Well, good morning and welcome
again. And as I mentioned earlier, our pastors in North Carolina.
And say hi to the folks back in North Carolina. And also we
have, it seems, a lot of friends in Virginia that we'd like to
shout out to and say hello. So this morning, boy, I just
love that hymn we just sang, Come Thou Fount. What a fitting
introduction to today's message. It will be found in Hebrews chapter
12 today. Mike spent some time in the Bible
class in Hebrews chapter 12. And we'll be in chapter 12 in
the first few verses. And the title of today's message
is Looking Unto Jesus. So we'll read verse one, two,
and three there and begin. Wherefore seeing we are Also,
our compassed about was so great a cloud of witness. 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. For consider him that endured such a contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your
minds. There was a picture on Sermon Audio of a guy with this.
this morning of the computers all in front of me, and he says,
I thought I was having a bad day. So we sometimes think we're
up against it, but you know, the Lord took care of all that
for us. You know, this block of scripture that we look for
today in Hebrews chapter two starts off with this word wherefore,
and wherefore, connects us right back to what was said, all the
way back to Genesis, really. There's just no quitting place.
It's just interesting how all the scriptures point us right
to Christ, no matter where we start or where we pick it up.
And so this is no different. And you know, in chapter 11,
which just precedes this, if you back up to chapter 11, here
are a couple of verses. Verse 39, it says, and these,
this Hebrews 11, that faith chapter tells about all the ones that
were recorded here in faith. Not all of them, but a good representation. It says, and these, all having
obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise,
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without
us should not be made perfect. Wherefore, seeing we also, So
it connects us to those people in chapter 11. We also, compassed
about with so great a cloud of witness, let us lay aside every
weight and the sin which does so easily beset us. That just
reminds me that hymn is, oh that day when freed from sinning,
the problem that we are faced with from nature. You know, in
this chapter 11 verse 39, it says, having obtained a good
report, having obtained a good report in the Greek is the word
martyrio. It's where we get the word martyr
from. So those people that obtained
a good report were they were not willing to give up their
faith for whatever reason, whatever was against them, whatever was,
most of those people, the word martyred brings us our attention
to those who have suffered and they usually end up being killed
because of one's faith or belief. So it's not something that they
took lightly, not something that we take lightly. And so the object
here of our lesson is we're like them and we find all the components
of the gospel in this block of scripture here. We pick up a
scripture just anywhere and Jesus said, search the Scriptures,
for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they
that testify of me." And just as Mike brought out in the view
of Christ as our Redeemer this morning in the Bible class, we
find He is all in all to us here. This is looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. So we're going to examine this
from that standpoint this morning. These points of the gospel are
clearly brought out to us in this scripture. In the book of
Hebrews, as Norm always says, it's just the greatest commentary
on the Old Testament. It's almost all Old Testament.
and having it explained to us. And right off we're confronted
with the issue of sin. And this sin which so easily
besets us. It's the same sin that we're
faced with because of our nature as we're born into this world.
And you know that word beset? It's just an interesting word.
this sin that so easily besets us. And we kind of think of that
as we have one particular sin that just kind of nags at us
all the time. And in our former nature, that's
that sin that we don't even know that we have. It's a sin of trying
to supply our own righteousness to God. But in this besetting
context here, it's a word that means to come at you from all
directions. And when I was reading that,
I thought, boy, that just reminds me of one of those whack-a-mole
things you see at the county fair. One pokes his head up here
and you whack that down and then there's some over here and you
just spend all your time trying to keep up with that crazy thing
and not successful usually. And thank God we have Christ
that takes care of that for us. And that's what the scripture
tells us here. He takes care of everything from start to finish.
He takes care of us before we're saved and during our salvation
and after. So, It kind of describes this universal
nature of sin to which we're all born into and we're servants
of by birth, and it kind of tells us about the results of sin in
the fall which necessitate a Savior. because we can't do it ourself. I like what Mike brought out
in the Bible class this morning. Christ is the only one qualified.
He is the only one that could redeem us because he was the
only one that could fulfill the law. He was the only one that
was without sin. He was the only one that satisfied
God the Father in taking care of that issue. This sin which so easily besets
us, it does oppose us in every direction. And it kind of represents
us in our old nature, how we oppose God in all of our old
nature. And it tells us that we need
a Savior. We need someone that would help
us, as he pointed out. in the Scripture reading this
morning from 2 Corinthians. Thank God for the next verse,
looking unto Jesus. And you know this Scripture here,
as we pointed out, the book of Hebrews is mostly comprised of
the Old Testament. It is written, or thus saith
the Lord, and then it's explained to us, and we find that same
thing here in these verses that we're reading here. partly declared in Psalm 110, which is quoted here in part.
In Psalm 110, verse one says, the Lord said
unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. So we have that declared here. In verse two, is set it down
at the right hand of the throne of God, Jesus our Savior. So this gospel plainly declared
in these scriptures, our relationship with sin, the only remedy for
sin and salvation and after salvation is Christ, and obtained for the
church by the substitutionary suffering, death, burial, and
resurrection of the Lord in our stead. He endured the cross,
it says. Despise the shame there in verse
two. The just, as Peter calls it in,
1 Peter 3.18, the just suffering in the place of the unjust. And
Christ, as Mike pointed out, is the only one that is just,
and he is suffering and suffered for the unjust, who are we by
nature, the sinners by nature. And if we were to look at this
in the Old Testament, again, we would find his suffering described
to us in graphic detail in Psalm 22. And we'll just read a few
verses from Psalm 22, starting with verse 11. And remember,
we always try to approach this from that I am view of Christ,
the I am view. And he's writing this to us in
his I am nature. Be not far from me, for trouble
is near, for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed
me." He's all right. This is, in his view, this is
a completed act. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset
me round. And there's that word beset again,
from all directions. They gaped upon me with their
mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I'm poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a pot shirt, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. And thou has brought
me into the dust of death, for dogs have compassed me. The assembly
of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and feet.
I may tell all my bones, they look and stare at me. He could
look down and see every bone sticking out through his flesh
there as they showed up. They part my garments among them
and cast lots upon my vesture. So this passage clearly declares
the object of the Lord's passion. And it's interesting that it's
called suffering here, translated as passion in Acts chapter 1
verse 3. Speaking of his appearance, it
says, after his passion he appeared unto us and to about 500 brethren. So it describes his passion in
completing this suffering. And he's called the author of
our faith. Who despised the shame and the
suffering he was put to for the joy that was set before him,
and that's the redemption of the church. And it was interesting
that Mike brought that verse up in Jude 1, verse 24. It says
the exact same thing. For the joy that was set before
him, the redemption of the church, he endured that suffering. And Our two messages intersected
quite a number of points this morning. Funny how that is. So,
in Isaiah chapter 50, as we're talking about him suffering in
the place of the church, and his despising that shame, The
things we read in some of our previous class where they plucked
out his beard, they spit on him, they called him all kinds of
derogatory names, and rejected him as the God Almighty,
the Savior. In Isaiah 50 verse 4-7 it says,
The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should
know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. To those
that Mike mentioned in the Bible class from Hebrews chapter 4,
that enter into his rest. That weary from trying to work
out your own salvation, enter into Christ for rest. that he gives is the gospel of
his own self. He wakeneth morning by morning,
he wakeneth my ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath
opened mine ear and I was not rebellious, neither turned away
back. I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me.
Therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint. And I know that I shall not be
ashamed. Boy, what a picture of our Lord enduring those things
for the joy that was set before him. And just putting up with it. These
long suffering to us were. And that this was inflicted Upon
him from God the Father as a substitute is made plain. And Mike read
these verses, a couple of these from Isaiah chapter 53 in the
Bible class this morning. In verse three, he's despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief,
and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He's despised, and
we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs. and carried our sorrows. Yet
we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he
was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was laid upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray, and we've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. All that punishment,
all that laid on Him by the Lord, by the Father. The iniquity of
the church. Let's look to the components
of the Gospel contained in this verse. First it says, looking
unto Jesus. And you know, we're just spiritually
blind by birth. We have that hymn, Amazing Grace,
here below us here on the pulpit. I once was blind. I couldn't
look to Jesus. Because I was blind, dead in
trespasses and sin. But He says now, He has opened
blind eyes. Looking unto Jesus. You know,
again, Mike mentioned that He was the only satisfactory substitute
for the penalty for sin. He was the only one qualified.
In Acts chapter 4 verse 10 through 12, we'll read there from just
these few verses. Acts chapter 4 verse 10 through
12. Be it known unto you all and
to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him doth this man stand before you whole, Another miracle
that took place there. This is the stone which was set
at nought of you builders, which has become the head of the corner.
And then he says, neither is there salvation in any other,
for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved. And you know, that's the problem
we're up against when, in our old nature, we think that we
can provide our own solution to this issue, and yet, The Scriptures
are plain. There's none other name given,
except Christ, by which we must be saved. You know, Abraham declared
this same gospel on the mount, when he went up the mount with
his son, and the Lord says, take your son and go up there and
do what I've instructed you to do. And when they got up there,
the son said, well, here's the wood. Here's the stones and the
fire. Where's the sacrifice? And Abraham
said in chapter 22 of Genesis, verse eight, Abraham said, my
son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
And of course we have that double entendre there. He provided that
lamb and he provided himself the lamb slain from before the
foundation of the world. Also from the Old Testament,
as we look at these ideas about the gospel, thou Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting, from
eternity, the Savior was going to come out of Bethlehem the
house of bread, the bread of life. And a couple of verses
from the New Testament here. We'll take a look at Matthew
1, verse 20. But while he thought on these
things, Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
thee into thee marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. for he shall save his
people from their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is God with us. Looking unto Jesus. And that
same thing we find the Old Testament, every scripture there directing
us to him. He's called the lamb that was
slain from the foundation of the world in Revelation chapter
13 verse 8. And again, we read in Acts 4
where there's none other name given. There's no other place
to go. And, you know, we just won't
go there of our own. And he addresses that. The very
next thing we find is he's the author. And that's another interesting
word that we come across here. You know, you look at that word
author up and it's, if we stop and think about it, it's pretty
plain what it means, but it means from the Greek, it says, it's
the point from whence something commences. Now that's just the
very difference here between works and grace. It says Jesus
is the point from which something commences here. He is the author.
Now in the works scheme of things, we think that that commences
with us because we say, well, I have to do something. I have
to, I have to develop faith or I have to develop belief. But
all the scriptures say, no, we believe according to the working
of His mighty power. And of course, In Ephesians it
tells us, by grace are you saved through faith. And that, not
of yourselves, it's a gift of God. He provides that. So he's the author, he's the
point from when something commences or begins. And it's also coupled
to the word which declares one who leads, one who brings, one
who drives. It's effectual. It's not just
laid out there and just left to happen chance. It's driven. It's, it's directed. And there's
many verses which point this out in second Thessalonians chapter
two verse 13. It says, but we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brother and beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit. and belief of the truth.
And of course you could read all of Ephesians chapter 1 and
chapter 2 which amplify that even further. John chapter 6
verse 44 says, no man can, no man has the ability to come to
me except the father which sent me draw him. And we've always
discussed how powerful that word draw is. It's the same word where
they cast the net over the right side of the boat and it was so
heavy they couldn't hardly drag it in. It's just that the effort,
that dragging, that It's the same word that was used when
Peter drew his sword out of his scabbard and smote off the ear
of Malchus the servant when Christ was being arrested. He didn't
just, we like to use the word woo, because people always say,
oh he just woos you with the gospel. It says he drew that
sword out. He yanked that thing out of his
scabbard and he whacked that guy's ear off before you could
blink your eye. That was with purpose and with
effort. No man can come to me except the Father which sent
me draw him. And you know the Lord always
works out the right amount of drawing to be used on each sheep.
And he says, and I will raise him up at the last day. So he's
the author. He's the point from which things
commence. And it says he's the finisher.
He's the author and the finisher, the completer. He begins it,
and he completes it. He completes what he began. Being
confident of this one thing, it says in Philippians chapter
one, verse six, being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, you'll perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. He is not going to just bring
you up to a certain point and then leave you on your own. John
6.37 says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came
down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him
that sent me. And this is the Father's will which has sent
me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day. I can't tell
you how much comfort those words bring us. We all have friends,
we all have family that we've brought the gospel to, and we
know that the Lord will make it effectual
in those to whom He calls. And we don't have to worry about
our efforts. They're always in religion. You need to just repeat, repeat,
repeat, go after them, go after them, go after them until you're
just a nuisance. But you know what? We're just responsible
to deliver the Gospel in truth, not leave anything out, not add
anything, and leave the results unto the Lord. All that the Father
gives Him is going to come. He'll see to that. And when they do come, He'll
not cast them out. What comforting words. Our faith. He said, the author
and finisher of our faith. Christ, the author, the beginning,
the beginner, the driving impetus, the finisher of our faith, and
that faith, as we brought out earlier, it's not humanly possible
outside of grace. It's not something that we can
muster up. The scripture says, actually,
we're dead in trespasses and sins, and so we have no ability
to muster up faith or anything else. And as we read in Ephesians
2, 8, and 9, by grace are you saved. through faith. And we always like that definition
from your Strong's Concordance where it just says, you know,
faith is just total reliance on Christ for salvation. And
every place where it says faith, if you put those words in there,
it makes things make a lot of sense. It takes all of the we
out of it and causes us to enter into that rest of Christ. For by grace are you saved through
faith, through total reliance on Christ. And that, not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. He gives us that reliance. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. And that's what we'd do if we
had any part of it. Well, I came up with that faith
on my own. I had to give up a lot, and I
had to do this and do that. We'd be bragging about it. That's
just our nature. You know, Paul said, he talked
about those besetting sins. He says, you know what? To will
is present within me. He struggled against that. You
don't think about Paul struggling against sin. He says the Spirit
wrestles against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit.
That besetting sin that comes against you from all directions,
But Jesus, looking unto Jesus, He takes care of that. And now,
we come to this part here. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. Who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross. That joy, that joy that's rooted
in eternal love. Love that's so absolute, so total,
so infinite in scope, It's the source of all our salvation in
Christ. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. It's what he said in Jeremiah.
Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn you. Again, we have
that powerful word again, that drawing that we find. Greater love hath no man than
this, it says in John chapter 15, verse 13, as Jesus is speaking
to his disciples. He's trying to explain to them
this whole concept of this joy that is set before Him and why
He's willing to... He says, I must go as it is written. I must go to Jerusalem, be rejected
from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, be tormented
and whipped and beat up and spit on, have my whiskers yanked out,
be crucified and slain. and be raised again the third
day for my sheep. His greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Isn't
that interesting how he views us? Even when we were dead in
trespasses and sins, he looked at us with the I am view of I
laid down my life for the sheep from Psalm 22 there. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. I think Mike read
that from Romans chapter five, verse six this morning. And continuing
down through verse eight, for scarcely for a righteous man
will one die. You know, we think about that
in terms of us. Would we, do we like somebody well enough
that we would die, that we would throw ourselves in front of the
bus or something for them and die for them in their place?
Yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die,
but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. We might do it for somebody that's
really good and that we liked a lot, but at the time Christ
died for us, we were enmity with him. We were yet sinners, and
yet, He died for us. Because of this great love, wherewith
He hath loved us, it says in Ephesians 2, verse 4. His total
commitment to effectually and completely save eternally all
whom the Father had given Him, as it says in John chapter 17,
you've given Him power. The Father has given Him power
over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given Him. And because of his victory in
this, it's his joy to present the church perfect. I think Mike
read that in several places in Jude chapter 1 verse 24. He presents us faultless because
of what he did. He imputed his righteousness
to us. And we appear faultless. We appear
without spot, without wrinkle, it tells us in Ephesians chapter
5. Let's read that real quickly.
Three verses in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 25 through 27. It starts out, Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it. that he might sanctify it and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. And he counts it all joy when
he successfully does it, and he will not be thwarted in any
way, shape, or form. The same thing is presented to
us in Colossians 1, and we'll read a few verses from Colossians
1, verse 19. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him, to reconcile all things unto
himself. By him I say, whether they be
things in the earth or things in heaven, and you that were
sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled, and in the body of his flesh, through
death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight." Boy, I need that. Anybody here that doesn't need
that? And finally, the last portion of this block of scripture that
we're going to look at today, and then we'll close here, proves
the success of the finished work of Christ. He was raised for
our justification. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. As he was baptized, I pictured
that very act as he was baptized by John the Baptist. He's raised
for our justification. He sat down at the right hand
of the Father making intercession for us because we need that every
day. We're up against that whack-a-mole
thing every day. John said, if we say we have
no sin, we're just a big fat liar. The truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive them. He's there when the accuser
comes and says, well, old Mike did this again. He said, I paid
that. I don't see anything but my righteousness
in Him. I don't see anything but the
shed blood of the Savior. He's making intercession for
us. And again, I think Mike might have read this, Romans chapter
four, verse 25, who is delivered for our offenses. He paid that
price and he's raised again for our justification. And so who
is it that can condemn us? Christ died, yea, that is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. Boy, it's nice to have the Lord
God Almighty be your intercessor. That's from Romans 8.34. Hebrews
7.25, wherefore he's able to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. looking unto Jesus, our verse
for today, our text from Hebrews 12 to 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. So my friends,
the closing word is look unto Jesus and be free. Mike will
have a closing hymn and then we'll be dismissed.