This message here is called Looking
Unto Jesus. Oftentimes, we gospel preachers,
we tell our hearers, just look to Christ. Look to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. So today we're gonna look at
a verse, two verses, in Hebrews chapter 12. I'm just gonna read
them and then we're going to the message. Hebrews chapter
12, verses one and two. And throughout the book of Hebrews,
there's a twofold theme that's recorded for our learning. First
and foremost is the superiority and excellency of the Lord Jesus
Christ above all things. And we see this phrase repeated
in this book, Christ is better. And he must always have the preeminence,
which Paul wrote in Colossians chapter 1 verse 18. And then
the second theme is the warning of perseverance in the faith,
which is found in Hebrews 3 verses 12 to 14 and 10 verses 35 to
39. There's absolutely no reason
for a believer not to continue in the faith of God's elect. We must not quit, and we must
never give up, and we must never let go. But the wonderful thing
is, Christ will never let us go. He will never let us go. Look at this in Hebrews chapter
12, verses 1 and 2. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassionate 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 the 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." Look at these marvelous words right here. Looking unto
Jesus, the author, that's the beginning, and the finisher,
that's the ending. And beloved, we know that he's
everything in between too, isn't he? He's the A to Z of our salvation. Actually in the Greek, the alpha
and the omega, which is the beginning of the Greek alphabet and the
end of the Greek alphabet, he's called the alpha and omega. Oh
my, it's wonderful. So in Hebrews chapter 11, In verse 13, it says, with these
four words, all died in faith. In the face of danger, death,
hardship, temptations, and heresies, God's people through the ages
have preserved, have preserved in the faith. They ran the race
that set before them. And Paul tells us in this exhortation,
let us run the race set before us. Now, the Lord gives unto
us the most excellent instructions how our believers are to do this
in verse 2. Look at, not verse, or in verse
1, in verse 1, Hebrews 12, verse 1. We need to keep looking to Christ,
who we have forgiveness in. We know we're sinners. We know
we're going to continue to sin. Right? And we know that we're
easily beset by sin, but we're not to let it weigh us down,
beloved. We're not to let us, we're to cast it aside and find
our forgiveness in Christ, looking unto him who is the author and
the finisher of our faith. Oh my. And when it says there,
lay aside every weight in the sin that doth easily beset us,
this could be many things. But the main thought is unbelief. Unbelief plagues the believer.
Doesn't plague the unbeliever, they're already unbelieving.
But the believer, we are beset by unbelief. And it can become
a hindrance to us in our race, which is just our life. just
our life. This is an exhortation for us
to look to Christ. We've looked to Christ for salvation,
which is look and live in Isaiah, but now the believer is to continuously
look to Christ. We're not to stop looking to
Christ once we're saved, once we're born again. We live our
life looking to Him, resting in Him, reposing in Him, trusting
in Him. Oh my. But we are beset by sin,
aren't we? And we see in verse 1 that we're
to run this race with patience. Look at this. Wherefore, seeing
we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight in the sin which does so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set
before us. Oh, think of this though. We
do not run to be justified, right? We're already justified in Christ
before God. The scripture says, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. We do not run this race to be
forgiven. All our sins are already forgiven,
washed clean in the precious blood of Christ. We do not run
this race to be sanctified. We're already sanctified in Christ,
right? This is just living our lives,
beloved, in this world, looking to Christ, looking to the one
who saved us. And what are we to do? Galatians,
Paul gives wonderful instruction by inspiration of the Holy Spirit
of God for what God's people are to do. It says this, stand
fast. Galatians 5, stand fast. In what? Therefore, in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free. And be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. Beloved, we're not to be entangled
again with the yoke of religious bondage. Do this, do that. Do this, do that. We don't have
to. We are forgiven fully in Christ,
in him alone. It's wonderful. So we rest and
run this race of our life looking to Christ. Paul said this, behold,
I say unto you, if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Remember when we studied the book of Galatians, Paul's dealing
with the Judaizers. And these Judaizers have come
into the Galatian churches and they've said, you must be circumcised
and believe on Christ to be saved. So basically you can put anything
in there with that. When someone says you have to
be baptized and have faith in Christ to be saved, that's a
false gospel. Anytime someone says you have
to do something and believe on Christ to be saved, it's a false
gospel. Because salvation's in Christ
alone. Remember in Hebrews chapter 12,
verse two, he's the author and the finisher. the beginning and
the ending of our salvation. It's wonderful. So Paul says,
behold, I say to the Galatian churches, I say, if you be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. So if you do this work that these
Judaizers are saying, Christ won't, he means nothing to you
then. If you're doing that and supposedly
having faith in Christ, it means nothing. For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised that he's a debtor to the whole
law. Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whosoever you
are justified by the law, you're fallen from grace. If you're
trying to justify yourself by something you do, you're doomed. You're doomed. Oh my. For we through the Spirit
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. We look to Christ who
is our righteousness by faith, by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availed anything. No uncircumcision. So he's telling
them, and remember the context, the Gentiles, the Galatian church
is a bunch of Gentiles, and these Judaizers have come in and said,
you have to be circumcised and have faith in Christ in order
to be saved. Well, number one, their customs aren't to be circumcised,
they're Gentiles. And Paul just says to them, whether
you're uncircumcised or circumcised, it don't matter. You're lost. if you're trusting in anything
you do to be saved. Oh my, for in Jesus Christ neither
circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith
which worketh by love. And that's that love of God spread
abroad in our hearts. You did run well. Who did hinder
you that you should not obey the truth? So Galatians 5 verse
1 is a pinnacle verse in the book of Galatians. Stand fast,
therefore, in the liberty, in the Greek, that's freedom, wherewith
Christ hath made us free. And be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage. Don't be entangled with religious
works. I don't care what religion out
there. tells you you have to do something
to be saved. It's all false religion. There's
only one way to God. And I know people say, well,
that's narrow-minded. But God himself in the flesh
said that he was the way, the truth, and the life, that no
man cometh unto the Father but by him. And then in verse two,
we see that we are to run looking unto Jesus, the out there and
finisher of our faith. This reminds me of Philippians
chapter four, 19, where it says, God shall supply all your need
according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Now, of course,
that's not financial. People take that and say, well,
see, God will give me whatever I want financially. No, this
is talking about spiritual blessings. All spiritual blessings are in
Christ. And He is the Alpha and the Omega of our salvation. He's
the Beginner and the Finisher. He's the Author and the Finisher.
And verse 2 brings that forth in Hebrews chapter 12. Salvation
starts with Christ in eternity. God's people are chosen by the
Father in Christ from eternity. and it ends in Christ in final
glory. We will be with him forever in
glory, the one who's redeemed us by his precious, precious
blood. Oh my, an eternal life was obtained
by Christ for his people at Calvary's cross by the shedding of his
precious, precious blood. And we're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God and given faith to believe. And we trust Him. Listen to this. But thanks be
to God, which giveth us a victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the Alpha, the Beginning, and the End, the Omega of our
salvation, and everything in between. And we must look away
from all that would distract us and look to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Many things in this world will
distract us. Where are we to look to be saved?
We're to look to the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of our
souls. We don't look to him with the
natural eye, but with the eye of faith. So rejoice, beloved
of God. Christ is the author and finisher
of our faith. He is Jesus, our Savior, who
was appointed and sent by the Father to be our redeemer, our
ransom, our mediator. He came to save his people from
their sins. He's the author of our faith. Faith is not naturally in us,
oh no, but by God's grace and spirit, we're born again and
given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to the saving
of our souls. Christ alone is the object of
our faith. He's the alpha or the beginning,
and He's the finisher of our faith, the omega, the one who
brings it to maturity. Oh, and He gives that. He gives
us that faith. And lastly, marvel in this verse
that we see Christ, for the joy of redeeming His people, endured
the cross. He did it joyfully. He went to the cross joyfully.
He shed His blood joyfully to redeem His people. And the proof
of his success is that he's ascended unto the Father. Oh my, praise
be to God. Amen and amen.