Saintly Living and Seeing God

We continue our study in the book of Hebrews. We are in the 12th chapter, making our way—so if you are just visiting, we are going through the book of Hebrews, have been for a number of years.

I’m going to take the time just to look at one verse this morning. And what you’re going to discover, if you pay attention—I trust, and I do my job—is that grace supplies what God demands in order to see Him, your chiefest joy. Grace supplies what God demands in order to see Him, your chiefest joy.

We’ll read from verse 1, and we’ll read through verse 16. It’s a longer reading, but let’s hear the Word of God.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 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; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.”

We’ll end the reading there at the 16th verse, and we trust the Lord will bless the reading of His Word, and we trust that you will understand that this is the Word of the eternal God, which you are to receive, believe, and where necessary, obey. And the people of God said, Amen.

Let’s pray.

Lord, we ask for help. We come to Thy Word—it is both a wonderful and yet an awful thing, because Thou dost require that we be not hearers only, but doers. We pray, O God, that You would, by Your Spirit, help us receive this Word today. You know where each one is—those who are broken, those who are struggling, those who are rebelling, those who are longing that God would lift them out of the slough of despond. Great Shepherd of Thy sheep, feed Thy sheep and Thy lambs today. Despite this instrument, grant me Thy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

A Puritan, George Swinnock, has a treatment on Psalm 73, verse 26. That verse says, “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” He titled that treatment “Fading of the Flesh”—or at least over the years, that’s how it’s become known. Perhaps his first title was longer, as often was the case with Puritan works.

And in that treatment of the fading of the flesh, he made this remark: “Happiness is nothing but the Sabbath of our thoughts, and the satisfaction of our hearts in the fruition of the chiefest good. According to the excellency of the object which we embrace in our hearts, such is the degree of our happiness. The saint’s choice is right, God alone being the soul’s center and rest.”

I underlined one part of that: “According to the excellency of the object which we embrace in our hearts, such is the degree of our happiness.” What do you treasure in your heart? How excellent is that which you treasure?

This was similar to the thought we had on Wednesday evening. We were gathered here for prayer—I brought the message from Psalm 27, verse 4, where David says, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.” One thing—to behold the beauty of the Lord.

There David hopes for a taste of what will ultimately be his eternal joy. The anticipation of seeing God is the hope of every believer.

It’s so easy for us to reduce Christianity to simply a tag, something you just hang on yourself: “I’m a Christian.” But if you’re really a Christian, it communicates certain things about you. One thing being that you anticipate seeing God.

Job had that hope, did he not? “Yet in my flesh shall I see God.” David again in Psalm 17 said, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” The expectation of Isaiah in Isaiah 33: “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.”

Constantly seeing this in the Word of God—the desire to see God. And Jesus said to Philip, you remember, in John 14, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”

In one sense, you might say, well, it’s fulfilled then. The disciples—those who saw the physical Jesus—had this hope fulfilled, but not entirely, because even in His flesh, in His ministry in the earth, His glory was veiled.

And so He prays in John 17 to His Father, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” See me in my glory.

And this is what we anticipate at the end. Revelation 22: “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.”

Seeing God—seeing God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The apostle in Hebrews has been fighting for the souls of these believers. Fighting, seeing the dangers, seeing the temptations, seeing the pressures. And the whole way through he’s been arguing theologically, arguing Christologically, bringing them through the arguments in a fashion where they can see from the Old Testament that Jesus truly fulfills all that the Jew anticipates in the Messiah.

Persecution pressed upon them. We saw that at the end of chapter 10. Weariness is now threatening them in the language we see here in verse 3. We can deduce from Hebrews 12, verse 3: “For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” The preacher says this because he anticipates that danger. He foresees it. He perhaps has seen hints of it already. Weariness.

So he’s fighting for them.

And even bitterness is a danger—see that in verse 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.” So there’s a danger even of bitterness coming among them, having an impact upon the wider body.

And so he’s fighting for them. He sees the threats, he lists them, he addresses them, and gives them the weapons necessary to get victory over them.

They were, of course, surrounded by their fellow countrymen who were accusing them of being apostates of sorts, of going away from their heritage. Believing that Jesus as the Messiah was seen as something that was despised and made them outcasts, and they lost out even economically in many other ways. And so the temptation to retaliate was strong.

I mean, people feel it. When you’re under pressure, when people are hating you and despising you, working against you, the feeling of trying to give tit for tat—to repay in the same—is strong. You know it.

And so the apostle then is helping them. No, no, no. Verse 14 then addresses this tension, knowing that they are feeling the weariness, knowing that they’re struggling in the way, knowing that it’s hard for them to keep in the race, “running with patience,” verse 1.

He says in verse 14, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”

You need to endure—verses 12 and 13—but the Spirit will. And those who endure, have them endure in such a way. In fact, the proof of their endurance will be marked by peace and holiness.

I said last week about endurance—it isn’t just surviving. It’s not just sitting there and waiting to the end when you die. Everyone waits until they die, generally speaking. You’re waiting until this time is up for us. But the believer is to endure—he is to be on a path, he’s in a race, he’s making progress, he is growing, he’s advancing. That’s the emphasis of Hebrews 12.

And with all these pressures, there’s a weariness that is one part that might make them drop off, but also a weariness that causes them to retaliate—to go against those Jews who were persecuting in such a way that would not be becoming of their profession as believers.

So he’s addressing it. In your making straight paths for your feet, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”

In one sense, peace and holiness are gifts they already possess in Christ. “Christ is our peace,” Ephesians. And so they possess peace in one way, and then they possess a holiness of sorts as well. They possess the imputation of His righteousness. They’re clothed. They can say, “Jehovah-tsidkenu”—the Lord, our righteousness.

But those gifts then require something. When Christ makes men judicially holy, He also puts in them the pursuit to be holy.

And what he’s doing here in verse 14 is encouraging them to step into their calling. You have peace—show it. You have holiness—show it. Telling people to be what they are.

You’re a child of God—act like one. There’s an expectation. Live as your profession would suggest. I’m a child of God. My sins are forgiven. I have “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Then live like it. Don’t live like those without those things.

So I’ve titled the message this morning “Saintly Living and Seeing God.” Saintly Living and Seeing God. And I have wrapped all my thoughts around three words: peace, purity, and presence. Peace, purity, and presence, as we look just at verse 14 with God’s help.

First, note then peace. “Follow peace with all men.”

A couple of things here. First, pursue it decisively. Pursue it decisively. “Follow peace.” The verb “follow” is emphatic. It means an earnest chase, a real endeavor, a going after, a pressing forward. Again, it fits with the imagery given in verse 1: “Let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Keep on that path. Keep pressing forward. Follow peace. Keep going on that journey.

And you’re to do so in a strenuous fashion. That’s the sense of the exhortation. Follow, pursue peace. Be strenuous about this. It is a race after all. And races dry up our energies and cause us to have to dig deep and keep pressing on when the weariness sets in, which is the case for these believers.

Men by nature are fractious and revengeful. They’re always breaking things up. They’re always destroying things. You see it through Scripture so that we get a reality of what men are like.

Abraham and Lot’s herdsmen—you remember them? Their herds begin to grow, advance, multiply, and next thing you know, the herdsmen of Abraham and Lot are striving together and it causes a division, which of course results in a great demise for Lot and those under him.

We see it in other places as well. We see the division among the tribes of Israel, north and south. Ten in the north, two in the south—division.

You see it even in the New Testament, in Paul and Barnabas, where the tension and the strife is so, so sharp between them, they part ways.

These things are written for our learning. We are by nature those who will seek to be vengeful, to give back what we have received, to give the treatment we believe others deserve.

And so the apostle says, follow peace. Follow peace. You are to follow. Of course, you think about it—what does he say earlier in the chapter? “Looking unto Jesus.” So as you’re running the race, you’re looking unto Jesus. And what do you see embodied in Jesus? Peace.

Now I know some of you—well, I know other verses because he said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Certainly there’s that sense that truth divides, I get it. Truth does divide. Some abandon cardinal truths. There’s a separation there that cannot be prevented.

But there’s a pursuit of peace. He is the peacemaker. He calls us to be peacemakers. He encourages us because He is the one who is our peace. And since He has broken down “the middle wall of partition” between Jew and Gentile, the question for a congregation like us here this morning is: if He has removed the division between Jew and Gentile, what excuse does a congregation of Gentiles have? None.

Within the body of Christ, there should not be anything but a pursuit of peace. Desiring peace, working for peace, maintaining peace, endeavoring to elevate the worth and value of peace.

Oh, how we need the meekness of the Lamb to fill us! “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Often those who aren’t peacemakers, but the other side, don’t have rest to their souls because they haven’t learned of Christ. They’re constantly in tension.

So, this peace, we are to pursue it decisively. Follow peace—sense of a decisive action. This is what I’m going to do.

Pursue it also universally. “Follow peace with all men.” The “all men” is added there to give the sense. And some, of course, take it to refer only to the church, that “all men,” contextually, is dealing with the church. And certainly within the context, you can see the stress of that. There are certain indications. For example, you look at verse 1 of chapter 13—you don’t have chapter divisions, so you’re just seeing this logic flow through: “Let brotherly love continue.” And so there’s a sense here of the corporate body and the peace within the corporate body. And obviously, that is by implication must be the case.

But I think there’s more. I think we would do wrong to limit it to that. I think there is in here—and if it’s not here, we can get it from Romans 12, verse 18: “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”

And so there is this endeavor for peace among all. I think the same is true here, because I think what is going on—the following peace with all men—isn’t just those things that cause division and are resulting, if you look back at verse 13, the lame who are being turned out of the way, the threat of being a stumbling block, which is repeated again later on, where he again is worried about those being defiled, the end of verse 15.

And so there is this outward impact upon the community that is definitely in view. But I think it’s relating—actually part of it relates to the pressure from outside and the desire to retaliate, to speak as they’re being spoken about, to say things and act in ways that would go against the Hebrews out there. And so broadly they’re saying, no, follow peace with all men.

Don’t be constantly in this tension of fighting with others and standing for your rights and trying to give as good as you receive.

These Hebrews were hated by their fellow Jews, by family members. It was personal. It was difficult. If you’ve ever been hated or cast out by family, you will know something of this. It was threatening them in ways that they felt keenly, and it was tempting for them to not follow peace, but to cause it to flare up, to multiply the issue.

You’re not going to get through this life living a faithful Christian life without some kind of opposition at times. It’s not going to happen. So if you’re such a person so averse to controversy, so averse to contention, that you’re going to map out your life in such a way—I will avoid it at all costs—the only way to do that is to compromise in ways that will compromise your very profession as a Christian.

At times you’re going to be hated. Jesus told us in John 15: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

So we have to anticipate that there’s going to be opposition. The world is going to rage against us. And in that rage against us, we have to guard our own spirit. We have to endure wrongs with patience.

Those retaliatory barbed words are seldom led of the Spirit. Very seldom. And some of us have a wit. It has to be kept in check. We always have an answer. We always have a word to say back. We’re good at quote-unquote “winning” arguments.

But are you really winning?

Those barbed words that you might sit back and think, “That was good, that was quick, that was sharp. That burns,” as the young people talk about today. Is it really Christian?

“A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger,” Proverbs 15, verse 1. And that’s if you have to speak. Many times you don’t have to say anything. You can be silent.

And there are great advantages to being silent, again in Proverbs 17:28: “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”

You don’t have to say anything. Oh, you see people, the temptation—someone says something about you and the temptation to put them straight.

Listen, I know it. If there’s anyone in this room who understands that temptation and feeling and has been in scenarios where you so wanted to put someone right, I know it. I know many of you are the same.

There’s a wonderful thing about growing a little older, a little more mature. It’s just watching God take care of things. I mentioned it last week. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” When your pride is so inflated to say, “I’m going to address this matter,” then you’re on your own. Good luck, hope it goes well.

When you’re humble and you say, “I’m just gonna leave this to God. God, you deal with this.” And let that person match up against God and see how that battle ends.

So when you’re hated in your place of employment, despised by your family, follow peace with all men. Follow peace with all men. With every ounce of your being, work for peace without compromising truth.

So, peace. Pursue it decisively and universally.

Purity. Purity. What does it say? “Follow peace with all men, and holiness.” And holiness.

I think we’re afraid of this text at times, aren’t we? What does this mean? Follow—and the verb, the grammar construction is such that the imperative in the verb “follow” relates to holiness as well, un-holiness. You could say follow holiness, pursue holiness.

What does that mean? Especially when you see where he leads on: “without which no man shall see the Lord.” And that’s specific—the grammar is such that “without which no man shall see the Lord” is tied to the holiness part. Follow holiness, without that you’ll not see the Lord. Now the consequences therefore are of eternal significance.

We want to understand what this is saying, so pay attention.

So purity—purity we are to pursue it continually. Follow holiness. The word “holiness” has the idea of sanctification, of that doctrine of ongoing growth and likeness to Christ. It is that being set apart to God.

We talk about the holy vessels in the temple. What made them holy? They were made of the same substance of what people used in their homes. It was dedicated, however. It was dedicated for temple and worship use.

And so these believers are dedicated. They are vessels in the temple, as it were, and they are to follow that path of being dedicated to divine service.

Now, if you’re a Christian, that’s what you are. You’re like a vessel in the temple dedicated for divine use, divine service. You must embrace that identity. This is my calling. And you’re to follow it—that means you are to keep following it. This present imperative of the verb, governing what it’s calling us to be, means to pursue, to press holiness, to press the sanctification, this growth and likeness to Christ.

By Jesus Christ, in one sense, by His offering, we learned in chapter 10, we are sanctified. We are set apart. So by the offering of Jesus, by the cross work of Jesus Christ, and those who come into the blessings of the cross work of Jesus Christ by faith, they are set apart.

So when you look to the cross and you see Christ dying for the ungodly, dying for you, paying for your sin, and you say, “I want that, I want the pardon, the forgiveness, the adoption, the standing, the blessings of covenant mercies. I want all of that. I see Jesus fulfill everything I need. Have mercy upon me.” And you come into this standing of being blood-washed in Christ.

Well, by that offering, you’re set apart. That’s what chapter 10 told us. And yet God takes those who are set apart, those vessels that are set apart for His use, and He disciplines us, doesn’t He? That’s what we learned earlier, back in verse 10, that He’s constantly chastening, He’s working, He’s teaching us “that we might be partakers of his holiness.”

More of His lofty character and His perfections might be seen in us. And so the standing in Christ is real. We are “justified freely by his grace,” but we are to enter into that identity. We are to walk out that reality.

We are not to be justified and live unholy lives. We are justified and we are to show forth that we are now children of God. We are to walk so that that is on display. It should be visible and evident.

Now, here’s the comfort. The text does not say, “without the perfection of holiness, no man shall see the Lord.” It doesn’t say that. It does not say that unless you are perfectly holy, you will never see the Lord. That’s not what it says, and that’s important. And I hope there is within you a certain sigh of relief.

It’s not requiring perfection. Follow, pursue, even if you never fully obtain the perfection of holiness. But it doesn’t take away the responsibility. The pursuit proves your testimony, your life.

Now, I have five things here about holiness in relation to sanctification that I want you to understand. I’ve tried to summarize this so that you can—I’m not going to go through all the verses that back up all these. That’s for another time. And most of you, I think, could do it if you put your mind to it. Five things.

The holiness is progressive, combative, distinctive, demonstrative, and receptive. Let me flesh it out with other short sentences so you understand what I mean.

The holiness is progressive. It’s about direction, not perfection. What direction is the person going? You keep this in mind as you counsel people. I often keep that in mind as I counsel people and as I counsel people who have expectations about others and their family. Marital strife and so on.

Direction, not perfection. Are they going in the right direction? They haven’t arrived, but are they going in the right direction? Then you see there that progressive aspect of holiness. It’s a journey.

Holiness is also combative. It’s about mortification, not accommodation. The Bible makes this plain. There are things that must die, putting to death, mortifying the members of the body, putting to death. And so we don’t accommodate everything. Certain things, we have to go hunting for them, right?

Some of you men like to hunt—getting close to that season. You’ll be thinking about it, right? You’ll be starting to think your mind, and how can I work that into my schedule? You start thinking about it. Think about it spiritually. Hunting down the things that must die that are hindering this pursuit.

Holiness is distinctive. It’s about separation, not assimilation. So much of this is true about Israel. Israel was set apart as a nation, set apart as a people. “You’re a peculiar people”—that’s the language of Peter. That peculiarity doesn’t mean that you dress in an odd way or something like that, but you’re marked different.

And so there’s this aspect of separation, not assimilation. Not to be like the world, even though we’re in the world.

It’s also demonstrative. It’s about actions, not emotions. Holiness should be seen in how you live this out. It doesn’t matter how you feel. You might not be feeling particularly like doing something, or you might not even be feeling particularly holy, but if you are obeying, following peace even though every—there’s a part of you that needs to curb even the desire to retaliate, but let’s take this progressive side. There’s a progressive side. With you by nature would retaliate.

Well, you may feel like retaliating, but you hold back. And it’s about the actions, not the feelings. Let’s see the good thing that God has suppressed the very desire to fulfill that passion of the soul. So it’s suppressed. But of course, we want to even go to the point that we don’t even feel that way. But it’s demonstrative. It’s about what you do.

And it’s also receptive. It’s about devotion, not presumption. In other words, that we don’t do it in our own strength. It’s receptive. We’re receiving grace to do this.

How do we do this? We “look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” We keep our gaze upon Him and receive grace, and that grace enables us to follow peace with all men and holiness, because He’s on that path, He’s walked that way, and He bestows grace upon us. And so as we have devotion toward Him, then we will learn what it is to become more like Him.

So I hope that’s helpful. Holiness is progressive—it’s about direction, not perfection. Combative—about mortification, not accommodation. Distinctive—about separation, not assimilation. Demonstrative—it’s about actions, not emotions. It is receptive—it’s about devotion, not presumption. Not just presuming anything, we’re pursuing Him, that He might give to us the grace we need. Not just assuming it’s going to happen, we’re presuming I’m going to become holy.

So pursue it continually. Follow holiness continually.

Pursue it personally. “Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” It gets very individual, doesn’t it? Each individual has to say that: “I better do this or I won’t see the Lord.” You have to look at it as an individual.

And so it doesn’t matter who we are. Doesn’t matter your background, doesn’t matter your status, doesn’t matter that you’re a pastor, elder, deacon, whatever way you might categorize yourself. You’re called to pursue this.

Now, again, it’s important that we understand that the pursuit is the sanctification, this growth and likeness to Christ, that it’s not a pursuit of being justified. Because you don’t pursue necessarily your justification. It’s a legal action. It happens in a moment. It’s a transaction. It’s immediate. But when you’re justified, that’s a standing you possess. This pursuit anticipates a lifelong effort.

So that’s how we understand the distinction here, because I know when you see that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord,” you must say to yourself, well, that must be referring to my justification, my standing in Christ, because it’s by that I see the Lord.

But that doesn’t make any sense with the exhortation. And I’ve thought about this verse many, many, many times. And I think about it, you know, maybe that’s what it’s saying is about our justification. But when I look at it and the whole structure and the argument and everything, that’s not what it’s saying.

It is looking for the fruit that you have been truly justified, the evidence that you truly are the Lord’s.

Justification rests solely on Christ’s obedience. Sanctification is the necessary evidence of justification. “Be ye holy; for I am holy” is not something that just describes what you are, it tells you what to be. That’s 1 Peter 1. And so in 1 John, John says, “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” He’s in an ongoing effort. He’s coming! I will purify myself. Right?

Like a bride getting ready for the bridegroom. It’s like there’s a process there, there’s an anticipation. As we look for His return, so we anticipate being there, beholding Him.

I mean, you know what it’s like. You think of a great wedding, you think of all the plans that go into getting prepared. Those of you who get married and so on, you think about—I guess some go to greater lengths than others, but it can be a great process. You have to plan out all those days leading up to the actual marriage itself. When you’re going to get your eyebrows done, your nails done, your hair done, and all the rest of it. There’s all this planning and preparation.

And it’s illustrative of what we’re anticipating with Christ. We are preparing, we are planning, we are purifying, is what John says. We’re purifying.

Oh beloved, let the weight of God’s Word penetrate your own soul. You’re to go after this. I can’t do it for you. I certainly try to help you by preaching the Word, and the Word has its sanctifying effect, we trust. But you’re to pursue this.

Holiness is the fruit of gratitude to God for His salvation. So we follow holiness, because how can I not? This is the character of my Father. I want to be like that.

So pursue it continually, personally, and dependently. I just want to underline that aspect, that Christ is both the ground and the giver of holiness, right? So He is our justification, but He imparts, He gives to us what we need to be holy.

Even though he is praying—think of it. If we just thought about one thought, our dependence upon His prayers: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” So set them apart, make them more what they are through divine truth. That one prayer shows dependence on Christ in order to attain this very thing.

That following holiness, “without which no man shall see the Lord,” is tied back to Christ. When you think about it, I mentioned earlier, John 17:24, where His desire that His people be with Him where He is, “that they may behold my glory.” And those people, they’re on a pilgrimage, and He’s praying for them: “Sanctify them through thy truth,” verse 17 of the same prayer.

So when you see the connection, the desire He has, that you have to be dependent on Him, dependent on His Spirit, looking to Him.

So you leave here, you leave here, you say, “Well, if I don’t have holiness, I’ll never see the Lord, so I better try harder.” So it’s like last week, it’s the same thing. Where the emphasis there was on endurance, and the emphasis here is on what that endurance looks like, being holy.

You don’t bow your head at the end and say, “Lord, help me to do better.” It’s all about that which is the excellency of your heart. If Christ is the excellent one of your heart, this takes care of itself. We are pursuing holiness because we want to see the Lord.

If you don’t want to see the Lord, it’s because you don’t have the Lord.

Finally, presence. Let us see presence. Peace, purity, and presence. “Without which no man shall see the Lord.” We’re going to be in His presence one day.

So believers should have expectancy. “Shall see the Lord.” They shall see the Lord. Future tense. It’s the great end of the pilgrimage.

And holiness—holiness prepares you for the future vision. It clarifies present sight. Because there’s a sense in which we can see a little now. You can. We saw it back in the previous chapter. Remember Moses? “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” Seeing him who is invisible. Moses saw. He saw God. He prayed to see God even more. “Show me thy glory.” It’s all his hinder parts, is how it’s described.

But we should have an expectation. You’re going to see the Lord. You’re going to see Him as He is, 1 John 3. And so we have this expectation. Believers should have this expectation to see the Lord.

Oh, I hope even this message this morning just whets your appetite a little. To see the Lord.

Believers should have integrity. To see the Lord means we must follow holiness.

But following peace and holiness, they’re not the tolls we pay to get into heaven. They are the path on the way. So you’re not coming to the gates of heaven and saying, “Well, I better make sure I have my peace and my holiness with me.”

If you’re on the way, it’s the path you’re on. Those who are going to see the Lord are following a path of peace and holiness. It all comes together in that way.

Spurgeon preaching on this text, he said, “I trust that in my ministry, I shall never keep back the doctrines of the grace of God. But I am anxious at the same time with equal clearness to declare the doctrine that good works are necessary evidences of grace. I am persuaded that if self-righteousness be deadly, self-indulgence is ruinous.” End quote.

And so you see the preacher there endeavoring to preach the grace of God, but the grace of God looks like something. And you need to know what it looks like.

I know time is almost gone. Turn quickly to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians. You see the apostle in chapter 7, verse 1.

He’s been talking about promises, the promise of the presence of God, the God dwelling in them. And he’s been encouraging them that you shouldn’t have fellowship with unrighteousness. Those of the light don’t have communion with darkness. And you have the promise that God is in you. And if you are truly adopted, verse 18, then this will be seen.

Verse 1 of chapter 7: “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

There has to be an outworking. The promise havers—those who possess them, these promises, must show the evidence.

So there’s integrity that’s expected. You’re going to walk in a certain way.

But also urgency. “Without which no man shall see the Lord.” Believers, therefore, should have urgency.

Go back to our text just before we close here. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”

There is a sense of urgency, isn’t there? It’s not a threat so much as it’s an alarm. It’s not threatening them. It’s just alarming them to the reality. This is what’s true.

Next time we’re going to learn that we learn from Esau and cast off his characteristics, being aware of presumption. But we have to pursue something here and have an urgency in the pursuit of it. Pursuing holiness—it’s a real thing.

So remember what Swinnock said: “According to the excellency of the object which we embrace in our hearts, such is the degree of our happiness.”

Now, I say this because what is it that’s founding, promising, of America? The pursuit of happiness. You have the right to that. You have the right to that. But what is it? What is it?

So when it says—it all comes back to the excellency of the thing you have within your heart. “According to the excellency of the object which we embrace in our hearts, such is the degree of our happiness.”

If I want to really pursue happiness, then the excellency of my heart will be the saint’s choice—God. “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.”

I’m going to close with a quote from Jonathan Edwards. Edwards said this—listen, if you get this, it’ll change your life. It’ll become a calibrating instrument in your Christian living. What am I about? How am I to live?

Edwards says, “God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. And the enjoyment of Him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven fully to enjoy God is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends are but shadows. But the enjoyment of God is the substance. But these are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.

“Therefore, it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey towards heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good the whole work of our lives, to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labor for or set our hearts on anything else but that which is our proper end and true happiness?”

This is where so many don’t get it. They pursue doctrine—they pursue precision. They pursue all sorts of things that are good. They pursue the callings of life, of marriage and family and work and employment, and they pursue. And all those things have their place, and under God, they are to be lived out as to His glory.

But you can so focus on all the particulars, and you have your checklist in line about how you live out your life, and you check all these boxes, and yet you missed—you have missed true excellency. You’ve got all the parts and you’ve missed the substance, the pursuit of God Himself.

May the Lord help us. Let’s bow together in prayer.

Do you feel the Lord coming after you? I do. Do you feel Him tugging you higher? I do. Have you heard from Him today? Do you see the bleeding Lamb begging? Do you see your loving Redeemer calling you alongside Himself? To stop walking afar off, to stop warming at the fire of the world. Do you see that He has more for you?

“Lord, evermore give us this bread.” We pray that we would understand like Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” “The Lord is my light and my salvation.”

Come, Lord, and be our portion, and let us live as Thou art our portion. May all our being be swayed into an enraptured love for the triune God. And may we walk, anticipating the day where we will see Thee. Till then, give us a taste of Thee.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of all the people of God now and evermore. Amen.