But if you would, open your Bibles
to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. This evening,
Lord willing, I'll be preaching at Todd's Road Grace Church.
Coverage your prayers as we travel and preach. Lord willing, we'll
return home tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure you've seen the sign-up
sheet out in the vestibule. The 17th of this month, we're
going to have a church dinner to celebrate Clara Floyd's 20th
birthday. We look forward to that. Also,
tomorrow morning, I'm assuming, Dale Parker is scheduled for
a heart cath. He's having some pressure in
his chest. We want to remember him in prayer. And on a much
happier note, tomorrow, sometime, Lord willing, we're going to
have a brand new baby girl. We pray that the Lord give Tessa
and the baby a safe delivery. Haven't even seen the little
thing yet, we already love her, don't we? Pray God's mercy for
her. All right, Philippians chapter
three. We'll read the first 15 verses. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it's safe. Beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision, for
we are the circumcision. which worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more. Circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the
Hebrews is touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting
the church. touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I count as loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss. Everything about me, everything
I could do, I count but loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung. I've lost all those
things. I didn't lose anything, did I? All they are is dung.
That's all there were. I count them but dung. that I
may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may
know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect,
I follow after, if that I may apprehend, that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. My brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press, I press, I keep pressing toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us,
therefore, as many as be perfect, be mature, be thus minded. And
if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even
this unto you." Let's stand together as Mike leads us in singing our
call to worship. When oceans fast their depths
reveal And moons have ceased to wane, The Lamb who died and
rose again On Zion's hill shall remain. His name shall evermore
endure, When suns have ceased to shine, Then through eternity
the living sea Will sing His praise divine. As countless as the drops of
dew Or sands upon the shore, The blessings which the ransomed
have In Him forevermore. Let every other name recede His
name alone, excel in Him reserve. There is the grace to satisfy
my soul. Thank you. Be seated. Let's turn
now to, in the Red Book, 141. 141. That's a great song. It has great words. And a beautiful tune also. Look, ye Saints, the sight is
glorious. See the man of sorrows now. From the fight we turn victorious. Every knee to Crown Him, Crown
Him, Crown Him, Crown Him, Crown Him, Crown Him, Crown Him, Crown the Savior, angels crown
Him Rich the trophies Jesus bring In the seat of power enthrone
Him While the throne of heaven rings Crown Him, crown Him Crown
the Savior, King The King of Kings Sinners in derision crowned him,
mocking thus the Saviour's claim. Saints and angels crowd around
him, on his title praises made. Crown him, crown him, Shed upon
the victor's name. Hark! those bursts of acclamation! Hark! those loud triumphant chords! Jesus takes the highest station! Oh, what joy the sight abhorred! Crown Him, crown Him, King of
kings and Lord of lords. Great song. Turn to 216. If you from sin are longing to
be free, look to the Lamb of God. He to redeem you died on
Calvary. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. When Satan tempts and doubts
and fears assail, look to the Lamb of God. You in His strength shall over
all prevail. you Are you This love will cheer and fill
your heart with song. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. Fear not when shadows on your
pathway fall. Look to the Lamb of God. Enjoy your sorrow. Christ is all in all. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For he alone is able to save
you, good to the Lamb of God. If you would please open your
Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12, we'll read
the first four verses. We're foreseeing we are also
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 on the right hand of the
throne of God. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself. Lest you be
wearied and faint in your minds, you have not yet resisted unto
blood striving against sin. Look to the Lord in prayer. Our great Holy Heavenly Father,
we're thankful that you brought each one of us here this morning.
Thankful for this place you've given us, faithful teachers and
faithful pastor, a place where we can come and have the gospel
preached to us. We ask that you be with Frank
in this worship service, uphold him for this task of preaching
to us the gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ. Father, we're thankful
for your desire to save sinners,
your plan to save sinners in this and set your love on them for the foundation of the world. What a sacrifice was made from
our Savior. Give His body, let it be beaten
and broken and His blood shed to atone for sin. He took what
we deserved and put away our sin. Father, we're thankful for
His atoning word. Salvation is found in Him. We
thank Him for showing us our sinfulness, putting us in our
place, and causing us to bow and realize that our only hope
is the work that He's done. We ask you, Father, each day
to remind us it's nothing in us but all of our Savior and
His work. Thank you for His saving blood
that was shed. And yes, we'd be found in Him. Let's not be puffed up in ourselves
or anything we can do. Let's just hold up him and have
him be our only hope. Father, we ask that you be with
each one here in this assembly. Call us to receive the message
prepared and of course, our Savior, ask for you to be with those
that are going through upcoming surgical procedures. other items
and difficulties bodily. These bodies are weak. They don't
get stronger with age. They're getting weaker each year
that passes by. Help us through the times of
sickness and sorrow. Cause us to know that all the
trials that you send our way are to serve a purpose and they're
from you. Have us to look for purpose in
it. trials done in your movement, teach us, teach us about your
trials. As we leave here, after the worship service that you've
told us about, guide us and direct us each day. Give us wisdom,
decisions we need to make, cause us to be a helpful people to
one another and to go about our activities and our jobs and our
homes. Let us be good examples to those
that you've set apart as a Again, Father, we ask for a true spirit
of worship, and it's the hour to let us see more of our Savior. These things we ask and pray
in Christ's name, amen. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Come unto me and rest. Lay down, thou weary one, lay
down thy head upon my breast. I came to Jesus as I was, weary
and worn and sad. Oh, I've found in Him a resting
place, And He has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give. The living water, thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink and live. I came to Jesus, and I
drank Of that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul
revived, And now I live in Him. Oh, I heard the voice of Jesus
say, I am this dark world's light. Look unto me, thy morn shall
rise, and all thy days be bright. I look to Jesus and I found in
Him my star, my sun. And in that light All right,
if you would open your Bibles again to Hebrews
chapter 12. A passage Brother Wayne just
read for us. At the end of verse one, the
writer compares the believer's life to a foot race. The race
he's describing is not a hundred yard dash. The race he's describing
is a marathon. Many, many people could finish
a hundred yard dash. I mean, you might not be able
to dash the whole way, but you could finish it. Very few people
even attempt to run a marathon. A marathon is 26.2 miles. Don't forget that .2. I've run
two marathons, and this is what I can tell you I found out about
a marathon. It's hard. It's hard. Some miles, they go pretty easily. There's crowds cheering, bands
playing. Something happens, you just get
a burst of energy, you feel pretty good. Other miles seems like
they will never, ever end. There are times you feel so physically
drained you can't even think straight. I mean, everything
seems impossible. Not only are you physically exhausted,
you're mentally exhausted. You just can't think straight.
But if you keep putting one foot in front of the other, eventually,
eventually you arrive at the finish line. That's a pretty
good description of the life of a believer, isn't it? Pretty
good description. If you know the Lord, this is
what you're thinking. A marathon? I'm so weak and frail, I can't
even take one step by myself. How am I going to finish this
race? The race of a marathon. I want to give you five helpful
hints to weary runners. That's the title of the message.
Help for weary runners. Number one is this run, run,
run your race by living, following the examples of believers from
the past. Verse one, the writer says, we're
foreseeing. We also are compassed about was
so great a cloud of witnesses. Now I want you to be very careful
on this point that I'm making about looking to the example
of believers from the past and be very sure you get what I'm
saying on this, because if not, you'll be discouraged. You have
to run your race. You have to finish your course.
You can't run this race looking at what other believers are doing,
try to do what they're doing. You have to do what you are supposed
to be doing. I'll give you an example. A number
of times I ran a race in Charleston, West Virginia, and Kenyans would
always come and run this race. It was a huge prize for first
place. So they come and run this race.
And the course goes out of Charleston, winds up through these hills.
You just can't even believe how high they are. And then it comes
down, about six mile mark, it starts to come down, and you
cross a bridge. And underneath that bridge, the
course winds around, comes back underneath that bridge. Well,
by the time I got to the bridge, here goes those Kenyans underneath
that thing. I mean, they're flying. I mean,
I couldn't sprint as fast as they were going. I mean, just
as slow as possible. They were running a pace just
over four minutes a mile. Brady, that's fast, isn't it?
I mean, that's blazing. More than twice, two times faster
than I was running. Well, I couldn't try to do what
those Kenyans were doing. I'm not running the same race as
they're running. I had to run my race at my pace. Running the race of a believer
is the exact same way. It is very, very helpful to know
other believers, but we're not to compare ourselves to each
other. We're certainly not to compete
with one another. You know, the Lord gives this
course to one believer and he gives another course to another
believer. The Lord gives one set of responsibilities
to this servant and another set of responsibilities to this servant. So run your race. Run your ways. Take care of the responsibilities
that the Lord has given you. Don't look at how well other
believers are running. Don't look at the talents that
they have and try to compare yourself to them. Serve the Lord
with the talents and the abilities that the Lord's given you. This
is one of the great pieces of advice Brother Henry gave me.
He told me, don't try to copy me, because if you do, you're
going to copy all my bad traits. Serve the Lord as you, serve
the Lord as you and your personality, your abilities that God's given
you. Now, it will be helpful while
we don't want to look and compare ourselves to these other believers
of the past giants of the faith. It is helpful if we'll listen
to what they testify. That's what the word witness
means is cloud of witnesses. They're testifying. And this
is what they will all testify. Yeah, they had different courses,
you know, than we have, but this is what every one of them will
testify. God's grace was sufficient for them. That's what they will
testify. And God's grace will be sufficient
for you too. It will. Even though you run
a slightly different course, God's grace will be sufficient
for you. Now think about just the cloud
of witnesses that we spent eight or nine months studying Hebrews
chapter 11. Run your race, living, worshiping God through the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ, just like Abel did. Run your race,
living, walking with God, just like Enoch did. You can walk
with God. Go get him to go to work in the morning. Take care
of the responsibilities you've got. Raise your family, teach
them and provide for them. Do the things that you've got
to do. Constantly with an eye to the Savior. That's walking
with God like he did. Run your race by living, knowing
there's one place of safety from God's wrath. There's one place
you want to get, and it's in Christ, just like Noah did. Run
your race, living, believing God's word. Just believe God's
word, just like Abraham did. God's word will be just as true
to you and me as it was to Abraham. God hadn't changed, has he? Run
your race. looking for Christ to return,
looking, run your race, looking, expecting Christ to save his
people, to come and deliver his people and save his people from
their sins. Just like Israel looked for a
deliverer. Well, they were in Egypt. They looked for a deliverer.
You know why they kept looking for a deliverer? God promised
one. God has promised he's going to
save his people from their sin. Live expecting it. Live looking
for it. Our Lord, as he ascended back
on high, that angel came to him. The same one that you saw. See,
he's going to come back. Live your life looking for him.
He's coming. Run your race by living, valuing
Christ and valuing life in Christ more than anything this world
has to offer. Just like Moses did. Run your
race, living, trusting Christ, just like all the patriarchs
did. The Lord will save you and keep you the same way he did
all these patriarchs. See, God hadn't changed. God
is still sufficient and he'll keep his promise to you just
the same way he did to ages of believers. Number two, run your race, living,
trusting Christ alone. He says here, let us lay aside
every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us. Now,
the writer here says we'll be able to run better if we lay
aside the sin, which does so easily beset us, weigh us down
and make us not be able to run as well. You know, if sin weighs
us down, sin makes it harder to do everything, doesn't it?
Runners, when they run a race, they don't carry anything extra
with them. And it could be raining, but
I promise you they ain't wearing a raincoat. It could be cold. But they're not wearing a coat
or scarf. They might consent to wear gloves. Maybe they won't.
They'll wear the lightest, smallest shirt and smallest shorts, the
smallest, lightest pair of socks. And I mean, when they look for
shoes, I mean, they look there and see what the weight of them
is. And if one is 0.1 ounces less than the other one, that's
the one they're going to buy. I mean, they just wear the smallest stuff
that they can get their hands on because any extra weight will
make it harder for them to run. That's the life of a believer.
Now, there's no question our sin weighs us down and makes
it harder for us to run our race. We would run the race, live the
life of a believer easier if we could quit as much sin as
we could. No doubt about it. We'd run better
if we could quit our envy and our lust and our desire to lie,
our hatred, our meanness. We could run better, no doubt
about it. But thankfully, thankfully, that's not what the writer's
saying here. And I say thankfully, because if that's what he was
saying, we'd just be so discouraged, we may as well close up and go
home now. Because we can't quit any sin. I can't lay aside any
this way. Not one of them. There's never
a sin. I've never been able to quit
you either. The writer here is talking about something specific.
One sin. He said lay aside the sin. The sin was just so easily beset
us. The sin he's talking about is
the sin of unbelief. Unbelief is the damning sin. That's right. Unbelief is the
damning sin. Everyone who believes Christ,
everyone who trusts Christ is saved. And everyone who believes
not the son shall be damned. Everyone who believes not the
son hath not life. The children of Israel left Egypt. Everyone except Joshua and Caleb
over 20 years old did not enter in. Everyone except Joshua and
Caleb did not finish the race. They did not cross the finish
line into the promised land. Why? Unbelief. Unbelief made it where they could
not, they entered not in because of unbelief. So it's unbelief
is the sin that stops us from being able to run this race.
And you know why that is? Because we don't run this race
by our own power, by our own strength, by our own ability,
by our own righteousness. We run this race depending upon
Christ to be everything we need. He's our righteousness. He's
our power. He's our strength. He's our ability.
It's unbelief that makes us trust self and not Christ. So unbelief
makes us unable to run this race. Just like those children of Israel,
I promise you If you're running your race, trusting yourself,
thinking there's something you can do to add to this, to get
you there in better shape than somebody else, you ain't gonna
cross the finish line. That's unbelief. It's unbelief
that adds even a micro spec of your worth to Christ. You won't
be able to finish the race. But if we're trusting Christ,
we will finish the race. We will have the crown. Because
he's already finished the race. He's already won the crown. Now,
here we talk about unbelief, unbelief, just like every other
sin. As long as the believers in this life, we're never going
to completely lay down the sin of unbelief. John Gill says this
word refers to a tumor that grows. I think that's a pretty good
way to describe it. We talked about unbelief is raising its ugly
head. It's a tumor that grows and unbelief will kill us. It's
unbelief that will kill us. So it's got to be cut out. Now
God saves His people. He gives His people faith that
believes Christ. And our sin of unbelief, it's
still there. But that new man rules. That sin of unbelief is
still there, but now that sin of unbelief can't stop us from
believing Christ and make us start trusting the flesh again.
But it's always going to be there. We're always going to be contending
with it. And we will often, often, Be filled with doubts and fears.
We'll often go through those miles of this marathon and just
everything looks impossible. We'll often find ourselves wanting
to run ahead of God. We'll find ourselves wanting
to run by our own strength, by our own power, by the way that
we think is best. And that unbelief's got to be
put down. Because that's all that is, is unbelief. And the
only way unbelief will be put down is by hearing Christ preached. It's the only way. See, we have
to be reminded, trust Christ alone. We've got to be told,
trust Christ. If somebody doesn't tell us,
we're going to keep trusting ourselves, aren't we? We've got to be told and
reminded, trust Christ alone. And that happens through hearing
the gospel priest. So here's a good hint for you
in running this marathon. Live, making it your business
to be in the public worship service as often as humanly possible.
Because the more you hear about Christ, the more you believe.
The more the Spirit is pleased to teach you of Christ, the more
you believe it. All right, here's the third hint. Run your race patiently, by living
patiently. The end of verse one says, and
let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Run
your race patiently. When you have those good, easy
miles, run them patiently. Don't worry about what's coming
later on. Yeah, something ugly is coming
later on. Don't worry about that. If you've got a sunny day, enjoy
it. Enjoy it. Just patiently enjoy
it. Yeah, there's a cloud coming
tomorrow, but today is enough for us to handle. Run your race
patiently. And when you go through those
tough, tough, tough, tough miles, and you're wore out, and you
think, I cannot go on, I cannot endure this another second, just
patiently keep going forward. Not by your own strength now,
but by trusting Christ as your all, by trusting Christ as your
strength. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes
9 verse 11, that the race is not to the swift or the battle
to the strong. See, the object is to get to
the finish line, not as fast as possible, but to arrive at
the finish line, no matter how long it takes. Look back at Philippians
chapter three. This is a passage I read to open
the service this morning. This is what the apostle Paul
is talking about. Philippians chapter three, just
keep going forward, trusting Christ. Philippians three, verse
13. He says, brethren, I count not
myself to have apprehended. I haven't arrived yet. But this
one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, whether
it's things that are sinful that I'm so ashamed of that I did,
whether it's things I think I did that were pretty good, whether
it's times of darkness and trouble and trial, or it's times of blessing,
all those things which are behind, forget them. They're in the past.
Forget those things and keep reaching forward. for those things
which are before." What is it that's before? Why is it Paul
keeps going, he said, I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Just keep pressing
toward Christ. Keep looking, keep depending
upon Him. Just keep patiently, keep going
forward. Now I just bet you, I know what's
in the mind of every believer in this room. We're thinking,
Patience is my biggest weakness. I know I do. I feel a little
bit foolish trying to talk to you about patience because I've
got none. But you know what will make a
person patient? Knowing the outcome. If I already know how this thing's
going to turn out, I can be patient. I can be patient. I don't have to be worried. I'm
not going to be running around like Chicken Little crying that
the sky is falling because I know it's not. If I already know the
outcome. And the way the Lord teaches
us to not excessively worry about the outcome is trials. Those hard, hard miles. Tribulation,
work of patience. And when the Lord delivers us
from trial and he comforts our hearts in trial, when there's
no earthly comfort or support for us, yet we find our heart
comforted. The Lord did that. You know what
we learn? We learn, don't worry. The Lord's
in control. The Lord's the one that sent
this thing, so I don't need to worry. The Lord's not going to
abandon me. I've learned that. He comes and
comforts. He's there. I don't need to worry
that the sky is falling and He's going to abandon No, I can patient. I know he's coming. I know he's
not going to abandon me. Then I can patiently wait for
him to work it out because he's going to do what's right and
what's best. Here's another thing that produces patience. It's
knowing that Christ is my savior. Look at Romans chapter eight.
See, if Christ has saved me, if he's revealed himself to me,
mercy and grace, then I already know how this thing's going to
turn out. Romans 8 verse 24. For we're saved by hope, but hope
that seems not hope, but what a man seeth, what hath he yet
hoped for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with
patience wait for it. And this hope I've told you many
times is an expectation. If we have an expectation of
salvation in Christ, if I have a hope, I have an expectation
that God's grace is sufficient. I have a good hope through grace.
I have an expectation. God's going to be faithful and
he's never going to let me down. Then I can patiently wait for
him to deliver me. I can patiently wait for whatever
it is that's going to happen in this life because I know Christ
is all I need. If I've already got him, then
I can patiently wait for everything else. Now look over a few pages,
Romans 15. Here's another thing that produces
patience. It's knowing and believing the word of God. Romans 15 verse four. For whatsoever things are written
aforetime were written for our learning. Here's why they were
written, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have good hope. Here's why, that we might have
hope, a good hope, through the scriptures, through what the
scriptures teach. The scriptures, all through the
scriptures, teach us this. God's faithful. God has a purpose
of redemption for his people. His purpose shall not fail. He's
going to save all of his people. And we can depend on him. Look
at Hebrews chapter 6. Abraham is in that great cloud
of witnesses that are surrounding us. This is what Abraham will
witness and testify to us. Hebrews chapter six, verse 13. For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swear by himself
saying, surely blessing, I will bless thee and multiplying, I
will multiply thee. And so after he had patiently
endured, He obtained the promise. See, Abraham will tell us God's
going to keep his promise. He's going to keep his word that
you patiently wait for him and he'll keep it in his time, in
due time and the right time. Abraham could testify to that.
And the same thing's true. You and me, God will do the same
thing for you and me. He will keep his word. If you
believe Christ, you will obtain everything God's promised for
his people. You will. Well, then the outcome's not
in doubt, is it? I mean, it's just not in doubt. Then I can
patiently wait for God to give it, can't you? All right, here's
the fourth thing, back in our text, verse 2. Run your race
by living, looking to Christ as your all. Hebrews 12, verse
2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Now,
this point in this verse is central to the believer. running our
race. I almost titled the message looking
unto Jesus, but these I think hints for weary runners is better. But the only way we can run this
race, the only way we can run it is by looking unto the Lord
Jesus Christ. The word looking the writer uses
here means turn your eyes away from other things and fix them
on one thing. Turn your eyes away from everything
else. all the, everything going around you and fix them on one
thing. On Christ the Savior. Look away
from yourself. Look away from your weakness
and your sin and your pain and your sorrow and look to Christ.
Fix your hope on Him. Look away from the law. There's
nothing but death there. And look to Christ. Look away
from religion. Now look away from religion.
Look away from the form and the ceremony of religion Fix your
eyes on Christ. Look away from this cloud of
witnesses. I'm thankful for these these
believers that are of the past, of scripture, of history, ones
that I've known over the course of my lifetime that to me were
giants in the faith. I'm thankful. Oh, I'm so thankful
for them. But now you got to look away from them. Look away
from me. Forget about all the ideas and
thoughts of men. I was preaching somewhere one
time and I mentioned something about progressive sanctification
and no such thing. Believers do not grow more holy. You're either holy or unholy.
I just mentioned that in the message and there was a woman
there who had some questions about that and she didn't come
to me, she went to Jim. And she's asking Janet about
this thing, about what I meant by that. And Janet explained
it to her. And she said, well, that's what
Don Fortner says. And that's what Matthew Henry
says. And that's what John Gill says.
And she named a couple other old writers. And Janet's nodding. And she said, that's good. She
said, that's good that they say that. But she said, really? It
doesn't matter. She said, I don't love those
men. But it doesn't matter what they say. What does the word
God say? We believe it. Look away from
these others. You know what I'm saying. It's
helpful, but put your trust, your hope, your confidence, look
to one thing. One thing. Christ, the living word. Look
away from the difficulty of the course. I know it's dark and
it's hard. I know. Oh, I know. But don't
look at it. Fix your eye. on Christ the Savior. See, the believer looks to Christ
who is our all. See, everything we believe, we
say that Christ is all in our faith. Here's why we say that,
because everything we believe is based on who Christ is. Christ
is the author of our faith. And that word author means author.
Christ is the one who penned faith, who purposed faith for
his people. The word author also means prince.
Christ is the only object of faith. He's the prince. He's
the sovereign in faith. He's only worshipped through
faith. God can only be worshipped through
faith in Christ. And the word author also means
beginning. Christ is the one who first gave us faith. He's
the beginning of our faith. When you first began this race,
if you believe Christ, God saved you. When you first began this
race, how did you begin? You began looking to Christ,
didn't you? You looked to Him as your all. You didn't know
anything. You just knew He's all. You didn't have anything.
You knew He's all. You looked to Him. My brother
and my sister, you've got to run the race. All the rest of
the race, the exact same way. Looking unto Jesus. Looking to
Him as your all. And Christ is the finisher of
our faith. And that means the perfection of it. Christ is the
perfection of our faith. He is the one who gives His people
faith. He's the one who keeps us faithful so that we won't
leave him. So run your race, looking to Christ, depending
on Christ to be everything for you. The salvation begins with
a look, doesn't it? Just like the children of Israel
in the wilderness bitten by those fiery serpents, Moses lift up
the pole in the wilderness, lift up that brazen serpents and look
and live. That's what we say in the gospel today. Here's Christ
lifted up, Christ crucified, look and live. Salvation begins
with the look. God said, look unto me and be
ye saved all the ends of the earth for I'm God and there's
none else. There's no other Savior. There's
no other God. There's no other place to look. Look unto me and
be saved. Salvation continues looking to
Jesus. The apostle Peter said to whom
coming. This is I came to Christ once I got saved and that's the
end of it. Notice to whom coming. I'm constantly coming. Constantly
looking to Christ. Constantly depending upon Christ. Because that is the only way
we can run this race. Now look to Christ. Look to Him
as your life. Look to Christ. Look to His life.
His life of perfect obedience. As your life. Christ's life of
perfect obedience is your life if you believe Him. Because you
were in Him when He obeyed Him. Don't look to your own obedience.
Don't look to your own morality. Look to Christ. and depend upon
Him to be your righteousness. If Christ's life is your life,
if His obedience is your obedience, why would you ever quit trusting
Him? There isn't anything better, is there? Look to Christ's death
as your death. If Christ died for you, you'll
never die. If Christ is your life, if He
died to give you eternal life, why would you quit trusting Him?
He is your life. Look to Christ's resurrection as your resurrection. Christ was delivered for our
offenses and he was raised again for our justification. He was
raised again as the evidence, the proof. His death justified,
made all of his people without sin. If Christ has made you without
sin, why would you quit looking to him? Why would you want to
look anywhere else? Look to Christ as your mediator.
If any man sin, we have an advocate. Jesus Christ, the righteous.
And there he is in glory. He's the mediator for his people.
And when he's the mediator for his people, he pleads his blood,
his sacrifice for the sins of his people. And the father always
says, that's enough. They're accepted. Well, Christ
is pleading for you. Why would you look at him? Why
would you want another mediator? Look to Christ. as the successful
Savior. He counted it a joy to go to
the cross and suffer and die for His people. That was a joy
to Him. The salvation of His people was a greater joy to Him
than all of the suffering He would have to endure to purchase
it. He counted it a joy to fulfill His Father's will in the redemption
of His people. He counted the joy to be greater
than the suffering. And his accounting is always
accurate. It was a joy. Now, do you think
for a moment that he's going to let that joy turn to sorrow
by letting even one of his people perish? It's impossible. If Christ died for you, it's
impossible. Christ endured the shame of the
cross. He was a successful Savior. Now,
he despised that shame, but he endured it. I want to talk about
the shame for a minute. Christ endured the shame. I'll
tell you what that means. That the Lord Jesus Christ truly
took the sin of His people away from Him. And He made it His
own. And He died to put it away. He
suffered shedding His blood to bring His people a just salvation. And as He suffered, He felt the
shame of sin. Now the only way you can feel
shame about sin is if it's really your sin. It was really your
sin. If it wasn't his sin, if he's just dying to pay somebody
else's debt and it's really not his, there's no shame in that.
Actually, there's glory in that, isn't there? But he felt the
shame of sin. Christ was made sin for his people. He felt the shame. That's how
real it was. He felt the shame of it. He took the sin of his
people away from them gave them His righteousness, made them
the righteousness of God in Him because His blood washed away
all of the sin of all of His people and brought in everlasting
righteousness, eternal redemption for everyone for whom He died.
How do I know that? How can I make that statement
so confidently? Because of where He is now. The
Lord Jesus Christ right now is seated at the right hand of the
throne of God Almighty. He is the successful reigning
Savior. Now Christ is your Savior, ruling
and reigning as the successful Savior. Why would you ever quit
looking to Him? Why would you ever quit trusting
Him? You want something else to help you run this race with
patience. It's constant. I want to give
you some reason to help you constantly to look to Christ. It's how this
thing is gonna end for those who live looking to him. Look
at Revelation 22. You wanna see how this thing
ends? Let's just look at the last page. Let's just look at
the last page. How does the race end for those
looking unto Jesus? Revelation 22, verse three. And there shall be no more curse.
All that curse of Adam's sin, there shall be no more curse.
But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see His face. That's how this thing's going
to end up. You keep looking to Him. One day, you're going to
close your eyes in this life, and you're going to open them
in glory. You shall see His face. The thought of that overwhelms
me. I don't even know anything about
it. I mean, I know nothing about
it. You keep looking to me, you shall see his face. All right,
here's the fifth thing. Run your race by living, following
Christ, your example. Hebrews 12 verse three, for consider
him. Just run your race considering
Him in all things. Consider Him that endured such
contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be wearied
and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin. Now, first and foremost, when
I talk about Christ, your example, I want to make this crystal clear.
Christ is your sacrifice. You trust Christ. First and foremost
is the Savior who saved you from your sin. First and foremost,
Christ is your King. He's your Savior. The Lord Jesus
Christ did not come to be an example to tell us how to live.
Inherently, you already know how to live. You know not to
lie. You know not to cheat. You know not to kill people.
You know not to cheat on your wife. You already know those
things. Christ did not come as an example to teach you how to
live. The problem is you know how to live. You just can't do
it. That's the problem. I can't either. Here's why Christ
came. To save His people from their
sin. And that is exactly what He did.
Christ is the sole object of our faith. All of our hope is
in Him. But, secondarily, this is also
true, that Christ is the example of faith to His people. So when
you are in times of trial, consider Him. Consider the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now consider Him as He has been
pleased to reveal Himself in Scripture. Don't consider Him
the way you want Him to be. Don't consider him the way you
make him up to be. Consider him as he has been pleased to reveal
himself in the scripture. You consider how the Savior patiently
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that
even in the worst of his suffering, even when his father turned his
back upon his son, the Savior never quit trusting. Never quit trusting the Father
is going to accept his sacrifice. And he wasn't disappointed, was
he? Then let's not quit trusting him either. You keep trusting
Christ, you won't be disappointed. And we suffer. All the things
you're going through, you suffer. Oh, I'm so sorry. I hear my prayers
constantly. But we haven't yet suffered like
Christ our Savior suffered, have we? And you know, we never will. We never will. We'll never suffer
the Father turning his back upon us. We'll never suffer the wages
of sin, because Christ, our substitute, suffered that for us. And as
our sacrifice, he put sin away. So the Father will never punish
you for it. Not if Christ died for you. So let's keep running
our race, looking to Him, depending upon Him. I want to ask you a
question. I want you to answer this question
in your mind right now. Do you believe Christ? Do you? I don't mean just in theory.
I don't mean just in theory that you believe because you've always
heard Christ died for sinners. Not just in theory. Do you believe
Christ? Do you believe really that He
is all it takes to save your sinful soul? Do you? Yes or no,
do you? I had an illustration I picked
up last weekend from Brother Darwin Pruitt Darwin is a master
illustrator. I like to get me a little notebook
and follow Darwin around for about a week and just write down
things he says. He gave this illustration. At some point in
the 1840s, there was a tightrope walker and he determined he was
going to walk across Niagara Falls. And he did it. He stretched
that rope and he walked across Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
He got to the other side and he tied peach baskets to his
ankles. And he walked across Niagara
Falls again, those peach baskets dangling, and he walked across
Niagara Falls. Then he got across and he took those peach baskets
off and he went back out again. He got out to the middle of Niagara
Falls and he laid down on that rope and put his hands behind
his head and he laid there resting on that rope over the top of
Niagara Falls. He got up and walked over to their side. And
he got there, he asked his promoter, now do you believe that I can
do anything I want on a tightrope. And the promoter said, yeah,
you convinced me. And the tightrope walker said, climb the one. I asked Janet, we were driving
home, I said, I'd have said no. She said, I would have too. I
said, you know what that means? That means we really didn't believe
that man could do anything he wants on a tightrope. Trembling, that promoter climbed
on that man's shoulders and took him across Niagara Falls safely. I ask you again, do you trust
Christ? Do you? Do you believe all it
takes to save you is Him? Then climb on. I'm going to tell
you one more time. If it's the last time I ever
get to preach to you, I'm going to tell you this, one last time,
you come to Christ, and you get in Him, and you stay there. He'll take your sins. Let's bow
together in prayer. Our Father, how humbled we are
that you were, how humbled we are, such a savior as your darling
son, that you would provide as the righteousness, as the sacrifice
for your people. Father, I stand amazed, amazed
in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. And I wonder, oh, I
wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned unclean. And I stand amazed that washed
in his blood, a sinner is made white and clean and as righteous
as the son of God himself. That there is full, free salvation. in your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray you bless your
word as it's been preached this morning. Father, use it to save
the lost. Use it to call your people to
Christ. Use this message to comfort the hearts of your people. Encourage
us to continue as weary, weary runners to keep pressing toward
Christ, to keep looking to him, keep depending upon him. Father, use this message for
your glory. Get much glory to your name.
Saving, keeping, edifying your people. It's in the precious
name of our Lord Jesus Christ for his glory. We pray and give
thanks. Amen. I stand and sing, what else but
turn your eyes upon Jesus, 204, 204. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you
see. There's life for a look at the
Savior, And life more abundant and free. Open your eyes upon Jesus, Look
full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow
strangely dim. Light of His glory and grace
Through death into life everlasting He passed and we follow Him there
O'er us sin no more hath dominion, For more than conquerors we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and praise. His word shall not fail you,
He promised Believe Him and all will be well Then go to a world
that is dying His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look
full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace. Thank you.