That's a beautiful song. That's
a wonderful song. Go with me now, if you would,
to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. We sing a song here that says,
someday the silver cord will break, and I no more as now shall
sing, but oh the joy when I shall wake within the palace of the
king. Someday my earthly house will
fall, I cannot tell how soon it will be, but this I know,
my all in all, has now a place in heaven for me. Someday, till
then, I'll watch and wait, my lamp all trimmed and burning
bright, that when my Savior opens the gate, my soul to Him may
take its flight, and I shall see Him face to face. and tell
the story saved by grace. That song was written by our
sister Fannie Crosby. And in that song, she was saying
the same thing that Hebrews 12 verses one and two are saying.
Hebrews 12 verse one 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 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. I have titled this message. Keep
going and keep looking, keep going and keep looking. That's what I need to hear. Keep
going and keep looking. That's it. That's it. The writer of the book of Hebrews,
who it doesn't say who the writer is. Most people believe it's
the apostle Paul, but the writer of this book is comparing this
life to a race. And what an accurate comparison
that is. This is a race. This is a race. We're running through a race.
We feel like it's a race against time. But we're running through a race. You ever feel like you're running
in a race? It's not one that we feel we're
winning. I feel like I'm struggling to
keep up. If you want to know where I am at this moment in
time, this is what I feel in my heart. I feel, had a brother
call me today and say, what's going on? And I told him I got
about 300 irons in the fire. I feel like I am struggling to
keep up. I feel like that guy who is lagging
behind, struggling to keep up. I'm serious. I'm serious. And I'm just talking about this
race of life. I'm just talking about trying to make it through
life and, and trying to be everything
that I need to be. And we're all doing that. Just
trying to be everything that we need to be and want to be
and desire to be. He said in verse one, this is
a race, but he said, keep running, keep running. You know, we start thinking,
everything starts piling up and we think, how am I going to do
this? How am I going to get through this? Keep running. Just keep
running. He said, the prize has already
been won. All right, this is a race and
the prize has already been won. The cross has already been endured. The shame has already been despised. The rest and the peace has already
been entered into. Let me say that last one again. The rest and the peace has already
been entered into. Just keep running. Just keep going. The end of verse
one, he said, let us run with patience. Let us run, let's run with patience. Patience means cheerful endurance. If somebody has patience, they're
not just griping and complaining and fed up and this, they have
patience. They have cheerful endurance.
It's what patience is. The word means steadfast waiting. The word means not swerving,
from the deliberate purpose. Patience. This life is chaotic. It is chaotic. It feels so crazy.
This life feels so crazy. We are here. We are there. We're trying to keep up. That's
what we're doing, just trying to keep up. But we have a deliberate
purpose. We have a deliberate purpose. We have a goal. We have a price
and we need to run this race looking unto Him. Our goal, our
prize. We need to run this race looking
unto Him. We need to stay the deliberate
course looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ. We just need to
keep going through this life, looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, who is the author and finisher of our faith, the one
who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. To
know that our Lord has saved us, washed us, covered us, redeemed
us, it's done. To know that, that's what'll
help us keep going. He said, just keep going. Now,
for the sake of life, my life, your life, for the sake of life,
I wanna tell us two things tonight, all right? Keep going and keep
looking. Keep going and keep looking.
Just keep running in this race and keep looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ. How am I gonna do this? What
am I supposed to do? Keep going and keep looking. Keep looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And as we go and as we look, I want to give us three
things to look for as we go. If we go, it's going to be the
Lord moving us. If we keep going, it's going
to be the Lord drawing us. But as we go and
as we look, let's look for these three things. Okay. Number one,
turn with me, if you would, to Psalm 123. Psalm 123, verse 2 says, Behold,
as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters,
and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so
our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that He have mercy
upon us. In this life, this is so serious. This is just so serious. In this
life, before we look for anything, we need to look for mercy. We
need to look for mercy. Before we look for anything,
We need to look for mercy and it's only found in one place. There's only one place to find
it. I want people to know this so badly. I want people to know
this so, so badly. It's going to take the miracle
and the power of God revealing it to a man or a woman to cause
them to know it just like he revealed it to us and caused
us to know it. The only reason we know these
things is because he in mercy chose to reveal it to us. and
he's gonna have to choose to reveal it to anyone who knows
it, but I want people to know this so badly. Look to Christ for mercy. Religion has people so confused
because they're trying to figure out what component of me do I
need to look to to clinch the deal on this? Look to Christ
for mercy. Look to Christ for mercy. Go
through this life looking to Christ for mercy. People are caught up in the rat
race. People are so caught up in the
rat race, and I'm a people. But just humanity, the flesh,
men and women are so caught up trying to make it, trying to
survive, trying to get all that they can get. Not realizing that
they're missing out on the one thing needful, Christ. Christ. We don't just need to
hear about the fact that He exists. That's not good enough. We don't just need to hear some
assumptions about Him and some opinions about Him. That's not
good enough. We need him. We need him. We need mercy from
God. We need mercy from God. We need
forgiveness for our sins. And it's only found in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need him. We need him. We
need to look to him and we need to keep looking to him. Look
to Him and Him alone. I had a conversation with a man
here in town a few days ago, and he told me exactly what he
believed salvation was. And he went on this long spiel
listing all of these things that he believed salvation was. And
not one time did he say the name Jesus Christ. Not one time. I want men and women to know
this so badly. It's something that everybody
just hearing this, it'll just roll through the ears. It's something
people think, well, yeah, of course. Yeah. No, no, no. Look
to Christ for mercy. Look to Christ for mercy. Salvation
is not in looking to yourself. It's not in looking to your faith.
It's not in looking to your repentance. It's not in looking to your sincerity. It's not in looking to your anything. Salvation is in looking to Christ. It's in looking to His faith.
It's in looking to His work. It's in looking to His everything.
Turn with me over to Isaiah 45. Oh that men and women would run
this race looking to Christ for mercy. Isaiah 45 verse 20 says, Assemble yourselves and come,
draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They
have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image
and pray unto a God that cannot save. You get that in your mind
of somebody praying to a wood carving that they have carved
out, and you think, how foolish. You ought to know that God can't
save. That's exactly what men and women are doing today. They've
carved one in their mind. And they're praying to gods that
cannot save. Verse 21 says, tell ye and bring
them near. Let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I the Lord, and there
is no God else beside me, a just God and a savior? There is none
beside me." Verse 22, he said, look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I'm God and there's none else. If I could tell everybody one
thing, one thing, it would be run your race of life looking
to nothing for salvation, but Jesus Christ alone. Don't look
to yourself for any part of your salvation at all, at all. Look to Him to by Himself do
everything that needs to be done for you to be saved. Let's run
this race looking to Him, number one, for His salvation. Number
two, turn with me to Psalm 5. Psalm 5, verse 1 says, Give ear to my words, O Lord,
consider my meditation, hearken unto the voice of my cry, my
King and my God, for unto Thee will I pray. My voice shalt Thou
hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning I will direct
my prayer unto Thee, and we'll look up. As we run this race
and finish the course of our race, let's look to the Lord
Jesus Christ for our daily help. We need it. I need it so badly. David said, first thing in the
morning, every morning, I'll direct my prayer to thee and
I will look up. If I would do that, it would
help me immensely. Immensely. When we think about
eternal salvation, it's obvious to God's people that they have
to look to Christ. They know that. They know that
they can't look to themselves for anything. There's nothing
in them to save them. But even though God's people know that
concerning eternal things, we forget every single day to look
to him for these daily needs. These daily helps, all of these
overwhelming things that are so overwhelming. They're so overwhelming. And we just stand there being
overwhelmed until His Spirit in mercy whispers to us again,
look to Christ. Oh, yeah. Thank you. tossed to and fro, staggered
like a drunken man at their wits end, look to Christ, then he
delivers them out. As the troubles come to us day
by day, if I could say one thing to myself and to all of God's
people, it would be look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is all. Eternally, daily, daily, just
look to Him. That's what Hebrews 12 means
when it says, let us run with patience. It's chaotic no matter
what. It's chaotic no matter what.
The patience part is the calm in the eye of the storm of looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. looking to Him for all of His
help, all of these daily needs that we have. Oh, what peace
we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. So let's keep
going. Lord, keep me going. Don't let
me fall away. Let's keep going, looking to
Christ for His salvation and for His daily help. The last
one. Turn with me to Titus 2. Titus chapter 2. Titus 2 verse 13 says, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. Let's finish this race by God's
grace. If we finish, it will be by God's
grace. It'll be by His doing. But if He does it, let's finish
this race looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for His return. As we go through these overwhelming
days and you think, you know, what's the end of this? Well,
He may return before the end of this. At any given moment, at any given
moment, there is going to be a glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And at that point, nothing else
is gonna matter. Nothing else is going to matter. As we go through our overwhelming
days, day by day, enduring all the obstacles of this race, let's
go through it every single day, looking and waiting for His return. Don't forget about His return.
Gabe, don't forget he's coming back. He's coming right back.
He'll either come get me or come get all of us, but he's coming. Think about it. Rejoice in it,
hope in it, wait on it. Wait on, verse 14 says, the one
who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works.
He's coming back. He's coming back. And we need
to believe it and be encouraged by it and be ready for it. We
need to look for His salvation, His daily help, and His return. As we run, as we run, as we finish
this course, the Apostle Paul said, all these things the Holy
Spirit has witnessed to me, trials, bonds, afflictions, imprisonment,
beatings, stonings, everywhere I go, he said, none of these
things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself that
I might finish my course with joy. He's caused me to see His salvation,
His daily, His grace is sufficient through all of these things.
And He's coming right back to get me. Let's look for these
things. I'll just close. Let me just
read this to you. Hebrews 9 says, Hebrews 9 verse
28 says, So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. For every soul that's looking
to him, look to Christ, look to Christ, look to Christ for
everything, everything. That's how we will be able to
run this race with patience, cheerful endurance, Steadfast
waiting, not swerving from our deliberate purpose, only looking
to Christ. And in closing, go with me back
to the text, it's Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12, verse 1 says, Wherefore seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight, all of these weights and burdens that
we constantly carry around with us. And they pile up this, this
building is a real good example and illustration of it. There's
so many things that need to be done. And they stay with you
until they're done. They just weigh on you. And you
got that one, and this one, and this one, and this one, and this
one, and this one. This one can't be done until
this one's done, but this one can't be done until this one's
done. And these weights and these burdens and everything were,
he said, lay it all aside. Completely lay it all aside.
Let it roll off. He said, and the sin which doth
so easily beset us, lay it aside, let it roll away. How do we do
that? Looking to Christ, looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Every sin we need remedied, every
problem we need solved, every question we need answered, every
step and decision that we need directed. The end of verse one
says, 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. That means look to him and take
comfort in him over all of these things because he's the sovereign. That's how you can let it all
roll off. These things, that's how you can just let that burden
roll away. This is the one who has sat down at the right hand
of the throne of God. This is the king on the throne.
Look to him, just look to him. All right, let's all stand together.