Hebrews chapter 12. Let's read the first two verses
of Hebrews chapter 12. 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. The title of my message is at
the end of the first verse. It says, and let us run. The title is let us run. The word run here can also mean
walk hastily. It's not really about the speed
or how fast you're going, but more about the desire and that
you do go. Because we're all running. We're
all going somewhere. We all have a direction. We all
have desires that we point to and we set out for. We're all
running somewhere, and sometimes we know where we're going. Sometimes
we think we know where we're going, and sometimes we honestly
have no idea where we're headed, yet we're always going somewhere.
We have a tendency to run the wrong direction and run to the
wrong things. In Isaiah 59, 7, it says, their
feet run to evil. How many times have you been
asked this question throughout your life? Where do you want your life to
go? Where do you see yourself in so many years? As a kid, how
often do we get this question? What do you want to do when you
grow up? Where do you want to be? Now, I answered that question
with so many things. As a small child, I might have
said things such as, like, I want to be the Incredible Hulk and
smash things. Then you get to a place where
you think, well, I want to be a star athlete who makes tons
of money and everybody looks at and they think they're the
best. At some point, I get to think, I want to be a star. Maybe
I want to be powerful. I want to be the king. Stories
in the Old Testaments, I remember taking things away from them
such as, well, if I'm the king, I can tell everybody what to
do. Those are the things I wanted to do. In Proverbs 6.18, it says,
feet that be swift in running to mischief. Acts 7 says, They
cried with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon
him with one accord. In Jude it says, Woe unto them,
for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily for
reward. Little did I realize most of
my life I've been giving answers to that question that the Scripture
condemns. I would say things thinking,
well, that's okay, that's not bad to go after that. Yet the
scripture constantly condemns these such things. If I ask us
that question now, if somebody asked me a few days ago before
I studied this and someone came to me and said, well, what are
your goals in life? I would still have not given the right answer.
The right answer is the beginning, or in this verse, that says,
and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus. The goal of our life, where we
want to be, what we want to do, what we want to accomplish, the
answer has to be this. We just have to look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's our direction. That's
where we need to run. And unfortunately, We just have
a tendency not to do that, but we must run to Christ. In Philippians
2, verse 16, it says, holding forth the word of life, that
I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain,
neither labored in vain. Turn with me over to Proverbs
4. Proverbs 4. just after Psalms, Proverbs verse
4. In verse 10 of Proverbs 4 it
says, ìHear, O my son,î theyíre talking to us here, ìand receive
my sayings.î The Lord says, ìMy son, receive my sayings, and
the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the
way of wisdom, I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest,
thy steps shall not be straightened, and when thou runnest, thou shalt
not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction,
let her not go, keep her for she is thy life. Our life is
listening and following our Lord. That's everything we have. In
1 Peter it says, wherein they think it strange, the world,
that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking
evil of you. We have all experienced this,
and children, I promise you'll face this if you don't face it
on a daily basis, where someone will say to you, why do you do
that? Why do you want to go there?
Why do you not do what I do? It says, they will think it strange
that ye not run with them where they want to go, to the excess
of right speaking evil of you. And they'll talk bad about you.
That's just the way it happens. As children, we think it only
happens to us, but it happens to all of us. It happens behind
our backs constantly. People don't want to look to
the Lord. They want nothing to do with
Him. In this title, I want two things with this title. The first
When I say, let us run, we would normally say this as a conjunction. I would say, let's run. And that's
what the first meaning is. Let's go, let's run to the Lord
Jesus Christ. We should celebrate this. After
what we see in the scriptures and what the Lord's done for
us, we need to be so excited for this. Now, I admit, I'm rarely
that way. And there's a thing that happens
all the time now, I hear it constantly, whether it's an athlete or just
somebody saying it, when something good happens or they're excited
about something, they yell, let's go, let's go, let's do this. That's what we should be saying
every chance we get to come and worship. We should wake up on
the morning, on Sunday morning, and when we get up, we should
literally be saying, kids, let's do this. We get to go worship
Christ. Now secondly, and listen to this,
when I say let us run, we're asking for permission. We're
asking for the desire to worship. We're asking the Lord to give
us the ability to worship. We're asking him to give us a
love for Christ. We can think that we could be
excited about worshiping, but if he doesn't make us do it,
we'll think the same way we do so often. Anna, if I can hit
the snooze, maybe I'll make it tonight. I don't have to go now.
I don't have to do these things. Amos 8 says this, and they shall
wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east, they
shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall
not find it. This says that people will wander
from ocean to ocean and from north to the east across the
entire world and everywhere they can go. They will run to it,
they will go to and fro to seek after it, and they won't find
it. The Lord must let us run to him. He must let us come to him. He
must open our eyes. In Psalm 119, it says, I will
run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. David said, I'll run to your
commandments. I'll run to you, but only when
thou shalt enlarge my heart, when you'll make me to do it.
Song of Solomon says, draw me, Lord, draw me, and I will run
after thee. I won't run unless you draw me. So I just want to take a few
minutes and I just want to look at a few places in the scriptures,
a few stories where this term run is used, where someone run
or where they ran. And every scripture I'm going
to quote is going to be one that has that word in it. I was shocked
at how many times that word was used through the scriptures of
constantly telling us, run, run to Christ, run to him. Our first
one is in Luke 19. Luke chapter 19. Here's a story we all know, and
the kids even have a song that they sing about this wee little
man. Luke 19 verse 1, And Jesus entered
and passed through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was
rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and could not for
the press, because he was little of stature. He was so small that
he couldn't stand even on his tippy toes and even see the Lord.
So he thought to himself in verse four, he ran before and climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that
way. Zacchaeus thought, I can't see
him on my own, so I'm gonna run way out in front, and if I climb
up in a tree when he comes by, I can see him. Look at verse
five. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, Make
haste and come down, for today I must abide in thy house. I love that Zacchaeus ran before
to try to find a place he could see the Lord. What he didn't
realize was by running there, the Lord was taking him to a
place where he would see Zacchaeus. And when he saw him, he said,
Make haste, I must abide in the house. And look at verse six,
And Zacchaeus made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all
murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guessed with a man
that's a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood, and said
unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to
the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false
accusation, I restore him fourfold. Zacchaeus came to the Lord with
his works. I love that everyone else, when
they saw the Lord go with Zacchaeus, said, I can't believe he's going
with that guy. That's the world speaking evil of us. The Lord's
going to have nothing to do with them. That sinner, he's going
to have nothing to do with them. But the Lord answered and said
to Zacchaeus in verse 9, Jesus said unto him, this day is salvation,
come to this house. For as much as he also is a son
of Abraham, for the son of man is come to seek and to save that
which was lost. Zacchaeus ran ahead to get a
glimpse of the Lord. And what happened? The Lord saved
him. The Lord went into his house
and saved him. In Mark 6, it says this, And
the people saw them departing, and many knew him. And they ran
afoot thither out of all the cities, and out went them, and
came together unto him. And Jesus, when he came out,
saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them,
because they were as sheep, not having a shepherd. And he began
to teach them many things. All the people saw that the Lord
and his disciples were leaving. And they, in masses, all started
running from all the cities to go see him, to go catch him.
And what's the reaction the Lord always has to his children when
they run to him? He had compassion on them and saw them that they
were sheep not having a shepherd. And he came to them and he told
them, I'm the shepherd. I'll be your shepherd and taught
them many things. All right, look with me in 1 Samuel 17.
1 Samuel 17. Here's another story that we
all know so well and I loved as a child. Look at verse 20
of 1 Samuel 17. And David rose up early in the
morning, and left the sheep with the keeper, and took and went
as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the trench as
the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.
Verse 21, For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle
in array, army against army. And David left his carriage in
the hand of the keeper, and ran into the army and came and saluted
his brethren. He ran. He could not wait to
see what was going on. Now skip down to verse 45. Now
this is after David had heard what Goliath had said. And David
said to everyone, David said, this is blasphemy. I'm not gonna let this man speak
evil of our God. And look in verse 45, after David
decided to challenge to be the champion of Israel, then said
David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and
with a spear and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name
of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom
thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver
thee into mine hand, and I will smite thee and take thine head
from thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host of the
Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild
beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there
is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know
that the Lord saveth not with sword or spear, for the battle
is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. and it came
to pass when the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh to meet
David, that David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the
Philistine. And David put his hand in his
bag, and took fence of stone, and sling it, and smote the Philistine
in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead, and he
fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine
with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine and
slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore
David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword,
and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut
off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw
their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and
of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines.
We must defend our Lord, not because our Lord needs us to,
but because we love Him. David, when he came to that battle
and heard what Goliath had said, his first thought was, we must
defend our God. We must not let this stand. There
will be plenty of times in our life where we will be challenged,
where we will be confronted with people who do not believe the
gospel. We must first do what David did. David said there,
and he kept repeating this throughout this passage, Today everyone
will know the Lord won the battle, that the Lord is in command,
that the Lord is God. We do not ever stand up, we do
not ever run to defend what we believe on our own behest and
on our own thought. We must go with the complete
mindset and the only thing in our hearts thinking, the Lord
Jesus Christ is everything. He's our all. He's our Savior.
That's the temperament we must have. And remember, Christ won. When we say these things, In
1 Corinthians 9 it says, Know ye not that they which run in
a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? I heard this when
our pastor read it the other night. So run that ye may obtain. And when I heard it, I thought
to myself, so listen to this verse again. Know ye not that
they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. And it's all I could think about
in that verse was it saying how you gotta run to win. Well, the
key to that verse, two things. The first, it does not have any
punctuation when it says, no ye not, they that which run in
a race run all. It doesn't say that everyone
and only one will win and everybody tries to win. It says everybody
will run the whole race. We must run the whole race. In the text, it says we run with
patience. The reason we have to run with
patience is because we have no idea what's coming next. It's
the Lord's plan. It's His guidance. We're in His
hand, and that is infinitely better than anything we could
ever wish for. We run patiently because if we
don't run with patience, we run headlong over the cliff. We just
run into so much trouble, it's just crazy how bad we are. But
the other part about this is that only one receiveth the prize. There's only one victor. And
guess what, guys? None of us are gonna win. We
got no chance. We can't win. If we were trying
to be, let's say that somebody in here was really, really, really
fast. If the whole world raced, do
you think anybody here's gonna win? Well, here's the good news. Christ already won the race. In this story of David and Goliath,
Saul the king did not win the battle. Jonathan, his son, did
not win the battle. The one who was the best friends
with David, Jonathan didn't win it. All of David's brothers who
were greater fighters, older, more experienced, they didn't
win the battle. The thousands and thousands of troops didn't
win the battle. But guess what? Their champion
won the battle. We won't win the race, but if
we're in Christ, We win the race. We must be in Him. Just another
reason why we must run to Christ, set ourselves to Him, because
if we're in Him, we win the race. It says in Corinthians 9, 26,
two verses later, it says, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. I don't run uncertainly, not
sure of where I'm going. As the same so fight I, not as
one that beateth the air. We don't fight as a shadow boxer,
a person who acts like they can do something when they're punching
the air. No, in this race, in this life, we must finish it.
We must fight our way through it. And the only way we make
it is if we depend on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our victor. The verse says, fight the good
fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. Lay hold on Christ. Turn
with me to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. This is right after the Lord
has been crucified and He was buried and Mary Magdalene has
waited until the very first moment she could get to see the Lord.
In this first verse of chapter 20 it says, ìThe first day of
the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark,
unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the
sepulcher.î Mary couldn't come on the Sabbath, so she waited
until the Sabbath was over and it was still morning in the wee
hours and went to Him the first chance she could get. Mary's
a wonderful example through this, and we'll see it a couple times,
of man, all Mary wanted to do was get to the Lord. That's all
she wanted to do. She's a great picture, just run
into Christ, be with Him. So then she saw that the stone
was away and the sepulcher was empty. So verse two, then she
runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom
Jesus loved and saith unto them, they have taken away the Lord
out of the sepulcher and we know not where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple and came
to the sepulcher. So Mary saw the stone was rolled
away and he was gone and she ran to get him. So verse four,
Peter and John, so they ran both together and the other disciple
did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulcher and he stooping
down and looking in saw the linen clothes lying, yet went he not
in. Then come a Simon Peter following
him and went into the sepulcher and see if the linen clothes
lie there. Everybody was so invested in this, they wanted to run to
Christ. When Mary came and told them,
she had to run to tell them just the moment she could. And I think
Mary was not as much doing this to tell them as much as she was
doing this to try to get an answer. She went to the first person
she could think of that might be able to tell her where the
Lord was. And when these two men heard that he wasn't there,
they went running. and something that's so small
and yet is so important, look in verse four. So they were in
the same place. So they ran both together and
the other disciple did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulcher.
John and Peter were running however far this was to the sepulcher
and they were both running as fast as they could. And John
didn't slow down to wait for Peter. John ran. He passed him. He went on. go at the pace of others. We
must run to Christ as fast and as quick as we possibly can.
And I'll come back to something that deal with that. But don't
let the pace of others slow you down. Don't let it stop you.
Then likewise, in Peter's circumstances, don't let someone ahead of you
make you quit. Don't be frustrated by someone
seems to be doing it better, because I promise, somebody's
always doing it better. When I think of myself and compare
myself to many other people and think, you know, I'm running
to Christ, maybe, but I wish I could do it like this person.
I wish I could be more devout. I wish I could do this. Don't
be affected by how someone else is running. Just run to Christ.
And then finally, don't, and look at verse 10, let's see this.
So, then the disciples went away again unto their own home. Peter
and John left. Don't leave until you know where
to go. Read on here, look at verse 11.
But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping, and as she
wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher, and seeth
two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other
at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say
unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they've
laid him. She's crying because she just wants to see her Lord.
Verse 14, And when she had thus said this, she turned herself
back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was him.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest
thou? She supposing him to be the gardener,
saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me
where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith
unto her, Mary, She turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni,
which is to say, master. Mary stayed there. She stayed
where she thought the Lord was. The last place she'd seen him,
she stayed there. And because of that, the Lord
came to her. The Lord had mercy on her. She was so distraught
and the Lord came to her. All those that search out for
him and wait on him patiently He will come to them. There's
not a single instance in the scripture where a person begs
and pleads for the Lord to help them, to come to them, to save
them, and He doesn't do it. Our Lord is merciful. He will.
And then look at verse 17, Jesus said unto her, Touch me not,
for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren,
and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and
to my God, and your God. The Lord gave her something to
do, and look at verse 18, Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples
that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things
unto her. she ran and told them what she had seen. She had great
news to tell them. If it starts pouring rain outside,
I'm not gonna take off and run to my car and try to keep dry
and hope that the rest of my family makes it. If it starts
pouring here in a couple minutes, I'm not gonna just say, I'll
see you guys in the car, and I'm not gonna run and leave them.
I'll take as many trips as necessary to get everyone in my family
to the car safely. I cannot be concerned about how
wet I'm getting. I cannot be concerned about how
cold it is or how heavy the kids are to carry. One day, it will
be wonderful to get to glory. But as long as I or we are still
running this race, We must use every ounce of energy that the
Lord gives us to push, to pull, to drag, to carry, to force,
or whatever word you want to use, to make my family, my friends,
and anyone who will listen, that we must run to Christ. If they ignore me, I must pray
to God that they listen and tell him again. If they run the wrong
way, as all of us have done and continue to often do, then we
must pray that he will turn them around. If their love is in this
world and upon things of this world, we must pray, by whatever
means necessary, our God opens their eyes to see the one true
beauty and thing and person worth loving in this world is the Lord
Jesus Christ. We must take every opportunity
to do so. Throughout my life, My parents
and grandparents made it of the utmost importance that we must
worship our Lord. They probably did this in many,
many ways, but the way as a child I remember it was always having
to go to church. That was not something to be
questioned. We always had to go to church.
My grandfather can no longer tell me that. and I'm not sure
how long it'll be before my dad won't be able to tell me or I
won't be able to hear him. But at some point, through all
of that, through my 40 plus years of hearing those things, it has
sunk in. Whether it was because I was
tired of fighting it and I gave in, whether it was because it
was just so important to them that finally I decided not to
fight it anymore, Maybe it was because I didn't want to let
them down. Maybe it was because I saw how
much they loved it and enjoyed it that I wanted to feel that
same thing. I don't really know the reason,
but we have to understand while we are running this race, we
have to take every opportunity for everyone around us to see
all that we want to do is run to Christ. That's all we want.
And in this life, there may not be a better example of that than
going to listen to his word being preached. And it's unfortunate
because kids, I know that, don't hate your parents for telling
you you gotta go. I remember being mad at my parents for telling
me sometimes and making me miss things I didn't wanna miss. But
as a parent now, I see that there's just nothing that would disappoint
me more than for one of my children to tell me, well, I didn't think
it mattered if I went. I didn't think we needed to go.
I don't think you cared enough about it. We must show them,
we must always prove and act and behave in a manner that everyone
around us, not just, I'm using our children here, but everyone
around us must see that. I've seen examples of individuals
in this room right now that someone has said, I just had to go to
listen to someone preach there because that person always went
there. They said, they're always talking about it, so I had to
go. We have to be that example. All right, turn with me to Mark
5. Mark 5. Look in verse 1 of Mark
5. And they came over unto the other
side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes, And when he
was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs
a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the
tombs, and no man could bind him, no, not with chains. Because
that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and
the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken
in pieces, neither could any man tame him. And always, night
and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and
cutting himself with stones. was possessed. We would have
called him by so many names, a lunatic, a wild man, just someone
that could not be controlled by man. And look in verse six,
but when this man saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him. If this man can run and worship
the Lord, could we possibly have any excuse? Could we ever give
one excuse that would be good enough to say that we couldn't
make it after what this man is enduring to go? Psalm 18 says,
for by thee I have run through a troop and by my God have I
leaped over a wall. The Lord is powerful enough to
make us run through anything and jump over anything to get
to him. Verse 7, This cried with a loud voice, and he said, What
have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the Most High God?
I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto
him, Come out of a man, thou unclean spirit. In Proverbs it
says, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous
runneth into it and it is safe. There is one place to run and
that's to the Lord Jesus Christ. All of us go through trials and
tribulations, but I dare to say it's difficult to compare them
to what this man was going through. There is nothing we could possibly
be enduring that if we take it to the Lord, He can't take care
of our burden. He is the place. This song, take
it to the Lord and leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord.
There is only one place of safety and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
All right, turn to Luke 18. These are the only two things
I'm going to do that don't have the word run in them, but I think
it's important that we see this. Let me first read something to
everyone from Matthew 9 from someone that we know very well.
It says here in Matthew 9, and behold, a woman, which was diseased
with an issue of blood 12 years, came behind him and touched the
hem of his garment. For she said within herself,
if I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. I wanted to
use this woman to show that it doesn't matter how fast we run,
it's not about the speed of which we can do, it's not about our
ability, it's simply about this one desire. If I may but touch
his garment, I shall be whole. This woman crawls to Him. She
comes in from behind, pushing through everyone just to touch
Him. We must understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is our
only chance to be righteous. That's our only place of salvation.
Our only hope is in Him. And then here in Luke 18, look
at verse 35. And it came to pass that as he
was come nigh, the Lord was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain
blind man sat by the wayside begging. And hearing the multitude
pass by, he asked what it meant. This is blind Bartimaeus, verse 37, and they told him that
Jesus of Nazareth passed by. This man is blind. And to be
honest, he can't run. Now his legs work, but he can't
see where he's going. If we want to talk about a person
who's going to have a hard time going the right direction, this
is a good example of it. A blind person does not know
when they're going the right way. But what he did know was
when he asked what was going on, he knew that there was one
person, there was one way that he could see, Verse 37, And they
told him that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by, and he cried, saying,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went
before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace. But he cried
so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. We must
see here, and this is why I went here, we must be persistent. Blind Bartimaeus here yelled
out the exact right thing. He yelled out, Jesus, thou son
of David, have mercy on me. That is our cry. That's what
we must say to him. But if when everybody told him
to shut up, if he had been quiet, it wasn't enough. He did not
get an answer on his first try. We must be persistent. We must
never stop hollering, yelling, begging, pleading, praying to
our God saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And when we do this, this is
what happens, verse 40, and Jesus stood. he stopped, he heard him,
he listened, and commanded him to be brought unto him. And when
he was come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I
should do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may
receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive
thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. And what happens when the
Lord gives us sight? And immediately he received his
sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when
they saw it, gave praise unto God. When we see Him, when He
shows us who He is, there's nothing to do but follow Him. When the
Lord shows Himself, there's not a person in history ever that
has seen the Lord and not immediately just, I gotta follow Him. He's
everything, I've got to be with Him. All right, and let's go
to the last one. In Acts chapter eight, Look at verse 26. And the angel of the Lord spake
unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south, unto the
way that goeth down, from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And
he arose, and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of
great authority, under Candace queen of Ethiopians, who had
the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for
to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot, reading
Isaiah the prophet." This man was sitting there reading the
passage that we heard in our scripture. And the spirit said
unto Philip, go near and join thyself to the chariot. And Philip
ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and
said unto him, understandest thou what thou readest? And he
said, how can I, except some man should guide me. And he desired
Philip that he would come up and sit with him. Any opportunity
we have to help someone see the Lord Jesus Christ, we must run
to it. And probably more importantly
than that, when someone offers to show us Christ, we must run
to the opportunity to listen. We must hear. And the Lord will
definitely bless it. In verse 32, the place of the
scripture which he read was this, and I won't go through that.
But then in verse 34, the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray
thee, of whom speakest the prophet this? Of himself or of someone
else? Then Philip opened his mouth and began to the same scripture
and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came into a certain water, and the eunuch said, See, here
is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ will bless
his word. In Habakkuk it says, and the
Lord answered me and said, write the vision and make it plain
upon tables that he may run that readeth it. The Lord makes his
word plain through those who preach it. And it's so plain
that when the child of God hears it, They just run to Him. They
must run to Him. And I'm sorry I did this a second
ago. I realized I said that's the last one. It was not. Luke
15, the best one, my favorite one, and you'll see in a second
why this is last. I love this story, but looking
at it this way, it's so wonderful. Luke 15, verse 11. And this is a parable the Lord
gave, and he said, A certain man had two sons, and the younger
of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods
that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his
living. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
This story of the prodigal son is a wonderful example of us.
We see this young man went to his father and said, give me
everything that's mine. I'm leaving. I don't want to be here anymore.
And as he went through trials and tribulations and things that
happened to him, he came to the place where he thought that I
just wish I could have anything. There was no food. He had nothing.
And he looked at the pigs and envied them that they had something
to eat. And in verse 17, he said, And when he came to himself,
he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough
and to spare, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to
my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against
heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy
son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. This is a great example of our
lives. Our path, our desires, the way we go, takes us absolutely
nowhere. We ultimately just go in a circle
and we end up where we started. This young man took everything
from his father that he would give him, ran off, wasted it,
and came back and ended up empty-handed back at home. and that's who
we are, that's our lives. We just, no matter when our lives
end, no matter how long we have on this earth, it's gonna be
the same thing. We're gonna end up at the same place with nothing
to show for it, and nothing but our sins, and everybody looking
at us thinking, look how awful they are. That's all we'll have.
And yet, I wanna make this point, and this is kind of aside to
this, but children, listen to me real quick, all right? I promise
that there will be a time in your life where you have done
something that you think is awful. You will do something that you
think there is no way that I can tell my parents this. There's
no way that I can express to them the mistakes I've made.
I've been there personally. Maybe you've run away, maybe
you've been angry, you left. But children, no matter what
you've done, no matter what you've said, no matter how long it's
been, it is never too late to go home. And may the Lord give
us as parents the wisdom to treat our children in the way that
the Lord has treated us. It is never too late to go home.
And when we go home, this is what the response that we will
get. as a sinner after ruining everything
our father's given us. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
does for his children. Look in verse 20, and this young
man arose and he came to his father. Remember, he's going
to tell his father, he's coming home, and I've been here. When
you get to a place where you don't think that your family
will accept you anymore, you're not sure that they'll ever call
you son or daughter again. And you actually aren't even
sure if they'll let you work for them, if you can be a servant.
Yet in this moment, he arose and came to his father, but when
he was yet a great way off, he hadn't quite made it yet, he
probably couldn't draw himself to make the last few steps, his
father saw him, he had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck
and kissed him. His Father ran to Him. The Lord Jesus Christ comes to
us where we are. We think we've had a great journey.
We think we've gone a long way, but we're in the exact same place
we are when we started. And He is the one who runs to
us. That's why I love it so much.
We've talked so much about how we need to run to Him, and we
do. We need to look at the Lord, worship Him, and go to see, go
to, we just wanna go to Him. But we can't, the Lord must come
to us. And look at this in verse 20,
not only does he come out to get him, but he has compassion
on him, genuine love and compassion for his son. He ran, fell on
his neck and kissed him. In verse 21, and the son said
unto him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and in thy sight
and am no more worthy to be called thy son. The son is begging,
I can't be your son anymore. And he's going to ask, please
just let me be your servant. Just let me abide with you. And
instead the father interrupts him. The father interrupts in
verse 22 and he said to his servants, bring forth the best robe. You
take my robe of righteousness and you put it on my child. And
then he said, You take and you put a ring on his hand. You take
the signet that says, I'm king and you are my heir. You are
my child. You have everything that I have.
All that's mine is thine. And put shoes on his feet and
bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and
let us be merry. For this my son was dead and
is alive again, he was lost and is found, and they began to be
merry. In Romans 9 it says, so then
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ has done
all these things, and they're gonna have a feast. And this
is what glory is. In this feast, I promise the
main thought that was going through everybody's mind is the same
way that it happens in glory. Nobody is looking at that child
who's come home, that awful child who's just got nothing to show
for anything. Everyone's looking at our Lord
saying how merciful He is that He did not punish that child. They look at him and say, how
glorious and gracious is he that he gave him his robe of righteousness. How generous is our God that
he gives to his children everything that he has, all of it. And yet
we're all gonna sit here and we're gonna look at him and give
him the glory for how great he is. That's what glory is. All of us sitting around, looking
at him, praising his name and thinking, How in the world, why
in the world would he do this for us? Praise our God. Look at him, he's amazing. We
owe everything to him and that's all we'll do there. And let me
finally read in our text in closing. Here it says, wherefore seeing
we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin which just so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that's set
before us, looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ, 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 on the right hand of the throne of God. And Lord willing,
one day we can sit with him and worship him for all of time.