Chapter 12, verse 1. Wherefore,
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does
so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us. Now, this great cloud of witnesses
Paul's talking about are all the examples of faith that we
read about in Hebrews chapter 11. All the believers down through
the ages had faith. Faith that endured the trials
and hardships of this life. Faith and belief and rest in
Christ that went to the end. And every one of those witnesses,
if you talk to them today, this is what a witness does as they
give testimony. Every one of those witnesses
would testify that in the end, they received the fulfillment
of the promise that God made them. They perceived the fulfillment
of the promise that they'd been waiting for. Every one of them
has awoken in glory in the likeness of the image of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Every one of them would testify to that. And Paul tells
us that you follow their example. He likens going through this
life to running a marathon. It's a long way. I mean, it's
a long way. Follow the example that these
people have set. Examples of faith. And run this
race patiently. It takes patience because it's
a long way. And run it unencumbered. Now you know I like to run a
little bit. I've run some distance races.
And runners are funny people. They look for the lightest, thinnest
clothing, the bare minimum coverage that they can find. Even in a
5k, just a three mile race, I mean, they want to carry the least
amount of weight on their body. They look for shoes. You know,
we look at magazines. You find something a half ounce
lighter than what you're wearing, oh, that's an improvement. You've
got to get that. Because they want the least amount
of anything that would weigh them down. They want nothing
to restrict their movement as they run. Well, that's the way
believers are to be. To put off the sin that weighs
us down. the sin and cares of this world
that will restrict our movement, that makes it harder to run this
race that we're in. And this sin covers so many things. You know, it's all sinful acts
and desires and thoughts. It's the care of this world. Now, there's things in this world
we have to care about, but it's excessive care of this world
that will weigh us down to get entangled up in the ways and
the ideas of this world, it'll bog you down. Put it off, Paul
says. Put off the bondage of the law. Put off the bondage of man-made
religion. Put it off. But mainly what he's
talking about here, if we look in context of what he's been
writing to us here, is the sin of unbelief. Nothing will slow
a believer down more than unbelief. Nothing will bog us down more
than unbelief. And to the believer, the sin
of unbelief is to be put off like something we'd be ashamed
to be seen with in public. You know, there's certain clothes
maybe that we have that are out of style. Women don't have men
hang on to these things. Things that are out of style
or too tattered to be worn out in public. Put those things off
like you'd be ashamed to be seen with them in public. Unbelief. Every sin. Every care, every
concern is to be laid aside, to be laid on the Lord Jesus
Christ. John Gill said this, this weight
that Paul is talking about here, I didn't look it up, but I'm
going to take his word for it, is speaking of a tumor. Now Andy
could tell us, if you've got a tumor, you want that thing
out of you. That's bad news when you hear
you've got a tumor. You want that thing cut out as
soon as possible. And that's the way we're to treat
unbelief. It's a tumor. And we need it cut out, laid
aside as soon as possible. Because it'll stop you. It'll
hinder your race, your run. And you have to run this race
with patience. I like to read, I read all the
runners' things, you know. Even elite marathoners will tell
you, in a marathon, they have good miles, They have bad miles. They just count on it. When they
start the race, they know at some point there's going to be
some bad miles where they just as soon quit. Well, that's the
way believers are going to be. In this race, there's going to
be some good miles and there's going to be some bad miles. And
I think the thing for us to do is enjoy the good miles. And
when the bad ones come, the miles of trial, the miles of darkness,
run them with patience. Run them with faith. Believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because listen, it's a bad mile,
and it seems like a long way, but the finish line's coming.
It's in sight. Look at verse 2. Here's how we're
to run this race. 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. Looking unto Jesus. That's how we're to run this
race. Looking to Him constantly. Looking to Him as if we don't
see anything or anyone else. Just get tunnel vision on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Just be consumed with Him. Looking unto Him. We run this
race looking at the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking at Him as our
example. Looking at Him to lead the way. He's the forerunner. Run looking
to Him. We run looking to Him. Looking
to Him for strength. Looking to Him for guidance.
Looking for Him to lead the way. We don't run looking down. Not
all downcast and looking down. Get your head up. Run looking
at Him. Not looking around at all the
scenery. Because we're not staying here.
We're running past it. Looking to Him. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Run looking at the finish line. He is the goal. He's the finish
line. That's why you're out on the
course in the first place is the finish line. The reason a
runner sets foot on the course is the finish line. He's the
point. These are all, and in all, run
looking unto Jesus. Run looking at Him. I want to
look. I want to behold Him. Don't you? I want to be like
Him in this world. And I want to be with Him in
the next. Just be consumed with Him. And we've got to look at
Him. Look to Him with the eye of faith. You can't look at two things
at once. You've got to look away from this world, from the distractions
of this world. We've got to look away from ourselves
and look to Him with the eye of faith. Believe. Like the people
in the wilderness. They were bitten by those serpents
you talked about the other day. There they were dying because
they were bitten by those venomous serpents. And Moses held up that
brazen serpent on a pole. And what did he tell the people?
Look and live. I thought of this this morning.
I believe if I was one of those people laying there bitten by
one of those serpents, I wouldn't have looked once and looked away,
would you? Paul says, looking. Not having looked. Not looked
once. Looking. If I'd been bitten by
that serpent, I wouldn't have took my eyes. off that brazen
serpent if I was told, look and live. Now you look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look and live. And don't take
your eyes off of Him. How can you if you've seen Him?
How can you look away? Look over to Isaiah 45. Isaiah
45 verse 21. Tell ye, and bring them near.
Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
times? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me, a just God and a Savior. There is none else beside me.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For
I am God, and there is none else." Look unto Him, because there
is nowhere else to look. It's looking unto Him. We look
to Christ our Savior. The One who loved us and washed
us and gave Himself for us. You look to Him and consider.
We're going to look at this in a minute to consider who He is.
Who it is that we're looking to. He's God. God Almighty, the
eternal God who gave up the glory and the comforts of God and clothed
Himself in human flesh. Condescended to become a man.
And you'd think he'd be recognized as the greatest man that ever
lived. I mean, he would be loved by every man. But he wasn't. He was despised and rejected.
Just came at the lowest of the low. He was mistreated by men
and made a curse by God. The greatest man that ever lived.
Now you look at him, our Savior. The salvation of our souls took
the love of God, and the power of God. He's God. It took unspeakable
love to save a sinner like you and me. And it took the power
of God. Looking unto Him, our Savior.
Looking to Christ, Paul says He's the author of our faith.
He's the beginner of our faith. All faith begins with God. Belief is not in man by nature. Unbelief is. But faith is never
found in man by nature. is the gift of God. He's the
author of our faith. Look over to Ephesians chapter
2. That's what Paul told the church there at Ephesus. Ephesians 2 verse 8. For by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. He's the author of our faith.
He gives faith to his people. We look to Christ, the object
of our faith. He is all the object of our faith. Don't look to doctrine. Don't
look to the church. Don't look to your family and
friends. It's Christ. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe Him. Doctrine is not what saves. Believing doctrine is not what
saves. Christ is the Savior of His people. You look to Him. If you look
to Him, if you see Him, all the doctrine will fall into place.
Once you look and behold and see with the eye of faith the
Lord Jesus Christ, God's sovereignty will be of no issue anymore.
That's not hard to believe. God electing a people, dying
for a people that He chose is not hard to believe if you see
Christ. The eternal security of the believer
is not hard to believe. If you ever see Him, look to
Him and Him alone and it will be well with you. Look to Christ,
the finisher of our faith, the perfecter of our faith. And we'll
see this as we go through the rest of our lesson this morning.
He gives maturity to our faith. Causes us to grow up in the faith.
He's the author and finisher of our faith. And look to Him. The Lord Jesus
Christ as a man suffered From the cradle to the cross, he suffered. A man acquainted with grief. Ah, how he suffered. Yet, he
endured it all patiently. Just as we're called on to do,
he endured it patiently. And he suffered like none of
the elect will ever suffer. He suffered being made sin. He
suffered being made a curse by God for us. And he treated the
shame and the humiliation of that death, that suffering, with
contempt. Yet He ignored it. He ignored
that shame. He ignored that humiliation for
the joy that was set before Him. What was the joy that was set
before our Redeemer? The salvation of His elect. Those
that He loved from all of eternity. It was a joy for Him to see our
sin put away. So He ignored the awful humiliation
and punishment that it took because He loved His people. And when
we endure trial and trouble, we are to follow the example
of our Lord and looking unto Him. Endure patiently for the
joy that's set before us. What's the joy that's set before
us? To be with Him. Ultimately, to be perfectly conformed
to His image. That's the joy that's set before
us. The joy to follow in His footsteps. And we look to Christ,
the victorious, successful Savior. He accomplished the job that
the Father sent Him to do. He put away the sin of His elect.
And the proof of it is He sits on the throne at the right hand
of God. He's a victorious Savior. Look
to Him. That's why I said a minute ago,
how it takes your eyes off of Him. Looking unto Him. Now verse
3, For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against Himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds. Consider
Him. Consider the Lord Jesus Christ
until your mind won't consider Him anymore. Just wear yourself
out considering Him. Consider who He is. He's the
God-Man. The Son of God, yet the Son of
David. He has those Pharisees. How can
that be? Consider that. He's God. Consider His holiness.
Consider His power. Consider His love and mercy. Consider how low He had to stoop
to save sinners like you and me. Just consider that. Now,
our subject still is continuing in the faith, running the race
with patience set before us. Consider the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior and our example. Of all this cloud of witnesses,
the greatest is the Lord Jesus Christ. We have many examples,
but the greatest example It's Christ Himself. Now you consider
His example. Consider what He suffered so
patiently. The contradiction of sinners. You search high and low. You'll
never find a greater contradiction than what our Lord suffered. He came as a Savior of His people
to accomplish what no man could ever accomplish. Righteous one. He came to accomplish what you
and I could never do. Payment for our sins. He came
as the Savior of His people. And He was held in contempt as
Savior. Have this man saved me? I don't
need Him. I've got Moses. Have Him come
down from the cross. Then I'll believe Him. He saved others Himself He can't
save? That's a contradiction. How he suffered it silently.
He's hated for his condescending love. This man receiveth sinners
and eats with them. Best news I ever heard of those
Pharisees held in contempt. Held in contempt for his electing
love. Ah, love. Electing love. Oh, my soul. But when our Lord
reminded the people of Israel that in the days of Elijah, in
the days of a horrible famine, the prophet was sent not to everybody,
but one. One widow woman. A Gentile. He reminded them that in the
days of Elijah, there were many lepers, but none of them was
cleansed, saving one. Naomi, the Gentile. And they got so angry, they were
going to throw him off the cliff that their city was built on.
Hated for his electing love, Hated for even his acts of mercy. He cast out a demon. They saw
he did it by Beelzebub. Horror of horrors, he healed
a man who'd been lame his whole life on the Sabbath day. Hated
for his acts of mercy. And in the end, he allowed himself
to be taken by wicked men. Put on a mock trial. The judge
of all the earth was put on a mock trial. Beaten with men's fists. And when their knuckles got sore,
they beat him with whips. They spit in his face, grabbed
his beard, plucked it out because they hated him. Contradiction. They pushed a crown of thorns
in his scalp and mocked him as king. And nailed to a cross and
made fun of him while he suffered. That is the perfect son of God
hanging there. That's a contradiction of sinners. That he suffered. Forgive me. Now consider that. And nothing
we will ever go through, as painful as it is, is going to begin to
compare to that. Consider His example. It will
keep you from quitting. It will. Just keep following
Him and keep looking unto Jesus. Verse 4, you have not yet resisted
unto blood, striving against sin, You know, we think the battle
that we fight is always so hot. The battle's hot. It's right
where we're at, you know. Well, it's cost us precious little. It may have cost us something,
but just precious little. Not a drop of blood. Not a drop. It's just nothing. And our sufferings,
it's never as bad as it could be or should be. It doesn't even
begin to compare to the martyrs. You think about the martyrs over
the course of history. That great cloud of witnesses
can testify that it works when we do. And then begin to think
about what our Lord suffered. It just doesn't begin to compare,
does it? Now, verse 5, he says, and you've forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son despise not
the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of
him whom the Lord loveth and chasteneth. and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth." Now this comes as a quote from Proverbs
chapter 3. Solomon's advice and his encouragement
to sinners. Look over at that just quickly.
Proverbs chapter 3. Whenever we have bought our children
a new Bible, I've always put a scripture reference. I've always
put this one. The first verses of Proverbs
chapter 3. And he says in verse 11, my son,
despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of
his correction. Whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth,
even as a father in the son in whom he delighteth. In whom he
delighteth. Now every believer is going to
suffer trial and affliction in this world. Correction. Without
exception. Every son whom he receiveth,
Paul said, Solomon said. And Henry said just recently,
he was preaching here not so long ago, he said, the Lord only
had one Son without sin and no sons without suffering, without
exception. So don't lose your faith. Don't
quit now when the Lord corrects us. This correction is not a
punishment for sin. Christ was punished for our sins.
This is a correction done to teach us and done to increase
our faith. It is now. And the Lord's correction
is done in wisdom and love. Infinite wisdom and infinite
love that never changes. Look over in 1 Peter chapter
1. These corrections are done to increase our faith. 1 Peter
1 verse 6. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though
now for a season, if need be, if correction is necessary, through
manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much
more precious than the gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. That's why our faith is tried.
That's why we're corrected. Now look on verse 7. If ye endure
chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son
is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, all sons are partakers, then are
ye bastards and not sons. Now the Lord is going to teach
His children. Any loving father will teach
his children. I mean, a father doesn't teach
his children to be criminal. And he's going to correct his
children. He'll correct us or teach us to have stronger faith.
He's going to teach us to have more humility, to be more humble.
to have more love, one for another and for Christ. He's going to
teach us to have more patience, to wean us from this world and
to make us more like Christ. Now listen, lessons are hard
to learn a lot of times, but the Lord only teaches. He only chastens sons. He's not going to bother with
those who are not His children. Now He teaches His sons. And
if the Lord doesn't correct you, it's because you're a bastard.
and not a son. He only teaches and corrects
those that he loves. He's not going to waste his time
on people who are not his children. And as sons, children, we're
to endure this correction with faith. Belief. I tell my girls things happen
and I tell them, you know, what to do. And they're not so sure. And I tell them to trust me.
Now they trust me. I tell them daddy's never wrong,
but you know, I might be. They trust Me. How much more
should we trust our Heavenly Father? He's infallible. Endure
these things with belief. Trust Him. It's right. We're
to endure them with patience and reverence. We're reverence
our Father in God Almighty with reverence. And even thanksgiving. That's a hard thing to do. correction
with thanksgiving. But that's what we're to do.
A friend of mine told me recently, going through trial, he said,
well, here's my comfort. I must be one of God's children
because He only corrects His children. That's our thanksgiving. Now look at verse 9. Furthermore,
we've had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave
them reference. Should not we much rather be
in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they verily
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for
our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now,
our earthly parents corrected us when we were children. Pretty
much without exception, we all still love them, even though
they corrected us. They spanked us, were hard on
us sometimes, but we still love them. It's Mother's Day, everybody's
got a Mother's Day card, even though she whipped you when you
were little. It's just, you know, we still love them. They corrected
us after their own pleasure. In their limited wisdom, they
corrected us for our earthly good. They tried their best to
teach us manners, teach us good behavior in this world. Well,
our Heavenly Father corrects us with perfect wisdom for our
eternal good. How much more should we love
and reference Him and be thankful that He's teaching us? Oh, we
should. Now, verse 11. Now, no chastening
for the present seems to be joyous. I never was happy when my parents
were spanking me. It was not joyous, it was grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yielded
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby." Now, we're not painting on a false smile and saying,
oh, everything's always happy, because it's not. Trial and suffering
is never enjoyable. It's painful and it's hard or
it wouldn't be a trial. And if it wasn't hard, we wouldn't
learn anything by it. Human nature is just that way.
Sadly, if it's not difficult, we don't learn anything by it.
The school of hard knocks is how human beings learn. That's
just so. But what we learn from those
trials brings joy to the believer. Pruning a tree makes it produce
more fruit. Now our Father, the wise Husband,
prunes His trees so that they'll bring forth more fruit. Now consider
Him. He's our Savior. He's our example
of patience. And quickly, I want to tell you
this. He's our example as a parent. We've got a lot of young parents
here. Some soon will be young parents. And this is very applicable. I was thinking this week when
Holly was born. It was such an exciting time.
She was born. They took her over. They let
me help clean her off. That nurse put her in my hands
and that was so awe, so happy. And a wave of terror came over
me as I looked at that baby and I thought, oh no. Now what do I do? I don't know. I've never had any experience
with this. I don't know what to do. Well, our Lord gives us
instruction in this matter. Our Heavenly Father corrects
His children because He loves them. He'll teach His children
and He'll make us more mature. And if we love our children,
we will correct them. And by correct, I mean spank
them. Now, that's not a popular thing
in this day, but I'm telling you the truth. If you love your
child, you will spank them. And that's not just my thoughts
and what I've learned from experience, although it's so. God's Word
says it. I want you to look at this. Proverbs
13. Proverbs 13, verse 24. He that spareth his rod, hateth
his son. Hates his son. But he that loveth
him, chasteneth him to times. Now look over at chapter 19,
verse 18. Chasing thy son while there is
hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crime." When he cries
because he knows he's going to get a spanking, now don't spare
him. That's a hard thing to say, I
know, but don't do it. If you love him, you won't do
it. Look over in chapter 22. Foolishness is bound in the heart
of a child. The child's foolish because that's
what's bound in his heart. They can't help it. They're children.
And when we correct them, we need to remember, now, they're
children. They're little. But foolishness is bound in the
heart of a child. But the rod of correction shall
drive it far from them. It'll help them mature. Look
over in chapter 23. Cross the page. Verse 13. Withhold not correction from
the child. For if thou feedest him with the rod, he shall not
die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and thou shalt deliver
his soul from hell. Chapter 29 lasts, verse 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom,
but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. And you
can say his father's name. He brings us to shame. And we
need to pray for wisdom now and correct in love. Remember what
Paul told the fathers in Ephesians there. Now don't discourage them.
Don't make it so that they feel like they can't do anything right.
The point is to teach them. And the point is to teach them
in this world and teach them in the Gospel and point them
to Christ. Now don't be too hard on them, but don't let it go.
The best favor you can do for your child is to spank them.
And you're not doing them any favors by ignoring their bad
behavior. It's easier in the short run,
isn't it? To ignore their bad behavior. You get that look of
rebellion and gritted teeth. You know, it's easier to pretend
like you didn't see it. It is. It's easier in the short
run. But it's not loving. It's just
not. Spanking our children will make
them cry. Frequently it will make us cry too. But don't let
that stop you. There have been times I've been
mad enough after I got done spanking mine. I didn't cry a bit. I was
mad. But there are times I went and had the room wet. I hated
it, but I had to teach them. My mother told me so many times
when I was growing up, I'm not thinking about you now, I'm thinking
about the 30-year-old you. You need to remember that now.
We've got to teach them. Correcting our children makes
them more mature, makes them more well-liked in this world.
You send them to school, teachers are saying they love a child
that knows something about authority. I mean, you just love it. It
makes the job so much easier. And hopefully, you teach them.
so that they don't have to one day submit to the authority of
police, laying face down on the ground with handcuffs on. And
this is my advice. Teach them to obey the first
time. The very first time you speak,
teach them. No, tell them two or three times,
not count and wait. On one, they obey. Bob Coffey
said this years ago when my girls were babies, and I remember it
to this day. He said maybe God will call them
one. Teach them to obey the first
time. Now, we know all of God's elect are going to be saved.
But yet, God uses means. Teach them to obey the first
time. Teach them to obey your authority. Maybe they'll submit
to God's authority. Could be. And never, never, ever,
ever, ever, ever let your child win a battle of wills with you.
Don't let them do it. A happy home. Oh, I want your
homes to be happy. Oh, mine will be happy. A happy
home. as Christ is the head. And every
member of that home recognizing authority that God's put in the
home. And a home cannot be happy when a 5-year-old is running
the show. Foolishness is found in the heart of a 5-year-old.
A home can't be happy if a 5-year-old is running it. It can't happen.
The Lord's given parents authority in the home. Everybody knows
that, right? The Lord, with that authority, has given command.
to use that authority wisely to teach and discipline our children. Children are a gift from God,
aren't they? They're a gift. God gives them.
That's what you were talking about the other day. He gives
life. That's a gift. Do the right thing with the gift
God's given you. Take care of them. Love them.
Take care of them. And part of that just is correcting
them. And if you do, It'll go well
with them and with you, too. It will. All right. Well, I hope
that'll impress you.