Hebrews 12
12
The Race of Faith
1Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, #Col. 3:8let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and #1 Cor. 9:24; Gal. 2:2; Heb. 10:39let us run #Rom. 12:12; Heb. 10:36with endurance the race that is set before us, 2looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, #Luke 24:26who for the joy that was set before Him #Ps. 69:7, 19; Phil. 2:8; (Heb. 2:9)endured the cross, despising the shame, and #Ps. 110:1has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Discipline of God
3#Matt. 10:24For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, #Gal. 6:9; Heb. 12:5lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4#(1 Cor. 10:13)You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
#Job 5:17; Prov. 3:11, 12“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6For #Ps. 94:12; Rev. 3:19whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”
7#Deut. 8:5; 2 Sam. 7:14If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what #Prov. 13:24; 19:18; 23:13son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8But if you are without chastening, #1 Pet. 5:9of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to #(Job 12:10)the Father of spirits and live? 10For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, #Lev. 11:44that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields #Is. 32:17; 2 Tim. 4:8; James 3:17, 18the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Renew Your Spiritual Vitality
12Therefore #Is. 35:3strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14#Ps. 34:14Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, #Matt. 5:8; (Heb. 9:28)without which no one will see the Lord: 15looking carefully lest anyone #2 Cor. 6:1; Gal. 5:4; Heb. 4:1fall short of the grace of God; lest any #Deut. 29:18root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16lest there be any #(1 Cor. 6:13–18)fornicator or profane person like Esau, #Gen. 25:33who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was #Gen. 27:30–40rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
The Glorious Company
18For you have not come to #Ex. 19:12, 16; 20:18; Deut. 4:11; 5:22the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it #Ex. 20:18–26; Deut. 5:25; 18:16begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20(For they could not endure what was commanded: #Ex. 19:12, 13“And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” 21And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, #Deut. 9:19“I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)
22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23to the general assembly and church of #(James 1:18)the firstborn #Luke 10:20who are registered in heaven, to God #Gen. 18:25; Ps. 50:6; 94:2the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men #(Phil. 3:12)made perfect, 24to Jesus #1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6; 9:15the Mediator of the new covenant, and to #Ex. 24:8the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things #Gen. 4:10; Heb. 11:4than that of Abel.
Hear the Heavenly Voice
25See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For #Heb. 2:2, 3if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, #Hag. 2:6“Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the #(Is. 34:4; 54:10; 65:17; Rom. 8:19, 21); 1 Cor. 7:31; Heb. 1:10removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may #Heb. 13:15, 21serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29For #Ex. 24:17our God is a consuming fire.
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Hebrews 12: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Hebrews 12
12
Follow Jesus’ Example
1We are surrounded by a great cloud of people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back. 2Let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect. He suffered death on the cross. But he accepted the shame as if it were nothing because of the joy that God put before him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne. 3Think about Jesus’ example. He held on while wicked people were doing evil things to him. So do not get tired and stop trying.
God Is like a Father
4You are struggling against sin, but your struggles have not yet caused you to be killed. 5You have forgotten the encouraging words that call you his children:
“My child, don’t think the Lord’s discipline is worth nothing,
and don’t stop trying when he corrects you.
6The Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as his child.”#Proverbs 3:11–12
7So hold on through your sufferings, because they are like a father’s discipline. God is treating you as children. All children are disciplined by their fathers. 8If you are never disciplined (and every child must be disciplined), you are not true children. 9We have all had fathers here on earth who disciplined us, and we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from the Father of our spirits so we will have life. 10Our fathers on earth disciplined us for a short time in the way they thought was best. But God disciplines us to help us, so we can become holy as he is. 11We do not enjoy being disciplined. It is painful at the time, but later, after we have learned from it, we have peace, because we start living in the right way.
Be Careful How You Live
12You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again. 13Keep on the right path, so the weak will not stumble but rather be strengthened.
14Try to live in peace with all people, and try to live free from sin. Anyone whose life is not holy will never see the Lord. 15Be careful that no one fails to receive God’s grace and begins to cause trouble among you. A person like that can ruin many of you. 16Be careful that no one takes part in sexual sin or is like Esau and never thinks about God. As the oldest son, Esau would have received everything from his father, but he sold all that for a single meal. 17You remember that after Esau did this, he wanted to get his father’s blessing, but his father refused. Esau could find no way to change what he had done, even though he wanted the blessing so much that he cried.
18You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire. You have not come to darkness, sadness, and storms. 19You have not come to the noise of a trumpet or to the sound of a voice like the one the people of Israel heard and begged not to hear another word. 20They did not want to hear the command: “If anything, even an animal, touches the mountain, it must be put to death with stones.” 21What they saw was so terrible that Moses said, “I am shaking with fear.”
22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands of angels gathered together with joy. 23You have come to the meeting of God’s firstborn children whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people who have been made perfect. 24You have come to Jesus, the One who brought the new agreement from God to his people, and you have come to the sprinkled blood that has a better message than the blood of Abel.
25So be careful and do not refuse to listen when God speaks. Others refused to listen to him when he warned them on earth, and they did not escape. So it will be worse for us if we refuse to listen to God who warns us from heaven. 26When he spoke before, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once again I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27The words “once again” clearly show us that everything that was made—things that can be shaken—will be destroyed. Only the things that cannot be shaken will remain.
28So let us be thankful, because we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We should worship God in a way that pleases him with respect and fear, 29because our God is like a fire that burns things up.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.