Hebrews 12. And I want to talk today about a believer's life. A believer's
life. A Christian's life. And you know I talked about our
Lord Jesus enduring the contradiction of sinners against Himself. They
called him basil bub, wine bibber, called him a sinner, denied and
betrayed, denied by his disciples, betrayed by Judas. And he come
here to do something for sinners and sinners treated him so cruelly,
said such awful things about him. And He tells us this, lest
we be wearied. If Christ did that, lest we be
wearied, it fainted in our minds. Now He strove against sin unto
blood. Our Lord Jesus Christ was so
against sin that He shed His blood to put it away. You and
I have not done that yet. It has not cost us a drop of
blood for us to strive against sin. We've never yet resisted,
never been in a situation where we had to resist sin and shed
blood for it. Never been that way. But a believer's
life, I think the greatest characteristic of a believer is that he has
life. He has life. And he has eternal
life. Eternal life. Not just life,
eternal life. The very life of God in his soul. That's what it is. The very life
of God in his soul. In his very being. Paul says, there's Christ in
you. That's the hope of glory. And
our Lord Jesus Christ, he said, this is eternal life. that they
might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou
didst send. You know, and it says again,
Paul says, you know, the life that I now live, I live in the
flesh, I live not in the flesh but by the faith of the Son of
God, now listen to it, which liveth in me. Christ in you is
the hope of glory. And then we're made partakers
of divine nature, the scriptures tells us. And being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible. How? Being born again. Not by corruptible seed, but
incorruptible. By the Word of God, by the Gospel,
which is preached unto you. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
a man had to be born again, had to be born from above. And if
you're born of flesh, that's all you'll ever be. But he said,
when the Spirit, when He has come, you become a spiritual
person. You enter into the Kingdom of
God. And I tell you what, and that's what eternal life, it's
not just how long it's going to last, it's the quality of
life it is. When God enters a man's soul,
I mean, He goes from death to life. He goes from darkness into the
light. And God compared it to a creation. He said, as God commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, He has shined in our heart. Just
like He said, let there be light, and there was darkness all around.
God said, let there be light, and light come. Sun began to
shine. Well, that's what He did. He
shined in our hearts. He commanded the light to come
into our hearts. and when He commanded that light
to come into our hearts He made us to understand that all salvation
is in the person and in the glory of His blessed Son the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what the light is all
about. That's what God calls it to happen. And we've been
quickened, quickened together with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
here in these verses that I've read, the first couple of great
verses, there are several identifying traits and characteristics of
a believer's life. And they're found here, so let's
look at them together. Let's look at them together.
And here in verse, I want to look at these first two verses.
Now look what it says. And here's the first thing. A
believer's life is an active life. Look what he says. Let
us run the race. Let us run the race. Run the
race. And you know we're in a race.
John Bunyan's got a message called running the race. And a person
running a race is not asleep. He's active. He's moving. And
he has a goal in aim. He has an end mark. He has a
finishing time. He has a finishing place. Let
us run the race. And he has a goal and a name.
Now you keep Hebrews and look over here in Philippians with
me. In Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. Go back over to your left and
find Philippians. And we're in a race. And you
know what we're racing against? We're racing against this aggravating,
miserable, wretched flesh. Oh, what a race to go out to
race against this flesh. This flesh is so, there's no
good thing that dwells in it. It's a burden to us. Paul called
it as a dead man, tearing a dead man around. And you know, here
he says in Philippians 3.13, look what he says here now. Brethren, I count not myself
to apprehend it. What he's telling us here, I've
not arrived yet. I've not been perfected yet.
I've not apprehended all the things that God has for me. And
I've not apprehended all the reasons that Christ did what
he did for me. But this one thing I do, I'm
doing just this one thing. Forgetting those things that
are behind. I'm going to forget my false
profession. I'm going to forget my experience.
I'm going to forget every accomplishment I've ever made. I'm going to
forget my ambitions. I'm going to forget all the lies.
I'm going to forget it. I'm going to forget all the things
that I did before. Those things that are behind
and I'm reaching. Reaching out now unto those things
which are before. What's before us? Christ is before
us. Eternal life is before us. Righteousness
is before us. Forgiveness is before us. So
many things before us. Eternal life and rest with Christ
is before us. And look what he says. And I
press I'm pressing. While I'm reaching out, I'm pressing
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. So what are we racing against?
If you're running a race, you're racing against your flesh. And
I've been running since 1994. And you know what? This flesh
has kept me from... I've got slower. I run less,
I run less miles. This flesh keeps me from that.
And this flesh keeps us from this race that we're running
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the world, oh the world,
oh my goodness, how it sometimes catches our attention. Oh, it
gets our, you know, things glistening out here in the world. Things
look good and things look wonderful and all that, and we'll get caught
up in the world. And we're running against apathy. Apathy. Oh, do you ever have apathy?
Are you ever apathetic? Were you just lethargy? Discouragement? Disappointment? Oh, we're running against all
those things. You get discouraged and you say,
well, I can't run anymore. But you still got to run. And I tell you, if you're of
the opinion you aren't going fast enough, You don't have to
go fast. You aren't covering any ground.
You'll think, boy, I ain't moved a peg. No, not when it comes
to gospel we haven't. But you think, I ain't gaining
any ground. I'm not going forward any at all. But you gotta keep running. God
help us to be like our master, to set our face like friend towards
the Lord Jesus Christ in the end of this thing. Cause that's
the end, is Him. And then not only is it a active
life, let's run the race. And I tell you, you know when
you run a race and run a race and I tell you what, if you start
out too fast, you're gonna burn out. If you don't persevere, you'll
stop. But you've got to have something
to give you energy to go. You've got to have the Word,
you've got to have the water, you've got to have the bread,
you've got to have Christ. And I tell you, that's the end
of our race is the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it's an orderly
life. Look what it says, the race that
is set before us. It's the race that's set before
us. Now when we talk about a race,
it's not a race at random. Well, I'm just going to get up
and run today. I'm just, you know, I don't know where I'm
going to go, don't know what I'm going to do. We are running uncertainly. Now let me show you that. Look
over here, back over here to 1 Corinthians 9. Look back over
here in 1 Corinthians 9. Look what the apostle says here
in verse 24. There's a race set before us,
that's set before us. A race set before us. Look what
he said here now. 1 Corinthians 9.24, Know ye not
that they which run in a race run all? Run the whole race. But all of them run, but only
one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain. And
every man that striveth for the mastery is tempered in all things. If you're going to be good at
it, you've got to keep your body under subjection. Now they do
it, they run this race to obtain a corruptible crown. But we're running a race for
an incorruptible crown. And I therefore shall run. That's
what Paul said. I therefore shall run, not as
uncertainly. I'm not out here just running
for the sake of doing it. He said, I therefore run, not
as uncertainly. So fight I, not as one that beats
the air. I'm not shadow boxing. But I
keep unto my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that
by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be
a castaway. Now this race is set before us.
Let me say something about it. Our course is laid out for us.
You know who laid it out for us? God laid it out for us. And it's well defined for us.
This course is well defined for us, laid out in this blessed
book right here. What's the course we're supposed
to take? What this Bible says. What this Word of God says. It
tells us God laid out the course in His Word. Our Lord Jesus made
it plain. He said, follow Me. Come unto
Me. He that hath a son hath life. And our Lord Jesus Christ showed
us when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said, Father,
if it be possible, let this come pass from Me. But if not, not
My will, but thine be done." That's the way we got to go through
this. Not my will, but thy will be
done. Our Lord Jesus said that. And
I'll tell you something, God our Lord, He says this, He magnified
His Word above His name. Now what in the world does that
mean? That here is His, this is His Word. And He magnified. Do you know what magnified? Make
it bigger. God said, I magnified the Word above my own name. What
did he mean by that? He said what he says is that
heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall never pass
away. And what he says is I can make
another world. I can create as many worlds as
I want to. I can create as many races as
I want to. I can do whatever I want. I can
create out of nothing. The one thing I will not do,
I will not give another word than I've already given. That's
what He's saying, huh? There'll never be another word,
never be another revelation. And God's laid out the course
for us. He's laid it out. And I'm telling
you what, He said it's straight. He said it's narrow. And get it on, He said, and it
leans. It leans you somewhere. Oh my. Our course is laid out for us.
And I'm grateful that it is. I don't have to figure out what
I'm supposed to do, where I'm supposed to say, what I'm supposed
to say, what I'm supposed to believe, what I'm supposed to
practice. I don't have to be worried. I don't have to be concerned
about what God says about this or what God says about that.
But there's two men one time that's going to run a race in
the Scripture. 2 Samuel 18. You can read it
when you get home. About Ahimaaz and Cushai. Absalom, David's son, who tried
to take David's throne, died. They'd thrown him in a pit and
put a bunch of rocks over him. Cushi was there and he saw it.
Joab said, Cushi, you run and tell the king what you saw. Oh, I hear my ass said, let me run.
No. You ain't got no message for
the king. You ain't got nothing to say. So Kushai, he took off running. He had something to say to the
king. He had a message, something he saw in himself. And after
a while, he said, listen, I'm going to run too. He said, let
me run. And it was in a great big capital
letters. He said, let me run. And so he said, go. And here
I run, Kushai. And he got up there. And the
king says, you got a message for me? No, I just know what some folks
said about some things. He said, stand over here out
of the way. Kush, I run up there. He said, you got something to
say? He said, yes. I tell you what I seen. And beloved,
one of them was shipped on a course. He had a course and he stayed
on that course. that he had a message and we
all got a message we all got a course and God's the one that
told us to run this race with patience and he laid out the
course for us we don't have to get up tomorrow morning and say
well what in the world's God got in store for me today we
know what he's got in store for us He's got another day that
He's given us. He's got another day that He
got us out of bed. He's got another day that belongs
to Him. He's got another day that He
got us up and gave us the strength, the will, and the ability to
do whatever we have to do. And do you know what we'll know
what His will for us will be tomorrow? When we get to the
end of the day, tomorrow night. And whatever it is that day,
it'll be just fine. I'll get up and I'll run my course
tomorrow and you'll run your course by the grace of God. And
every day you'll get up and you'll run a course. And one of these
days you'll get up and you'll get to the end of it. And we'll
get to do so and so. The Lord called him home. Well,
he's at the end of the race. He got to the end of the course. Alright, then it's a persevering
life. Look what he said here also back
over here in Hebrews 12. persevering life look what he says there he said
let us run with patience run with patience run with patience
you know and then he says there in verse 3 consider him that's
the thing that you do that's the only way you can run with
patience Consider Him. Consider the Lord Jesus Christ,
lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. You know, everybody
in Hebrews chapter 11, here in the 11th chapter, every one of
those persevered in the face of a multitude of obstacles.
Abraham didn't even know where he was going, but he went out.
Abraham, Jacob, them, they all dwelt in tents. But I tell you
it's all about those who persevered in the face of a multitude of
obstacles. And look what he says down here in verse 12. Wherefore lift up the hands which
hang down in the feeble knees. Now how in the world if your
hands are hanging down? This is what we're talking about. You know somebody comes to you,
how do you feel? Well, you know. That's what he's talking about.
Hands hanging down, head hanging down. He said, you know what? Now how in the world are you
going to lift up the hands which hang down? How are you going
to do it? You're just going to say, well, I'm going to straighten
myself up. I'm going to get out of this
mess that I'm in. You know how you lift up your
hands? Hearing the gospel. You come in here and your hands
and head will be hanging down. And you'll feel like, boy, I'm
whipped. But you start hearing the gospel. Start hearing the
word of God. Them arms start coming up. That
head starts coming up. And them knees, you know, you
thought, boy, I ain't going to be able to go. I can't go another
step. Them knees get strong and away you go. Huh? And you know what? And that's
persevering, running with patience. Patience. Oh, listen, it takes
patience. You know, let me show you. Keep
Hebrews. Look in Romans 5. Look in Romans
5. That's what, you know, Paul told
the The Thessalonians, he said, be not weary in well-doing. Look in Romans 5 with me. You
know, I could quote these verses and we've looked at them before,
but look what he says here. You know, look at all the things
that happened to those in Hebrews 11. Oh, those people, those people,
oh. Moses, 40 years on the backside
of the devil, desert. I get right on the back side
of the desert and I kiss the devil too. But anyway, do you
know it took patience to stay back there for 40 years. And
then he had to deal with Pharaoh and them and deal with the murmuring,
complaining, whining millions of people on the way through
the desert for 40 years he had to deal with a bunch of whining,
murmuring, complaining, groaning, crying. A bunch of people all
the way through the desert for 40 years. Patience. Our Lord Jesus said
like this, In your patience possess you your soul. In your patience possess you
your soul. Now look what He said here. I
want you to look in verse 3. We glory in tribulations. Now
not right when we're going through them, but we glory when we get
through these things. And this is the reason we glory
in them and rejoice in them and thank God for them, knowing that
tribulation works patience. You've never been in a trial
and every one of us has been in different trials at different
times in our lives. That's what that tribulation
means. Tribulation, we've all been through them over and over
and over again. Some of you have been through
some gruesome, terrible, awful things. Losing sons, losing daughters,
having bad health. And I tell you what, just an
awful shit. You know, and you go through
all these tribulations. And then you get through that
and another trial comes. And after a while you understand
that God has got me through that one. He got me through this one.
He got me through another one. I've seen Him get these people
through that. And I saw the grace of God. I saw the grace that that shows their weakness is
made perfect in His strength and I see grace working in them
and then you say well listen God ain't never failed me yet
so I'm just going to keep on keeping on He's going to go on
and He's going to save me again and that's what it means that
we glory in tribulations because it works patience we just wait
and we'll get through that one we just wait and we get through
that we just wait and we get to the place where we just wait And one of these days we won't
wait anymore. But that's what tribulations does. It works patience
in us. Now watch this. This patience
works this experience. Like I just said, all the experiences
we've had and what God's done for us. And all these experiences
that God's put us through and He gave us the patience and He
saves us from them, that gives us hope. Oh what a blessed hope it is
and then look what this hope does and this hope makes us not
ashamed I may be in the awfulest trial I may be in the dark I may be hurt so bad I may be
oh God you only know what I'm going through And hope maketh
not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the trials.
I'm not ashamed of the tribulations. I'm not ashamed of the experiences. I'm not ashamed of the hope that
Christ gave me. Why? Because God spread abroad
in my heart His love. Thank God He put it right there. Oh, listen. Go back over to our
text now. I want you to see another thing
here. Hebrews 10.36. One page over from where we're
at. Look what it says here. You have need of patience. that after you have done the
will of God, you might receive the promise. Now listen to this,
for yet a little while, just a little while, just a little
while, He that shall come, He's going to come, and He's not going
to wait. He's not going to wait. Well,
what are we going to do until that happens? We're going to
live by faith. We're going to live by faith.
That's what we're going to do. We're going to persevere. And
I'll tell you what, it's a persevering life. Let me give you another
one here back over in our text in Hebrews 12. It's a believing life. It's a
believing life. Look what he said in verse 2.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Huh? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. You know, I've said this so many
times, our faith is objective. It's not subjective, it's objective. Everything that was done for
us was done outside ourselves. Everything that was done for
us. And our Lord Jesus Christ is the object of our faith. We're
looking unto Him. He's the one who started our
faith. He'll be the one to finish our faith. And the scripture
says we're saved by looking. Look unto me and be ye saved.
All the ends are there. So we're saved by looking. And we'll continue to look. Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And looking for
the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. We're
saved by Luke. Continue looking and we'll be
saved by Luke. And I tell you, beloved, and
let me say this. Listen to me. Listen to me. We
are looking to our faith. Faith did not die for our sins. Christ did. We are repentants. Never saved us. Christ did. We're
not looking to our knowledge, how much we know about Him. We're
looking to Christ who knows us. We're not going on about how
ignorant we are either. And I tell you, all of us are
so ignorant of so many things, but ignorance is nothing to glory
in either. We don't look to our ignorance,
we look to Christ. We don't look to, oh boy, I'm
up today, I feel great today, God's blessing me today. And
then tomorrow you're down. Well God ain't blessing me today.
We don't look to where we're up. We don't look to where we're
down. We don't go by our feelings. We look to Christ. You understand? We don't even look to our humility. Oh we ought to every one of us
be humble. Have humility. That's the grace
of all graces I say. We don't look to our prayer or
any experience that we've ever had. But we look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He alone is the Savior. He alone
died. He alone shed the blood. He alone
accomplished salvation by himself. Now all these things have a place. But never, never, never trust
in them. Never trust in them. None of
these things. And our faith never put away
one sin. Repentance never put away one's
sin. Repentance or faith never clears
the conscience. And there's no perfection in
any of them and it must be perfect to be accepted. We are looking
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. He began the faith and He'll
finish it. I'm going to show you Philippians
1.6. You know, I'm going to preach on this next week. I almost preached
on it this week. Philippians 1.6. You've got to
see this. You've got to see this. I tell
you, these things are such a blessing. Philippians 1.6. We're talking
about looking, you know, looking, looking,
looking. And you know when you pray, who
do you pray to? When you're looking in the scriptures,
who are you looking for? When you come to the services,
who do you want to hear about? Oh my. Look what he said here in Philippians
1.6. Being confident. Oh, here's a confident man. of
this very thing. He had one thing he was confident
about. And that was this, that He, God, which hath begun a good
work in you, what's going to happen? He hath begun a good work in
you, will, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. He starts it, whatever he starts
it, believe me, he's going to finish it. If man started it,
forget about it. If salvation is as good as who
saved you, if Christ saved you, it's good. It's perfect. Then go back over here in our
text with us. It's a self-denying life. Self-denying
life. Look what he said, let us, verse
one, let us lay aside every weight, every weight. Now what does it,
what does it mean? You know, our Lord Jesus said
in Matthew 16, 24, he that cometh unto me must deny himself. What is it that we lay aside
every weight? You know, if you go run, you
gotta, you wear the lightest clothes you can, you don't have
a whole, you're not encumbered with a lot of things. And if
you're going to run a race, you know, you ain't going to put
on 35 or 40 pounds and try to run. So he said, let's lay aside
these weights. Well, what's some weights that
we need to lay aside? Our own will. Oh, what a weight
our will is. Our wants and wishes and desires. Our thoughts. Our thoughts, lay
aside the weight of our thoughts. You go through the scriptures
and you find out all the people said, I thought, I thought. Nehemiah
said, I thought. Simon the sorcerer said, I thought. Our opinions, oh what a weight
our opinions are. And our attitudes, our attitudes
are the greatest weights to lay aside. or our opinions, our attitudes. Do you ever get disgusted with
your attitude? Oh, I get disgusted with mine. I get disgusted with
mine. Sure, they'll say to me, you
going to be like this all day? I hope not. I hope not. I'll lay aside that
weight. Has that ever been said to you?
You're going to be like this all day? But all my, those are weights,
attitudes, motives, things we say. And I tell you a weight
that we have is what we think a Christian is. Some people have
this ideal, it's an ideal of being a Christian. that they
have to dress in a certain way, say things in a certain way.
But a Christian, a Christian is a man who believes and trusts
Christ and Him alone. That's what a Christian is. They
were first called Christians in Antioch. Why? Because these
people believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for everything. And then I'll tell you another
way while we think about how somebody should live. We set
ourselves up to be the judge of how somebody ought to live.
Well, you know, bless his heart, Herman used to say to Ethel all
the time, if they ever find out up there at church what you're
really like, they'll put you out. He said, if they ever find
out what an awful sinner you are, they'll put you out. I said,
well, that's exactly why we come here, because we're sinners. Then you know he realized when
the Lord saved him what an awful thing it was to say. But oh what
we think about how somebody should live. I don't think they're living
like they should. I don't think they're living
right. I don't think that if they was
a believer they'd live this way, that way, and another way. When
I go somewhere to eat, when I get in my car, nobody knows I'm a
preacher. Nobody knows I'm a Christian. So how in the world are they
going to tell me how to live? I don't even, I don't tell you
how to live, so I surely hope you don't tell me how to live.
You know the Bible teaches us, we live by faith, that's what
the scripture says. We live by faith. And oh my,
and in our opinions, oh my our opinions, what a weight our opinions
are. You know, have you ever thought about your opinion, said,
boy, after I've voiced my opinion, you know, I said, why in the
world did I even say that? And what I said didn't amount
to nothing. When Saul said, but our opinions about what a preacher
is, what a preacher is, and our opinions about how he is to preach. And then we have an opinion about
how things ought to be dealt with. Well, I think we ought
to deal with it this way. I think the preacher ought to
deal with it that way. I think we ought to deal with things
this way. God tells us how to deal with things. God tells us
to. If you don't know what to do,
don't do nothing. And then, oh, listen, some other weights we
need to lay aside. Oh, the weight of self-righteousness.
Mm-mm-mm. That's the awfulest weight we
have. Self-righteousness. You say, well, I'm not yesterday. We all got so much in us that
if God didn't have mercy on us, if Christ wasn't our salvation
and our Savior, oh my, there wouldn't be no hope for anybody.
And then our indifference. Oh, our indifference sometimes.
Just indifferent about other people, indifference about their
feelings, indifference about what they're going to do, indifference
about the church. And then there's this weight
of self-absorption. Self-absorption. Let me say something
about that. Self-absorption is when you're
so consumed with yourself and your feelings and how everything affects you and you never ever
get outside yourself and what you think and what you feel and
how things affect you that you never think about how things
affect anybody else. Everything's about you. when it ought to be about Christ
and other, you know, carry one another's burdens. Love one another. Forgive one
another. Be kind, tender-hearted, and
patient one with another. In meekness and loneliness, let
others esteem others better than themselves. And then I tell you, here's another
weight, the weight of our past life. Oh, does that ever bother
you? Oh, my goodness. I can remember
things I've done when I was 12, 13 years old, and just, ah, laying
in bed at night. I just, oh, I get so sick of
myself. But, you know, the weight of
our past life, whether it was good or whether it was bad. And
Paul said, I keep under my body, under subjection. Lest I be cast
away, and lest I be disqualified from the ways. Now you keep Hebrews
12, look in Psalm 39. Psalm 39. Oh, this is a message in itself
here in Psalm 39. Look at these first five verses.
Look what David said here. I said, David said, I said, how
many times have we said this? I said I will take heed to my
ways. You ever said that to yourself?
That I said not with my tongue, I'll keep my mouth with a bridle.
You put a bridle in a horse to keep, you said I'm gonna keep
my mouth, I'm gonna put a bridle in my mouth. While the wicked
is before me. I was done with silence. I held
my peace, even from good, and my sorrow was stirred, I was
in trouble, my heart was troubled. My heart was hot within me while
I was musing, while I was thinking. The fire burned. Then spake I
with my tongue. What did he say? Lord, make me
to know my end. Make me to know the measure of
my days. and what it is that I may know
how frail I am. Behold thou smite my days as
a hand's breath. That's a hand breath right there. And my ages as nothing before
thee. Verily man at his best estate
is altogether vain. Self-denying life. All right,
then go back over here to Hebrews 12. I'm going to wind this thing
up if I can. A hopeful life. What a blessed
hopeful life we have. Look what it says there in verse 2. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Now that's what I want to look
at. Who for the joy that was set before him. He had a joy
that was set before Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ even told
us, says, My joy will be in you. What joy was set before Him?
The joy that He would finish the work the Father gave Him.
That He would satisfy the Father with the travail of His soul.
And God would see the travail of His soul. And that He would
see His people And that He would receive His people and see His
seed before Him forever on the travail of His soul. That He
would see His seed and God would save them seed. And now He, He
had a joy set before Him to receive us, to have us. That's what He's
talking about. Now He is the joy that's set
before us. He's the joy set before us. Our
hope is a good hope based on God's Word. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
He told us, you know, He says, He says, you know that the joy
that I had, I leave with you. And beloved, the joy. You know, our meetings, they
talk about the joy bells ringing. Listen, they don't rain, but
I tell you, we have joy. I have joy right this minute.
Oh, I have joy. Joy is a, it's a, it's a, it's
a, it's something that when you, when you, you know, full of He said, and 1 Peter says, you
know that we are hopeful and joyful having not seen, we rejoice
with joy unspeakable. And this joy that we're talking
about is when you cannot think of Christ and what's going to
be the end of your life and what Christ is going to be like and
without not producing joy in your heart. You can't think of
it. You know, you ever get with people
and just go to talking about the scriptures and things and
be talking about with them and visiting with them, driving along
with them, get talking. Next thing you know, you're so
full of joy you can't understand yourself. That happens. I used to get on the phone with
your mother and your mother sat here and on the way out, she'd
fill my heart with joy talking about Christ and going to be
with the Lord. She'd just fill my heart with
joy just listening to her. Oh, what a blessing. Blessed
is the thing that is joyous. We surely get talked about, we
get filled with joy. Oh boy, and then it's a public
life. Let me show you this, and I'm done. It's a public life. Back right there in verse one.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, Our life, we live a public life. All those
in chapter 11 were faithful, faithful to their master. God
bearing them record, God bearing witness to them. They were faithful
to their master. It says that Abraham went out
looking for a city which hath foundations laid by God himself. And they counted themselves as
strangers and counted themselves as pilgrims. And they lived public lives. They didn't go off and live in
caves and monasteries. We have to live in this world.
We have to live in our homes. We have to live in this world
right here that we're in. But while we're in this world,
while we're in this world, let us be faithful to Him. Looking
to Him. Be faithful to Him. In public,
when we're in public, let's be faithful to Him. And in private,
let's be faithful to Him. We got witnesses watching us.
We got people watching us. People are watching us. People
are watching us where we live. People are watching us where
you work. People are watching you at home.
People watch you when you play. And people watch you here. We
all watch one another. And we watch it. And the world's
watching. Our husbands are watching. Our
wives are watching. Our kids are watching. Our grandchildren
are watching. They're watching us. And we might
not even be conscious of it. But they come to conclusions
about us. Is he a believer? Does he trust Christ? Is he looking
to Christ? Is he faithful to Christ? And I tell you what, if they
don't believe you're a believer at home, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. Ain't you?
A believer's life. A believer's life. But thank
God that this life does not depend upon us. God started it. God will finish it. And you know
what? He'll keep us. He'll keep us
in this race. And you know how He'll do it?
I read it to you there. That every son whom He receiveth,
what does He do to them? He chastens them. A preacher
don't have to chasten anybody. I remember my kids growing up.
I got a husband. My son, when I'd get on him,
he'd just say, just put his head down and say, yeah, dad, I got
it coming. He'd even go get the belt. He'd stand there. And I'd say a word, oh, I got
it coming. It's hard to whip a young'un
like that. And that's the way we ought to
be a thought master. When we got it coming, just stand up
and take it. He'll certainly chase us. Oh yes. And then my daughter was just
the opposite. She never had anything coming. And when you got the
belt, she went to screaming and hollering and running and jumping.
She couldn't take chasing. But if we're God's, He's going
to chase us and He'll see. and chastens us to learn us,
to teach us. And He's teaching us. God, teach
us. Teach us, teach us Thy way. Teach
us Thy Word. Teach us Thy will. And do it
for Christ's sake. Amen. Father, thank You. Blessed be
Your Name for allowing us to meet here today. Thank You for
Your Word. Thank You for the saints' attention.
Thank you for your presence. Oh, thank you for your presence.
I bless you for it in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. I want us to sing 327 in the
hymn book. And this is to the tune of Majestic Sweetness. 327. Let's stand together. Yeah, this
is to the tune of... Oh, for a faith that will not
shrink, nor press by many a foe, that will not tremble, Nor complain we need the chase
we run But in the hour of grief or pain We'll need a bonus God
We'll need a bonus God A faith that shines more bright And when in danger knows no fear,
in darkness feels no doubt. In darkness feels no doubt. Forgive me such a failure. They stand now the hallowed bridges
of an eternal home. Of an eternal home.