The Race of Faith
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, alet us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and blet us run cwith endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, awho for the joy that was set before Him bendured the cross, despising the shame, and chas sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Discipline of God
3 aFor consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, blest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 aYou have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
a“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For awhom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”
7 aIf you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what bson is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, aof which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to athe Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, athat we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields athe peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Renew Your Spiritual Vitality
12 Therefore astrengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14 aPursue peace with all people, and holiness, bwithout which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone afall short of the grace of God; lest any broot of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any afornicator or profane person like Esau, bwho for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was arejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
The Glorious Company
18 For you have not come to athe mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it abegged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: a“And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” 21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, a“I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of athe firstborn bwho are registered in heaven, to God cthe Judge of all, to the spirits of just men dmade perfect, 24 to Jesus athe Mediator of the new covenant, and to bthe blood of sprinkling that speaks better things cthan that of Abel.
Hear the Heavenly Voice
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For aif 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, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, a“Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the aremoval of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may aserve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For aour God is a consuming fire. The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
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