John Politan

The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) Hebrews 12:12 – 17 January 8, 2017

Reading from the Valley of Vision, “God’s Cause” (pp. 320 – 321)

Open your Bibles to Hebrews, chapter 12. “What more can He say than He has already said,” what He has already revealed in His marvelous word? And, that is exactly what we are doing here, to look and see some more of the truth that He has revealed in His marvelous, marvelous word.

Now, we pointed out last time when we were looking at this passage or section three or four weeks ago, before we had the little interlude that we have had the last few weeks, that the word of God is more than just doctrine. And, we made, hopefully, the point that don’t ever say you don’t want to hear about doctrine. Remember our two-word definition of doctrine: doctrine is nothing but “God’s truth.” So, when you say you don’t like doctrine, what you are saying is you don’t like God’s truth. So, you don’t ever want to say that.

The Bible is more than that. It is not just doctrine, giving you the God’s truth; it also is exhortation. It is also encouraging us to take that doctrine and make application of it to our lives in specific ways that the word of God shows us. I Timothy 6:2: “These things, Timothy, teach and exhort.” It is information and it is exhortation, both combined. As a matter of fact, the word there for “exhortation” in I Timothy 6:2 is parakaleō, and a lot of times you hear that word parakaleō, and it is where we get the word paraclete; it is another word for the Holy Spirit, “to come alongside” and “encourage” someone. It also means “to urge,” “to call on,” “to call for action.” That is always God’s method of instruction: He gives you truth, tells you how it applies, and then encourages, motivates you to apply it. And, that is exactly what a proper exposition of

Scripture should always be: what does the word of God say? What is the truth? And, then, what 1 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) does the word of God say about how it applies to your life? And, what does the word of God say about motivating us to apply it?

I love what one man said. I lament over what one man said, but I do appreciate the way he said it. It is amazing the number of times that I (and I am sure you are the same way) come across Christians that have an intellectual grasp of what the word of God says and have no practical (or, very little practical) application of it in their lives. I have counseled people, sat with people who are really theologically astute; some deep doctrines of God’s word, deep truth of God’s word, they know. They can quote is as well as I can. In some cases, better. But, they have no grasp in terms of making it applicable to their lives. The phrase that one man used, was he said they know the doctrines of grace, but they have never experienced the doctrines of grace.

They believe the word of God is inspired, but they don’t submit their life to it. They believe in

Jesus Christ as Lord, but they don’t submit their life to Him. They believe that God is omnipotent – you start out a Puritan prayer with, “O Sovereign God,” they buy right into that – but they don’t trust Almighty God in most areas of their life. The word of God calls us to task.

The word of God says that we are not only to understand the doctrines of grace, but we are to experience the grace in that doctrine, in God’s truth.

And, by the way, the transition that you almost always get in the word of God when you are going from information to action, when you are transitioning from information to action, is you are going to see one of two words almost all the time: “wherefore” or “therefore.” The

“wherefore” and the “therefore” words are buzzers that should go off in your mind and say, “Oh!

He has given us some doctrine. He has told us God’s truth – now he is going to explain it and tell us how it applies, or tell us what we need to do, to urge us, ‘Here is what you need to do now in light of what I just told you.’”

You say, “What in the world has this got to do with the book of Hebrews?” It is because

2 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) in the book of Hebrews we have eleven chapters of doctrine: truth, truth, truth, truth, truth. And, all along the way, every once in awhile he will throw in a “therefore” or a “wherefore,” but when you get to chapter 12, it is the gigantic, colossal wherefore/therefore chapter in the entire book.

For eleven chapters, it is “Christ is a better priest,” “it is a superior priesthood,” “He made a better covenant,” “a better sacrifice,” etc., and “therefore, come all the way to Christ. If you have come all the way to Christ, go all-in for Christ.” That is what he has been telling us. That is the doctrine. That is the teaching. That is God’s truth for 11 chapters. And, now he says, “In light of all that, here is what you do. Because He is better, because it is all better,” and he jumps right into Hebrews, chapter 12. What does he say?

Heb. 12:1 Therefore –

“Because of all these things I told you about all these saints that we have, this cloud of witnesses

– we have witnessed that God has been faithful and they have been through all this hell on earth.” He says, “Because of that truth,”

Heb. 12:1 Therefore [what?], since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let

us also lay aside every encumbrance –

What was that? Those were the good things but not the best things; the good things that are keeping us from doing the best things for the cause of Christ.

Heb. 12:1b [L]ay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let

us run with endurance [be patient, steadfast, sticking to it] the race [he uses that

metaphor, the race] that is set before us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus –

You always want to have your eyes on the goal, remember? Fixing your eyes on Jesus. He is the author and the finisher of it all. He is the one that gave you the grace to start the race, and He is the one that is going to finish the race, and He is the one that is going to uphold you through the race.

3 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) Heb. 12:2b [W]ho for the joy set before Him [the doctrine of eternal rewards] endured the

cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

It is accomplished. It is finished. He is not still working at it, He has done it – for you.

Heb. 1:3 For consider [meditate, ponder, think upon these blessed truths. That is a part of

how you stay focused on the end game, on Christ, and conform to Christ] Him who has

endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and

lose heart.

He is talking about fagging out during the race. “Don’t fag out. Don’t sag out. Get your second wind. Get a new breath. Get a new lease on life. Go for it again. You can do this.” It is done through encouragement in the word of God. It is done through what you are going to do on your own to encourage yourself, and it is done by what you and I (meaning other believers in your life, and you and me in other believers’ lives) do to encourage them. And, we are going to see a huge example of that in verses 12 – 15 in just a moment. But, to keep you oriented to where we are going, he says, verse 4,

Heb. 12:4 You have not resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;

5and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons –

Now he is going to talk about discipline. Remember when we studied discipline? And, remember: God’s discipline is not designed to slow you down in the race. God’s discipline is designed to make you and me faster, stronger, better. You are going along through life, and a hurdle, if you will, a problem, a struggle, a trial – financial, spiritual, emotional, physical, whatever it is – comes your way? That has been allowed by a sovereign God across your path to make you hurdle it, to make you go through it. Why? Because you will get stronger as a result of it – stronger in your faith, stronger in your conformity to Christ, greater in your conformity to

Christ – and you will be the better for it. When the next hurdle comes, you will handle it even

4 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) better. And, when the next one comes, you will handle it even better. And, that is what life is really all about – living it to the glory of God.

And, remember, that discipline was for what? It could be chastising you for sin, giving you a little spanking to get back in line. It may be like in Job’s case, to educate you on the depth, and the knowledge, and the love, and the wonder, and to deepen your personal relationship with

God. It may be like in Paul’s case, for prevention: a thorn in the flesh to humble you, to keep you from drifting into other sins. It may very well be like in John, the Apostle’ John’s case: just to build your greater anticipation, to wean us away from this world and cause us to fall more in love with the next. We walked through all that stuff about discipline. He says,

Heb. 12:7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons –

What is the point? He says, “Look: your sonship, the fact that you are in the family of God, is because you are having problems.” I mean, the guy who has got it soft and easy and never seems to have a problem? Guess what? Chances are that individual is not even in the family of God.

God has ordained that you and I go through hardship, and heartache, and sadness in this life.

Not because He is some cosmic masochist, but because in the end, it pays off. It pays to serve

Jesus. And, you and I will cash in someday, at a real place called the bema, the judgment seat of

Christ, and it is going to be wonderful to pick up your paycheck, because it is all about the love and the grace of God, and He does it to begin with.

And, so, he says this discipline is the love of God. It shows you that you are a son of

God. Then he goes on and says, “He has done this so that you may have life.” Well, he is talking to believers, and he doesn’t mean spiritual life. He is talking to people who are breathing, so he doesn’t mean natural life. What does it mean a couple verses later there in verse

9 when he says, “so that you might live”? It means so that you will have an abundant life, your life is richer or fuller. I don’t have much in my pocket, but I will bet everything I have in my

5 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) pocket that you will never find this to be wrong: you get close and get to know or have a friendship with a Christian, who has suffered much in this life? That will be a richer, more rewarding, blessed friendship for you than any other friendship you have, even with other

Christians. Because a Christian who has suffered much in this life and has seen God be faithful to bring him or her through it is enriched and has much to offer – much, much to offer. It is abundant life to have the relationship with God that when everything that the world says is great is stripped away from you and you see that person still living in faith, your spirit is gravitated toward that individual. You walk away from spending time with people like that and you say,

“Wow! God blessed me so much,” and sometimes we don’t even understand why. And, then, if you reflect back on it you realize it is because the Spirit of Christ is so rich and so deep in that individual, because it has been burnt into him or her through the trials of this life. And, they walk in a special, verse 10, and share a special kind of holiness with God. It doesn’t feel good, but look at verse 11:

Heb. 12:11b [A]fterwards it yields the [blessed, blessed] fruit of righteousness [holiness,

sanctification].

All of that to be the setup for verse 12, because once again, what is the word? The first word: therefore. There is a “therefore.” He is saying, “Look: based upon this cloud of witnesses, based upon that you have been encouraged to get in the race (if you haven’t come to

Christ, get in), based upon the fact that you are in the race and now I am encouraging you to run it with patience, run it with endurance (go all-in, run it to win), based upon the fact that yes, life is tough, you have had a lot of problems, you are going to have a lot more problems. Know that that is the discipline of God that He has allowed to come into your life to make you better in the race, to make you stronger in the race, to make you live it better, to the glory of God – knowing all of that, in light of all of that, what is he now say? Verse 12:

6 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) Heb. 12:12 Therefore, [because of that doctrine, because of that truth of God of all those

things, now what does it mean? What are you going to do?] strengthen the hands that

are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that

the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. 14Pursue peace

with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 15See 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 –

And, he goes on.

Now, Donald Grey Barnhouse had a great comment on the book of Hebrews. He says,

“The book of Hebrews is a Hebrew talking to Hebrews, telling these Hebrews why they should no longer be Hebrews.” That is exactly what this book is. And, it is also a Hebrew talking to

Hebrews, telling these Hebrews why they are still Hebrews and they need to stop being Hebrews and come all the way to Christ and be a part of the family of God, be a part of the believers in

Christ.

Now, in light of all that truth – the debate now is, is this section of Scripture between verses 12 and 17 of chapter 12 written to believers or non-believers? I actually think it is written to both, and I am going to make the case that it is written to both. But, I want to start out underscoring the fact that the first portion of it is written to non-believers as well as believers.

He is basically giving three exhortations here in verses 12 – 15. The first one is “continue on.”

Continue on keeping on keeping on (vv. 12 – 13). Then he is going to say that in addition to continuing on, “And man, be diligent. Be diligent in your keeping on” (v. 14). Then in verse 15, he is going to say, “And also be vigilant.” Not only be diligent to keep continuing, but be vigilant. Be watching. Be watching for the danger that is around you. Walk circumspectly, and so forth.

7 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) So, he comes to this passage of Scripture. The first thing he tells us is continuance. And, he goes right back, by the way, to the race metaphor:

Heb. 12:12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and

make straight paths for your feet –

Let me stop right there.

“Strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble;” it is a race metaphor.

I think I got off on this a couple, three weeks ago, but just to bring it to your memory again, what do you mean? Why is that a race metaphor? Because for a runner, the movement of the arms is tremendously important to balance, and to driving the legs forward, and so forth. When you can tell a really good, accomplished runner is starting to tire is when they start dropping their arms.

You can spot them tiring in the race. He is calling upon you and me to strengthen individuals whose arms are dropping. It is a metaphor. What he is saying is, “Encourage others to continue on keeping on.”

I love what Luis Palau said, commenting on II Corinthians 4:16. He says that all throughout the Scriptures these encouraging words about “don’t lose heart”, “don’t lose heart,”

“don’t lose heart.” This is one of them. There is another one in II Corinthians 4:16. Paul says,

II Cor. 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our

inner man is being renewed day by day.

I love what Luis Palau said in one of his articles. He says, “You know, Christians have found the fountain of youth. The explorer Ponce de Leon was looking for the mythical fountain of youth in

Florida, looking for the fountain of youth. He says Christians really found it. Though the outer man is decaying, the inner man is being renewed day by day. You know, all those passages of

Scripture, and Isaiah 40:31 which says that you shall “mount up with wings as eagles,” you shall

“run and not be weary,” you shall “walk and faint not.” Those who wait upon the Lord, and so

8 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) forth? It isn’t talking about all of a sudden, at the age of 67 you are going to start bench pressing

350 if you pray enough. No. It is talking about the spiritual dynamic. It is the spiritual life.

And, Luis Palau said something. He says,

“I know some Christians who are incredibly old chronologically, but they are so

unbelievably young spiritually. And, they are so refreshing to be around.”

And, that is exactly the way it needs to be with you and me. I don’t know if you have noticed, some of you younger ones don’t get it, but trust me: the older ones among us, look around, even the younger ones, look around – you will see a lot of decaying going on, a lot of decaying on the outside. But, you know what? The inner man is to be renewed day by day, is to be getting stronger. And, so, what he is saying here is even though physically we are going to wind down and we are going to have more physical struggles, spiritually we should be getting stronger, and stronger, and stronger. He is really saying, “Get your second wind! Suck it up and go for it!”

And, I think if you have been blessed as Terri and I have, you have been around older saints who have gotten older chronologically, but they never stopped growing in their knowledge of God, they never stop growing in their conformity to Christ, and they got more blessed and more blessed as a result of it. And you know what? Even though hair falling out and gray hair, even though wrinkled faces, and so forth, they had a beam of Christ in their eyes that seemed to eclipse all of it. I am thinking of Aunt Jane. Everybody should have an Aunt Jane Shaw like we do. She got old, and arthritis gnarled her hands, and stuff – she never lost the joy of being young in Christ, and she was a magnetic individual to be around.

I am even thinking of my late father-in-law; he got old, had a bad back, bad legs, eyes going bad, wrinkled brow, on, and on, and on, and on, and on. But, you know what? He never lost that sense of being young in Christ – in terms of taking ground for Christ, in terms of being strong, walking strongly for Christ. I won’t repeat the story, but most of you know the story

9 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) about the bug man. You know, the guy comes to spray his apartment for bugs once a month, and here is our elderly (in his nineties) father/father-in-law sitting there, and the guy says, “Can I help you do anything, Russ?” He says, “Yeah, you know, I am having a little trouble with my eyesight, reading this passage of Scripture. Could you please read it for me?” Of course, he hands him John 3, has the bug man sit down and read John 3. Well, after about three months of treating his apartment and constantly being told by my father-in-law, “I am having a little trouble reading John 3,” the bug man caught on. More importantly, the bug man caught on to Christ. In his nineties, leading people to Christ. You are never done. You know, we say this, but we need to live it: you never retire from the Christian race. You never retire from the Christian life. And, those of us who are losing our hair, have grey hair, have wrinkles on our face, we should be the trendsetters for the people coming up in terms of what the spiritual life looks like. You want a

New Year’s Resolution? You only need to make one, one-word New Year’s resolution (and quite frankly, you can make it every day of your life, let alone every January 1). Just one word.

Paul already told it. We read it. That is why I wanted to read it in our corporate reading time.

You know what the word is? “Win.” Win. You are in the Christian race; be in it to win, to the glory of God. Ask God daily for the grace and the strength spiritually, mentally, to have the discernment, to live in holiness, to have opportunities, to live your life to the glory of God, to take ground for God’s glory. Win the race. That is all you got to worry about. If your New

Year’s resolution is “I am in the Christian life to win,” and what that means in Scripture, you don’t need to have to worry about any other New Year’s resolutions.

He says, “And the legs that are feeble.” “The legs that are wobbling,” it means.

“Strengthen those legs that are wobbling.” He is talking about the guy who is running a race, and if you have ever tried to run for any type of distance, you get to a point where your legs are like lead and you are about ready to drop. And, what is the answer to that? Anybody who has

10 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) been in running will tell you. I am drawing on another relative that was a cross-country runner, and Dale tells me there is only one way you can get beyond that just concrete that starts to set in your thighs at a certain point in time: he says you have got to mentally focus on the goal. You have got to mentally just focus on the goal and don’t think about what is going on down here. In other words, look at the finish line – and that is exactly where he started: looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Looking unto eternity, looking unto the goal.

When he says here,

Heb. 12:13 [M]ake straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put

out of joint, but rather be healed.

You need to know something: this is an illustration, like so many in Hebrews, right out of the

Old Testament. Right out of the Old Testament. This comes directly from Isaiah 35. You don’t have to turn there, I am going to turn there for you, but Isaiah 35 starts out with what? Isaiah 35 is a kingdom chapter. It says in verse 1,

Is. 35:1 The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and

blossom; like the crocus 2it will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of

joy. 3The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They

will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.

What is he saying? “Israel, you are going through hard times. Israel, you are being persecuted.

Israel, you are going through struggles. Israel, Babylon has come. Israel, you have got this,

Israel you have got that. But, you know what, Israel? Focus on the end goal. Think about the future. Quit worrying about the problems, and the struggles, and the heartache now. Glance at those, but gaze at what is coming.” It is a kingdom chapter. And, then, what does it say in Isaiah

35, verse 3?

Is. 35:3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. 4Say to those with anxious

11 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the

recompense of God will come, but He will save [rescue, deliver, save] you.”

“This life is short,” is what he is saying. And, what does it say? It says don’t strengthen your hands, don’t strengthen your legs; he says, strengthen the hands which are weak and the legs which are feeble. Meaning what? We have said it over and over again: it is your ministry. We are all ambassadors. We are all ministers. We are all ambassadors for Christ. What? Testifying to Christ to the lost world, and doing what within the family of God? Encouraging one another to greater holiness. This is the Craigs coming alongside Terri and me, and me coming alongside the Halls, and the Halls coming alongside the Ryersons, and the Ryersons coming alongside the

Spanns, and the Spanns with the Novkovs, and on, and on, and on, saying “Hey – you can do this?” A word of encouragement. “Hey – what can I do to help? How can I physically, practically, financially, emotionally? How can I pray for you?” That is the biggest, number one one is praying for one another. It is you and me. And, you know what happens? When you and

I are going through the hard times of life and we focus on the needs of others, it is amazing how short (if existent at all) our pity parties are. It is amazing – because you know what? I don’t care what you are going through, there is always somebody else, it seems like, that has got something worse going on. And, even if they don’t, if you focus on meeting another person’s needs, you don’t have time to look at your own struggles. And, what did we say many, many weeks ago?

One of the surest ways for you to stumble in the Christian walk is to look at your feet. That is one of the surest ways for you to fall. Try running by looking at your feet. You won’t go 20 paces before you fall on your face. You cannot run effectively looking at yourself. We are to focus on Christ. That is not just some Christian epithet; that is practical application of the truth of the word of God. How do you do that?

First of all, it starts in the mind: you take this truth and you believe it. You know it is

12 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) true. You know that if I have got cancer; if I have got a financial problem; if I have got this problem; if I have got a relationship problem; if I have got a child with this problem, a spouse with this problem; if I am living in a world, or a neighborhood, or a job, or a school, or whatever where this is besetting me, if I have got this professor, I have got this teacher, I have got this whatever I have got – it is in your life because a sovereign God has allowed it, and it is there for a purpose. That immediately should change our focus right there. Then, you want to say, “What is it I am supposed to learn as a result of this? And, God, I know my way of working through this, a part of Your administering grace into my life, is to start focusing on not only what do I learn from this, but to start focusing on meeting the needs of others,” and start encouraging them, to strengthen their hands. You watch what happens, how people are brought in your life to strengthen you and myself as well.

I was thinking again of that Albie Pearson-Marilyn Monroe story that we told a few weeks ago. Focusing on himself and his problems, as opposed to focusing on the things of God, instead of focusing on the word of God, on the truth of God’s word and where he needed to be, he literally was not equipped to minister when a critical point in time came along for him to do that. A moment was lost forever, and that is exactly, believe it or not (back to Hebrews, chapter

12, if you strayed for a minute like I did), that is exactly what the writer of the book of Hebrews is going to tell us in these next couple of verses. Because, the point is this: the world out there around you (your little world or a bigger world), they are watching. They are watching you as you go through this. And, what does he say? He says, “Make straight paths for your feet.”

What does that mean? What he is saying is “Don’t get out of your lane. Don’t create a stumbling block for other believers who are running this race with you. Stay in your lane. Make straight paths.” What happens, using the analogy of our earthly walk as a race? The world tempts. Satan tempts. The flesh tempts. And, the tendency, instead of staying on a straight

13 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) course, is you want to veer off, because “This looks pretty nice over here!” Or, you want to veer off because “This looks pretty nice over here!” Well, guess what? As you veer off into some area of sin (or maybe just doing good things but not the best things, but he is really talking about sin), you know what you are doing? You are cutting right across the lanes of other believers.

And, what you are doing is causing them to stumble.

You will hear the phrase, and you will see the phrase in Scripture many times, “Don’t create a stumbling block,” don’t create a stumbling block. Definition: you know what a stumbling block is? It is just anything that tempts a person to sin. A stumbling block is just a temptation to sin. It is a temptation to sin. He is saying, “Stay in your lane.” Romans 14:13: do not put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. And, one of the quickest ways you can cause other believers to stumble in this race – and therefore not be an encouragement to them, and therefore cause their arms to drop and their legs to get weary, and have them have trouble in the race, to keep the analogy going – is to sin in your own life, is to literally go to the left or to the right and look at what is going on instead of making straight paths for your feet.

Proverbs 4:25, from the Old Testament, says it perfectly:

Prov. 4:25 Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of

you. 26Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. 27Do not turn to

the right nor to the left; turn your foot from evil.

Notice what it said there: “Watch the paths of your feet.” It didn’t say “watch your feet.”

Remember the car? “Watch the path. The road is wide enough. John, the car isn’t nearly as wide as the road. You will stay straight. Watch where you are going. Focus out there. Don’t look at the hood; focus out there.”

Same concept: focusing on eternity, focusing on eternal rewards, focusing on the glory of

Christ, focusing on the glory to be brought to you when He says, “Well done, good and faithful

14 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) servant,” focusing on the truth from the word of God that says, “Hey – whatever you are going through, I have got the grace to meet it. I am either going to discipline you, instruct you, educate you, protect you, give you a greater anticipation, or maybe all of the above, depending upon the circumstance. So, stay at it. Stay with Me.” When you walk in unholiness you cause others to stumble, and people will say this: “Hey, my sin is my problem.” No, it is not. Your sin is the problem of the body of Christ, and your sin becomes a problem to those who are watching

We have an individual that used to be in this fellowship (isn’t even in this fellowship any more), and insisting on violating the word of God. Sit right across the table from you: “I understand that is the word of God. I understand that is sin. I understand it is wrong. No, I am not changing.”

“But, your children. Your children are watching you.”

So, what is the result? Well, lie to the children. Don’t tell the children the truth. The children think everything is okay. So, what happens? They are no longer worshipping at the church. The children are no longer worshipping at the church. And, what is more, the children think Terri is narrow-minded and unloving, and I am narrowminded and unloving, and all the elders are narrow-minded. And, by the way, all you here in the church, you are all narrow- minded and unloving. So, the children now have a wrong perception of the church; they are tarnished in their image of what Biblical Christianity played out in a corporate setting in a Bible church should be, because “You are all a bunch of narrow-minded people who are unloving towards my parent.” And, what ultimately happens? The individual who is not a believer who is involved with this individual sees absolutely no difference in the Christian’s life, and therefore sees no difference, and therefore assumes we are all a bunch of narrow-minded, straight-laced hypocrites. So, ultimately, Christ gets a hit on every level, from everybody involved.

And, then the comment comes, “I am praying for my children.” Well, guess what?

15 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) Psalm 66:18. We read it last week, I just didn’t get there ‘til now:

Ps. 66:18 But if I regard [iniquity] in my heart, the Lord will not hear –

That parent willfully sinning in front of children who are watching and who are someday going to find out the truth is wasting their breath to be praying for their kids. It sends shivers through my own heart, and Terri and I don’t even have natural children. We have enough people watching us, and I have enough things that I need to pray about that it sends shivers up my spine to think of it, but for you parents, you grandparents – you like Terri and I that have nieces, and nephews, and others, and children of other people who look up to you, looking for an example – you are being watched to see whether or not this is real. And, what he is talking about in

Hebrews 12 (I will put more flesh on it next week), he is really talking about non-believers who are on the edge, who are looking. In this congregation of Jewish believers, these non-believers who mentally understand it all but haven’t, you know, made that third step of commitment, all the way to Christ, they are watching to see, “Is this the real deal?” And, these believers who are recipients of this letter, who are genuine believers, are starting to get persecuted, they are starting to get desynagogued; Satan is turning the heat up, and they are thinking about maybe slipping back. And, the writer of Hebrews is saying, “No, no, no, a thousand times, no! Look at all these people in Hebrews 11 who were sawn in half and went through all this heartache and all this torture. God’s grace was sufficient. You have got this cloud of witnesses that you can look at and see it is the real deal. Keep on keeping on. Stay at it, because people’s eternity is at stake who are watching you.”

That is the tragedy of the Albie Pearson story. It is the blessing of the Greg Brezina story. What is the Greg Brezina story? It is the sequel to the Albie Pearson-Marilyn Monroe story that I am now going to share with you.

Greg Brezina: #50 for the , 70 years old now, long since retired (still

16 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) alive, by the way, and still taking ground for Christ). He played 11 or 12 seasons for the Atlanta

Falcons. I was a Christian less than three years. I am in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with another friend of mine, visiting his brother, and we are watching a 1978 NFL playoff game with the

Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons. Tommy Nobis was a linebacker for the Falcons, but #50, Greg Brezina, was what they call a “weak-side linebacker” for the Falcons. He played the game of all games. I mean, I didn’t know Greg Brezina in a crowd of two until I am watching this game, and we kept saying, “Who is this #50?” This guy is unbelievable. He is knocking guys down, he is stepping over linemen to grab quarterbacks… The guy was playing the game of his life.

The Eagles are ahead 13-0 with five minutes left in the game. Atlanta scores two touchdowns in the last five minutes, to have a 14-13 lead. It is the first of two NFL playoff games on the TV that Sunday. We are watching this game, and so (they called him “the Polish Rifle,” fabulous quarterback), he takes the Eagles and marches them downfield.

They have no more time out. There are 13 seconds left on the clock. The Eagles are scrambling like crazy to try to get a last-second to win this game. Everybody is lining up. The regular place kicker was a guy named Nick Mike-Mayer, and he got injured the week before.

They got a named Mike Michel, who has never tried to kick a field goal in his life, and is going to try to kick this field goal. So, they line up real quick, and so forth, and Michel goes to kick it. Tom Brokaw is doing the voiceover. The credits are coming on because they have got to get to the next game, and so forth. They are going through this whole deal, and he says, “They are lining up for the game play,” and Michel kicks it – and he just chunks it dead left and misses it.

Well, the first thing he did, he grabbed his ankles. Then he grabbed his head, and then he fell backwards. There was a picture of him in the newspaper – he is just writhing in pain, with

17 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) his hands on his head, and you can see the Eagle players like this [dejected]. Well, the Falcon players are coming out of their skin. They were losers until five minutes to the end of the game, and now they are going on another step in this miracle season they were having. Everybody is whooping it up and jumping around, and so forth, and as the credits are going on the screen and the snow is lightly falling, I saw #50, Greg Brezina, right before they cut away, come over, and he is looking down at the place kicker, Michel, and he puts his hand down. You can see his head move, and I am thinking in my mind, “Oh, there is going to be a fight here. He is taunting this guy. There is going to be a huge fight here.” They click away, and that is the end of it.

The next day, on the front page of the sports section of the Fort Lauderdale sports paper, headline article: “If you were wondering what Atlanta Falcons Linebacker Greg Brezina was saying to the Eagles Mike Michel as he lay writhing on the ground in agony after missing a decisive, potential game-winning field goal in yesterday’s NFL wildcard game, here is

Brezina’s version:”

“I said to him, ‘You may not understand, Mike, what I am telling you right now,

but in the big scheme of things it really doesn’t matter whether you made that

kick or missed it. What really is going to matter is if you have a peace in your

heart that comes from knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.’”

After the game (I didn’t know this ‘til I saw the article), Brezina even seeks Michel out on the sidelines before they go to the locker room to try to say, “Did you understand what I was telling you? Do you understand what I was saying?”

What is the point? Albie Pearson was a born-again believer. Greg Brezina was a born- again believer. Albie Pearson was a Christian at the time, and a baseball player at the time.

After his heart-breaking deal with Marilyn Monroe, he once again became a Christian baseball player. Greg Brezina was not a Christian and a football player; Greg Brezina at the time was a

18 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) Christian football player.

You and I are not to be Christians and lawyers, Christians and real estate salesmen,

Christians and homemakers, Christians and students. We are to be Christian students, Christian homemakers, Christian real estate salesmen, Christian doctors, Christian lawyers, Christian whatever – whatever your calling or occupation is. There is no secular and sacred division. We are to seize the moment for Christ, “make straight paths.”

Now, I don’t know if Mike Michel ever got the point or not. Here is the point: he was in the game. He was totally in the game. He was knocking guys down with his forearm. Nobody could have played this game with greater strength than Greg Brezina. But, at the same time, he never lost where he was in light of eternity. In doing his “job” to the max, he never lost sight of the eternal value and the ultimate focus. I don’t know what type of an impact he ever had, if any, on Mike Michel. But, I know one thing: about 350,000 people in the grater Fort Lauderdale area saw a testimony for Jesus Christ because one guy, while everybody else is ecstatic over the victory, had compassion and was looking for the lost: seizing the moment for Christ.

That is exactly what this passage of Scripture in Hebrews 12 is talking about, seizing the moment for Christ. People are watching. In Brezina’s case, millions of people were watching.

And, by the way, that wasn’t the only newspaper it was played out in. I checked last night in

Google; I clicked it on the New York Times – even the Florence, Arizona, Times had an article about the testimony and what he did. Who knows how many millions of people saw Christianity lived out in the flesh because of a guy who refused to let the things of the world keep his mind off the eternal focus.

You are being watched. Your children are watching you. Guess what? I Peter 3: those of you who are married to unbelieving spouses? Your spouse is watching you. What does it say? “So that you might win them without a word,” just by your conduct, and your submissive,

19 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) chaste, respectful behavior. About the way you dress. Think about that, ladies: the next time you go to buy something or to wear something in public, the way you dress is a statement about your holiness – or lack thereof. And, it has an impact to the cause of Christ. You are being watched. Every decision we make, we are being watched. And, so, the writer of the book of

Hebrews says,

Heb. 12:13 [M]ake straight paths for your feet, [and get this, I have got to get you this before

we close] so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

What is he talking about there?

The limb which is lame. Later on, he is going to talk about Esau, that godless man, and so forth, who sold his birthright; he is going to be talking about non-believers. Previously in the passage he was talking about non-believers. And, so, I think it is fair to say when he says “so that individual who is lame,” it is referring to a non-believer.

Now, you will hear wonderful pastors (whom I love, and admire, and respect) who will teach you that that means a weaker brother. It can mean that, and I take it as meaning that, as well. Okay? It can mean you don’t want to cause your weaker brother to stumble. You are sitting there running in a race, and here is a guy trying to race but he is lame and he is hobbling along, and you are going to cause a bigger stumbling block by knocking his leg completely out of joint? Don’t do that. Okay? It can mean that. But, I will submit to you that it is also, and I think even more so, telling you that there are non-believers – people who understand, have heard the gospel – who are watching you to see if it is real, and how you live your life of personal holiness.

You say, “Why do you think that?” Because, I am just going to give you the reference, that phrase “the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint;” “the limb which is lame” in the

Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament), in I Kings 18, is when you

20 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) have got Elijah confronting the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. He says, “How long will you vacillate, children of Israel, between two positions? If Baal is God, follow him. If Jehovah is God, follow Him. But, quit being wishy-washy!” And, he has this whole test about, you know, whoever’s fire comes down from heaven will be the real God, and he puts the prophets of

Baal to the test. But, he says, “How long will you vacillate between those two opinions?” in I

Kings 18. But then, in verse 21, it says,

I Ki. 18:21 Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between

two opinions?”

The Greek translation of that Hebrew verse says, I wrote it in the margin of my Bible so I can have it, “How long will you go lame on the back part of your hams?” By “the hams,” you have heard of “popping your hamstring”? The muscle back here is called the hamstring. It is referring to the thigh. He is saying, “How long will you go lame on the back part of your thigh?”

In other words, “How long are you going to be outside the family of God, not walking as a believer? If Baal is God, follow him. If Jehovah is God, follow Him. But, quit being on the outside, wondering which is which.”

And, so, therefore, that reference “how long will you go lame,” the word in Greek is ca`iph, “on your ham” is the same word used here in this portion of Hebrews, so that the brother who is lame, outside of the family of God, will not have his leg put completely out of joint. In other words, completely lost. And, what does the rest of the verse say? Don’t do that, because you don’t want them to be completely dislocated, but so that he may be what? Healed. Rescued, made whole. Brought all the way into the family of God.

In the context of the way Hebrews is written to both the believers and that smattering of those who had the head knowledge but hadn’t come all the way, I think he is directly saying,

“You Hebrews, you undergoing persecution now, you genuine believers of Hebrews – don’t

21 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) shrink back. Make straight paths. You made the right call. Stay at it. Go deeper. Walk with

Christ. Endure the persecution. Endure the suffering. Don’t let your arms grow weary. Don’t let your legs go weak and wobbly. Keep straight paths. Stay focused on the Messiah. Stay focused on the Lord. Stay. You made the right call on the New Covenant so that these other

Hebrews around you, who are limping along and aren’t there yet, who are outside the family of

God, won’t be totally destroyed and totally lost because they see your failure, that this

Christianity thing isn’t real. But, because they see your solid walk with Christ and the reality of it all will not only not have their legs put out of joint, but they will be completely healed – they will become a part of the family of God.” That is exactly what he is talking there.

My father-in-law told a story, and I believe it must be something that really happened in the life of either G. Campbell Morgan or Harry Ironside, or somebody like that, because I have heard John MacArthur attribute the story to his late father, Dr. Jack MacArthur, and I heard my father-in-law, 30 years before I heard John share it, tell the same story. I think it was a real account that occurred either in the life of Harry Ironside (I didn’t have time to check it out) or G.

Campbell Morgan. But, one of them had a man in their church who, he said, was suffering from alcoholism, and was a horrible alcoholic. On Christmas Eve, of all times, he leaves his family –

“Gotta have another drink” – and he goes out in the snow to go to the local bar to get a drink. He hears a noise behind him in the snow, like somebody is following him. And, he turns around, and he is shocked: his little five-year-old son is walking behind him, trying to put his feet in each one of the steps that his dad made in the snow. The dad turns around to him and says, “Johnny, what are you doing?”

And he says, “Why, I am just following in your steps, Dad!”

The guy was so arrested in his heart and soul by that, he takes his son, and he goes back home. And, the story is too long, but through a whole other means of instrumentality weeks and

22 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) weeks later, some people come and they share Christ with him, and he gives his life to Christ. I only share that (actually, it is the same reason my father-in-law shared it and the reason why, I think, John MacArthur shared it in his talking on the same passage) because that is exactly the case, and it isn’t just little children. Jesus says in Luke 17, “Woe be it unto you if you cause any of these little children to stumble.” I have heard it from Child Evangelism Fellowship and many that that means being examples to little children. It does, but the word there in Greek is teknion, and it is Jesus referring to believers as His “little children.” Woe be it to you or to me, whether it is a little child who is a believer or an 88-year-old adult who is a believer, if you and I should do anything to cause one of those children of Christ to stumble. He says it is better off to have a millstone put around your neck and be thrown into the sea than that you and I would dare do such a thing.

That is not legalism. That is Bible 101. We are to be striving to live lives of personal holiness. Terri holds me accountable. I hold her accountable. You need to hold us accountable.

We hold you accountable. That is exactly what this is all about. Can you imagine “my sin is my business”? No, it is not. The poet Donne had it right: no man, no woman, is an island. Every sin you commit doesn’t just affect your own soul; it weakens the body of Christ, and it may very well be the thing that Satan uses to keep a non-believer from ever accepting the truth and the reality of what this is all about.

Now, I know some of you are good Reformed theologians like I am. You are clicking in your mind right now, saying, “Wait a minute – how does that square? If that person’s name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world, isn’t God going to get them saved anyhow?” Don’t do that. Why? Because of sovereign election and the choice of man. All man, all God: “You don’t come to Me, Pharisees, because you won’t. And, yet, no man can come to me unless God” – you can’t square those. I am telling you, they are both true.

23 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2) Your conduct, my conduct impacts other people for eternity, for good or for bad, both those within and without – and maybe keeping them out of – the family of God (as well as our prayers, as well as the sovereign providence of God, who superintends it all).

It is all true. It all applies. Don’t try to buy your way out of the problem by throwing ourselves on the sovereignty of God. No, no, no.

Let me pray.

24 The Time of Your Life: Seizing the Moment for Christ (part 2)