Hebrews 12 - Outline

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

April 27, 2013


 *OCT 28 - HEBREWS 12 - ENDURANCE: IN THE ARENA*


 *1. 12:2 (12:1-3, NNT) CHRIST: ENDURED THE CROSS THAT WE MIGHT RUN THE
RACE. “Looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of the faith, who for
the joy set before him endured a cross, despising the shame, and has sat
down at the right of the throne of :God.” *Father, open our eyes that we
may see. Show us Jesus as You would have us see Him! We *loose* His Spirit
within us. *Hallowed be your :name!*


 *2. 12:10 (12:4-11) EARTHLY FATHER’S CHASTENING: EXAMPLE OF HEAVENLY
CHASTENING. “For our fathers indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed
good to them; but he for :profit, that we may be partakers of his
holiness.” *Father, we bless You for loving us enough as Your sons and
daughters to discipline us! We submit to Your will in this respect. *Your
:kingdom come!*


 *3. 12:12-13. EXHORTATION: DON’T CAVE IN! “Wherefore straighten the
hanging down hands, and the paralyzed knees; 13 and make straight paths for
your :feet, that what is lame be not turned out of the way, but rather be
healed.” *We endure discipline because through it, You Father, are making
us like Jesus! *Your :will be done, As in heaven, so on earth.*


 *4. 12:14-15 (12:14-17) PEACE AND HOLINESS: SEEK THEM DILIGENTLY. “Follow
after peace with all, and the sanctification without which no one shall see
the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest there be any root of bitterness
springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled.” *Forgive us
Father, for being so naïve concerning the way of sin and bitterness. O
teach us the way of holiness!


 *5. 12:22-24 (12:18-24) MOUNT ZION VERSUS MOUNT SINAI. “But you are come
unto mount ion, and unto the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem,
and to myriads of angels, 23 a general assembly and church of firstborn
enrolled in the heavens, and to God, Judge of all, and to spirits of
perfect just men, 24 and to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant, and to blood
of sprinkling that speaks better than :Abel.” *In the light of the above, *how
blessed we are*! *And forgive us our :debts, As we also have forgiven our
:debtors.*


 *6. 12:25 (12:25-27) SOLEMN ADMONITION. “See that you refuse not him that
speaks. For if THEY escaped not when they refused him that warned on earth,
much less we who turn away from him that is from the heavens.” *Yes Father,
we choose to hear Your voice! *And bring us not into temptation!*


 *7. 12:28-29. SOBER EXHORTATION. “Wherefore, receiving an unshakable
kingdom, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to
:God with godly fear and awe: 29 For our :God is indeed a consuming
fire.” *Father,
You are the Spirit of the *fear of Jehovah*! We worship You for this! *But
deliver us from the evil one!*


 *NOTE**: 12:11 (12:4-11) DISCIPLINE: A BLESSING IN THE END. **“Now all
chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet
afterward yields to those exercised thereby peaceable fruit of
righteousness.” *Amen! We receive this truth, Father!


 *Quote from Samuel Chadwick - *“There are blessing of The Kingdom that are
only yielded to the violence of the vehement soul.”


 *Our Psalm for the Day: 118:22-24 (118, ESV) HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES
FOREVER. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23
Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your
word. 24 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad
in it.” *The great even of all history: You Father, sending Your Son as the
beginning of the Church, Your New Creation! This is Reconciliation through
Redemption! *Hallowed be your :name!*


 In the Book of Ezra (3:10-11) we read that *“when the builders laid the
foundation of the Temple of the Lord**, they set the priests in their
apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to
praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David, king of Israel. And they
sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord;
because He is good, for His mercy endures forever toward Israel. And all
the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because
the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.” *Now the words mentioned
in Ezra are the first and last sentences of this Psalm, and we therefore
conclude that the people chanted the whole of this sublime song; and,
moreover, that the use of this composition on such occasions was ordained
by David, whom we conceive to be the author*.*


 118:1. *O give thanks unto the **Lord. *Grateful hearts are greedy of
men’s tongues and would monopolize them all for God’s glory. We must never
tolerate an instant’s unbelief as to the goodness of the Lord; whatever
else may be questionable, this is absolutely certain, that Jehovah is good;
His dispensations may vary, but His nature is always the same, and always
good. It is not only that He was good, and will be good, but He is good;
let His providence be what it may. Therefore, let us even at this present
moment, though the skies be dark with clouds, yet give thanks unto His
name. *Because His mercy endures forever. *Mercy is a great part of His
goodness, and one which more concerns us than any other, for we are sinners
and have need of His mercy. Angels may say that He is good, but they need
not His mercy and cannot therefore take an equal delight in it; inanimate
creation declares that He is good, but it cannot feel His mercy, for it has
never transgressed; but man, deeply guilty and graciously forgiven, beholds
mercy as the very focus and center of the goodness of the Lord.


 118:4. *Let them now that fear the Lord say, that His mercy endures
forever. *In each of the three exhortations, notice carefully the word
“now.” There is no time like time present for telling out the praises of
God. The present exaltation of the Son of David now demands from all who
are the subjects of His kingdom continual songs of thanksgiving to Him Who
has set Him on high in the midst of Zion. Now, with us, should mean always.
When would it be right to cease from praising God, Whose mercy never
ceases? The fourfold testimonies to the everlasting mercy of God which are
now before us speak like four evangelists, each one declaring the very pith
and marrow of the gospel; and they stand like four angels at the four
corners of the earth, holding the winds in their hands, restraining the
plagues of the latter days that the mercy and long-suffering of God may
endure towards the sons of men. Here are four cords to bind the sacrifice
to the four horns of the altar, and four trumpets with which to proclaim
the year of jubilee to every quarter of the world. Let not the reader pass
on to the consideration of the rest of the Psalm until he has with all his
might lifted up both heart and voice to praise the Lord, *“for His mercy
endures forever.”*


 118:5. *I called upon the Lord in distress. *(Or, “out of anguish, I
invoked Jah.”.) Nothing was left him but prayer, his agony was too great
for anything beside; but having the heart and the privilege to pray, he
possessed all things. Prayers which come out of distress generally come out
of the heart. Prayer may be bitter in the offering, but it will be sweet in
the answering. The man of God had called upon the Lord when he was not in
distress, and therefore he found it natural and easy to call upon Him when
in distress. Saul sought to slay David, but David outlived Saul and sat
upon his throne. Scribe and Pharisee, priest and Herodian, united in
opposing the Christ of God, but He is exalted on high none the less because
of their enmity. The mightiest man is a puny thing when he stands in
opposition to God, yes, he shrinks into utter nothingness.


 118:14. *The Lord is my strength and song. *Thus can all the Lord’s
redeemed say, “Salvation is of the Lord.” We cannot endure any doctrine
which puts the crown upon the wrong head and defrauds the glorious King of
His revenue and praise.


 118:22. *The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of
the corner. *They could see no excellence in Him that they should build
upon Him; He could not be made to fit in with their ideal of a national
church; He was a stone of another quarry from themselves, and not after
their mind nor according to their taste; therefore they cast Him away and
poured contempt upon Him even as Peter said, “This is the stone which was
set at naught of you builders:; they reckoned Him to be as nothing, though
He is Lord of all. In raising Him from the dead, the Lord God exalted Him
to be the head of His church, the very pinnacle of her glory and beauty.
Since then He has become the confidence of the Gentiles, even of them that
are afar off upon the sea, and thus He has joined the two walls of Jew and
Gentile into one stately temple, and is seen to be the binding
corner-stone, making both one. This is a delightful subject for
contemplation. All this in a very emphatic sense true of our blessed
Lord, *“The
Shepherd, the Stone of Israel.” *God Himself laid Him where He is, and hid
within Him all the precious things of the eternal covenant; and there He
shall forever remain, the foundation of all our hopes, the glory of all our
joys, the united bond of all our fellowship. He is *“the head over all
things to the church,” *and by Him the church is fitly framed together, and
grows unto a holy temple in the Lord. Still do the builders refuse Him:
even to this day the professional teachers of the gospel are far too apt to
fly to any and every new philosophy sooner than maintain the simple gospel,
which is the essence of Christ: nevertheless, He holds His true position
amongst His people, and the foolish builders shall see to their utter
confusion that His truth shall be exalted over all. Those who reject the
chosen stone will stumble against Him to their own hurt, and ere long will
come His second advent, when He will fall upon them from the heights of
heaven and grind them to powder.


 118:26. *Blessed be He that comes in the name of the Lord. *In the
Psalmist's days, He was the Coming One, and He is still the Coming One,
though He has already come. We are ready with our hosannas both for His
first and second advent; our inmost souls thankfully adore and bless Him
and invoke upon His head unspeakable joys. *(From “The Treasury of David”
by C.H. Spurgeon, abridged by D.O. Fuller)*



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