of the inheritance. This was everything to a Jewish man in his Father’s house.

But Esau said, “What good is my birthright if I’m dead from hunger.” So Esau sold everything he had for a single meal all because he was hungry.

That’s why Hebrews says See to it...that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau.

Now, there is nothing in the Bible that tells us Esau was sexually immoral. Where is the Author getting that idea?

The clue is in the word translated unholy. That word can also be translated godless, worthless, totally worldly and profane.

So the Author is saying, Esau was a man driven by his natural passions and desires. He lived his life to satisfy whatever whim or desire he had at any given moment.

He was a natural man. A carnal man.

That’s where the sexual immorality comes in. Sexually immoral people are driven by their passions and desires. So the Author’s point isn’t that Esau was sexually immoral.

The Author’s point is that holiness means living a spiritual life, not being driven by your natural and sinful passions and desires.

Paul hits at this idea talking about sinful people in Philippians 3:19 He says, Their god is their belly.

Sinful people live to satisfy their sinful desires. There is no discipline. There is no spiritual priority given to their life and how they live.

They are hungry so they eat. They have a lust, passion, desire so they partake.

That’s why God says Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

The holy life is a spiritual life. Not a life lived to satisfy our natural and wordly desires, but to satisfy God.

And when the Author says that Esau was rejected and found no chance to repent, even though he sought it with tears, the Author is reiterating that there is a holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

And we must walk in holiness here and now, because there are no second chances later.

To strive for holiness, we must live a spiritual life, not a natural one.

Conclusion

Followers of Christ must strive to live a godly life.

And how we do that is by setting all of our hope on Christ and his salvation.

By seeing all of our life as for him and for his glory for dying for us on the cross.

And then we live for his glory by living all of our lives according to God’s Word.

By entrusting all of our life to God with a radical faith that says I will follow you every step of the way, even if that means seeking peace with the very people who persecute us

And by striving for holiness in every area of our life because holiness is the mark of a true Christian.

I urge you today: Follow Christ. Live for him! Give all of your life to him, and run the race God has set before you in godliness.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

1 Peter 1:13-16

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.

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