Hebrews 12:14,15
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.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The riches of the Gospel are freely imparted to all who seek them by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet they quite mistake the nature of the Gospel, who imagine it to be inconsistent with solemn warnings. It offers every thing freely; but it does not dispense with the exertion of human efforts: it promises every thing fully; but not in such a way as to supersede the need of care and watchfulness on our part. It abounds with warnings and exhortations, to which we must take the utmost heed.
JOHN OWEN (1616-1683): This grace, under all their profession of the gospel, men may “fail of.”
CHARLES SIMEON: By “the grace of God,” I understand “the Gospel of the grace of God,” or that “grace of God which bringeth salvation.” And by “failing of the grace of God,” I understand, a falling short of it: the first part of our text being exactly parallel with that expression in the fourth chapter of this epistle, “Let us fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it,” Hebrews 4:1.
JOHN OWEN: The word ὑστερέω signifies sometimes “to want, or be deficient in any kind,” Matthew 19:20; Luke 5:14; Luke 22:45; sometimes “to come behind,” 1 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 11:5; sometimes “to be destitute,” Hebrews 11:37; sometimes “to fail or come short of,” as Romans 3:23; Hebrews 4:1. It nowhere signifies to “fall from,”—so inquiries of men about falling from grace, as to these words, are impertinent; wherefore, to “fail of grace,” is to come short of it, not to obtain it, though we seem to be in the way thereunto.
CHARLES SIMEON: Now, we may come short of the Gospel by not submitting to its humiliating doctrines—the Gospel views all men as in a lost and perishing condition. Its provisions are made for all mankind without exception. It knows nothing of persons so good as not to need salvation, or of persons so bad as to be beyond the reach of the salvation it provides. It requires all to view themselves as “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; and counsels them to come to the Lord Jesus Christ for eye-salve that they may see; for gold that they may be enriched; and for garments that they may be clothed,” Revelation 3:17, 8. It suffers none to bring any price in their hands, but requires them to receive every thing “without money and without price,” Isaiah 55:1.
But all this is very humiliating. Proud man does not like to be brought so low, as to depend wholly on another, and not at all on himself. We wish to have something of our own whereof we may boast. And to be reduced to a level with the vilest of the human race, so as to acknowledge ourselves as much indebted to Divine grace as they, is a humiliation to which we cannot endure to submit—when it is said, “Wash and be clean,” instead of accepting the tidings with gratitude, we spurn them like Naaman, and go away in a rage, 2 Kings 5:10,13. To all this however, we must “submit,” Romans 10:3; for there is no other way of salvation, Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 3:11; and, if we will not come to Christ upon His terms, we must remain for ever destitute of the blessings He has purchased for us.
A. W. PINK: God has warned us plainly in His Word that “there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness,” Proverbs 30:12. The call to careful self-examination receives its urgency from the very great danger there is of self-deception. Sin darkens the understanding, so that man is unable to perceive his real state before God. Satan “hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,” 2 Corinthians 4:4. The deep-rooted pride of our hearts makes us think the best of ourselves, so that if a question is raised in our hearts, we are ever prone to give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. A spirit of sloth possesses us by nature, so that we are unwilling to go to the trouble which real self-examination calls for. Hence the vast majority remain with a head knowledge of the truth, with outward attention to forms and ceremonies, or resting on a mere consent to the letter of some verse like John 3:16, and refusing to “make their calling and election sure,” 2 Peter 1:10.
JOHN OWEN: The duty prescribed is to “look diligently.”
CHARLES SIMEON: “Without holiness—radical universal holiness—no man shall see the Lord:” and we are cautioned to “look diligently,” lest, by coming short of the requirements of the Gospel, we fail to attain a possession of its blessings. We may come short of the Gospel by not obeying its self-denying doctrines. Though the Gospel gives salvation freely, it does not leave us at liberty to neglect good works; on the contrary, “it teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world,” Titus 2:11,12. Indeed, the sanctification it requires of us is as offensive to our carnal and worldly hearts, as the humiliation it imposes on our pride. The object of the Gospel is not merely to save men from death and hell, but to bring them back to a state of holy allegiance to their God, such as Adam experienced in Paradise. It requires us to give up ourselves as living sacrifices unto God, to be as entirely dedicated to His service as the burnt-offerings which were wholly consumed on the altar, Romans 12:1. It enjoins us “neither to live unto ourselves, nor die unto ourselves;” but both in life and death to be altogether at the Lord’s disposal, for the accomplishment of His will, and for the promotion of His glory, Romans 14:7,8.
A. W. PINK: If I am not diligently and earnestly cultivating practical holiness, both of heart and life, then I shall never enter Heaven.
CHARLES SIMEON: Now, to this measure of holiness we have by nature a deep rooted aversion. We have many earthly sensual appetites which plead for indulgence: and when we are required to “cut off the right hand, and pluck out the right eye,” and to “be holy as God Himself is holy,” we reply, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” To “mortify our members upon earth,” and to “crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts,” is a work which, as the terms it is expressed intimate, is painful to flesh and blood: and to be told that without this we never can be Christ’s disciples, is most grating to our ears. But nothing less than this will suffice for the approving of ourselves upright in the sight of God. I beseech you then, brethren, to “look diligently” to this matter, and not to come short of what the Gospel requires of you; for if you comply not both with its doctrines and its precepts, you can never partake of its privileges and its blessings.
JOHN OWEN: The terms expressed in the Gospel are sure and none shall ever fail who embrace it on these terms.
