Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to the epistle to Hebrews and chapter 12. We read for our text the first three verses, but it is specifically the words in the first verse, so great a cloud of witnesses.

For Hebrews chapter 12, I read from verse 1. 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. 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. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sin as against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." Hebrews 12, verses 1, 2, and 3. and specifically the words, so great a cloud of witnesses.

What a strength it is to be amongst those who have known the same things as we have known. They are witnesses of the same things that we have experienced. To be amongst the Lord's people and to have that which does strengthen our own faith by knowing that there are those that are not strangers to these things. We are not alone in the way at all.

Remember with John Bunyan in his Pilgrim's Progress, especially when he was going through the valley of the shadow of death and how that he felt so alone and so fearful. And yet when he heard the voice of another, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me, he was strengthened and encouraged that another was walking through that path. And many a child of God has found in the word of God, and with those that are described in the word of God, that they are walking the same path as those who have walked of old.

And so, here in our text, it's speaking of not just one or two, but a great cloud of witnesses. And this is God's design for His people, that there should be such a cloud of witnesses, and it should be for the help and the strength and encouragement of His people.

So I want to look this evening, firstly, at what is a witness? What is a witness? And then secondly, who are these witnesses and what did they or do they witness? And specifically, the answer to that is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The whole of the scriptures are pointing that way. All professions of faith is upon what people believe concerning Jesus of Nazareth. And then lastly, the effect that these witnesses should have upon us. That is why we've read all of these three verses, because if we think of the words, upon our spirit, so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. And it goes on with a whole list of those things that flow out from us having that cloud of witnesses.

So, first of all, we want to consider what is a witness? How do we describe what a witness actually is? Well, looking up dictionaries, but thinking also in a scriptural sense, we can perhaps look at it under three ways. The first one is a person who sees an event take place. You might remember, as we read, that in what Peter spoke of in Cornelius' house, in his sermon, several times he is rehearsing that they were witnesses of the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the courts of this land, we have those that are called to be a witness. Those witnesses, they are the judge, they aren't the council, they aren't to decide even what they are witnessing, how it is to be used in that court, all they are to testify is what they actually have seen. And sometimes it is very specific that something has to be.

Remember years ago we came home and there was a smell of paint in the air and the opposite to us there was a substation and there's these youngsters with a bag and they'd obviously been spraying graffiti and we called after them they grabbed their bag and they ran away and we knew where they come from we knew their house we called the police and the police they said did you see them painting they said well they had a bag they had a spray can in their hand and the air was just full of this smell no they said did you see their finger on the trigger and the spray go from that paint can onto the wall?" We said, no we couldn't, it was dark, there was nothing we could do.

Your witness is not valid because you didn't see what is needed to stand up in the court of law. So it's not things, if it is to be of any use at all. And we think of that in the things of God. Very important that we are not just a witness, but what things are we witnesses of? And those that are in the Scriptures, what are they declaring they were witnesses of?

And of course we know that the Holy Scriptures, the inspired Word of God, will give to us the exact witness and what they saw is exactly what we need. It won't be like the priests who say, no, this is not enough, because we know that God has given to the people of God that which is enough to be a true witness and to be useful in the salvation of souls.

The second way we could look is that there's a person who professes their religious faith through works and or actions. Everyone that comes before a church that testifies of what God has done for them, everyone then that follows through with baptism and with a public profession, they are bearing witness, a public witness of what their faith is, where their faith is, whose they are, whom they serve, and with what people they associate with.

And so it's not just we could be, you might say, a witness of something, but unless that is told to others, unless it is made known and open, that witness really is not very good. Sometimes on the road you might see a sign There was an accident on such and such a time. We are calling for witnesses. Well, there may have been witnesses, there may be many, but they may have chosen just to be silent and to not actually share what they saw.

And in that way, their witness, though they have seen things, it's a benefit and a help to none others. They just keep it to themselves. And may, if we have been witnesses in a spiritual way, if we've been blessed, if we've been favoured in the things of God, that we be not like those who think well we just keep to ourselves what we witnessed and what we've known and we are not going to tell and we're not going to share it with any other.

Of course it is not just a witness as what is told but is actually lived in the lives as well. But then thirdly it is a person who has knowledge of the work of God through observation or experience, or revelation. We think of when they heard in Jerusalem that those at Antioch had believed, received the word of God, they sent Barnabas, and when Barnabas had seen the grace of God, he was glad. He was there sent to Antioch as a witness. He had seen the effect of God's grace. It affected him and he was able to relay that back to Jerusalem.

We think of our own personal experience. We are witnesses to the truth of God's word. We are witness to the reality of eternal things when we experience those things. That sin doesn't mean just something that is described in the Word of God, but it's actually felt in our own heart and experienced. So we are witnesses then to the truth of God's Word. We know by what we've felt the truth of it.

We think of the angels, that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents more than over 99 just persons which had no need of repentance. The angels desire to look into these things. They are witnesses, they are in the Church of God. This is why the women are commanded to have a head covering, because of the angels. The angels in the Garden of Eden, they saw Eve when Satan came and tempted her, instead of Eve saying, Satan, Adam is my head, you go and you deal with him, she took upon herself as virtually taking over the headship to deal with Satan, and so sin entered into the world, and death by sin. But in Corinthians we have set forth the order, there is God, there is man, there is the woman, there's God, there's Christ, there's man, there's the woman, their headship order, and it is shown as a sign, voluntary sign, the covering of the head of the woman, and the angels, as much as they look in the Garden of Eden, they look upon the assemblies of the sons, and they see that simple sign of the order of God, and the headship of the man, the headship really of Christ as well. And we should be mindful of that.

Are they not ministering spirits sent to minister to them which are heirs of salvation?

Also, we have, of course, God's people that are witnesses because they actually see. We can see things but not realize what we are seeing. By the most part, the world, they see the wonders of creation. that is specialized in animals, and they may be able to describe the wonderful animal world, and yet they can't see God in it. They can't or won't see it. We get medical professionals that we've had describe the wonderful ways that the brain works, but as soon as you suggest that this is God's work, then the blank comes down, they refuse to see it. But God's people, they see creation and they are able to be witnesses pointing, this is God's work. God is known by His judgments, He's known by what He has created. We wouldn't think of going out into a car park and there's a car we've never seen before and not think, well, where's the maker's badge? Who has made that? We automatically think someone has made it. And yet creation is all around us. that God's people are to declare what they have witnessed and seen.

And so it is in even natural things, in law, we may have people that see things but they don't understand the significance. They may not remember what they have seen, they may not be able to recall it, or think that it doesn't relate to what needs to be made known. That God's people are the ones whose eyes are open, we think of At the end of Psalm 107, who so is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. It is a blessed thing to be able to, while others are saying this was luck or chance and you say no it wasn't. We are witnesses in those things. So, in those three ways, what is a witness? Those that have observed things, those who have actually been witness to what has happened, those who are professing their religion, and those who have actually experienced or walked through things.

So then, secondly, who are these witnesses? And what did they, or what do they, witness? Well, I want to look in several ways. Firstly, the very context here, Chapter 12, of course, follows after Chapter 11. And in Chapter 11, we have a long line of witnesses. We have all of those that walked by faith, they died in faith, and they lived a life of faith, looking for the coming of the promised Messiah. They did not see him come. We read at the end of Esau, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise. They did not receive Christ as when Christ came, but they looked forward to him and they died in certain faith and assurance that their Saviour, their Redeemer would come, would shed His precious blood, and on that they were brought to heaven, on that they were saved.

And so, the first witnesses, we might say, are these Old Testament saints. We have a summary, in the midst of many instances of faith in that chapter, In verse 13 to 16, these all died in faith, not having received the promises or Christ's coming, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, for they that say such things declare plainly that they see a country. And it goes on, and truly if they had been mindful of that country, for whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, and heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.

And what a cloud of witnesses There are here recorded just in this chapter that go right through the Scriptures, those like Moses that chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. They're all testifying. We saw that which was greater than this poor world. We saw a hope beyond the grave. We saw a way of the deliverance from sin and from condemnation, and that was in God's promised seed coming. and upon this we lived and we died and this is why immediately after this we have the wherefore seen we also encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.

There is a cloud of witnesses encompassed as it were in their day and it's with us in the word of God but it also suggests that even in our day even in gospel times we also have witnesses that are around us as well. We are not without them, but of course we would begin with those Old Testament sayings.

The second one I mention are the prophets. When we read the portion in Acts 10, we have the Apostle highlighting this in verse 43. He says, to him, that is to the Lord Jesus Christ, give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him should receive remission of sins. All the prophets, every one, they are pointing unto Christ. We think especially of Isaiah. we think of how that is how the prophecies in Isaiah 53 are pointed to in the Gospels. In John chapter 12 and verse 41, we have this, these things said Isaias when he saw his And of course, that is going to Isaiah 53. And so, we have witnesses right through all of the prophets from the beginning of the world. They are witnessing to the reality of God's promises and to the expectancy of the Son of God coming to this world. Then we have the Apostles themselves. Again, we mentioned before how much Peter emphasised this in his sermon. He says in verse 39 of Acts 10, And we are witnesses of all things which he did, that is, Jesus of Nazareth, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses, chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.

And we have a long list that is given, and you read it at your leisure, as Paul begins the 15th chapter in his first epistle to the Corinthians, where he lists out those witnesses that were witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the apostles themselves, very much so, they were chosen of God to be witnesses of the Lord's life, of His death, of His resurrection. and God choosing them for that specific purpose, that they would not be silent, but tell what they had seen and tell what had been shown them.

So, the apostles. Then we have three witnesses which are in heaven. Now this is why we've read 1 John chapter 5. In 1 John chapter 5, And verse seven, we read, for there are three that bear record or witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Now, one of the charges that the Jews had against the Lord Jesus Christ was that thou bearest witness of thyself, therefore thy witness is not true. Our Lord testified that there is one that bear witness of him, which was his Father in heaven.

Now John, in his epistles and in his gospel, his whole emphasis is that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. That was the vital message, and this here again, And remember how John begins his gospel, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And so here, he doesn't say, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, he says the Word. So he's using the Word, the same as he did in the beginning of the gospel, emphasizing the Incarnate and the written word, one thing, the same, as it were a separate witness or reinforcing of the Trinity, one God and three persons. The Father is God, the Word is God, or the Son of God, and the Holy Ghost is God. These three are one. The great is the mystery of godliness, God, manifest in the flesh.

And so we have these witnesses, triune witness in heaven, God himself, greater witness we can't have than God himself of all the parts of salvation, everything that he has done is witnessed from heaven. But then John goes on even further and he puts the witness that is on earth as well, and that is in verse 8. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one. There are several variances of what they feel this to be, but I feel it more in this way, is that the Spirit's witness is where we read in Romans The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, though we are the children of God. And in one sense, the Spirit can be likened unto the gospel, because the gospel being sent forth is not just the word of man. Remember that when the Lord sent his apostles as true witnesses, he said to them, Tarry, in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." In other words, to be a witness, you need the Holy Spirit with you. It must be in demonstration of the Spirit and in power. So, the first, then, witness on earth is the Holy Spirit. I will pray the Father, He will give you another comforter. He shall receive of mine, He shall show it unto you. the Holy Spirit is that witness.

Then we have the water, the water of regeneration. That is where a sinner is sanctified and set apart. We think of what is then joined to that regeneration, a new life, a new birth. It is then signified by water baptism. Baptism, not changing the life, not putting away sin, but those who have experienced a renewal and a life, they show it forth by water baptism. And so, in that sense, the witness is the water.

Then we have the blood, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of God, Christ, God's own Son, from all sin. We think of the hymn 143, Let the water and the blood from thy riven side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and power. And so that again is reflected in the ordinances of God's house by the Lord's Supper.

In the house of God there are two ordinances given by the Lord, which are witnesses, open witnesses, baptism, and the Lord's Supper. You do show forth the Lord's death till he cometh. He's a witness to the whole congregation, he's a witness to the world. And so we have those three that are here.

Gil, John Gil actually, he thinks that the blood is referring to the blood of the martyrs. those that have laid down their lives for the Lord, but I can't feel that that is so. In one sense, they are witnesses, but I don't feel that it fits with the text here.

Then we have, further on, we have believers. Believers to the truth of the word, especially the Son of God, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. You think of the eunuch who had been reading in Isaiah, he couldn't tell whether the prophet was writing of himself or some other man, and so the Holy Spirit sent Philip that he should meet with that chariot. And he asked him, understandest thou what thou readest? He said, how can I except some man guide me, and he asked him to come up into the chariot, and Philip, he began at the same scripture, and he preached unto him Jesus.

The place for his reading in Isaiah 53, as a lamb before her, sheer as his dung, so he owed her not his mouth, his lead, as a sheep to, land to a slaughter. And the, Philip, he preached unto him Jesus, and When they came to water, he said, See, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? He must have obviously set forth before him baptism. And he said, If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest. And his testimony was, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. That was the testimony.

You think that Philip, because he'd made a mistake before with Simon Magnus, and Peter had found him out, He'd been baptized, but he wasn't truly saved. He thought he could purchase the gift of bestowing the Holy Spirit with money, and he said, Thy gifts perish with thee. Do you think that Philip would have perhaps put the eunuch through a third degree of questions as to what he really believed, but he didn't. He came down to the important part. You think of how this would weigh with the Jehovah's Witnesses, the very point that always I would speak the Jehovah's Witness on, nothing else. Who is Jesus of Nazareth? Because they do not believe that He is truly God. They believe He is created and sent by God, but not God. And there's no pointing going past in any other if that doctrine is not right. You think of John's, the next epistle, the second epistle of John, and he says in verse 9, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God's speed. For he that biddeth him God's speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

That is the Jehovah's Witnesses. way of salvation. Our Lord is very, very clear. There's only one way of salvation. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If you believe not that I am he, you shall perish in your sins.

And so a believer, then, they testify. They are witnesses of God's work in their own hearts. A changed life. the reality of sin, the power of God in their conversion, their faith in God, they are witnesses of it, and even when they don't speak, those like Barnabas that look on, and they see them, and I hope it is with us that we have those.

Now when I was meditating upon this Word, and I thought of how many that I've known here below, that I've walked in church fellowship with, that I've seen their faith. You've had those here that have been taken from you by the hand of death, but you've seen their life, you've seen their conversation. They have been witnesses to the reality of it. And I've often found it such a strength to think back on those that God has used in my life. They have been a cloud around me, And when the devil will say, well, it's all lies. It's just imagined. It's just cunningly devised fables. And then I'm led to think. I can think of those that have gone before me, those in my own family, those in the church. And I've seen their conversion. I've seen their life. I've seen their times of tragedy. of trial, I've seen when they're so low, I've seen when they've been blessed and they've been lifted up, I've seen when they've died, I've seen their death bed, and I've seen their triumph and their joy as they anticipate heaven.

And those are those witnesses in their lives that is such a strength and such an encouragement and to really see the effect, the word, of God. This is not just something that is theory, it's not just something that is doctrine, it's something that transforms people's lives. And then to be able to realise that we also are witnesses, that we also have known these things and walked in them and are witnesses to others as well. Each of those witnesses help others of the witnesses. This is why God will have us to gather together, not forsaking the assembly of yourselves together. But iron sharpeneth iron, so the countenance of a man is spread.

Never underestimate the value of that gathering together, the people of God, to see one another, hear one another, You think of how that would contrast to someone who's just sitting and looking at someone speaking on religion on YouTube, or even a YouTube whole sermon is as good as they may be blessed, those online. And it's wonderful that we do have that form and that way of spreading the gospel in that way. But in that way, we're not seeing other's lives. Those that are speaking to you, you don't know how they live, you don't know their family, you don't know their jobs, all you know is that little bit that they want you to see in front of the camera. Whereas when you come to the house of God and your minister is there preaching, you see him, you know his life, you know his family, you know whether he's consistent, whether he lives out what he preaches or whether he doesn't, and there is so much more power. and a worth and a blessing on that. That is what the Lord orders. And so whenever we can, meet together in the Lord's house, we should do.

Those who have not that ability, whether through illness or housebound, or not have a faithful church that is near them, then it is a great blessing to have the means of grace and have the word preached. But they are missing out on the fellowship part. They're missing out on seeing the people of God and having that conversation one with another and seeing what the grace of God does in changing lives. And there's so much that is learned by being together.

Of course, then we have as witnesses is the ministers of the gospel. Those of us that preach, it is said that the husbandman must first be partakers of the fruits. We have not just been to college and learnt about something, and then we just spout off what we've learnt. We've actually, ourselves, been converted. We have learnt the truth, not as schoolboys learn their task, but in the school of Christ.

We also are sinners, and we need the salvation as much as you, and we must give an account also of that which we preach, lest we have preached something that is not the gospel and lead the people of God astray. Our authority is not in us, but in the word of God. Preach the word, instant in season and out of season. A minister has no authority but to bring forth the word of God, not our own thoughts, not our own experience. Our experience, of course, is set forth in the experience of the truth. But we should never put the Word of God as it were subject to our experience or interpreted by our experience. It should be that our experience will say, yes, we are approved.

The Word of God says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And I feel that. I am a sinner. The heart is deceitful, above all things desperately wicked. I feel that, I know that. When we have Paul saying that the good I would, I do not, the evil that I would, not that I do, we say, I feel that. When we find that a war within our members, the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, we say we know it, we've felt it, we've been a witness of that conflict within. We know what sin is.

when we read that the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, and we've been blessed with that. We say, I know what that feels like, I know what the joy of the Lord is, how lovely, how wonderful that is, to walk in the light of the Lord's countenance. It is those things that are handled and tasted and felt, and then we are witnesses of them. We can be like the man that was born blind, one thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see. He's speaking of what he has actually experienced, a change in his own heart.

And so we have these witnesses, these witnesses that are shown us through the Word of God. And may it be a comfort, a help to us to realize that we have actually been in the presence of some of these witnesses, and maybe a further comfort to know that we ourselves are also a witness by what God has done for us and wrought in our own hearts, and that we then have the Spirit bearing witness that we are actually the people of God. Remember, John, in this epistle, in the chapter that we read, he says in verse 13, and it might sound strange really, he says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

So why write to them? that they might believe on the name of the Son of God, you just said they already do. But how many of us want to more firmly believe what we do believe? And when we come to the house of God, it is that our faith might be strengthened, and many times I've found it, you come to the house of God, sometimes I preach it, sometimes I've heard it preached, that something, you might say, I knew that. He told me nothing new. but it's strengthened my faith in that, and it's uppermost in my mind, and then I come to Monday, Tuesday, and that very point is assailed at work, or assailed on the street, and there it is, fresh in my mind, strengthened in that very, very point.

And the Lord knows what is in front of us. He knows what we need to be reinforced and strengthened. And so, part of this, which is of the witnesses, and the emphasis of the Son of God are written to those that, not that don't believe, but those that do believe on the name of the Son of God. And it is this twofold reason. One, that they might know that you have eternal life. And when we discern that we also are witnesses, we have something to witness. We have something to say. We have something that we've handled, tasted, and felt. that we might know that we have eternal life. Those things are wrought in us by the Holy Spirit. Those things also are witnessed by the people round about us.

And when we're able to discern it in others, I've often thought of this with Barnabas. He could not go and see the grace of God in another and be glad without himself having the grace of God. If you are glad and pleased, in seeing God's work in another, I can say that God's work is in your heart. Otherwise you wouldn't value what they've had, and you wouldn't rejoice in what they've had. But when you know that, which is so precious, you rejoice, and you recognize it when others have it as well.

Well, I want to look at our last point, our third point, and that is the effect that these witnesses should have upon us. We read the three verses for this purpose. So, the first verse reads, we're foreseen, we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us. And then there's a number of things that follow on with being compassed about with these witnesses.

The first is, let us lay aside every weight. Every way, those things that are hindrances, those things that would hold us back. Sometimes people have that which is in the past holding them back. Now the Apostle Paul, he could not forget what was in the past, that he was not worthy to be called an apostle because he persecuted the house of the people of God. But that didn't hold him back, it humbled him, it made him low, but he says in another place, forgetting those things that were behind and reaching forth unto that which is before, I pressed toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

If you have those things that pain your heart, past offences pain your eyes, those things that would hold you back, Don't let them, they are not there to hold you back, they are there to humble you, to lay you low, but your face is to be towards the Lord, and not to be humble. We can have these weights, these things that, like a runner that's running a race, we think how foolish it is if they're trying to carry all these extra weights, this extra clothing, it is all holding you back. And if there are those things, that hold us back in our walk with the Lord, walk with his people, hold us back, keep us from assurance or comfort, they are things that are to be laid aside.

Now notice, it's not to be dealt with, it's actually just laid aside. Now if you've got a pile of things on your desk to work with, and there's a very difficult thing, and you think, I must deal with this, you've got this great big pile, and you think this is gonna take ages, I can't hardly deal with this, but if you laid it aside, and then you dealt with all those other things, how much you'd get done, when you say, well, you haven't dealt with the other thing. No, but you just laid it aside, so you can deal with the other things, and that's the idea here. Let the Lord deal with it, just lay it aside.

And then the next thing is, and not only the brain, but laying aside the sin which just so easily beset us. How easy it is, when we have besetting recurring sins, to, as it were, try and concentrate on them. And there's so many self-help things that will try and deal with it. But the Scriptures are clear in this, if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

All the time we're concentrating on that sin to deal with it, It's fueling them, it's making it worse and worse. You know where there's, even if we were to get rid of everything, of those sins, that void must be replaced with something. And our Lord spoke of the one out of whom were cast a devil. And he comes back, he finds his house swept and garnished. He takes to himself seven other devils worse than himself. The latter end of that man is worse than the beginning.

You think of the children of Israel going into the promised land. The Lord said to them, you're not to take it all at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon you. You're to take it little by little. And as your tribes grow and you need more land, then you can fight and you get more land. that don't just take all of the land and you're so sparsely populated that the beasts of the field all increase.

And so with a Christian, it is to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord, and it will push out those sins. It'll take away the desire for them. It'll take your mind off thinking of them, and you'll be filled with the things of God.

mortifier through the Spirit, which is in this way set forth, is laying aside the sin which doth so easily beset us. And this is another thing that is a response to these witnesses that have gone before us. Sometimes we've seen these things actually walked out and done by the witnesses who've gone before us.

And then we have the running the race with patience. How vital it is that we run the race, how vital it is that we run it with patience, but also never forget these words, that is set before us, not before someone else, not before someone in the next seat. The Lord is appointing what tribulations are before us, What is in our path? When we think of the cloud of witnesses, you think of those in Hebrews 11. It's not a path the same. They all walked a different path, but the path that was set before them That is what they with patience walk through. You might think I'd be a lot better Christian if I was like that person, or if I had their lot, I'd get on a lot better. But with what I've got to cope with, my afflictions, my weaknesses, my relatives, my own infirmities, I've got no hope of being a Christian.

No, the Lord has set before each of his people that race that they are to run. are patient under that and seek for grace and help to run that race set before us.

Then we have looking unto Jesus, verse two. Looking unto Jesus, our sight set upon him. And he is set forth here as the author and finisher of our faith. The one who has given us faith to look unto him. Now, eyes upon him. We think of Daniel persecuted to be cast into the lion's den, and he opens his windows towards Jerusalem, 47 years before the temple had been destroyed. He's not just looking to that, he's looking to the antitype, he's looking to Christ. That's who he's looking to. These in the Hebrews 11, they're looking unto Christ. And that's where we are to look to.

Out of self, says the hymn writer, to Jesus lead. And then we are told, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. What a witness is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. What a witness. And we are to be looking to him.

And then in verse three, that we are to consider him. be able to think upon him. Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your mind. Not just his death at Calvary, not just his bloodshed, but his whole life's witness is to be a witness to us.

These witnesses are to have an effect upon us. And I hope it is with you. Trust it is with me, not only the witness of our Lord Jesus Christ, but those the Lord has given me in my life, in church fellowships, in my families. They are an abiding witness, encouragement, and a help to my soul. I bless God that ever he and his providence has brought my life along with their life, that our lives have crossed, our lives have gone parallel for a good while. and we've seen them. God's appointed it, that's not by chance.

And may you be helped and profited by looking at these witnesses, considering these witnesses. There's so great a cloud of witnesses, and bless God that he's given you such, and bless God as well, that you can recognize them, and that he by his grace has made you in your turn a witness to others.

The Lord add His blessing. Amen.