We're going to be in chapter
12 of Hebrews, and we've been already in this. I'm going to look at some of
these verses we already kind of looked at. Hebrews chapter
12 says, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about, with
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him
that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
ye be wearied and faint in your minds." Now, as we have sought
to point out, and you might get tired of hearing this, but it's
good that we keep this ever in our mind, the purpose of the
writing of this book to the Hebrews was because of the fact that
many of them of those early Hebrew believers because they were compassed
about by a great crowd of naysayers and because they were compassed
about with their traditions and their religious concepts that
were instilled in them from youth as time went on, they by nature
as men will do, if left to ourselves, we will all depart from the faith.
There is not a man, woman, boy or girl who has ever confessed
Christ who would not, if left to their own devices and in their
own power, let loose in the world without the sustaining grace
of God to keep them from falling, every one of us would fall. There's
not one of us in here that has the strength and the power in
and of ourselves to stand firm and true. Now, the Lord demonstrated
that. Peter was a man who was a man's
man, and he was determined that he could stand, didn't he? I mean, he said, when all the
rest of them have fell by the wayside, Lord, I'll be standing
right there with you. And he meant that. And he believed
that. He thought it was true. But the
Lord said to Peter, Peter, before the night is ended, before the
cock crows, you will deny me three times. And guess what happened? You
know, Peter said, I'm sure Peter said, it ain't going to happen.
Not me. Now, these other guys, I've seen
them. As we walked along the way, I've
seen their weaknesses. They can't take it. Not me. But what did he do? He denied
the Lord. Now why did the Lord bring him
through that? Why did the Lord ordain that
that was going to occur? To teach Peter that he had no
strength of his own. That any strength that he had
came from the Lord. Now the way, you know the Lord,
He preserves His people, but He also uses the exaltations
of the Word through the power of the Spirit of God to apply
that Word to their hearts to keep them from falling. That's
the manner and means in which He does that. And that's why
Paul in writing this letter, as I believe that he did, he
says in one place, forsake not the assembling of yourselves
together. And so much the more so as you
see the day approaching. Why? Because we need the strength
that God is pleased to minister to His people through the gathering
together of the saints of God. No man's an island. We can't
stand by ourselves. The Lord has seen fit to preserve
us through the means that He's prescribed in the Scripture.
And if a man neglects that, then he does so to his own peril. And so it is that he's writing
here to these Hebrews and keeping in mind that they are compassed
about with so great a crowd of naysayers. Y'all need to get... That's a bunch of baloney there
that you're looking at. I mean, you need to get away
from those fanatics. You need to come on back over
here into the more comfortable realms of religion that you grew
up with. See, we're compassed about with
all kinds of witnesses of every kind. Well, in writing this book
after he has given this 11th chapter of Hebrews and shown
all of these people who died in the faith not having received
the promises, he said we're compassed about with this great cloud of
witnesses. These all didn't even ever get
their hands on that which is presented right into your lap. And he said, they confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims and sojourners in the earth.
They, having never received the promises, nonetheless, by the
grace of God, walked in faith in that which the Lord, and were
willing to even lay down their own lives, for that which the
Lord had given them. And so, therefore, seeing we
are also compassed about with this great cloud of witnesses,
now we've all heard men take this passage out of context and
say, oh, you know, it's like the angels and all the saints
are looking over the banisters of heaven and they're looking
down to see what we're doing. That's not what that's talking
about. The cloud of witnesses is the
cloud of witnesses that are mentioned here in the 11th chapter. That's
who the cloud of witnesses is. Now how do we know that? Well,
we know that simply by reading the context and not pulling a
verse out of the context. But one thing that bears witness
to it is the word that is translated as witness
is the word we get our English word martyr from. Martos. So that is what he's saying here,
that we're compassed about with so great a cloud of martyrs,
men who died in the faith, men who died for the faith. And he
said, therefore, if that be true, let's not be persuaded by this
cloud of witnesses that would turn us away, but he says we're
compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses, therefore,
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily
beset us. Let us lay aside every weight.
Now what is a weight? A weight is something that's
a hindrance. It's something that holds us
back. Now in their case, what was the greatest hindrance they
had? The law. The law and all of the
ramifications concerning that and the mindset that those that
served the law had, that this was the thing that was going
to save them. How many men believe that there
is some measure of righteousness which they can measure, can bring
up in their own self that will give them a standing with God?
Men think righteous men are the ones God saves, do they not?
I mean, if you had to go across the land and pick out the people
that were God's people, you'd start off by picking out all
the good folks, wouldn't you? I mean, that'd be the ones you'd
figure was it. But it's not the good folks. But it's the folks that God is
pleased to make good by giving them a desire to worship and
serve the living Christ. Now, there are many of God's
people that go about doing good deeds. I mean, that is the characteristic
of the people of God. But just because a man does good
deeds is no measure that he is a man of faith, a man of trust,
a man whom the Lord has loved from before the foundation of
the world. But He said, Let us lay aside every weight, whatever
an hindrance is, whether it be things that other people that
would tie us down or whether it be weights, hindrances in
our own lives. Let's lay it aside. It may be
our family. Now, are we saying that we should
abandon our families? No, not at all. A man that provides
not for his own is worse than an infidel, the Scripture says.
But sometimes as we run the race, maybe we might have family members
that would hold us back. When the disciples came to the
Lord Jesus and they said, Hey, your mother and your brothers
and sisters are outside and they want to see you. He said, This is my mother and my brothers
and my sisters. It's not my natural family. Now
while we love our natural family in a natural way, sometimes natural
families are a hindrance. They're a weight that would keep
us back. The Lord said, except a man hate
his father and mother and come and follow me. He cannot be my
disciple. Now, did he mean that we're literally
to hate our mothers and fathers? I mean, we're to actively say,
I'm going to hate them? Well, of course not. But what
he meant was, we must love the things of God more than the things
of nature. That is that which the Spirit
of God would work in us. And we're to lay aside every
weight, whatever it might be, Hobbies or whatever, you know,
there's nothing that can bring God's people into condemnation.
But there are many things that are hindrances unto God's people.
Paul said, all things are lawful to me, but all things are not
expedient. I mean, there's many things.
There's nothing that can separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus. Not a thing in the world. But
there are things that hinder our fellowship with Him. There
are things that hinder our walk with Him. And so he says, we
see these men who had reason, if they had thought about it,
they could have returned. Abraham could have went back
to her of the Chaldeans. He could have went back to his
relatives. He could have went back to the riches that he had. But the Lord called him out and
he said, I'm going and I'm not going back. Just like the Lord
said, a man having put his hand to the plow and looking back
is not worthy of the kingdom of God. So it is that the Lord
calls his people to press on. As Paul said, I press to the
mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus, leaving
those things that are behind, pressing forward, forgetting
the past, moving on. You see, the past is often a
hindrance to us. And looking around and saying,
well, you know, this is kind of an oddball way to look at
things. I mean, the multitude doesn't
go this way. Lay aside that weight. That's
what he says. Press on. Run the race. Let us lay aside every weight.
Now, the picture, of course, is running as is running a race. And if you're going to run a race,
you're not going to go down there with an overcoat on and two or
three pairs of pants on. It's a big old heavy combat boots,
what are you going to do? You are going to carry the least
amount that you can with you to run that race. Lay aside everything
that would weigh you down in this course. That is what we
are counseled to do. And then he says, if we are going
to lay aside every weight, every hindrance, let us also lay aside
the sin which doth so easily beset us." Now, what is the sin
that doth so easily beset us that he is specifically referring
to? Now, obviously, sin is that which we are always seeking to
depart from. The Lord said, sin not. I mean, our goal is not to sin. Our goal is not to sin. And we ought to be in that sense
laying those sins aside. That's not what he's talking
about specifically here, I do not believe. I think what he's
talking about here is a specific sin. And it is common to every
man, woman, boy and girl who would be called to walk in the
way of Christ. It is the sin of unbelief. Now
that's the problem they were having, was it not? I mean, they
believed, but then what happened? As they went along, little seeds
of doubt crept into their mind. People got their ear, and they
started wondering, well, you know, maybe I've moved too hastily
here, or whatever it was. And they began to question the
things of God. Now, there's nothing in the world
wrong with being skeptical. Nothing wrong with questioning
things. Remember the Bereans, they questioned
everything that Paul said to them. They searched the Scriptures
to see if these things were so. Certainly nothing wrong with
analyzing what it is we believe. But you see, once the Lord has
taught us the truth, Let's lay aside the sin of unbelief that
keeps coming creeping back into our mind and we keep entertaining
it. Well, maybe the Lord doesn't
actually save His elect after all. Maybe there is something
that we need to do. Maybe we do need to go back under
the law. Maybe it would be a good thing
if we walked according to the commandments rather than according
to the grace of God as revealed to us in Christ. Maybe that would
be the way to go. Let's lay aside the sin that
doth so easily beset us. You know, how often it is that
in our... I mean, the Lord has over and
over again witnessed to us of His love and His mercy. constantly
reminded of us in this book. And how often is it that we begin
to doubt that God means to save everyone that calls upon His
name? Because, you see, what we do
many times is we get to thinking in our mind, well, the Lord will
save everybody that calls on His name, but I'm a special case.
I don't believe He's going to save me. I've called on Him. I've even from time to time loved
His Word. But I couldn't possibly be one
of His. Now brethren, I believe that's
a sin that does so easily beset you. The Lord said, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now I'm
not talking about just praying some little old rote prayer,
I'm talking to the people who called upon the name of the Lord.
I'm talking about people who have been moved in the depths
of their soul to cry out to God for mercy, having seen themselves
to be sinners, unworthy of the least of the Lord's mercies.
Now I'm telling you this, God does not bring a man to a place
like that to abandon him. He will save those that call
upon His name. He will save those who cleave
unto Him. He will save those who are not
ashamed to own His name. Let us lay aside the sin that
doth so easily beset us, which is common to all of us in our
doubtings and fears, and let us run with patience. Let us run. Here it is again,
the race. Let us run. That is, let's go
forward. Let's move on. Let's don't go
back. Over here in the fourth chapter,
he said, leaving the principles, leaving the categories of the
law and all of these ceremonies and things or whatever it is
that might bring us back to the place we were, he said, let us
run with patience. Now that word patience there
could also be translated as cheerfulness. Let us run with cheerfulness
the race that is set before us. But patience, we know what patience
is. My mother, she always used to
delight in saying, patience is a virtue, possess it if you can. It is seldom in a woman, but
it's never in a man. Of course, you can kind of change
that around also if you want to. Patience is a needful thing for
the children of God. For we receive that if we do
wait with patience. You see, hope is a thing that
requires patience. Now, what you have that you can
put your hand on, that doesn't take any patience. You've got
that. But to wait upon the Lord, that requires patience. And that's
what he said, let us run the race with patience. Because you
see, this is not a sprint, but it is a marathon. Now, if a man
is impatient, now when you're running a short race, if you're
running the 60-yard dash or the 100-yard dash, I'm showing my
age, I guess they don't even run that anymore, it's the 100
meters, isn't it? But if you're going to run a
hundred meter race, there ain't no patience involved in that.
Because you're just going to run wide open just fast as you
can, hard as you can. But if you try that in a marathon,
you're not going to get very far. And so that's why I said
run the race with patience, waiting upon the Lord. the race that's set before us.
Now, what does that mean, it's set before us? Well, you know,
if you said, I'm going to go run a race, and you just said,
well, I'm going down to Brantford to run a race, and you drove
down to Brantford, you went out to the track, and nobody was
there, it wouldn't be much of a race, would it? Why? Because
nobody else knew about it. It wasn't a scheduled event.
Dear brethren, this is a scheduled event for the people of God.
You see, the Lord has determined that we would run a race and
He has put the competitors to the line. And He has advertised
this. He has manifested it. He said,
this is what my people are going to do. This is the race that
I have designed for them. the race that's set before us.
It's set out there before us now. The good thing about this
race is that we're not the first one that ever ran it. And this
is a race that doesn't depend on our ability to run. It doesn't depend on our ability
to endure. It doesn't depend on our ability
to lay aside the weight. or lay aside the sin that does
so easily beset us. But this is a race that has already
been run by one who has finished the course and he is triumphant. And what he calls us to do is
not to go down here and somehow or other concoct our own way
of winning the race. But he says, and finish the race
in my victory." You see, He's already won the victory. We're
already victors. We're conquerors. We're more
than conquerors in Jesus Christ. The race is already run, dear
brethren, but yet we're counseled to run it. Now, a man who's devoid
of the understanding of the Spirit of God, he could never have any
understanding whatsoever of that. But yet the Lord exhorts us to
run as though we must win the race, but he also exhorts us
to run, knowing that one has already run, won the race that
he has set before us. Because what does he say here?
Run the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher, the one who has both designed and constructed
our faith. He didn't simply set forth, didn't
just make this as an open-ended deal to sit out here and wonder. He's not sitting at the finish
line wondering how many is going to make it across. So you see,
He's already designed who's going to make it across. It's according
to His will. According to His purpose. It's
according to His mercy. It's according to His grace.
So let's look unto Him who is the author and the finisher of
our faith. What is the faith? It's the faith
of God's elect. And who is the one who has finished
the work necessary for faith? You see, faith without works,
the Scripture says, is dead. James said, you say you have
faith. He said, I'll show you my faith
by my works. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ has
demonstrated His faith by His works, did He not? And what is
it, whose faith is it that we are saved by? His. Paul said, I am crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live, I live by what? The faith
of the Son of God. Now some of the newer translations
say faith in the Son of God. The King James is correct. It
says the faith of the Son of God. It is the faith of Christ. It is that faith which Christ
has designed. It is that faith which Christ
has given to His people. It is the gift of faith. It is
that which He is the author. and the finisher of our faith.
Now look at what it says here. It says, Who for the joy that
was set before Him. The joy that was set before Him.
The cheerfulness. He was cheerful. He was glad. The Scripture says that He shall
see the travail of His soul and be satisfied. Who for the joy
that was set before Him. The thing that He designed, that
He desired, is the thing that He has possessed. And He has
run this race with patience. He endured everything that was
set out for Him to endure. He didn't cut corners. Now you
and I, we can... You know, it's an amazing thing.
I think about this sometimes and think how really dumb it
is. We know we need exercise, and
even I try to walk and exercise every day. A lot of times I don't
get around to doing it, but I know I need to do that. But, you know,
I'll go to the grocery store, and I'll drive around in the
parking lot trying to get as close to the door as I can. Now, you know, if we really had
it in our mind that we needed to exercise, we'd park out there
at the back of the parking lot, would we not, and walk all the
way out there. But, you know, we'll spend, and
we'll get mad at somebody because they got our parking place right
up very close. But the Lord Jesus Christ, for
the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, but He
delighted in the journey. It was a thing that he delighted
in because it was a thing that he designed. Now men thought
that they had taken him by wicked hands and crucified, but it was
foreordained. It's what we read in the book
of Acts. The Lord ordered those things to occur. He prayed, Father,
let this cup pass from me, but yet he patiently and willingly
endured that which He designed as the means of our salvation,
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. Now, endurance is not a thing
that is bad, although we often think of it of enduring. Oh,
we endured pain. He endured pain, but He gladly endured pain. He
willingly endured the pain. He did that for a purpose. He set it forth before us that
He would do that and He accomplished it. He didn't endure the cross
only to be disappointed. Now I know that it is a popular
message among many that call themselves
Christians, that the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross and
endured the suffering and shame and He just hoped that somebody would take advantage of it. What
a foolish thing. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
only the author of salvation, He's the finisher of it as well.
And everyone for whom Christ paid the price of sin on Calvary's
cross shall indeed endure to the end. They shall be saved. They shall be brought unto Him
because He has purchased them with His own blood. They are
bought with a price. They belong to Him. He has finished
the work which the Father gave Him to do. who for the joy that
was before him endured the cross, despising the shame." Now, what
that means is that He didn't care if men laughed at Him. He didn't care that there was
pain involved. He didn't care that it was not
easy. You know, there's many, I mean,
that say, oh, we want to be the children of God. We want to walk
with Christ. And then when the first little
bit of trouble comes along, they say, oh, this is not for us.
I mean, the Lord talked about it, didn't He? He said some seed
fell on shallow ground, and He said it sprouted up quickly,
but because it had no root, it withered away. There's nothing
more common than many who jump out there and they say, we're
going to run the race, and they get about to the first corner,
and they've got to turn, and that's about as far as they go.
Now, the truth is that none of us would get past the first step
apart from the grace of God. But the Lord demonstrates those
who belong to Him by causing them to endure to the end. Because
He said, He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
Now why do they endure to the end? Is it because they are a
cut above the others? No. It's because He's the author
and the finisher of our faith. He finished the work which the
Father gave Him to do, and He will bring those to Himself. He said, Ahold that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. He is the author and the finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame. He didn't care about what was
involved in it, and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. Now this is quite descriptive
language. He is sat down at the right hand
that is the place of power of the throne of God. Now the throne
of God doesn't have but one seat. The throne of God has one seat
and Jesus Christ is seated there. Thomas said, Lord, show us the
Father, and it will suffice us. The Lord said to Thomas, Thomas,
have I been so long time with you, and you have not known me? He said, He that has seen me
has seen the Father. Now that's as clear as a bell
in the Scripture, is it not? He's not a secondary God. He
is God. He said, I am the Father of One. His name shall be called the
Everlasting Father. And so what a glorious thing
it is when we consider that He is not seated on some secondary
throne, but He is seated on the very throne of God. He is at
the right hand of power. He is that One unto whom all
power is given. No man hath seen God at any time. He that is in the bosom of the
Father, He hath declared Him. The manifestation of God unto
men, unto us, is Jesus Christ. He has shown Himself unto us. He has manifested Himself unto
us. He has walked among us, and He has purchased our redemption. For consider Him that endured
such contradictions of sinners against Himself. Who was His
friend? I mean, ultimately. He didn't have any friends, did
He? His mother and John, they were
there at the cross, but the fact of the matter is that He endured
the suffering alone. No man stood with Him. No man
helped Him, but by Himself He purchased our redemption. For consider Him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be weary
and faint in your minds. Consider Him. You see, everything
that we're called to do in the Christian faith is wrapped up
in considering Christ. Would we want to know how we
should live our lives? Look at Christ. Would we want
to know where our salvation is? Look at Christ. Would we want
to know If men are raised from the dead, look at Christ who
is our life. Dear brethren, everything that
is contained in the Christian faith is found in Jesus Christ. He is 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 sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God. He is that One
to whom all men may look. He is that One who will deceive
none. He is that One who will cast
none away who call upon Him. He is a God full of mercy and
kindness, and He has shown it as He has despised the shame
that men would bring upon Him. He is the Savior of sinners.
As such, men must come to Him, and those that come to Him in
that fashion shall never be cast out. May the Lord help us.