HEBREWS 12:15

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:15 “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.” What does it mean to “fail” of the grace of God? The word that is translated “fail” means “to come late” or “to be left behind in a race” or “to be inferior.” Paul used the same word in Second Corinthians 12:11 where he wrote, “For in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles.” Hebrews 12:15 is telling us: You have received the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ; make sure that you do not miss out on what you can accomplish through His grace. You can become a person of strong faith. You can become the person that God wants you to be. Do not come behind in what the grace of God can do in your life.

Once a person becomes saved by grace through faith in Christ, what things can cause such a person to “fail of the grace of God?” The very next phrase tells us. It says, “Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” This is what can happen to a person who does not live by faith. If you are going to live by faith, it means that even with the bad things you must believe that God’s will is being done and you absolutely must accept His will. If you do not live by faith, then bitterness can start growing within you: bitterness against God or bitterness against the people around you. Once that bitterness has taken root, there will be many destructive effects from it: “many” will be “defiled.” Jesus said, “He that gathers not with me scatters abroad.”

There once was a young couple who had great potential. They claimed to be saved. They each graduated from a Christian college. They had a rare gift for working with children. They were intelligent, energetic, polite, and had many social skills. They had a great future in the service of Christ. However the wife was immature and highly emotional, and who came from a family with very controlling parents. The husband became weary, frustrated and impatient. After some years of marriage the wife left her husband and went back to live with her parents. As a result of her desertion and the separation, the husband became bitter with his wife and his wife became bitter with him. This sorrow and downfall happened because a root of bitterness sprang up between the couple. And because of their bitterness many were defiled. They eventually divorced. And it all started with a “root of bitterness.” If only those who had heard about faith, lived by faith in Christ no matter what happened. If only one person had shown some diligence to turn away from the beginnings of bitterness to faith in Jesus Christ, how differently things could have turned out.

Something else can take place in the live of a believer to keep them from fulfilling the life that the grace of God would otherwise have led them to. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:16-17, “Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, 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.” Two sins are listed here as being the ones that will keep a Christian from fulfilling what the grace of God would otherwise have performed in his life. One sin is being a fornicator, and the other sin is being a profane person. A fornicator is someone who commits sexual sins. Of course, sexual sins are very destructive both from a physical and a spiritual standpoint. A profane person refers to someone who desecrates that which God declares to be holy, and so it refers to someone who dishonors or disrespects God in some severe way. Jesus said to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name.” The Word of God tells Christians that their body is the temple of God, and Christians are warned not to defile that holy temple. It says in First Corinthians 3:16-17, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”

Hebrews 12:17 makes it clear that there is a limit to the opportunities that God offers His children. It is a privilege to be called to do something for God, but God will not leave the door of opportunity open forever. One moment of sinful selfishness can cause you to miss that opportunity. Esau lost his opportunity and he never got it back again. “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.”

Of course, Esau lived in the time of the Old Testament; a time when the judgment of God was sometimes shown in a more severe way. We no longer live under the arrangement that God set up for man in the Old Testament. This point is made in Hebrews 12:18-21 that says, “For ye 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 intreated 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 touch 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.” This mountain in the Old Testament that represented the presence of God on earth was a fearful place. There was darkness, and fire, and loud noises. There was also fear and death.

What a contrast to the New Testament and to the way that the presence of God is related to us in the New Testament. It says in Hebrews 12:22-24, “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Of all of these great things that God has given to the believer in Jesus, none of them are physical or material in nature. God has given to us great spiritual blessings that will be fully realized in the next life: in “the heavenly Jerusalem.” I wonder why the Holy Spirit chose to remind us that we have come to “an innumerable company of angels?” Perhaps it is because some of us in this life will be rejected among men and must go without the camp just like Jesus. Some of us will wander in this world with no certain dwelling place: but not forever. The wandering will end for every believer when we step inside the gates of the great city prepared by God for His children.

We are told that the heavenly Jerusalem is “the city of the living God.” This city belongs to God. That is in contrast to the cities of this world, which in a certain sense belong to the devil. When Jesus was tempted of the devil, the Bible says in Matthew 4:8-9, “Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” It is no wonder that Jesus refused to accept the cities of this world, because they are full of sin and death. The city of the living God will be a city of life. The best that life can possibly be will be found in that city. There will be no death there. All of the cities of the world have graveyards. But the city of God does not have one. No one gets murdered, no one takes drugs, no one gets sick, and no one grows old or dies.

There will be a great gathering together of all the believers. That is what the words “general assembly” mean. All of the believers will live together forever in a great and wonderful city: in Mount Zion, the city of the great King. Notice that Hebrews 12:23 speaks of the “church of the firstborn.” There is only one church. It is made up of all the believers scattered around the world. You will find perhaps one or two of these true believers in almost every church organization, and you will find several others in no church organization at all. The one true church has never been gathered together, but it will be gathered together for the first time when we all meet in the city of God, and then we will be there together forever. One of the reasons for a local church is to start doing the gathering together now before the final great gathering together happens.

Hebrews 12:22-24 tells us where the believers will end up: in the heavenly Jerusalem. These verses also tell us how the believers get there. One problem that we all have is that Hebrews 12:23 reminds us that God is “the Judge of all.” He knows everything that each of us has done and thought, and that includes all of the sins. There are many sins. But God loves man and desires to save everyone. Therefore, God has provided the means to make us “just” and “perfect” so that He will not have to condemn us. The “new covenant” provides the means. The “blood” of Christ was shed, and His blood accomplished “better” things than the blood shed by the sacrifices of the Old Testament. The blood of the sacrifices of the Old Testament could not take away sins forever, but the blood of Christ can do so. That is what the new covenant is all about. Of course, Jesus is “the mediator of the new covenant.” His blood was shed on the cross of Calvary for the sins of the world. His blood was shed for your sins and for mine. Jesus is the only one who can give forgiveness of sins. “There is none other name among men whereby we must be saved.” “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Even though the new covenant is so much better than the old covenant, God is still God. As Hebrews 12:23 says, He is still “the Judge of all.” It is a wonderful salvation that we have through the Lord Jesus Christ, but for those who do not listen to Him or who stop listening to Him; there will be terrible consequences. Hebrews 12:25 “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.” God has spoken from Heaven. He has given His Word to man. The Word is offered to all men and women. Strange it is that so many people “refuse” the Word from God. It has always been that way. John 1:10-11 says, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

Notice that Hebrews 12:25 includes Christians in the warning. It says, “much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.” The selfish human nature so easily gets a grip on our hearts and our behaviors. There are believers who turn away from the Lord. There are believers who become motivated by selfish interest, and they do things to advance themselves and to diminish others. They have forgotten that God is the Judge of all, and God is a holy Judge who will judge His people. “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Moses said, “I exceedingly fear and quake.” There are some Christians who also need to learn to fear God.

The Bible says in Hebrews 12:26 about God, “Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” This verse refers to a prophesy from the book of Haggai in the Old Testament. It says in Haggai 2:6-7, “For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.” We are talking about judgment followed by glory and blessing. God does not always bring His judgment immediately. He waits until His time. But His judgment against sin does come, and when His final judgment comes against the whole world that is in rebellion against Him, the judgment will be so great that the heavens and the earth will be shaken. Happy will those be who believe in Jesus who is “the desire of all nations.” The believers will be allowed to enter “this house” that God will fill with His glory. Believe in Jesus, and you also will be allowed to enter.

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