Where's the, where's the building? th th Thank you. What do you mean? Thank you very much. I'm here. Yeah. Okay. th th th Okay, and I didn't know. Well, I didn't. I didn't
know who. I didn't know. That's fine. Yeah,
we got some great. Okay. Good evening. Let's all turn to hymn number
45. Hymn number 45 and let's stand
together as we sing. Him number 314. I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard
Thy voice and it told Thy love to me. and I long to rise in
the arms of faith and be closer drawn to Thee. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed
Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer,
nearer, blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. Consecrate me now to Thy service,
Lord, by the power of grace divine. Let my soul look up with a steadfast
hope, and my will be lost in Thine. Draw me nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord, to Thy precious blood. O the pure delight of a single
hour that before Thy throne I spend When I kneel in prayer and with
Thee, my God, I commute as friend with friend Draw me nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord, to Thy precious fleeting side. There are depths of love that
I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea. There are heights of joy that
I may not reach till I rest in peace with Thee. Draw me nearer,
nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer,
blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. Thank you. Be seated. Him number
118. 118. When I survey the wondrous
cross, On which the Prince of Glory
died. My richest gain I count but loss,
And poor contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should
boast Save in the death of Christ my God All the vain things that
charm me most I sacrifice them to His blood Safe from his head,
his hands, his feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow
meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm
of nature mine That were a present far too small Love so amazing,
so divine Demands my soul, my life, my all Can we turn to Psalm 145? Psalm 145. I will extol thee, my God, O
King, and I will bless thy name forever and ever. Every day will
I bless thee, and I will praise thy name forever and ever. Great
is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is
unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy
works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak
of the glorious honor of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous
works. And men shall speak of the might
of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy greatness. They shall
abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness and shall
sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord
is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.
All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall
bless thee. They shall speak of the glory
of thy kingdom and talk of thy power. to make known to the sons
of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth
throughout all generations. The Lord upholdeth all that fall
and raises up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all
wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season.
Thou openest thine hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his
works. The Lord is nigh unto all them
that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will
fulfill the desire of them that fear him. He also will hear their
cry and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them
that love him, but all the wicked will he destroy. My mouth shall
speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy
name forever and ever. Amen. Our most high and holy God, we
thank you, Lord. We thank you for your mercy.
It's new every morning, Lord. We appreciate you so much and
we thank you. We thank you and we ask that
you watch over this congregation and your other congregations
that meet in your name, Lord. The sick, the ones that can't
be because of sickness or whatever it might be, Lord, because we
know that they'd be there if they could, Lord. We ask that
you'd be with our families that don't know you. We ask that you
would break in on them, Lord, and have mercy on them. Lord,
we thank you for this place that you've given us to come to worship,
Lord. We thank you for the pastor, and we thank you for the message
that you've given him, Lord. We ask that you'd be with him
again this evening. Lord, we ask all these things in Christ's
holy name. Amen. Hymn number 46. Number 46. Oh, for a thousand tongues to
sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of His grace. My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim, To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name. Jesus, the name that charms our
fears, That bids our sorrows cease, Tis music in the sinner's
ears, Tis life and health and peace. He breaks the power of
cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the
phallus clean, His blood availed for me. Hear Him, ye deaf, His
praise ye dumb, Your loosened tongues employ. Ye blind, behold your Savior
come, And leap, ye lame, for joy. Glory to God, and praise
and love, Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter
12. Read the first three verses,
Hebrews chapter 12. 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. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your mind. You know what the greatest characteristic
of a child of God for a believer is? That he has LIFE! He has
LIFE! He has ETERNAL LIFE! Not just
LIFE, ETERNAL LIFE! An ABUNDANT LIFE! And what this
life that I'm talking about is the very life of God Himself
in the soul of a man. It's the life of Christ in the
soul of a man, in his very being. You know, Christ in you, Christ
in you is the hope of glory. You know, the scriptures tells
us so plainly that we were born again, not by corruptible seed,
but incorruptible by the word of God that liveth and abides
forever. And the scriptures tells us that
God created us in Christ Jesus unto good works and also that
he made us new creatures in Christ. And the Scriptures tells us that
we are made partakers, partakers of the divine nature. And that's
the evidence, I mean it's just obvious that the greatest characteristic
is that we have life, we have eternal life. We don't have to
wait to go to heaven to have life. Life starts here. Eternal life starts here. Christ
in you starts here. New creation starts here. New
heart starts here. Everything that we're going to
have in glory starts right here, right here. And that's what the
scriptures means, and it says that we have been quickened together
with Christ. When Christ was raised from the
dead and quickened from the dead, we were quickened with Him. Just
as He is crucified, we're crucified with Him. When He is buried,
we're buried with Him. When He rose, we rose with Him.
When He's seated down on the right hand of God, we're seated
with Him. We're so one with Christ. and so identified with Christ
and His life is in us, we can't imagine once Christ has given
us this new life what it would be like to not have it anymore.
We can't imagine not having the life that we have in Christ.
Can you imagine not having it now? No, you can't get your head
back there to what you was because this life that we have in Christ.
We've been quickened together with the Lord Jesus. And I wanna
look at a few things here this evening about believers, about
believers, about God's blessed, blessed people. And they have
life, they have life. And when people have life, there
are certain things that's obvious that they have life. Let's put
it that way, just obvious that you have life. And I wanna go,
I've seen two or three things here in these verses that I want
us to look at. And let's look at them together.
If you've got life in Christ here in Hebrews 12, the first
thing you do is you've got an active life. You can't have life
and not be active. You know, I'm active right now.
I'm moving right now. I've got an active life right
at this moment in time. I'm moving. And that's one thing,
and that's what he says here there in Hebrews 12, verse 1. He said, Let us run the race. Now how in the world can you
run a race without being ACTIVE? And that?s what we?re called
to do. We?re running a race. Let US run the race. Now a person
running a race is not asleep, he?s not pondering whether he
ought to get in the race, he?s not deciding whether he ought
to get in this race or not. He said, ?Let us run this race.?
And I tell you what, when a person's running a race, he's got a goal
in mind. He's got a purpose in mind. He's
got a destination in mind. You know, I tell you what, Paul
said it like this. He says, I've not yet understood
or apprehended why Christ apprehended me. I don't understand why Christ
apprehended me. I've not got it yet. That's what
he said. And he said, but yet I press
toward the mark. I press, I'm running, I'm pressing
toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And I tell you what, and we're
racing, you know what we're racing against? This old flesh, this
old flesh. Oh my, gotta run against it,
you gotta race against it. I'm telling you what, and then
what about the world? The world out here, I mean the
world is, I mean you gotta outrun the world. You gotta, you know,
he said, we once walked and run according to the course of this
world. Now, we don't run according to the course of this world.
We're running against the world and away from the world. We're
running against apathy, lethargy, discouragement. And you say,
well, I'm not going far enough. I ain't running fast enough.
It didn't say here how fast you have to run. You just gotta run. You just gotta run. I've seen
folks run. I've been running for years,
but I've seen folks running, and they just barely moving their
feet. But they're moving, and that's what I'm trying to say.
We have an active life. You cannot be in a race and not
be active. You can't have the life of Christ
in you and not be active. You can't do it. Oh my, you say,
well, I ain't gaining any ground. It looks that way a lot of times.
It looks like we're running in place. We're not going anywhere.
But oh, no, no. Listen, you look back to where
you was and where you are now, and you're way on down the road.
You're way on down the road. You've been running for a long
time. And you're way on down the road now. You're close to
the end of your race. You're fixing to go across the
finish line. Paul said, I finished my course.
He's running this race, he's the one that said to run it.
And not only is it an active life, God help us to be like
our master. You know, when he was going to
Jerusalem, he said, his face like a flint. God help us to
set our face like a flint toward our Lord Jesus Christ and follow
him and race. And then not only that, but it's
an orderly life, not only active, but it's orderly. Look what it
says here again. Let us run the race set before
us. It s a race set before us. Now,
we re not out here just running at random, running just for the
sake of running. There s a race set before us.
There s a course set before us. We didn t just pick out that
we were going to start racing and running. We aren t running
uncertainly. Look what s over here in I Corinthians
9. Look over here in 1 Corinthians
9 with me. 1 Corinthians 9. Look what he says here about
racing and running. You know, the race set before
us. And it's not a race at random.
We aren't running uncertainly. You know, there's a lot of people
that's running a race uncertainly. You know, they don't have no
certainty in their life. You know, an Armenian has no,
he has no certainty in his life. A worksmonger has no certainty
in his life. A legalist has no certainty in
his life. He's a, you know, they think
they're always, if they do something, they're going to be lost again.
If they backslide, they got to be encouraged again. And they
have to, you know, everything, they just don't have this certainty.
no order in their life, and they just, it's a hit and miss proposition
with them. But beloved, we have an order
to the race that we're set. Christ set us an order. And look
what he said here in I Corinthians chapter nine and verse 24. Look what it says here. Know you not
that they which run a race run all. I mean, they run the whole
race. That's what he's talking about.
Run all. They run the whole race. And one receives the prize. Only
one is going to get the prize. Only one. But listen to this.
So run that you may obtain. You run that you may obtain.
Obtain what? The prize. What's the prize? The prize is the whole calling
of God in Christ. Now watch this. Every man that
strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it. They do it. These folks is so
interested in this stuff, they do it to obtain a corruptible
crown. But in our race, we run and we
get an incorruptible crown. They get a corruptible crown,
but when we in our race, we get an incorruptible crown. Or when
we cross the finish line, we get an incorruptible crown. And
then he said, verse 26, I therefore so run. I'm running. but not as uncertainly, and I'm
even fighting. I'm not shadowboxing either.
I mean, there's things that we're fighting against, the world,
the flesh, the devil, ourself, and self-righteousness and pride.
And I tell you what, and our course is laid out for us. You
know where it's laid out for us? In this blessed book. Right there is where it's laid
out for us. We don't have to guess what our course is. God's laid out in His Word what
our course is. The Word of God is well-defined
in the Word of God. And our Lord Jesus made it plain. He said, I came down from heaven
not to glorify myself, but to glorify Him that sent me. That's
one thing we're doing in this race. We're running to glorify
our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I come down to honor
Him, not take no honor for myself. And then when it comes down to
whose will it is and denying yourself, I, Lord, said this,
when he got in the garden of Gethsemane, Father, if it's possible,
and every one of us has been here, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. If it be possible, would you
do something in my life to keep me from having to go through
this? But you know what he said, nevertheless, not my will, not
my will, and that's what we say. Not my will, Lord, but thy will
be done. Oh, he said, of course, for us.
You know, there's a story in the Old Testament when Absalom,
who tried to take David, his father's throne, Here's a handsome
man, big old long curly hair, and oh, he had a great big bunch
of folks following him, and here's gonna take David's throne. And
David had to leave Jerusalem, and he went in hiding. And Absalom
ended up getting killed. He got killed. He got his hair
caught in a branch, and these enemies killed him. Well, Joab
was his general running Israel's army. And Joab said to Cushi,
a fellow named Cushi, he said, Cushi, you run and you tell the
king what happened to his son, that his son's dead, and he can
come back to Jerusalem, tell him his son's dead. And so Cushi
went running. And there's this fella named
Ahiamiz. And old Miamiz, he liked to run.
He was fast, too. He said, Joab, let me run, let
me run, let me run. You don't have nothing to say,
Abimelech. Cushai's got the message, you
don't have nothing to say. Well, let me run, let me run.
He said, well, run then. And old Ahiamiz run, he run just
as hard as he could go, and he went right by Cushai. But when he got up to David,
David said, you know, a fellow was watching, said, I see one
running like Cushi. But there comes another fellow.
He done passed him up. He got there. And you know what
the difference in Cushi and everybody was? He and I didn't have nothing
to tell David. Didn't have nothing whatsoever
to say. And so he said, stand over here
out of the way. David said, stand over here out
of the way. Cushi got there and said, King, I have to tell you
this, but your son Absalom's dead. And I'll tell you, that's what
I'm telling you, that we're in a race and you can run all you
want to, but if you ain't got a message to run by and something
to go by, you'll get to the end of the race and you won't have
nothing to face, you won't have nothing to say. And that's why
we're in a race, oh my. And I tell you, we desperately,
desperately have to keep on running. We have to keep on moving. We
can't be static. We can't be still. And oh, our
Lord Jesus Christ said, Heaven and earth, we're talking about
a world. Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my word won't. Thank God for his word. Darrell
read it back there tonight. He says, My father's the husband,
and we're the vine. He's the husband, and then Christ
is the true vine. And he said, join to that vine,
you have life. But if you don't bring forth
any fruit, he said, you know what I'm gonna do? He said, I'm
gonna cut you off. You go ahead and play church,
I'm gonna cut you off. You go ahead and get out of the
race, I'm gonna cut you off. And he said, he that inviteth
in me, guess what he said? He'll bring forth fruit. He won't
try to bring forth fruit. He won't think he's bringing
forth fruit. He don't know it, but it don't look like it to
him, but he's bringing forth fruit. And then our Lord got
down to the end of it and he said, without me, you can do
nothing. And we're in this race because
Christ set the course for us. And we're gonna follow him. Ain't
that right? So it's an active life, it's
an orderly life, the race set before us, and look what else
it says here. It's a persevering life. And then it says there,
run with, verse one again, let us run with patience, the race
set before us. Let's run with patience. Oh my. When it says patience here, that
means that you just, you know, you ain't gonna get to the finish
line real, real quick. It's not gonna get there quick. No, no. This ain't a 5K, 3.11
miles. This ain't a 10K, 6.5 miles. This ain't a half-foot marathon. This ain't a 26-mile run. This is a lifetime of running. Let us run with patience. And
what's that word patience mean? That patient mean don't twiddle
your thumbs. That means just be patient and you raise. You
know, somebody may just say, well, those folks are so far
ahead of me. And you know, you look like, boy, I wish I could,
I wish I could go as good as they did. I wish I could, I wish
I could understand the way they did. I wish I could move like
they did. I wish I understand, I wish I, and you know, but listen,
we're all in this race individually. Really, we are. And then, oh,
run with patience. Then look what it said down here
in verse three. And when you're running with patience, listen
to this, consider him, Consider Him. Consider Him. You consider our Lord Jesus Christ
and what He went through and what He did and the patience
He had and the way and how He persevered in the midst of all
the things that went on in His life. And it says there, lest,
look what it says, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.
You know, When you get weary, really, really, really weary,
the first thing you do is you quit in your mind. That's the
first place you quit. Your mind tells you, I can't
do this. Your mind tells you, I can't go this way. This mind
tells you, I can't do it. This mind tells you, well, I
just will quit. I ain't gonna make it. But he
says, you consider him. You look to Christ. You consider
Christ. You consider how all those people
that He died for, how they mistreated Him, and how He endured the contradiction
of sinners, sinners that He died for and that He crucified Him,
and when He cried out, Father, forgive them, they know what
to do. Sinners, what He done, He contradicted sinners against
Himself. Sinners who He died for was absolutely
out to destroy Him. And he said, consider him, when
you get ready to faint in your mind, Christ didn't faint in
his mind. Paul didn't faint in his mind.
But that's where it starts. It starts right up here in your
brain. Oh my. And look what he said
down here in verse 12 and 13 of Hebrews 12. Lift up the hands which hang
down and the feeble knees. Oh, you get tired and you just
say, oh man. You know, and your arms hang
down, you just, oh boy, I just don't think I can make it. He
said, lift them up! Lift them up. And make straight paths for your
feet. Follow that path that Christ set out. Lest that which is lame
be turned out of the way. but let it rather be healed,
or come to Christ. And you know chapter 11, chapter
11 is all about those who persevered in the face of a multitude of
obstacles, a multitude of obstacles. Oh, how many things they went
through. Abraham called to go out, didn't even know where he
was going, but he went. Noah, Man, he lived in an ungodly,
ungodly situation. He lived wherever man s mind
was, imagination was evil continually, and that s the group of people,
the place he lived. And you know what God did for
him? He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord, and God gave him a race to run. He said, You ve got 120
days to build an ark, and 120 days he run that race. And you
know what the finished course was? He got to get in the ark. God put him in that ark. Huh? Oh my. And oh, you go on and
on and on about it. Our Lord said, in your patience,
in your patience, possess you your souls. And look over here
in Hebrews 10, and look in verse 36. Talking about run this race
with patience. You've got to persevere. You've
got to persevere. For you have need of patience.
You have need of patience. That after you've done the will
of God, you might receive the promise. For yet a little while,
he that shall come and will not tarry. But what's the just gonna
do until Christ comes? Well, they're just gonna live
by faith. But he said, if any man gets out of the race, if
any man draws back, said, I don't wanna run this race anymore,
my soul shall have no pleasure in it. No pleasure in it. You know, look in Romans 5 with
me. Let's look together in Romans
5. Let's look over here in Romans 5. Talking about patience, patience. Patience means just persevering,
persevering. You get up every day and you
do things that you don't really, really enjoy doing. But you patiently
get up every day and patiently do what you have to do. And run
with patience, persevere. Persevering this thing. And look
what he said here in verse three. Oh, we rejoice in the hope of
the glory of God. Not only we rejoice in the hope
of the glory of God, but we glory or we rejoice in trials, trials. You know, God sends trials to
us, lots of trials. And oh, listen, we glory in Him
because we know that these trials, these troubles, it works patience
in us. It works patience in us. We get
through one, get through another one, get through another one,
get through another one, and after a while, you go through
so many of them, you just wait with patience. You'll get through
this thing. God will get you through this
thing. And listen, these trials works patience. And listen to
what patience does. It works experience. I've been
here before. I've been through these things
before. God's brought me this way before. God's brought me
through darkness before. God's brought me through the
fire trials before. God's brought me through lots
of troubles, lots of heartaches, lots of things, lots of things
that goes on. He brings you through life and
death situations. He brings you through the greatest
grief and heartache that you think you cannot possibly live,
but He does. He does. And then you get that
experience. And then every time you get more
of them troubles, you have that experience. God got me through
it. And that gives you hope. Oh, hope. And what does that
hope do for you? Oh, it makes you not ashamed.
of what God does in his trials, tribulations. It makes you not
ashamed. Why? Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that's given unto us. Oh,
persevere, persevere, persevere. And oh, let me just look back
over here in Hebrews 12 a minute. Then it's not only a active life,
an orderly life, a persevering life, but it's a believing life. Look what it says there in verse
two. It's a believing life, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finish of our faith. You know, it was by a look that
God saved us. It was by a look. You know, our
Lord said, when He was talking about the new birth, He said,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. And you know
what happened to that serpent in the wilderness? Everyone that
was bitten by snakes and was dying, had poison. Everybody
that looked at that serpent on the pole, they got life. They
lived. They lived. And that's the way,
and he said, when Christ is lifted up, he said, we are saved by,
look unto me, and be ye saved. So we look to Christ, I said
it this morning, when they heard, they came to Him, and we're looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We were saved by looking to Him.
Oh my, by looking. And we continue. It says looking,
looking, looking. You never stop looking. It's
like whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. It's the
same thing. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
not be ashamed. We are always calling on the Lord. We're always
looking to Christ. There's never a time in our life
that we don't look to Christ. I'm serious about that. I know
that's true. The first thing we do in the
morning, we get up, say, oh, we'll wake up at the nine, say,
Lord. Please have mercy on me and let
me have this day to your glory. Or we start get up and start
praying for people. But listen, the thing is that
our mind's on Christ. Our life's on Christ. I know
we got to live and we have things that come and fill our minds
during the day, but I tell you, even when those things are coming
on, you're looking to Him and say, Lord, help me through this.
Lord, let me get through this. Lord, let me get by this day.
Lord, please give me strength for this day. Let me get through
this thing here that I'm going through right now. And when you
can't go to sleep, you know what you say? Lord, let me sleep. Would you just let me close my
eyes? Would you let my mind quit working? I mean, it's a constant
thing. I'm serious about that. And I'm
not trying to be pious. I know how believers are. I'm
talking about believers here. I'm not talking about church
members. I'm not talking about folks who's made a profession.
I'm talking about God's people, God's elect. They're looking,
oh my. And I tell you what, you know
what? Looking, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing
of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. We're looking for
that, ain't we? We're looking for our Savior,
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. When he comes, he gonna change
this vile body, fashion it like his body. Boy, we got something
to look forward to, don't we? Oh, we keep looking, keep looking,
keep looking. I tell you, let me tell you some
things we're not looking at. We're not looking at our faith.
Faith never put away one sin. We're not looking at our repentance.
Repentance never put away one sin. We're looking at how much
we know about the scriptures and about God and about Christ.
Our knowledge and what we know never put away one sin. We're
not looking to our ignorance and say, well, I'm ignorant,
I'm not very smart, I'm poor, you know. We're not looking to
that, because that never put away one's sin. We're not looking
about, oh boy, I'm up today. And so, you know, you look at
that. No, being up never put away one's sin. Well, I'm really
down. Being down never put away one's sin. Now what about our
humility? Humility never put away one sin.
Prayer or any experience we ever had. But you know, we look to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is our Savior. Now all
these things have their place, but not to trust in, not believe
in, and not certainly to look to. All those things that I mentioned,
not one of them, not one of them put away one sin. Not one faith
never cleansed our conscience. Faith never put away one sin.
And I tell you, if there is, it has to be perfection in it.
And it must be perfect to be accepted. We're looking unto
the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave us the faith to look
to Him. He gives us the faith to continue
to look to Him. And He'll give us faith till
we finish looking at Him. And I love this verse of Scripture.
I love it, I love it, I love it. And he, Philippians 1.6,
he said, being confident of this one thing, being confident of
this thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, hath
begun a good work in you, what's he gonna do? Well, he starts
it, and I'm gonna sit here and see how they do with it. He which
hath begun a good work in you shall perform it. Finish it until the day that
Jesus Christ comes. Get you or you go to him, one
or the other. He started to work and I was
gonna look it up tonight. I forgot about looking it up. But he said, David said, he shall
perfect that which concerns me. He gonna perfect that which concerns
me. Oh boy, and that's what our Lord
Jesus, when he prayed for Simon Peter, and he told him, he said,
Satan is gonna sift you like wheat, and he gonna sift you. I'm telling you what, you're
gonna deny me. No, I ain't, Lord, I ain't. He
said, you know why your faith is not gonna fail you when you're
standing in there by the devil's fire, and you're denying me three
times in one night? You know why your faith is not
gonna fail? I prayed for you. You know why our faith don't
fail? Christ said it's the right hand of God. It can't fail. It can't fail.
It can't fail. And then let me show you this.
It's a self-denying life. Look what it says here. Back up in verse one. Let us
lay aside every weight, every weight. Now most people, and
this is true, that's true, most preachers says that our greatest
weight that we have to lay aside is unbelief. Now unbelief, it's
a horrible, horrible thing. And we got lots of it. But I'll
tell you some weights that we carry around with us. Our own will. Our own will. Our ways. We think our ways,
because they're our ways, we think they're the right ways. Our thoughts, lay them aside,
our opinions, attitudes, are the greatest weights that we
have to lay aside. Oh my, to have a bad attitude
for somebody, to have a ill feeling towards somebody, or to be upset
with somebody, that's a believer. That's a great, great weight.
Lay that thing aside. Lay it aside, don't carry that.
Don't carry that, it hurts you. And oh my, and then what about,
you know, we think, well, I believe a Christian's like this or a
Christian's like that. And what we think about how somebody
ought to live and where they ought to be able to attend. And
oh my, everybody's got opinions about things. Depends about what a preacher
he is and how he's to preach, how things ought to be dealt
with. Oh my, everybody, everybody thinks that the preacher ought
to have to deal with every imperfection that's in the church. If that's
true, I'd have to start with me. I'd have to start with me. That's what I'd have to start
with, right? Oh my. How do you deal, how do
you deal with people? I love what Bruce Crabtree said
one time. They said, well, do you ever
counsel people? Do you ever meet people and counsel
people? He said, I do all my counseling from the pulpit. If
you want to know, you want to be counseled by me, come to the
services and I'll give you my counsel. And that's the way to
do it. This is where you get counseled.
This is where we get dealt with. This is where we get exposed
for our weights that we carry. And we're not even conscious
that we're carrying one until God shows us in his word and
by the spirit. Oh my. And what about the weight
of self-righteousness? Surely, surely you've never been
self-righteous. Never, never been indifferent. And all my self-absorption, self-absorption,
all just so obsessed with self, self, self, self. Oh, lay that
aside. Self is a bad person. Self is bad, really bad. Self-confidence, self-righteousness,
self-will, all those things are awful, awful. And what about
the weight of our past life, whether it's good or whether
it's bad? Oh my, let's look in Psalm 39. I'll be through here
just a little bit. Psalm 39, talking about our ways,
lay aside our ways. You know, our ways, God said that our ways are not
like His ways, that's for sure. And oh my, we have so many weights. I come here with weights. I do,
I do, I do, I do. I've got weights that I carry. Look what he said here in Psalm
139. This is what we need to do. Lord,
thou hast searched me and known me. Thou hast searched me and
known me. That's not, I want $39,000, not
$139,000. Did I say $39,000 or $139,000? I thought I said $39,000.
Did I say $39,000? Well, that's where I went to
the wrong place. If I had a nickel for every time
I'd done that, we'd all go on vacation. Wouldn't we? I've done that a lot of times
over the years. I'll tell you one place and I'll go someplace
else. But I know that wasn't the right verse of scripture.
But look here with me, talking about our, you know, lay aside
every weight. I said, I will take heed to my
ways. Just because they're my ways
don't mean they're the right ways. And he said, I'll keep
my mouth with a bridle And not just all the time, but with the
wicked is before me. Really, wouldn't it? And you
know, when you talk about your children, your grandchildren,
without God and without Christ, that's when you sure enough need
to bridle your tongue. Don't say nothing about anybody
in the congregation in a negative way. Don't never do that. Oh my, when you're around your
children, your grandchildren or husbands or wives that don't
know Christ, don't bring up anything negative about the church or
people in it. They already think it's bad enough. But don't do
that. You know, when you're in front
of the wicked, when you're in front of your grandchildren and
children and husbands and wives, before you're wicked, you watch
your tongue, bridle it. And then he said, and then I
was dumb with silence. I held my peace. And he said,
I even held my peace from good. And my sorrow was stirred. Oh
my, troubled, troubled. And then while I thought on that,
my heart was hot within me. While I was musing, while I was
considering and musing, the fire burned. Then I spake with my
tongue. And you know what he wanted to
know? This is what he wanted to know. He said, Lord, Make
me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, the measure
of my days, and what it is. And Lord, not only that, but
make me know how frail I am, how frail I am. Oh my. Behold, thou hast made my days
as a hand's breath. And listen to this, my age is
as nothing before you. And here's what he said. Verily,
man at his best estate is vanity altogether. Vanity. So lay everything aside. Everything
but Christ in the gospel, in the word of God. Lay it all aside.
And then, oh my, then a hopeful life. Let me hurry, hurry, hurry.
A hopeful life. Go back over to our text. Back
over in Hebrews. Let me get back over there. And look what it says down in
verse 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, look what it says here, who for the joy that was set
before him, oh my, our Lord had a joy set before him. When he
was going to the cross, he said, you know, said, My joy should be your joy. You'll
have my joy. And I tell you, the joy set before
Him. What was the joy that was set before Him? First and foremost
was to glorify His Father. That's the first thing that caused
Him joy. And the second thing was that
He was going to save His people from their sin. He was gonna
satisfy God's justice. He's gonna uphold God's law.
And he was gonna save all of his people from their sin. And
he said, oh, there's a joy set before me. I despise what I'm
gonna have to go through. I despise the shame of that cross.
I despise how men are gonna treat me. I despise them plucking out
my beard. I despise them hating me, like
you said, without a cause. I despise that, but yet I've
got a joy set before me. And that joy, beloved, was you
and me. And that's why, you know, I'd
rather have joy than anything else. And that's why I laugh
so much when I'm preaching. I get joyful. I get happy. I get joyful over this gospel.
I mean, I get happy about it. Oh my. And I tell you what, now
he's the one that's the joy set before us. Paul said, you know,
to the Philippians, rejoice, I say again, and I say rejoice
in the Lord. Oh my, the joy, we've got a joy
set before us, huh? Oh, our hope, and it's a hopeful
life. Oh, our hope is a good hope,
a good hope through grace. Oh, what a good hope we have,
blessed hope, mm. And then not only that, but it's
a public life. It's a life we live publicly.
Publicly. What do I mean by that? We live
in this world. We deal with our neighbors. We
deal with our people we work with. We deal with one another. We deal with people when we go
in restaurants. We deal with people when we buy
gas. We deal with people. We're in public a lot. And I
tell you, we live a public life. And that's what he said, we're
foreseeing we're also encompassed about with such a great crowd
of witnesses. These folks lived a public life. How did Enoch, how did he walk
with God for 300 years? He had a family. He didn't have
a car. He didn't have electricity. I
don't know, I mean, it was a, you know, it was a very, very,
very, very sinful life. He had to work, he had a bunch
of kids. But he lived publicly, and he
lived in such a way that God said, listen, he took him because
he was not. Oh my, his public, great cloud
of witnesses. Abraham, Isaac, Enoch, all these
men lived with him before us. And every one of them, those
folks were faithful. That's why they're called the
Hall of the Faithful. These folks were faithful. They
were faithful to the Lord Jesus, faithful to the life they had,
faithful to their master. And I tell you, they were so
faithful that they went looking. They went looking for a city.
I mean, they was looking for a city. And I mean, they kept
looking everywhere they went, said, we're going to come up
on that city here one of these days. We'll find that city one of these
days. And they just kept looking, just kept looking, going on and
on and on, walking, walking, running, running, running. And
they said, we'll find it. Well, why are you doing that?
Because I'm a stranger here. I got no, this world's not my
home. I'm a pilgrim here. I ain't got
no place to go. And you know why? You know when
they found that city? And they went to a city whose
builder and maker and foundation layer was God himself. And they
found that city, oh my. And I tell you what, let us be
faithful. Oh God, the greatest thing, to
be faithful, to be faithful to him. And when we're in public
and when we're in private, it'd be an awful thing to be somebody
different at home and then come here and be somebody different.
To be a mean person at home and come here and be a sweet person.
Or be an ill and a hateful person in public and come here and be
such a sweet person. You know, be what we are publicly
and privately. And be faithful, faithful to
our Lord. And I tell you why. People are
watching. Whether you know it or not, people
are watching. They're watching. They're watching us at our home,
watching you at your work. They watch how you play. And
you know folks watch one another at church. And you know what? Here's another thing, and I'll
close with this. We are not our own. We are bought with a price,
with the precious blood of Christ. Well, that don't have anything
to do with the bread and the wine, but it's true anyway. I hope it's a blessing. I hope
it's a blessing. Well, these dear men are gonna
come, and Brad and James, and gonna serve us the bread
and the wine. And we're going to be thankful
for what the Lord's done for us. Turn to 222, and we'll sing this
together while they're passing it out. 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. And sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains. The dying bee rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as He, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I, though loud
and seen, wash all my sins away. Dear dying Lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power. Give all the ransomed Church
of God. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. I saw the rain. Redeeming love has been my thing
And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my thing. and shall be till I die. God is gracious and merciful. Heavenly Father, we bow before
you as our hearts and minds are drawn to remember our dear Savior
who is going into his dying, his crushed body, He shed blood. He, through his life, subjected
himself to death, even the death of the cross. And he did so as our substitute,
his father, judging him for our sin. He poured out his wrath,
and he opened up his mouth, Oh, what a Savior. We fall so far short of our praise
of Him, but our hearts learn to praise Him, learn to love
Him, learn to be like Him. Most of all, learn to be with
Him. Yes, Lord. Yes. Let this time of worship
help us to truly worship Him. Help us honor our dear Savior
in our lives, and in this gospel church, in this community. Bring
your people in, bring your sheep in, and say, provide your praise,
we're here in the gospel. Continue to be with us. And know that it's just not to
believe this praise. Rejoice in our great Savior,
who died for us, And we have nothing to fear. Thank the Lord. In the spirit,
amen. We pray in the Father, in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you, Lord Jesus, for giving
us here tonight to do the gospel, the truth, and our faith. with that precious blood that
she had on that cross. For she put undeserving sins,
hell-deserving sins, but without the shedding of blood, we know
that there is no remission. When He took the blood that was
for me and put away our sins, I was less a sin over. All this narrative, forget that
old narrative, lay that aside, look to Christ every moment of
every day. In His name we pray, amen. Get up. I'll take my wheelies
in there for a long time. Thank you. I love y'all. Thank God for you. You're such
a blessing. th th Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. th th