“Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See 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; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.” (Hebrews 12:14-17 NASB1995)
Pursuing peace with all people is never to be at the compromise of truth and righteousness. It is never to compromise the truth of the gospel of our salvation so that other people will like us, and so that we will not offend them with the truth. For the most loving thing we can do for people is to tell them the truth of the gospel which can save their souls from hell, if they will believe in Jesus, die with him to sin, and obey his commands. We should be gentle, but not to the point of withholding the truth they need to hear.
For, as it says here, we are also to pursue the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. And sanctification is purity and holiness. And holiness involves us dying with Christ to sin and us walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, without which no one will see the Lord. And if we are living holy lives, pleasing to God, we are set apart by God for his service, separate from (different, unlike) the world, because by faith in Jesus Christ we are being conformed by God to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ.
And if we are to see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, then we need to first of all understand what that grace looks like. For it was God’s grace to us humans that sent Jesus Christ to the cross to die. But in his death, he put our sins to death with him so that, by God-persuaded faith in Jesus we will now die to sin and live for God in walks of obedience to his commands. For God’s grace is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.
For, included in seeing to it that no one comes short of the grace of God is seeing to it that there are no immoral or godless people among us who profess faith in Jesus Christ. And then we are given the example of Esau. And in terms of our salvation, what he did was to sell his inheritance with God in order to feed his flesh, which is what many people are doing who profess Jesus with their lips. And so they lie to themselves and tell themselves that God will welcome them into his heaven, but he won’t.
Now, obviously we have no control over other people and their decisions to either follow Jesus in obedience or to continue living in sin. But we should be those followers of Jesus Christ who are telling them the truth of what the Scriptures teach, in context. And so that they are well informed of what God requires, and of the consequences if they should choose to reject the gospel, taught by Jesus and his New Testament apostles, to follow a diluted gospel which does not require of them death to sin and obedience to God.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
Your Servant Witness
An Original Work / March 13, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Humbly I bow, Lord, before You,
Bringing my requests to You.
May I listen; hear You speaking.
May I follow You in truth.
Gently lead me in Your service.
Guide my steps and strengthen me.
Fill me with Your love and mercy.
May I live for Thee!
Let me be Your servant witness,
Telling others of Your grace.
May I always share the gospel
With those I meet face to face.
May I show the love of Jesus,
Caring for the needs of men;
Be Your servant witness always
For my Lord, Amen!
My desire to be like Jesus,
Living for Him ev’ry day.
May I obey all His teachings
Given me, so I’ll not stray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord, my master.
You are the King of my heart;
Follow You where’er You lead me;
Not from You depart!
Tell Them The Truth
An Original Work / July 27, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love