Now I invite you this morning
to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12. In the previous chapter, chapter
11, Paul gives us a brief definition of faith. He tells us it is the
substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not
seen. That's what faith is. What are
some of the things we hope for? Well, believers hope that their
sins have been put away. I hope my sins have been put
away. If my sins have not been put
away, then I still have my sins to deal with before God. I still
owe the debt. God still holds me in condemnation
because of my sins. But I hope that my sins have
been put away. And what's the substance of that
hope? Faith. I believe God. I believe God. He put away our sins, is what
God says in His Word. He put away our sins by the sacrifice
of Himself. Well, that's talking about your
past sins. No. None of your sins was past
when Christ died. They were all future, weren't
they? Sure they were. This is talking about all sins. All sins. He put away our sins
by the sacrifice of Himself. He was made sin, Paul said, for
us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. God poured out his righteous
wrath on his son seeing us in him, our sins in him. He was made sin for us who knew
no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And then the scripture said he
bore our sins in his own body on the tree. So believers believe
God's testimony concerning the atonement of Christ for their
sins and they hope by faith that this is so. I rest my soul on
it. I'm going to go out and meet
God one of these days and my sole hope concerning my sin is
that Christ put away my sin. And believers hope that they're
robed in the righteousness of Christ I'll tell you right now,
the difference between a believer and an unbeliever is an unbeliever
is out here working, trying to establish, he's ignorantly, the
scripture said, going about trying to establish a righteousness
and will not submit himself unto the righteousness of God, for
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. Well, I'm a believer, but I don't
believe that. You're not a believer. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. Sure it is. You know what the
power of God unto salvation is? He said it's the gospel. Why? For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed, that righteousness of Christ. Paul said, oh, he said that I
might win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Believers hope that their sins
have been put away and believers hope that they've been robed
in the righteousness of Christ. God looks on them just like he
looked on his son. And we hope for the indwelling
of the Holy Ghost. I hope that God has set up his
abode in my heart and not left me to myself. That He works in
me with groanings that cannot be uttered to make intercession
for me before God. The indwelling of the Spirit,
which is the earnest of our salvation. This is why you're able to read
the Scriptures and understand them when others look at them
and are all confused. This is why you believe God when
He talks about election and you don't argue about it. Well, that's
not fair. That's because you're not a sinner.
I tell you, you find yourself down there in the prison, and
that's where we were when God found us in the prison. Condemned
of God, under the judgment of God, and he finds you, and he
sets you free. Well, then that election looks
pretty good, don't it? He didn't have to show any grace
at all, but he did. And why did he? Because he would. That's the only answer there
is. And then believers hope to escape
the damnation of hell. Scripture said Christ hath delivered
us from the wrath to come. Well, what proof do I have of
that? I believe God. That's the evidence. Evidence
of things hopeful. And then faith is the I mean,
it is the substance of things hopeful. And then it's the evidence
of things not seen. God gives faith to His elect
through the new birth. Is that right? Isn't that what
the Scripture says? You can't see faith, but you'll know it if you ever
have it. I can't explain faith. I can't go past the word of God
to explain faith. And yet it's the evidence of
things not seen. That's what it is. It's faith. He makes us meet, the scripture
said, to be partakers of the inheritance of enlightened saints. That is, those who see, those
who hear. Blessed are your eyes, for they
see. That's what our Lord said to his disciples. Blessed are
your ears, for they hear. Not everybody heard. They heard
him speak, but they didn't hear in the heart. They saw him, but
they didn't see him. Isn't that what he said over
there in John 6? Many of you saw me, and yet you
don't believe. It's the evidence of things not
seen. In John chapter 1 verse 12 it
said, He came into the world, and the world knew Him not. He
made the world, but the world knew Him not. And He came unto
His own, His own people. He came to them. He came to the
Jew. And they received Him not. Now
He goes to this little remnant of people and listens to what
He says about them. He said, but as many as received Him. Why did they receive Him and
the world wouldn't? Why did they receive Him and
Israel wouldn't? How come them to receive Him?
How come this handful of disciples to receive Him? Because to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name, which were born, not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." That's why
they believed. They were born of God. Faith
is not the reward of works or will, it's the evidence of things
not seen. Now I might found a whole lot
of things to give evidence of why I believe in election, but
here's what Paul said about the Thessalonians. He said, I know
your election of God, because our gospel came not unto you
in word only, but it came in power and in the Holy Ghost.
It was effectual, he goes on to say in chapter two. These
words that I spoke unto you, he said, I thank God that you
received them not just as the word of men, but as they are
in truth the word of God. When I quote you a scripture,
I'm not giving you my opinion. I'm quoting a scripture. This
is God. And he that believeth not God
hath made him a liar. Well, he said, nobody would be
brave enough to say that. I wouldn't go that far. We had
a man in this church, left it, got angry, got mad, and said
to one of our men, I don't care what the word of God says. I
haven't seen him since. I don't expect to see him. You see, I didn't know Christ
when he walked on this earth. I didn't meet him. I didn't know
anything about him. I didn't see his crucifixion.
I didn't see him after the resurrection. I've never heard the audible
voice of God or seen the throne of Christ at God's right hand.
The only evidence I have concerning these things is God-given faith. Is that right? That's what faith
is. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for and it's the evidence of things not seen. And then
the apostle gives us 39 verses. I read them to you a while ago. 39 verses containing example
after example of those who believed and how this faith was applied
in their lives. And he gives us illustration
after illustration of the character of faith in those who possess
it. all the way through this chapter,
39 verses of examples. And then in chapter 12, he gives
us the essence of faith, looking unto Jesus. That's what faith
does. Oh, you say faith does a lot
of things. Faith looks unto Jesus. That's what faith does. It didn't
say they looked. It said looking. That's a continual
thing. They were looking. Now this morning
I want to point out five things in our text that describe what
it is to live out our days looking unto Jesus. And the first thing
involves perception. To look unto Jesus is to see
him by faith as he is set forth in the Word of God. You lose
interest real quick in looking to Jesus. You'll get bored with
it. You'll drop it. You'll leave
religion and go back into the world. You'll do all sorts of
things if you don't see him with the eyes of faith as he's set
forth of God in God's Word. This poor little defeated reformer
that religion preaches, I don't blame them people for leaving
them churches. They ought to leave them. And they ought to
put a bounty on them people that are preaching these lies. I don't blame the poor Lord Jesus.
He can't do anything if you don't let Him. What kind of God do
you got? This is God. God our Savior. That's what it says. God's Son
took to Himself human flesh. Took to Himself the seed of Abraham. This is God come into the flesh. And men and women are talking
about him as though his hands were tied. He can't do anything
if you don't let him. Really. He created the world. And now
what Scripture said, everything made was made by Him and not
anything that was made was made without Him. And not only that,
it wasn't just made by Him, but it was made for Him and all things
consist. Everything He made has a continuance
because He keeps it all together. That sound like some poor little
defeated reformer with his hands tied? My soul, He's God. God, to look unto Jesus is to
see him by faith as he set forth in the word of God and that word
which by the gospel is preached unto us. Our spiritual walk involves
a continual looking to and perception of Jesus Christ. Oh, I tell you,
I saw in the beginning, I saw things that he did that just
left me speechless. Nobody ever told me that he put
away my sins forever. The way they preached the atonement
was he made it possible. He made an offering and made
it possible for you to be saved. Well, that possibility didn't
do me any good because I was a sinner. So I'd try, you know, I'd make
the profession of faith and I'd come down the aisle and they'd
pray through and I nailed it altars. I did all these things.
Nothing helped me whatsoever. I wouldn't no more get out of
that church and I'd already having sinful thoughts and ideas and
things coming over me. There was no salvation in that.
It says in Hebrews chapter 10 that he said, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it's written of me to do thy will, O God,
by the which will we're sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. For by one offering hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. That sound like some poor little
defeated reformer? No. I'm telling you, this thing
of faith perceives, it understands who He is, and the more it understands
about who He is, the more devoted they are to Him, the more humble
they are before Him, the more obedient they are to Him. As
they see Him, we grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and we grow in that grace and knowledge of Christ as He's
declared to us, and we perceive Him by faith, looking unto Jesus. Paul said that God gave to the
church the ascended Christ did, and He gave some ministers, and
He did it for the perfecting of the saints. What in the world
does that mean? Is that talking about progressive
sanctification? Is that talking about a man getting
holier and holier and holier? No. Paul saw his sins in the beginning,
but the longer he lived, the worse he got in his own eyes.
And finally, he cried out, oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall
deliver me from the body of this devil? He wasn't getting holier
and holier. He was getting worse and worse
in his own eyes. You see, the more light you have,
the more dirt it exposes. That's right. The perfecting of the saints
here is not talking about that. The perfecting of the saints
here has to do with the fullness of their number. That's why God
left these ministers in His church. He gave these pastors and apostles
and prophets and all these things to the perfecting, to the completion. It has to do with the fullness
of their number. And it also has to do with God's
purpose in their calling, and perhaps even their perfect standing
in the Lord Jesus Christ. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And then he says that these ministers
were also to preach for the work of the ministry. They studied. are given to study and prayer
and oversight and rule in the churches, feeding the flock of
God and watching for their souls as those who must give an account.
And thirdly, they preach for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now watch this. This is the whole
reason I'm quoting Ephesians chapter 4. Till we all come in
the unity of the faith. You mean there's a unity of faith?
You mean we all don't believe something different? We're not
spokes in a wheel? All of us in a different location coming
from this way and that way and this way and all going to one
central hub. No, there's a unity of the faith. In fact, he says earlier in this
same chapter in Ephesians 4, there's just one faith. Huh? I've got to cut somebody's head
off, mine or theirs. Just one faith. till we all come in the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect
man. That is, to the knowledge of
the Son of God our Savior who is a perfect man and who is in
us and who is our hope. How do I know that's what that
means? Because of the rest of the chapter. The knowledge of
the Son of God, our Savior, who's a perfect man unto the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So this looking unto Jesus is
a continual looking and perceiving and understanding. We learn about
his eternality and his deity and his humanity and his perfect
obedience and his suffering and death and his resurrection, his
ascension, his power and reign and glory. So that he becomes the author
and the finisher of our faith. And then secondly, we're encouraged
to look as one completely surrounded by true and faithful witnesses
of God. You know what I thought when
I believed? You're gonna think it's spooky. I thought I was
the first one. That's how it seemed to me. It was like I was the, there
was only one in our family at the time that believed, that
was me. It was like I was the first one.
Paul here is telling you, you are not the first one. You go
all the way back to Adam. And all believers from the day
of Adam up to date, you are compassed about by a great cloud of witnesses. You are not the first one. You
are far from that. You are way down the line. Way
down the line. and you got no excuse. See, you're
not out there on the new ground. This is the old ground. You're not out there on the new
foundation. This foundation's been dug and planted and fixed
for a long time. You see what he's saying? You're
encompassed about by a great cloud of witnesses. You're not
the first one. Religion likes to make Those
who preach the sovereign grace of God, they point to these little
groups and make them to appear as little companies of oddball
rebels and cults and extremists and such. Over in the book of
Acts, it's not something new. They've been doing that the whole
time. Over in Acts, Chapter 5, there
was a man called Gamaliel. He was a renowned teacher and
doctor of the law among the Jews. He's the one who Paul sat under.
And they were ready to take these men out and execute them. Peter
and James and John and all these men who were preaching the gospel,
they were ready to take them out And Gamaliel, this doctor
of the law, addressed the Jews, and here's what he said. He said,
you men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend
to do, touching these men. For before these days rose up
Thutis, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of
men, about 400, joined themselves, who were slain, and all as many
as obeyed him were scattered and brought to naught. The whole thing was dissolved,
it didn't get anywhere. And after this, a man named Judas
of Galilee, in the days of taxing, he rose up and drew away much
people after him, and he also perished, and all, even as many
as obeyed him, were dispersed. So he said, you take care of
what you're getting ready to do to these men, because if what
they're doing is God, you can't overthrow it. That's pretty sensible,
isn't it? You're not gonna overthrow what
God does. And if it's not a God, it's gonna come to nothing anyway.
Huh? But sovereign grace preaching
been around here since the beginning. It's of God and it cannot be
overthrown. While it may appear in our day
to be little handfuls here and there, it's not always been that
way. There have been days when thousands
were called, even in the days when Peter listened. On the day
of Pentecost, 3,000 souls were baptized and believed. There
have been great revivals throughout the ages. But all this aside,
taken all together, God's elect are a great cloud of witnesses,
and we are by no means the first to believe on Christ, or even
one in a small group believing on Christ. You know, even when
we gather here on Sunday mornings, even the angels gather to look
into these things and hear about these things. We're to look to Him with perception,
continually look, in the growing grace and knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we're to look being encouraged
by such a great cloud of witnesses. And then thirdly, we are to be
looking unto Jesus as a runner in a race. How do we get in the
race? We're just sitting around the
house one day and say, well, I think I'll go join up, run
this race. No, that's not how it's put here.
What it says here is there was a race set before us. Now what's
this? We're to run this race set before
us. Not any race, not just any old
perception of the race, but the race that God set before. We're
to be looking unto Jesus as a runner in a race who has his eye on
the goal. Now let me tell you something. If you're going to pour concrete,
we poured this slab out front here, poured that sidewalk. If you're going to pour concrete,
you're going to wear a pair of rubber boots. You're not going
to wear shorts, you're going to put on your jeans because
that concrete will burn you when it splashes up on you. And you're going to put on some
gloves, and you're going to hook some tools on your belt that
you're going to need. But if you're going to run a
race, you wear light clothes. You put on light shoes, and you
shed every unnecessary weight. And so Paul said, let us lay
aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us
and let us run with patience the race that's set before us. What in the world is he talking
about? He's talking about how easily sin distracts us from
the race. That's what he's talking about. I've been studying now for a
long time And I can tell you from experience, it don't take
much to distract you. Just a little noise. A bird flutters
outside the window. Just anything. It distracts. And you're in there and you're
hungry. Well, I think I'll get up and get me a little snack
before I... It don't take much, does it?
Huh? To run a race and truly complete
the race takes discipline, takes patience. You can eat when you're
done. Is that right? Sitting there thinking
about the fish biting. You can fish when you're done.
You're going to run this race with patience and lay aside that
sin. Oh, sinful thoughts. how distracting
they are when you're trying to study. You've got to set aside
a time for meditation and prayer and a time for reading and a
time for hearing and worship and learning. Old Paul had been
down to Rome and Greece and knew something about the great sports
arenas and the different countries putting their best people out
there. Those people put out there for
their own honor and glory? No, they're out there representing
Spain. Representing Greece. They're
out there for the honor of those who put them there. Well, we've
been set in this race. It wasn't our will to be in the
race. God set this race before us. He marked us out and put
us in it. What we do in this race and how
we act and how we run has a lot to do with how men look on him. It's his honor and his glory
at stake, not yours. You're just another runner. You
watch these big races up in Boston and stuff and somebody get tired
and they just go off the side, you don't hear no more about
them, they're done. They're talking about those still in racing. And there's been believers. John
said they went out from us, but they were not of us. Had they
been of us, they no doubt would have continued with it. They
don't run in that race for God's glory. They just run for a little
while for the fun of it, and then they quit. Not for our glory, it's for His,
and it's not for our increase, but for His, and it's not for
our reward, but for His. In Ephesians 4.1, we're commanded
to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we're called. When
a person's born of God and given the faith of God's elect and
led to repentance and faith, he's fit for heaven's glory.
Right now, right then, he's fit. Today, our Lord looked at that
thief and he said, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
He didn't walk a step. He didn't read a word, he didn't
preach a sermon, he didn't do anything. But he was fit for
glory right then. So why does he leave us here
for the work of the ministry? And when it's complete, you're
out of here. He'll take you home. Whatever time God allots him
after he's saved, is to accomplish the work of the ministry to which
he's been called, and to aid in calling out and ministering
to his elect. We're not left here to devise
our own agendas or some sort of progressive sanctification
where we're getting holier and holier in Christ our Lord. We
are as fit for heaven as we're ever going to be. We're called to this holy vocation.
and we're to give ourselves to it. So we're, this faith has
to, we look unto Jesus like a runner in a race. He's the goal. He's the goal. And then fourthly,
we're to be looking unto Jesus, the Christ of God and our Redeemer
as the author and finisher of our faith. Scripture said, and being made
perfect, that is a perfect savior and high priest, he became the
author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. He's the author. Being the author of eternal salvation,
he must by needs be also the author of our faith. One writer said he's the efficient
cause of it. He's the cause of it. All men
by nature are without it. It's not in man's fallen condition
even a possibility of him to believe without the intervention
of God. Faith is said in the Word of
God to be a manifestation of the power of God as it was in
the resurrection of Christ. It says in Colossians 2.12 that
we're risen with Him through the faith of the operation of
God who hath raised Him from the dead. Faith is the Lord's to give,
it's His to increase, it's His to preserve, and He is to persevere. He's the giver and sustainer
of our faith. Christ was present when faith
was ordained. You ever think about that? He
was present. He was in the beginning with
God, and He was God. So we look unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. And then fifthly, and lastly,
we look unto Jesus as He is the one perfect example of faith. What is it to believe? Now we've
got examples, Paul was an example, and all through the book of Hebrews
it gives us examples, but none of them were perfect examples.
Christ is the perfect example of that. You wanna know what
it is to believe? Study Christ. Let this mind, Paul said, be
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation. What does faith do in a man?
It causes him to look upon himself as one, and live that way, as
one without reputation. He don't put a sign out in front
of his front yard that says Reverend Pruitt. He don't do that. He don't put a tag on his car
when he goes to the hospital that says clergy. He don't put a little sign on
the wall hanging up here in front of the church that says Dr. Pruitt. He makes himself of no reputation. He's just a sinner saved by grace. Paul said this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. That's what faith
does. Faith looks upon itself as having
no reputation. It owes everything to Christ. Everything to Christ. He made
himself of no reputation and he took on him the form of a
servant. Paul said you were the servant
of sin. But then you received that form
of doctrine which was delivered to you and now you become the
servant of righteousness. You changed your servitude. That's
right. And then it says, Being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and become obedient unto
death. That is, obedient unto suffering. Suffering. Paul talks about believers enjoying that same suffering
that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered. Being able to withstand it and
receive it and know what it's all about. And then in our text
it says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, now listen, 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. There is not a greater example
of faith or of its divine character or of its godly purpose than
the man Christ Jesus. Though his work was so much higher
than ours, yet he did it seeing his goal. God would be glorified. That's what he prayed in his
high priestly prayer before he went to the cross. Glorify thy
son that thy son may also glorify you. God would be glorified. God's people would be saved.
Isn't that what we want? I don't want to see anybody go
to hell. I want men and women to believe. I'm preaching what I'm preaching
at a great cost. It cost me my fellowship with
my family, my blood family. It cost me fellowship with them.
I don't have any fellowship with them for this very reason. We
can't sit down and talk about religion. Why do I do it? Because I want
to see men saved. I don't want you to go to hell. I don't want you to be my friend
and then in the end be cast into hell. I want you to know Christ. And if you ever come to know
him, we'll be friends. We'll be friends. There was a
joy set before him, the joy of a son honoring his father, pleasing
his father, and accomplishing his father's will. And there
was a joy of seeing chosen sinners reconciled to God, made righteous,
and presented to the Father, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in His sight. And even so, there is a joy set
before those who run this race of faith to see themselves having
the privilege of being a part of this ministry. It's a privilege,
not a duty. If you're here out of duty, you
miss Christ. This is a privilege. My soul,
he said he could raise up out of them stone sons unto Abraham. He'll need you. This is a privilege. It's a privilege, it's a gift
of God's grace to be able to minister to those who shall be
heirs of salvation. Paul said, unto me who am less
than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Not the love of God that chose
us, redeemed us, and gave us this faith that motivates us
to do our best at all times. Isn't it that? Isn't it His love?
And the glory of God who gave us this holy stewardship makes
us strive to lay hold of the prize. And the wisdom, power,
and will of God that causes us to run in this race set before
us. May the Lord give us all we need
to run and motivate us to lay aside all these distractions
and lay aside the sin that does so easily beset us and give us
the patience to finish our course. Paul said, I fought a good fight.
I fought a good fight. I finished my course and I've
kept the faith. Henceforth there's laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me in that day. And not to me only, but
to all them also that love his appearing, and look for his appearing.
They run this race with their eye on the goal.