Look and live. A story in the
Old Testament. All the people bitten by fiery
serpents. Moses held up a brazen serpent. All who looked lived. That's
a picture of Christ, isn't it? Christ crucified. Look and live.
Hebrews 12. Hebrews is a summary of the whole
Bible. The Old and New Testaments. The
story of God's great salvation and His glory. Saving His people
by sending His Son. Starts out chapter 1. Who Christ
is. Why He came. What He did. Who
He did it for. Exodus 3. The first mention of the Hebrews
really. And you know the verse. I love it. I love to quote it.
It says, The Lord, I've said, I've heard it. Surely seeing
the affliction of my people that are in Egypt." And that's a picture
of all of God's people in this world in bondage and affliction. He said, I've heard their cry
by reason of their taskmaster. I know their sorrows and I am
come down. I'm coming down. And He did. His name is Jesus Christ. Coming
down to deliver them out. of the hand of the Egyptians.
Leave captivity captive. And bring them up into that land,
a good land, a large land flowing with milk and honey from the
dung heap. Sit among princes. Heavenly places. How blessed we are. He said that
he's the God of the Hebrews there in Exodus 3. God of the Hebrew. Hebrew, the name Hebrew, means
crossing over. God's people. We have here no
continuity. We're looking for another one.
That's what chapter 11, look at it. This chapter 12 is right
after chapter 11. Look at verse 13. It says, all
these people died in faith, not having received the promises,
but saw them afar off, that's by faith, and were persuaded
of them, embraced them, laid hold of them, confessed they
were strangers and pilgrims in the air. Now they that say such
things, do you say such things? Have you heard these blessed
promises? Have you laid hold of Christ? Have you embraced
Him? Have you confessed? Are you a
stranger and a pilgrim here? in the world, but not of it. You need deliverance from it.
Do you? They that say such things declare
that they seek a country. They're seeking a place. Seeking
a person. And if they'd been mindful of
where they came out, they would have had opportunity to return,
but their mind wasn't, oh, and Egypt is on the promised land. How about you? They desire a
better country. So God's not ashamed to be called
their God. God's people. Hebrews. Crossing
over. In chapter 11, look at verse
28. Gather yourselves now, you need,
this is a vital message. Okay? Pray with me right now. Because we're not wrestling with
flesh and blood. This is vital, these are words
of life, and you need to hear this today. Five times in Hebrews
3 and 4, today, today, if you'll hear his voice. While it's called
today, there may be no tomorrow. All right? Christ is coming.
For somebody, if not for all of us, we think, we have a tendency
to think, well, Brother Charles, he's old, you know, it's time.
It might be you. You don't know that. Today, let's
call it a day. Would you listen? Would you hear
my voice, just a man? But this is God's Word, okay? This is vital. It's not my sermon. This is God's Word. And this
is life or death. Okay? But Hebrews 11, verse 29. It says, by faith, they passed
through the Red Sea by dry land. Egyptians tried to get through
and they drowned. We were studying Exodus. You
remember that? They all passed over. They all passed over. Look at
chapter 12. Now here's where we begin. We're foreseeing We're encompassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every
weight, every hindrance, everything that bogs us down and drags us
down in this world. The sin which does so easily
beset us and threatens to ruin us. Let us run with patience
the race that's set before us. He talks about a cloud of witnesses.
Why is it called a cloud? Because our brethren are in heaven
now. They're above this now. They're
not tempted by this. They're not bothered with this.
Don't you long to be above the world of sin? That's all I'm
saying. They're above us. And a cloud is moisture. It's many drops of water, but
it makes up this great cloud, doesn't it? And there are many, a multitude. A vast multitude of believers.
People just like us. That's why I love Hebrews 11
so much. My pastor used to call it the
Hall of Faith. It gives stories of people just
like us. Abel. Abel. The Lord taught him
and his brother the truth. But his brother didn't believe,
but Abel did. And they had a falling out over the truth. Works of
grace. And it's still going on right now, isn't it? Huh? And you, if you believe the truth,
you're able. You know you come to God one
way, by the blood of Christ. And his brother hated him for
the truth. And Enoch walked with God 300
years. And it sounds like he had to
walk alone. Well, we do. Out in the world,
in the job, even many of you among your families. They don't
know the Lord, but you're walking with the Lord. You're not alone. When Enoch walked with God, one
day he... Don't you want to be like Enoch?
One day he said to his wife, goodbye honey, I'm going to work,
or wherever he was going, he just walked on into glory. Don't
you long for that? Noah was warned of God. What? I'm going to destroy this place.
I'm not happy with it. I don't love this whole world
and everybody in it. God said, I'm going to destroy
it. Repent of me. I've made man. He's nothing but evil continually. Noah heard that, and Noah for
100 years preached righteousness and condemned the world by doing
that. Preached God's righteousness. Preached Christ the only righteous.
Preached the ark, which the love of God is only in Christ. Outside
of Christ, God's a consuming fire, and Noah preached His neighbors,
everybody would hear him. God is holy. God is righteous.
God is going to destroy this place. God doesn't love every
single person. He's angry. Get in the ark. Get in the ark. A hundred years.
He never tired of that. And as he preached that, he said,
this world is going down, neighbors. What about you? And he moved
with fear and he had his family, had his sons, their wives, his
wife, In that hour, nothing else mattered. Is that you? Is that you? Abraham left his
father's house, left his idols to serve the living and true
God. Left his home, his family, and everybody. Called of God
to come out. What about you? We don't go into
heaven on the buddy system. It's not by blood, not by fleshly family. And on and on it goes. Moses
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. Esteeming
the reproach of Christ. Greater treasure in all the riches
of Egypt. Is that you? Is it? Great clap. People just like us. They know
better than us. They're all sinners saved by
grace. But God chose them. Revealed Himself to them. Revealed
to them this place is perishing. You're in it. You're not of it.
Follow me. Look to me. Come out. Come out
from among them, and I'll be you separate, and I'm your God. That's what this is all about.
Great cloud of witnesses. People just like us. Let us,
all of us, Paul, in Hebrews 6, you don't have to even leave
the book of Hebrews. It's a Bible in itself. Paul
said this, we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence
to the full assurance of hope all the way to the end. My hope, my prayer, my desire,
my prayer to God for you is that you be saved and your children. I pray for you daily. I don't want to preach your funeral
wondering whether or not you know Christ or not. It's the
most difficult thing on this earth to do. I'm telling you,
you haven't done it and you don't know how difficult that is. It's grievous. What can I say? Well, if you know Christ, I can preach your funeral with
confidence, with full assurance, with hope in the end. I believe
my brother and my sisters in glory. And I can rejoice, but
if not, it's a sad time indeed. It's over. It's over. I mean, it's all over. That's my hope and prayer for
every one of you. I begged the Lord just yesterday. The Lord said, Lord, save just
one person, one of our young people, just one, just one son
or daughter. And we will rejoice to high heaven,
wouldn't we? Just one. It will be a great
revival. Harvest is almost over. Great cloud of witnesses. Let
us lay aside every weight, every hindrance, every encumbrance.
He's using running a race as an illustration, that when you
run, you're running, you don't bog yourself down with heavy
encumbrances, things that bog you down, weigh you down, because
you've got one thing in mind, to reach the prize. And Paul said, I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. He's the prize. He's the object
of our faith. Looking unto Jesus. Let us run with, run, let's say
it. Let us run. As said, keep saying
today, today. Today, run. There's a passage,
two passages. One says, he that believeth shall
not make haste. There's another one, and I wrote
it down somewhere. I think it's Isaiah 49. I've
got it written down. It says, those that the children
of God will make haste. Meaning, I quoted it to you,
Song of Solomon. Draw us and we'll run to you.
If you hear from the Lord, you won't dilly-dally around. You'll run to Him. And this is
what frightens me so much is people, young and old, hear this
message and hear this message over and over again for all these
years. And not coming to Christ, that scares me. But after a while, the Lord says,
OK. You say, but isn't that the Lord? Yes, it is. Well, then
if He calls me, that's right. But if you don't come, you get
to blame. If you don't call, you get to blame. If you don't
know the Lord, it's because you're not calling on Him. Isn't that
right? He can't lie. Whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you're not
saved, you haven't called on Him. Call. Cry unto the Lord. Let us run. Let us. Us. Some of you are getting too old
You know, to run, but I'm telling you, you need to run anyway.
I mean, run to Christ. Flee the city of destruction.
Flee. That's what Paul told young Timothy.
Fight the good fight of faith. Flee youthful lust. Flee, follow,
fight. Pay aside every weight, the hindrances,
the sin that so easily beset us? What's that? Well, each person
in here particularly knows that there's something that you really
struggle with. Missing Christ ain't worth the
pleasures of sin, briefly. It's like Esau. Be done with
it. Flee usefulness. Flee. Covetousness. A man just yesterday said, where
are we going to stop wanting stuff? That's covetousness. That's a good question, isn't
it? Hmm? Don't we have enough stuff? Flee. And unbelief is certainly besetting
sin. Where does unbelief come from?
Listening to other people. Looking around. Looking to the
right. Looking to the left. Look, look. No, no. Looking unto Jesus. Don't look
to the right, don't look to the left. Don't listen to any other
boy. Listen right now. Listen to what you're hearing.
God's the only one that cannot lie. Man's a liar. And he's under the captivity
and dominion of the God of this world who's the father of lies. Looking, looking. Run with patience. The race of patience. This is
an endurance race. It's not to the swift. It's not
to the strong. Right? Who is it? The true and the faithful. Don't lay down. Read the article
by my pastor. Read it. article I wrote for
what it's worth. And it is worth something. I want you to sit down with your
sons and daughters. I want you to read that with
them. Do you desire to teach them? You know that our children
being taught, it's my responsibility. No one else's. My responsibility
here in the setting of the church. But the chief responsibility
of our children's teaching is you at home, parents. Yes. Not me. Deuteronomy 6, when it
talks about teaching, he's talking to parents. You teach them. You
sit down, you walk around. You teach them. Sit down with
them and take that article. This is a real man. This is a
real woman. This is what the Scriptures say.
You can preach a whole message on one of those to your children. Go down through there. Look up
those Scriptures. You know how long it took me to look up those
Scriptures? You know, this is vital. They
need to hear this. They've got such a wrong conception
of manhood and womanhood and happiness and life and things.
That's not what this life is all about. Strength and beauty
and possessions and all that ends. Believe me, I know. Right,
John? Earlene? Nancy? Ed and Jeanette? It's like a vapor in it. It's
over. And it passes that path. One
thing's needful. Let us run, run, run, run with
patience, patience. Oh, the trial of our faith, work
with patience. Trial. Experience and hope. Looking unto Jesus. Why does
he use the name Jesus? Because his name means Savior.
There's only one way you're going to be saved from drowning in
this world. Jesus, the Savior, the Lord Jesus. Looking unto Him. Look at verse
15. Looking diligently. You're not
looking to Him. You're not seeking the Lord. diligent about this thing, if
you come in on Sunday morning and then six days a week, you
rarely give him a thought. That's not right. No, this is
a daily walk, a daily calling on the Lord. This is a life.
Enoch walked with God. Noah walked with God. Moses walked
with God. Daily, daily. Verse 2 is a gospel
message all by itself, isn't it? Looking unto Jesus, a man,
the God-man, Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. What does that mean? That means
He came as a man sent by God to live as a man according to
the law. Let me tell you one more time, okay? I don't go weary
of telling you this, but this is the gospel. that God sent
Christ into the world to save His people from their sins and
from this world, and He sent Christ to do it. He's the only
Savior. He didn't come to try to do it. He finished it. But
He's the author of it. He's the firstborn among many
brethren that just shall live by His faith. And Christ came
down to live as a man, the second Adam, covenant head of a people,
to live by faith according to the law, And God was well pleased
with his life, well pleased for his righteousness. And God said,
I accept his righteousness to give it, to impute it to his
people, to charge it to their account. But Christ had to pay
for their sins. The soul that sinned shall surely
die. So God made his soul an offering of sin, laid on him
the iniquity of all of his people. And Christ bore those sins in
his body to Calvary on the tree, made a curse. Cursed is everyone
that hangs on a tree. And Christ died for the remission
of their sin. And they were put away completely
by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. And He hung on
that cross and said, it's finished. And any other so-called gospel
that says God's done all He can do, now it's up to you. Jesus
made an attempt or made an atonement and now you have to accept it.
That's a false gospel because Christ is the author and the
The finisher of faith. He had by Himself, and I can't
say it loud enough or strong enough, purged the sins of all
His people. I want to say, what's there up
for us to do? Look. That's it. Believe and live. My brother, live. That's the gospel. It's right
there in it. Endured the cross. The curse, despised the shame,
thought nothing of it. If Christ didn't bear our shame,
stripped naked, we're going to stand naked before God someday. All do right now, don't know
it. And right now he sat down at
the right hand of the majesty on high. This whole book of Hebrews
is about a high priest. Isn't it John? You know it. into
John, Joseph. You know, John, John, John, John,
Tom, Ron, you know what this book is all about. You've read
it. It's about a great high priest. Starts way back in the beginning
of Hebrew. A great high priest. The high
priest of old never sat down. There was no chair in that tabernacle.
Why? His work was never finished. And no Lamb or bullock or any
earthly material sacrifice will put away one cent, not one. But
Christ, when He came, made one offering for sin forever. And
after He did that, you know what He did? Sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on High. Work's finished. Ain't that good
news? Good news. That's the gospel
right there, verse 2. He's on the throne as a lamb.
God's people, you know what they're going to see on the throne? A
lamb, as it had been shunned. Okay, let's go on. Consider him
that endured such contradictions against himself, lest you be
wearied and faint in your mind. You have not yet resisted under
blood, striving against sin. Consider our Lord Jesus. And
in him was no sin, but he was accused of all manner of sin,
falsely. Why? Why did he come to do that?
He became our substitute. If we're accused of things, and
you know what? We're guilty of them. But then the great accuser of
the brethren, Satan, There's no condemnation of them in Christ
now. And though He accuses us, don't fall for it. Plead the
blood of Christ. If He says, you're a sinner,
He says, that's right. You say, you're guilty, you've
broken all the law. You say, that's right. Well, then what
possible hope can you have such a sinner and guilty of Christ?
Is that a good hope? It sure is. And He says, you
haven't resisted under blood striving against sin. I'll tell
you who did. Christ did. In the garden, remember, He sweat
drops of blood. The thought of being made sin. But you know what? We've got
brothers and sisters that shed their blood for the truth. Right
across the page there. It says they had trials, verse
36, of scourgings stone and sawn asunder and slain by the sword.
A lot of bloodshed. This generation is the most affluent, at ease,
comfortable generation of so-called believers ever in the history
of the world. And I don't know if that'll change
in our lifetime, but woe unto them that are at ease in Zion.
Shall we, our brothers sailed in bloody seas, shall we go there
in flowery beds of ease? There's a fight. You know, Paul,
I quoted it to you, he quit fighting. If you quit looking, you'll fall.
If you quit looking to Christ, you'll fall. He's the Savior.
If you keep looking to Him, you won't fall. If you quit looking,
you'll fall. If you quit fighting, you'll
fall. You'll fall to every temptation
and sin there is. If you quit laying hold and looking,
if you quit like Jacob, laying hold of Him, you'll fall like
a rock. Sin's like gravity. It'll just
jerk you down to the ground. That's how they start. Let's
be done with that. Look at him. Verse 5, and it goes on through
verse 11, talks about chastening. Oh my, do you need chastening?
Do you know the Word of God? God corrects us, His children. Scourges. Difficult. depending
on the child and how much they need it. And if you're like me,
some of you, you need gay, bless his heart, he said, you know,
he said, my dad, mom spanked me ten times a day. He must have
needed it. What about you? He says it yields a peaceable fruit
of righteousness. If you be without chastening,
you're a bastard. trials, troubles, tribulations. They're good for us. And God
chastens mostly by His Word. Does God's Word convict you?
David Edmonds and I were talking about being convicted of sin.
John 16, 8 through 11. When the Spirit comes, you're
convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Is that a one-time
thing? It's all your life. All our lives. He convicts us
by His Word. If the Word ever quits convicting
you, if your conscience ever quits bothering you over sin,
that's a dangerous place to be. Don't be without past feeling. Lord, you're chasing me. Trials, temptations, they wean
us. Cause us to look to Him. Show
us that this is the world troubling. Cause us
to look to Him. Ask Him to help us through this. Get through this. How many times
have you thought, I can't... You go through a trouble or a
trial and some of them are very grieving. And you think, I can't
take it anymore. Anybody? I can't take this anymore. Well, go back to chapter 11 and
read about your brothers and sisters, what they went through,
okay? Lest you be wearied and faint. We haven't resisted under
blood, striving against sin. Nobody's held a gun to our head.
Renounce Christ or die. They did. We haven't been through
anything like that, have we? So lest you be wearied and faint
in your mind. What have we really been through
compared to our brothers and sisters? Death happens. And there's
nothing we can do to stop it. But persecution and affliction.
Hmm. We got it too easy. We really
did. Consider. And it goes on chastening,
you know, scourging. Oh, how much the Scripture speaks
of that. And let me just read this to you from 1 Peter 4. 1
Peter 4, he said, the time has come, or before it, he said, if any
sufferer is a Christian, don't be ashamed, glorify God on his
behalf. The time has come, judgment must begin at the house of God.
And if it begin at us, what shall be the end of those that obey
not the gospel of God? If the righteous scarcely be
saved, what about the ungodly and sinners? The God's people, the righteous,
doesn't mean we're saved by the skin of our teeth. It means we're
going to go through a world of tribulation and trouble and trial.
Why? For the truth's sake. For the
gospel's sake. And that's the test of God's
true people. Oh, I believe in grace. This
person, I believe in God. You're in the world and love
being in the world and get along just fine with the world. Now
these people got along with the world, didn't they? The world
crucified them, killed them. And this is a fact. Talks about a great company of
believers, a great cloud of witnesses. Look down at verse 22. You'll come to Mount Zion, the
city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, a numeral company
of angels. Company. What's that? Companions. That's your companion. Who are
your companions? Who do you like being with? What do you like
doing? What do you like talking about? Is your conversation in heaven?
where Christ said that the right hand of God, or on earth. Who's
your companion? David said, I'm a companion of
them that fear thee. That's what he said. If not,
are you comfortable with people that hate God? Something real
bad wrong with that. Something real bad wrong with
that. Today, are you hearing my voice? Evil communication
corrupts good manners. They bring it down. They bring
it down. They drag you down with it. It's
the will. I know painfully by experience.
Lay aside. Be done with it. Be of good... Look at verse... Lift up the hands that hang down,
the feeble knees. That's not just your own, but
that's your brother and sister. Come on, brother. Come on, sister. I'm tired. I am too. About half
of you are retired. I can't. You understand that? And you can't retire from this
race. You can't. No, you can't. By the grace of
God, you can't quit now. Listen to Hebrews 3. It says,
Exhort one another daily. This might be tomorrow's verse
of Scripture. You've been anxiously waiting.
I'm going to send this to you. Exhort one another daily while
it's called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin. Hebrews 10. You know these verses. Let us consider one another.
Told fast, without wavering. He's faithful. Let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and unto good work, not forsaking
the assembly of ourselves together. For anything, for anyone, for
any reason. Those spies told Rahab, you stay
in that house. Didn't they? Rahab, you stay
in that house where the The token is, don't leave. If you leave,
your blood's on your own hands. If you stay in that house, it's
our life for yours. We're coming to get you. When? We're not going to tell you that.
We don't know whenever Joshua sends us. But don't you leave
for anybody, anybody. Family. Husband, wife, mother,
father, son or daughter. Don't do it. You lay hold of
that sure token and don't let go like your life depended on.
Hold on to the rope. It's your only hope. He's saying, Tosh, come on, we
can do this. Let's go down here. No. He's coming at a time when you
think not. That's right. It's not forsaking the sin of
ourselves, as the manner of some is. Paul said, I weep saying
that. Where are they? Exhorting one another. And so
much the more as you see the day approaching. Do you not see
the day approaching? Some of you do. You nod your
head. You see clearly. He's at the door. It's so soon. So soon. Christ is soon. This is
an urgent message. Every message I preach needs
to be more urgent than the previous one. Because now is our salvation
nearer than we first believed. And when you see all these things,
lift up your head. Your redemption is drawing nigh. In our text, and I'll close,
it talks about Look diligently, lest any man fail of the grace
of God, lest any root of bitterness..." You know, this world and people
and things make you bitter, don't they? You can get bitter at your
brethren. In many things, we all offend.
And we get bitter at one another and disappointed. I tell you,
everybody is going to disappoint you at some point in your life.
But your greatest disappointment should be yourself. Our Lord doesn't disappoint.
You know that? So that's, He's the one you need
to, you need to remember your brothers and sisters are just
sinners just like you. Lift up their hands and feeble
knees and strengthen them, but don't let a root of bitterness
spring up and trouble you. It'll infect everybody around
you. Believe. Let's exhort one another
so much more today. Lest there be a fornicator. This world is consumed with sex.
You do know that, don't you, young people? God judges fornicators. Yes, He will. For these things'
sake, come with the wrath of God on the children of this man.
Isn't that what it said? And this world is consumed with
it. Everywhere you look. This is
a filthy place and God's going to be done with it. You need
to be done with it. And you need to look to Him and
refuse this and lay hold to Him. God's about done with this place.
Esau sold his soul for a bowl of beans. What would men give
to exchange for their soul? A ten-point book, a six-pound
bass, tickets to Daytona 500, tickets to a Taylor Swift concert,
anything. Don't need to worship God. There's
always tomorrow. No, there's not. They'll forsake Christ for their
family, for their children, for their jobs, for money, for possessions,
everything. And everything is perishing.
One thing will never perish. Him. And those in Him. Urgent
message. It's urgent. He talks about, look down, I'll
close, I promise you. Right now, I'm closing. Right
now. Look at verse 22 and 23. You come to Mount Zion, the city
of the living God, a heavenly Jerusalem, innumerable company
of angels. I'm looking around at some angels.
They don't look like angels to me. Take your glasses off. They all look the same. I see
men as trees. Well, I see men as angels. There's one. Saints. Yes, they
do. You don't see yourself as that
day. It does not yet appear what we shall be. Because we've got
this body of death hanging around. Do you want to be done with this
body of death? Do you really? You better nod
your head if you mean it. Huh? Because if you do, you're
a saint. You're an angel. And Christ is
coming for you. That's it. That's it. An innumerable company
of angels have gone before, the generalists of the church of
the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. There are no Mahans in heaven.
There are no Stonikers in heaven. Let those names perish from the
earth. There are no Davises in heaven. No Pendries. We say, Kelly's mother knew the
Lord. Yes, she is. But her name is Christ. Brenda
Christian. That's right. We're not there
by blood. We didn't get there because of
our family. And our family is nothing special at all. Let's
be done with that. Here's the name we want. The
Son of God. Follower of Christ. That's it. We've come to whose
names are written in heaven, to the God, God the judge of
all. Who's that? Jesus Christ. All
judgments under me. The spirits of, I like this,
just men, made perfect. To the spirits of just men, made
perfect. All who've gone before us were
just men. Just women. Just like us. Sinners. Just like us. Sitting
there. And a man stood up and preached
to them just what I was preaching to you. Everything. And they
heard. And they believed. And they laid
hold. And they died in the faith. They're just men. But God's grace
is sufficient. Yes, He is. His promises are
true. He promised. Look now. Look diligently. Not one day. Every day. Look
now. Look. Follow. Look. Don't look
to the right. Look straight on now. At the
prize. Don't be distracted by this.
Lay aside all these things that would drag you back. Oh, you
don't need to go there. Yes, I do. Christ is my life. These people are my life. My
longing, my desire, my home is not here. It's there over yonder. You can perish if you want that.
I don't want that. Is that you? Come and go with
me. Where are you going? Follow the Lord. Alright, let's
sing a closing hymn.