You turn back in your Bibles
to the book of Hebrews chapter 12. So we have come to the last
chapter in our study in the book of Hebrews. Not that Hebrews
closes in the 12th chapter, but if you recall a few months ago
we opened up in the 13th chapter because we wanted to heed the
admonition of the writer to be the kind of loving, gracious,
thoughtful family that a body of believers ought to be and
exhibit in the world So chapter 12 closes out and chapter 13
opens up, as I have told you so many times before, that you
really don't have chapters and verses in your Bible. You really
have a flowing commentary because both our New Testament as well
as our Old Testament, without disregarding the purpose behind
the structure, are written very frequently in just letter form,
a letter that you write to a loved one. And you don't always break
them up into chapters. and verses, but we do the best
we can to make the letters. They did the best they could
to make the letters cogent and readable, and also, hopefully,
to be able to identify transitions of thoughts. But chapter 13 is
really a continuation of chapter 12, where it says, let brotherly
love continue. And that proceeds from a magnificent
and fascinating discourse that the writer gives us in chapter
12. So we'll spend two more weeks maybe on chapter 12 before we
go to the book of Revelation. And we are reminded, are we not,
of how he, the writer, has attempted to persuade these Jewish Christians
in the first century of the exclusivity and the sufficiency and the totality
of the perfections of Jesus Christ. as the mediator and head of this
new covenant to which he is calling them to be clear upon and to
be firm with regards by which we are all made partakers of
this new and everlasting covenant. And from that place, he has called
the Hebrew people, the Jewish Christians, and therefore ourselves,
because this is to us as well, to go on to perfection, go on
to maturity, to grow up, which is one of the benefits inherent
in the New Covenant. The New Covenant does for us,
by way of sort of an anatomical analogy, moves us from an infant
stage under the Old Covenant model into a mature stage in
the New Covenant model. If you and I are operating out
of a pure Old Covenant model and stuck in that law paradigm,
not understanding its goal is to bring us to Christ, so that
we can grow up in Christ, then those who are adopting an Old
Testament model or paradigm are intending to remain children. They have no desire to grow up
and enter into the fullness of the inheritance. That's Galatians
chapter 4 verses 1 through 4. An heir is no different than
a slave or a child so long as he or she or they are still under
tutors and governors. That is that legal system by
which they are sort of pedagogued or catechized in those old structures. If they do not realize the blessing
of coming into the new covenant with all of its promises, There
is a danger of not having affirmed their sonship. And there's a
danger of not having authenticated their claim to be Christian.
And this is where the writer now is drawing our attention.
Now, you guys remember what he did a few weeks ago in our study. He called our attention after
having affirmed the claims of the atoning work of Jesus Christ
as the grounds upon which we might draw near to God through
a new and living way, which he made for us through the veil,
that is to say his flesh, that we might draw near to God with
a true heart and full assurance of faith. Isn't that his exhortation?
Come, come to God. Christ has made a way for us
all to come. There are no excuses. Are you
a sinner? Christ is a savior. Are you a
weak saint? Christ is strength to the weak
Do you need a God who was able to save you to the uttermost
come to God through Christ? He is able to save to the uttermost
all who come to him by faith What the writer has done is he
has abolished all legitimate arguments That Christ is not
the answer to all our problems and he is is he not? Christ is
the answer to all of our problems. So for those of us who are timid
Coming to this Christ what he did was to give us a litany of
examples in chapter 11 Which we have titled following many
theologians the hero's hall of faith multitudes of Old Testament
believers who have lived for Christ and they have died for
Christ and they have left a testimony that God is able to keep them
and To use them in their own lifetime and then to bring them
to their physical termination where they all die in faith Let
me remind you again of what the Hebrew writer says in chapter
11 verse 13 Which is going to actually define what I mean by
this this marshal of evidence This what the Hebrew writer calls
a great cloud of witnesses Verse 13 these all Died in what they
died in faith So what we assert to men and women is this, that
it's impossible to be a true believer, be born again, and
therefore walking by faith, having been called by grace, and then
somehow end up losing your salvation and dying apart from faith. And we would argue that the man
or the woman that dies outside of Christ having ostensibly put
on a form of godliness and thus profess Christ and somewhere
along their journey abort the gospel so as to die as an unbeliever,
we would assert that you were never a believer in the first
place. We would say that with the great cloud of witnesses,
the one infallible testimony that they are rendering to us
is that the God who chose you is the God who calls you, and
the God who calls you is the God who quickens you, and the
God who quickens you is the God who keeps you, and the God who
keeps you is the God who saves you all the way. So when you
breathe your last breath as a child of God, you breathe it triumphantly
looking to Jesus Christ, who is the author and finisher of
your faith. This is what we argue with this world, that it's not
possible for God to have saved you and you lose your salvation. But for those of us who are still
running this race, let me set an admonition to you that is
worthy of our consideration. You and I are not done running
this race. We're not done. And so while we are running the
race, there are some things for us to consider. And I am absolutely
sort of jazzed by the labor that the writer puts into chapter
12, because he deals with a number of metaphors or analogies that
don't seem to be really related, but they do play a major role
in shaping our understanding. He is encouraging us to not only
look to this great cloud of witnesses. Verse 1, wherefore, this is what
we call a conjunction. It's tied to the previous verses.
Wherefore, seeing you and I are encompassed about. That is, we
are circled about. Imagine yourself being in an
auditorium or a stadium, because that's the context. And in that
stadium are stands all around you. If any of you run track,
You know what I'm talking about. If any of you have gone to the
Olympic Games or college games or even high school games, you
know there's a stadium that encircles the track, correct? Well, this
is the analogy of the great cloud of witnesses. Now, I've shared
this before with you. We don't have saints in glory
looking down on you, cheering you on, as it were. Come on now,
Jesse, you're slowing down. You got to pick it up. No, we
don't have saints in glory looking at you like that. I've told you
before when saints get the glory, the last thing they're going
to be considering is you. This is not about you. This is
about Christ. But there is a cloud of witnesses
up there. You remember how it was when
you put your kids in track? I did. And you have one of those
children that love to know that everybody was watching them.
And you know how they started running and they were waving
at everybody, looking at everybody. But that's how some folks are
in religion, thinking it's all about them. And we have stretched
the analogy of verse one to imply that somehow the saints are looking
down, cheering us on. No, they're not. They ain't thinking
about you. And really, you shouldn't be
thinking about them either. This is profound. I'm going to take
my time to work this because I want you to see the import.
We're foreseeing we're also compassed about by so great a cloud. Do you see that? Of witnesses.
What is the writer trying to do as he paints the picture of
the auditorium, the stadium, the Olympic Games? He's telling
us that the stands in the which, those who have already run this
race, we're going to call them the finishers. They have finished. The stands go so far up, you
know, sometimes Auditoriums are so large, stadiums are so large
that you can have hundreds of thousands of people in them.
And you have to take elevators up all the way to the nosebleed
section. That's how high it goes up. In
this analogy, the writer is saying that the stands go so high up
that it becomes so large that it's nothing but a mass cloud. You lose any distinguishing factors
about how large the stadium is. Now let me help you understand
the analogy. In comparison to the stadium, where in are all
the finishers who have gone before us and run this race from Adam
to where you and I are now? The number is a number of which
no man can number. A multitude of finishers who
are, as it were, having declared the faithfulness of God to keep
them all the way. And we look out at the stands
and the stands just go on and on and up, seemingly infinitely. and they are so vast and humongous
surrounding us that it's like a cloud. The track upon which
you and I are running is fairly limited because in any time of
human history, while you and I are living, it's only a remnant
running this race. Do you see the analogy? See the
contrast? The track upon which we run is
really within the framework of our own lifetime. You and I live,
and then we die. And then if we've died in faith,
we go on to that cloud of witnesses, don't we? But now here's what
I want you to also grasp, that in the stands are not believers
looking up. The believers are already in
glory. To be absent from the body is to be present with the
Lord. In the stand are placards that have taken the place of
the believer. And on the placard, it says two things. Are you ready?
Able, finished. Abraham finished. Sarah finished. Jacob finished. Moses finished. Hannah finished. Rebecca finished. David finished. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? Finished is what the placard
says. And the placard is not for them,
it's for us. It's for us to contemplate the
fact that God gave them the grace to die in faith. And it's designed
to encourage us as we are running this race. Fascinating. You are told to consider so great
a cloud of witnesses. And then he's going to get into
a methodology that I want to work through. But he says, let
us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily
beset us and let us run with what? Patience. The race that
is set before us. And then without a break, he
says in verse two, looking unto whom? That's right. And we're going to come back
to that. That's going to be our last point. But the construction here
is very important. It's much more subtle and much
more significant in the original language. But let me call your
attention to the first point in our outline. Obviously, you
and I are dealing with an analogy. And the analogy is that of what?
Running. running a race. I want you to contemplate with
me point number one in your outline. The strategy for what? Winning. The strategy for winning. Why on earth would you run a
race and not want to win? I suppose there are people who
get into races and run just because they love the ambiance and glad
to be around people. As I've said before, there are
folks I have seen get in races who have no business being in
the race. These folks didn't train. You know, they aren't
ready. They're just there because somehow
they get jazzed by the idea of being part of a group. They have
no intentions on finishing the race. They just got in. Are you
guys hearing what I'm saying? Now, the Bible says this. If
you and I are going to run, we must run with the objective of
winning. So, there are three ideas about
running in the New Testament that are fairly explicit. I'll
call your attention to all three of them here. First and foremost,
you and I are called to run this race well. Run it well. Do you recall what the Apostle
Paul said in Galatians chapter 5, 7 to the church of the Galatians? He said, you did run well. Do you guys understand that?
You were running well. What is now what? Hindering you.
So the believer is called to run this race well, to run this
race in a fashion that would suggest or imply that you take
serious running this race. The other use of the word or
the concept of running is found for us in the book of Corinthians,
where we are told that we can also run this race in vain. We can run in vain. The apostle
Paul was concerned about that with the Corinthians. He was
concerned about that in Philippi. He was concerned that his running
as a gospel preacher in some cases, in some situations would
be to no avail. Why would he labor in this race
of preaching and teaching and it doesn't result in the salvation
and conversion of sinners? Wouldn't that be for you and
me running in vain? If I'm a preacher of the word, now this is very
important. This is very important right
here because I'm going to actually break this down a little bit
more. But if I'm a preacher of the word and God's called me
to fish for men and my preaching does not result in the salvation
of sinners, I'm running in vain. I'm running in vain. It is not
my mere job to just blow a trumpet and have nobody be warned. It's
not my job to, as it were, declare to you the way of salvation,
and no one go for that salvation. My job is not to preach Christ
to men and women, and men and women not be born again, built
up in the faith, laboring for the cause of the gospel, receiving
the reward due to their labors at the end of their day. Anyone
know what I'm talking about? Now, if you read the New Testament
carefully, again, this is what I love about the New Testament
writers. They make it clear that God is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. And the one thing that I am still
resonating with and working through as a thesis in my own soul is
the nature of the fact that God is a good paymaster. God pays
well. He that cometh unto God must
believe that He is. and is a rewarder of them that
what? Diligently seek Him. Now see
that proposition is tremendous because it not only underscores
the necessity of faith to believe in the true and the living God,
but to believe that that true and the living God is a person
who is more than willing to recompense those who come to Him. Now why
does He recompense them? Listen to me ladies and gentlemen,
if you make it to the presence of penile in the presence of
God you have run the race well and you have finished that race
and on your way you have gone through hell for Jesus Christ
and God pays for that God pays for that You see you don't get
to the finish line without some trouble This is why I say when
you start using analogies about exercising and running and working
out, some folks start having the heebie-jeebies and, you know,
getting sick and ill and things of that nature. But I'm here
to tell you that when you contemplate the analogy of running and recognize
that it's talking about a characteristic of faith, you and I are now being
called upon to certain disciplines. Can I talk about that? Because
we live in a culture that's not disciplined. We live in a lazy
culture, an indolent culture, a culture that does not like
structures, parameters, boundaries. It doesn't like limitations.
It doesn't like goals and objectives. It doesn't like qualifications
or disqualifications. We live in a culture that kind
of wants to do whatever it wants to do, but you cannot run anybody's
race any kind of way you want to. And so what the writer of
the Hebrews is saying to us is we are called to a race. Listen to what he says. He says,
and let us, this is the last line of chapter one, let us run
with patience the race that is set before us. Do you see it? Now watch this. He's telling
us a characteristic of the run. He's telling us to run. And then
he's telling us we are to run the race that's set before you. Every Christian has set before
them the race of faith. You call to run this race. And
then he's talking about the nature and characteristic of running.
And I want you to see just a few concepts about this. And your
own experience, child of God, will affirm what I'm saying.
Listen to this. When we talk about the strategy
for winning this race, we are talking about running well, we
are talking about not running in vain, and we are talking about
running to obtain. That's 1 Corinthians 9, verse
24, by the way. Remember what Paul says? He says,
we all run in a race. Now we all know that only one
person is going to be crowned. And so we run with the objective
that we will be the one who obtains the crown. Is that true? That's
the analogy, that's the metaphor. He said, now they do it for a
corruptible crown. The little wreaths, tokens, temporal
material things that they get, the accolades, a few million
dollars, fame and glory on this side, Those are corruptible crowns. He says, but we do it for an
incorruptible crown. Will you hear me? See, that's
what I love about the word of God. The word of God will frame
our thinking. We do it for an incorruptible crown. Now, you
know, saints all through the New Testament, the apostles talk
about crowns, don't they? And it's only because they are
persuaded that there is a magnificent recompense that comes to the
believer when they finish I want you to think about a couple things
here about how to run this race. How do the believer run this
race? How do we run this race with the strategy of winning?
In your outline, I call your attention to three things. First,
I call your attention to an act that really comprises two exercises. The first is that of stripping.
Stripping. The second is that of avoiding.
These are two critical methods to running this race well finishing
with the objective of obtaining. When you run a race, you've got
to strip down. Do you see that? You've got to
strip down. Look at it in your text. He says,
let us lay aside every weight. You got that? Let us lay aside
every weight. That's an intentional imperative
that's active on our part. And he says, if you're gonna
run this race well, If you're going to finish, if you're going
to obtain, you're going to have to learn the strategy of laying
aside things. Laying aside things. Have you
guys discovered as a child of God that you don't have to even
intentionally pick up stuff, stuff just latches hold to you
as you're trying to run this race? It just gets a hold of
you. When you live this life, which
is also a metaphor for the race, do you not discover, and this
is particularly true for us who are Americans, that our garages
fill up with stuff, and it seems like somebody else put it there?
And in our kitchens, on our table, we find envelope after envelope
after envelope, and it's stacked so high, and we wonder how it
got there. And our cars are often junk yards.
Is that not true? And you and I get ashamed when
we just flash past the channel where it talks about those people
who have hoarding problems. And what I'm getting at is this,
that you and I have a problem with things latching a hold to
us. And if we're going to actually
run this race successfully, we have to be intentional about
stripping down, stripping down. There are things you have to
let go if you're going to run for Christ. You cannot allow
your life to be encumbered by unnecessary weights that's going
to slow you down, impede you, retard your journey. Not if you're
serious about winning. Now, I told you about the bag
lady. Did I tell you about the bag lady a hundred years ago?
I told you about the bag lady when I used to run my own construction
cleanup crew and we were doing commercial buildings and stuff.
Walnut Creek and we'd be cleaning up commercial restaurants way
early in the morning and there was a lady She had a problem. Okay, she had a few cards missing
in her deck and she'd be walking down the street with a cart and
In that cart would be her garbage bag full of clothing she used
to push the cart because the cart was fairly easy for her
to get around and And I thought that makes sense since you're
homeless, you might as well have something you can roll to carry
your stuff as opposed to carrying it. I call that a little bit
of wisdom. Are you guys hearing me? But I would see her about
a month later and that cart would be laden down with four or five
or six bags. And so now she's pushing the
cart. She's pushing the cart. Are you hearing me? And I thought
after a while she's going to get it. But no. The next month
later, guess what she's done? She's laid in the cart so heavy
that she's dragging the cart now. Dragging the cart. And I thought eventually she'll
get it. But no. A month after that, guess what
she's got? Two carts. And she's pulling
two carts. You think I'm lying, but I told
you I'm not gonna lie right here. It was fascinating to me to watch
how she actually managed her own race. Because I'm talking
about running for Christ and being laden down with things
that will hinder your run. And if you think you got to have
all that stuff so bad, you are going to fail to accomplish the
goal. I saw her with a third cart.
I am not kidding. And I gave her a little props
because she was strong. Obviously, you've got to have
some strength to be dragging three carts loaded with goods. But the last time I saw her,
she was standing in the middle of the street blocking traffic
with all three carts loaded because she was so tired. She sat down
in the middle of the street. I'm going to come back to that
in a moment. I'm going to come back to that in a moment. The
writer says, if you're going to win this race, you've got
to know how to strip stuff down. You've got to let stuff go. You've
got to detach yourself from things. You've got to extricate yourself
from things that's going to hinder your run. I love it. I love it. In the Gospel of Matthew, Mark
rather, chapter 10, verses 49 through 52, there was a blind
man who heard that Jesus was passing by and he was calling
out, son of man, son of man or son of David, son of David, have
mercy on me. Have mercy on me. And Jesus called
him after stopping his disciples from forbidding him to come.
And do you know what the text says? That man stood up blind
and started chasing after Jesus. And do you know what he did?
Verse 50, he threw off his garments. He, casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus. Now, ladies and gentlemen, if
a blind man knows that he's got to free himself from everything
that hinders him from coming to Christ, how much more so those
of you who say you see his glory? How much more those of us who
say we see his glory? Why are we inhibited by garments
and clothing and stuff that's keeping us from running this
race? Was that blind man serious about Christ? Yes, he was. Did he obey the command to come?
Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give
you rest. That man got up and ran, didn't he? He ran blind
too. And I guarantee you he got his
reward. You read the rest of the text. God is a great paymaster. No one's coming unto him and
not be rewarded for coming. What a great analogy. The other
one is avoiding things. Avoiding things. Not only do
you have to strip stuff down, Literally in the olympic games
in the first century roman empire they ran naked At least today
we put some fig leaves on the on their bodies But they ran
naked in those days. We're getting there though. Aren't
we getting there? We're getting there. We're just about as barbaric
as the first century romans are today, aren't we? We're getting
there But if you're going to run this race with the objective
of winning, not only do you have to learn how to throw things
off, and that's going to require discipline. See, what I'm talking
to you about and the writers talking to us about is the necessary
discipline of staying focused and committed to the journey.
And I would warn you, right along with the writer, is that if you
are not disciplined, you will not run this race well, and you
have no guarantee of finishing. Because in order to do this race
well, you have to lay aside, throw off, cast off, that's literally
the verb form, every weight, the things that's gonna cause
you to drag. And the what? Sin, which does so easily beset
you. Which brings us to our second
strategy. The language here about this besetting sin terminology
that's used has to do with the idea of there being strategically
set up around you. Again, we're dealing with a pericope.
Things set up around you, near you, part of your life. Things
that are set up around you, near you, part of your life, all around
you, to the left and to the right, at 11 o'clock, at 1 o'clock,
at 3 o'clock, at 6 o'clock. things set up around you that are designed
to tempt you and cause you to fall. The besetting sins. Now we've often used besetting
sins of a one particular kind of sin into which we fall over
and over and over again. That's not really what the Greek
terminology is saying here. It's talking about particular
kinds of temptations that lead to sin that sets you up to divert
you from the course. You are on a course. and there
are things strategically set up around you, always around
you, seeking to distract you, take your attention, remove your
focus, get you to divert off the course. They are alluring
temptations. They are temptations that can
get you. They are the ones that are strategically
inclined to your particular peculiarities and propinquities, your weaknesses. Y'all know what I'm talking about.
It's the stuff that's actually keeping you from running well
right now. Some of us are not running well
right now because of the besetting sins that are always there luring
us off the track. And you are struggling with that
because you're not light of feet. You are not running with a straight
course. You're not focused. You're not
committed. You're struggling through those besetting sins.
And they are hindering you. And this is what the apostle
was talking about. And I just want you to know, God knows.
He knows it with all of us. If I am going to execute a strategy
for winning this gospel race, this race of faith, I am going
to have to learn how to strip away. That means I have to make
deliberate choices to say no to a bunch of stuff. And then
I'm going to have to recognize those temptations that are right
around the corner that have a tendency to create bad habits in my life.
Bad habits in my life and say no to those two by avoiding them
See some sins you cannot overcome but by avoidance Are you hearing
what I'm saying? Some sins you cannot overcome
by engaging you must avoid Now to avoid successfully certain
traps certain temptation certain sins. You actually have to respect
the fact that you are in a race Now to avoid certain temptations,
certain trials, certain things that will get you, you have to
respect the fact that you are in a race. See, people who are
serious about winning are thankful that they're even in the race. See, this race is not your race.
This is God's race. And it's a race that he has set
before you as a privilege. Are you running? God puts you
in that race. See, you're not in that race
because somehow you decided to get in the race. Not everybody's
running this race. But if you are in this race,
you and I must settle it in our heart that it is the greatest
thing on earth for us to be privileged with being in this race. And
therefore, I want to remain qualified in this race. I want to be able
to appreciate the fact that I'm within some boundaries of grace,
some parameters of God's providence, some limitations that God has
set up for me to keep me in my course. See, we all have a lane. Did I tell you about that before?
Stay in your what? Lane. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. I'm speaking very practically
to you today. Stay in your lane. Stay in your
lane. See, you have heard the term
track and field. You ain't on the field, you're
on the track. If you're in a field, you're wide open. You are on
a track. And on that track, you have boundaries.
You have restraints. You have a fixed course. And
in order for you to do your course successfully, you have to be
disciplined. Discipline. It takes discipline. It takes discipline of mind,
It takes discipline of will. It takes discipline of body.
Are you guys hearing me? It takes discipline. To be a
good athlete in anything, and today athleticism is a cult,
is it not? I call it a major religion. They
have preachers and teachers and doctrines and churches and even
denominations. It's a massive institution of
idolatry. It is a pseudo savior. People
are so wrapped up in sports and athletics and in gymnasiums. That's where we get the term
for athletics. That is nothing but in a major
idol system. And I know this makes some of
you who are lazy feel good, but let me tell you that God would
still have you to exercise. Bodily exercise profits little,
but it does profit a little bit. But the danger of getting shifted
into this neo-religious cult that I call exercise, and it's
massive everywhere, is that that system is designed to cater to
your own narcissistic needs. Because it's all about you in
that system. You are working out, you are disciplining yourself,
you are stripping down, you are avoiding. You are doing all the
principles that God says we should do, running His race, doing that
race. You are restraining from certain
foods. You are going to sleep on time. You are operating in
your diet. You are working out. You are
training. You are disciplining yourself.
When it says run this race with patience, the word is not patience. The word is hupomone. The word
is endurance. Patience is the fruit of endurance.
Endurance is the process of remaining under the weight and restraints
of the system. so that it builds in you the
character to be able to run that race successfully. And when you
meet folks who are trapped by the cult of exercise, those people
have given themselves over to obtaining the prize. Am I making
some sense? They are given over to it. And
what God says is, we are in a race too. Now there are two words
I want you to mark as I go on to my next point. The word race
there, is the word track. Track. We all run in a race. That's the word track. You and
I are on a track. That's what we race. You guys
got that? Run this race. Run. What does the word idea of running
mean? It means to struggle. It means to agonize. It means to toil. So treco is
for running, and agon is meaning toiling, or striving, or laboring,
agonizing. Isn't it agonizing to run? That's
why you don't do it. Because it's agonizing. That's
our agon. Our agon. Our agony. Jesus ran this race, didn't he?
Run track with patience this agon that is set before you. And that's quite fascinating
because it describes for us and depicts for us an aspect of faith
that we don't often contemplate. We don't really contemplate faith
as a discipline, do we? But we know it is by experience,
don't we? Don't we know by experience that
God has called us to discipline? Is that true? By experience,
God has called us to discipline. Now, when you first were saved,
you thought faith was simply just falling back into the arms
of Jesus and just enjoying hanging out with Jesus. And you came
to discover that faith was much more than the passive act of
enjoying the past perfect finished work of Christ. but that faith
now also calls you and I to a active mode of pursuing him that requires
certain disciplines. Isn't that true? Here we are
now in the race, the Agon. And quite fascinatingly, I want
to move to my next point. As he opens up saying that we
are to run this race with endurance, he says that we are to do this
by looking unto Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our
faith. Isn't that what it says? See, the ultimate goal is Christ. And the ultimate motive for running
is the fact that Christ ran. And the ultimate joy of our running
is that when Christ ran, he ran for us. And the confidence that
I'm going to have that I finished is because Christ finished. But
the writer wants us to still focus in on some disciplinary
factors for which I had us to go on into verses 5, 6, and 7. And I really want to deal with
verses 5 through verse 11 now, if you will. The writer is actually
encouraging the believer, if we are aware of the larger topic,
of not turning away from Christ, not apostatizing, not departing
from the faith. Is that right? This is what he
said over again in the 11th chapter when he says, but we are not
like them or of them that draw back again unto perdition, but
Believe unto the saving of the soul that's around Hebrews chapter
10 verse 38. So his exhortation is don't stop
I'll make that good here in a moment, but he moves from talking briefly
about Christ in verse 2 3 & 4 Which would be our last consideration
To a very interesting analogy of which he is describing or
depicting faith for which I want to draw your attention now he
says over in verse 5 and you have forgotten that The exhortation
which speaks unto you as unto what? Sons. And then he begins
to quote. My son, despise not thou the
what? Chastening of the Lord. Nor faint
when you are rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens
and scourges every son whom he what? Isn't that fascinating? We have moved from an impersonal
analogy of running the race to a very personal analogy of a
relationship between a father and a son. I want you to get
this now. The subject is faith. The subject
is faith. And we are called to run, but
we're also called to relate to God. He's now going to use the
analogy of the relationship between a father and his son. Quite fascinating,
because now he wants this to become personal. You know what
he's saying? Accept the principles of discipline
because the principles of discipline affirm your sonship It actually
affirms you being a child of God Stay with me now He goes
from an impersonal analogy to a profoundly personal analogy
of telling you and I that we are to take this whole experience
of faith and Recognize that this is the way God works in your
life to communicate with you as his son and him as your father. That means the issues of your
life and mine, which are like a race, are also the issues of
our life by which we come to interpret, understand, and relate
to our God. You and I have learned that the
way God works in our life is in a fashion by which he deals
with us as his children. And the most important thing
that you and I are to actually accomplish out of walking and
living and dying in faith is how God works. I want to be able
to interpret my circumstances through a biblical lens in order
to prove what is the good and acceptable will of God. Don't
you want to be able to interpret everyday's events in a fashion
that says, I understand that my father is up to something.
He's doing something in my life. He's dealing with me. He's addressing
issues. Stay with me now. I know this
is going to get a little bit alarming, but I want you to get
it. This idea of faith is really talking about comprehending on
a much more profound level how it is that a child of God walks
with his heavenly father in this world. And he uses the framework
of discipline. The writer is saying, do not
Be weary in the way in which God deals with you because father
knows best. Do not find yourself misinterpreting
the manner in which God works with his children. Are you with
me so far? Stay with me now. This is critical
because it's almost incongruent the manner in which the writer
takes up the subject of chastisement and correction over in verse
5. I mean he says in verse 5, you've
forgotten the exhortation, the preaching, the word of warning
which speaks unto you as children. My son, do not despise. See that
phrase despise? It literally means do not take
for granted, do not belittle, do not lightly esteem, do not
regard as something that you do not have to take seriously.
Don't despise the chastening of the Lord. If I could turn
it around and put it in the positive, here's what he would be saying.
Value highly the fact that God is in your life, working in your
life to conform you to the image of Christ. regard to the highest
degree the hand of a sovereign God working in your life to make
you all that God means to make you to be. Hold with the highest
esteem the fact that God works in your life. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? Don't lightly esteem it. Why are we not to
lightly esteem it? Because we are not called to
misinterpret how God works in our life. See, let the heathen,
let the pagan misinterpret God, not the believer. Let the people
who are on the outside of the kingdom, who are walking blindly,
say, well, now, if I were God, I wouldn't do that, and I wouldn't
do this, and I wouldn't do the other thing. Well, you're not
God, first. Secondly, because your mind is
corrupted, it's not possible for you to think God's thoughts
after Him until He makes you a new creature in Christ. See,
God's thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways are not our ways. And
so for the unregenerate man to hear and contemplate how God
works in the life of his people, for him, it's not only foolish,
it's abhorrent. Let me see if I can lock this
down and narrow us down. See, in our present generation,
we hate fathers. In our present generation, we
despise fathers. In our present generation, we
live in such an anti-authoritarian, anti-biblical, anti-traditional
family mode that the idea of a father is something with which
the whole present, we call it postmodern culture, is trying
to throw off. See, we hate the idea of a patriarchal principle.
We hate the idea that inherent in the nature of the love of
a father is the essential practice of disciplining those whom he
loves. See, for true believers, we understand that that's a non-negotiable.
It's essential for my God to correct me. But for unbelievers,
the whole idea of love means I don't need God to do anything
for me, but let me do what I want to do. You're on your way to
hell with that notion. And you're never going to meet
the true and the living God on the grounds of redemption and
not have that God be your Father. Am I telling the truth? The true
and the living God is the Father of all those who are begotten
of Him. Now if that's the case, guess
what he's going to do? He's going to see to it that you look just
like his son when it's over with. That's right. He said to his
Hebrew brother and his Jewish brother, he said, now you guys
have forgotten. Y'all must have forgot the exhortation in the
Old Testament that a father must train his children. A father
must train his children. And I say it again, you and I
live in such a chaotic culture, a broke down culture, that our
government and our leaders and our policies are antithetical
to the idea that a father should be that kind of disciplinarian
to our children. But look at the product, look
at the consequent. We got lazy, indolent, we got
ambivalence, we got all kinds of chaos going on in our present
generation because of a lack of structure, lack of discipline.
lack of framework, lack of biblical love. Am I making some sense?
A lack of it has produced a whole society of bastards. Can I keep talking? Can I keep
talking? Because see, the text is really
clear. The writer is clear. He has moved us into the most
personal paradigm there is. Have you forgotten that God called
you into covenant as him being your father? And you him being
his son? Have you forgotten that? Well,
no, I haven't forgotten. Well, then understand as a father,
he's going to discipline you because he's going to grow you
up, child of God. He's going to grow you up, daughter
of God. You're going to be just like he means for you to be when
he's done. And if you don't, you're not his. You know what
the text is saying? It's remarkable. Look at it.
Remark it. Look at it now. This is what
he says. Verse six, for whom the Lord loves. He chases. And then he says he scourges.
Now, I would be in jail. I would be in jail if I scourge
my son. Are you hearing me? I would be
in jail if I chased my son. Some of us can go to jail for
emotional abuse today. My kid goes out and robs a bank
and tabs the place, kill a bunch of people. The police put him
in jail and the psych comes running to save him. Son, was your daddy
nice to you? No. Okay, we're going to put
him in jail for emotional abuse and blame me for my son's culpability. Well, this is what I'm going
to do before I even let that gorilla get out the cage. I'm
going to discipline him and train him and instruct him and chastise
him. and correct him and admonish
him and come alongside him as the paraclete, as the Holy Ghost
in his life, the vicar of the Spirit of God. I'm going to speak
into his soul. I'm going to teach him the truth.
I'm going to show him God's glory by all the powers that are in
me. I'm going to get him to understand that he needs a Savior just like
I do. like father, like son, like father, like son. I'm not
going to let him get away. I'm not going to let him think
he can do whatever he wants to do. He's going to know the love
of a father in his life. Now, when he gets grown, he can
go do whatever he wants to. But I'm confident that the word
of God is going to still be in his cranium when he's acting
a fool. That's my promise. Train them
up in the fear and the nurture of the Lord. When they get old,
they will not depart from it. I'm going to speak into their
life from the beginning to the end of my legal responsibility
over their life. And so God does that with us,
too. And I love it. I love it. You know why I love
it? Because I understand the three models of covenant principles
out of which we operate. Father, son, husband, wife, king,
servant are the three models that this whole world system
is trying to throw off because they hate God. They hate our
God. They hate our God. And every
church that abandons these three covenant principles is walking
in lockstep with the enemy. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? God is a great king over all the earth. And we are his
servants. Jesus was. He's a great king. He is a glorious
heavenly father. And I'm his son. What a dignity.
And I'm married to his darling son, Jesus Christ. He's my husband
and I'm his bride. And as the bride, I want to submit
to him. Do you? See, but now we're stuck on the
analogy of the father and the son. I want you to stay with
me on that a little bit because it's very important. In your
outline, the sonship of faith, right? The sonship of faith. And really, this is simply about
training the believer to become a mature and productive believer
in this life. Again, I was absolutely fascinated
at what the writer is trying to achieve. Will you notice what
he says in verse 11? Now, no chastening. Do you see
the term chastening? That simply means instruction.
Instruction. No instruction. No education. No training. No discipline. So again, I'm using sort of the
non-pejorative definitions, right? But is there anything that you
can do in life? Anything, ladies and gentlemen,
that you can do in life without instruction? Is there anything
you can do without instruction? Is there anything you can do
without training? Is there anything you can do
without education? Is there anything you can do without being taught?
You and I have to be taught by somebody to do everything. Am
I making some sense? But now watch this. This is how
sinful we are by nature. We hate education. Parents, am I telling the truth?
The kids get up, first thing they want to do is play. Then
when it's time to get taught, if you homeschool your children
as we did in our earlier days, oh, they're fighting to get to
the table. But they still need to learn how to read, write,
and think. The job of the parents is to discipline them, educate
them, train them how to think. If they're going to mature to
take on more responsible tasks, isn't our job to train them?
Is it the government's job to train them? To hell they go.
If the government does it, Am I making some sense? See, so
stay with me then. Why would God leave you to this
world system to train you to be like his darling son Jesus
when he's your heavenly father? And I'm saying the battle that
the true Christian church is engaged in is a battle of worldviews
where the world is diametrically opposed to the model of God.
And that's why they're doing everything they can to destroy
the family. You and I are suffering the ravages
of a non-biblical worldview even in our own lives And I feel so
bad for Christians who say they're Christians who don't have a biblical
worldview It hurts my heart because I understand that we do not live
in a vacuum We do not live in a void either. We are on God's
side operating out of biblical principles Experiencing the fruit
of those biblical principles are we are simply saying we're
on God's side and we're on the enemy side and we are reaping
the fruit that system. Am I telling the truth? It really
hurts my heart and the Hebrew writer is telling us that if
we recognize that God's providence, if we recognize that his purposes
in our life are designed to actually constrain us, to rein us in,
to put structure and discipline and boundaries around our life
so that he can actually deal with us in a profoundly intimate
way We can grow up under those parameters. He wants us to grow
up. Look at verse 11. Now, no chasing
for the present seems to be joyous. This is how you know you're still
a child when everything has to be joy. Are you kidding? This is where we got some childish
churches, too. They think the Holy Ghost is
in present unless you're always in a joy mode. That's crazy. That's utterly ridiculous. Life
is not always filled with one temperament, one attitude, one
emotion. The whole spectrum of emotions
must be experienced in a sound, balanced environment. We want
joy in our homes as an evidence of the kingdom of God. Isn't
that right? But that's the fruit of what? Peace. You know, some
of your homes don't have any peace in it right now. Do you
know why it doesn't have peace? No structure. Write it down. See where your house is all tore
up and folk running around acting like wild animals? No structure. You know what that structure
is according to the Word of God and God's family? Righteousness. Righteousness. Romans 14, 17. See, the foundation has to be
righteousness. Are you guys following me? The
foundation has to be righteousness, right thinking about the right
ways of God. That's the foundation. You are
not going to have a peaceful home where your rebel children
are free to do whatever they want to do because the rule is
emotional and not principled. Righteousness is critical. And
then there's going to be peace. Peace. You go to a home where
you got five and six and seven and eight kids there. And that
home is a happy home filled with peace. I guarantee you there's
a rule of law in that home. You're not coming to my house
and seeing my kids acting a fool. It's not happening. Because God
has taught me that in order for me to have a joyful home that's
filled with peace, it's got to be based on righteousness. Are
you guys hearing me? And the church that's not operating
out of the righteousness of God, which affords us the peace of
God, which passes understanding, and therefore the overflow of
joy, that joy that they do have is a farce, is a scam, is the
perpetration of a scam. It's not really rooted in a right
relationship with God. Now the wicked have joy too.
It's the joy of drink. It's the joy of getting high.
It's the joy of a pleasure principle that's not related to a right
relationship with God. Am I making some sense? But what
Solomon said concerning that, it's like the crackling of the
thorns under the pot. You know those thorns under the
pot when you light the fire? That's the joy of the wicked.
It's soon consumed. See, what the writer is saying
is to the Hebrew people, and we're transferring it to ourselves,
is don't be weary in well-doing. Don't think about and contemplate
getting out of this race because this race is something that you
didn't get yourself into And the God who put you there knows
how to get you to the finish line Am I making some sense more
than that? I want you to stay on the point
with me the analogy of the father with the children you and I have
learned if we're children of God that God is going to operate
in our life in a manner in which he Disciplines us. Is that true?
So the sonship of faith has with it a number of principles that
I want to derive out of it because it's very, very, very important
for us to see that. And it really does fall under
our third category. The difficulty of faith amounts
to his loving, chastening hand. Do you see that? The difficulty
of faith amounts to his loving, chastening hand. That's so good. See, the pagan would say difficulties
mean that God doesn't love me. The ignorant person would say
difficulties means that God has abandoned me. But the child of
God that knows the paradigm of Christ and him crucified understands
that difficulties in the life of the believer amount to God's
loving, chastening hand. Child of God, then therefore
learn how to interpret your trials of faith as being schooled, educated,
taught by God so that you can become all that God wants you
to do. Interpret your trials as God saying, I love you. I
care about you. I'm holding you back from this.
I'm shutting you up to that. I'm confining you to the other
thing. I'm restraining you from that because I love you. Learn
how to interpret the providential acts of God as his kisses of
love to you. And understand this as I get
ready to unpack this shortly. that there is no one in the kingdom
of whom God does not do this. All whom the Lord loves, he chases. Everyone. So here's another thought
that's often exercising itself in our mind in an undisciplined
way. God doesn't do everybody else like he does me. Perish
the thought. Listen, child of God, you're
no different than any other child of God. I know you think you
are. But you're no different. Your corrections are no different
than your neighbor's corrections. Your other brothers and sisters
in Christ may be in a different lane than you, but it's the same
race and they're headed to the same goal. And remember what
I told you, stop looking at somebody else's race and stay on your
own track. And so what I'm getting at, what
I'm getting at is critical for you to comprehend, is that what
God wants us to do is stop perceiving what we would call difficulties
as an aversion to his blessings in our life. The major thing
that God is doing with you is conforming you to Jesus. If you
ever come to the point of learning how to strip and avoid, strip
and avoid, Do you know why you will do that? It's because you
will have perceived that the difficulties of your faith is
the loving hand of God in your life. And God has taught you
to strip and avoid. Strip and avoid. Haven't we learned
some of that, Saints? Let me show you what I mean.
Let me show you what I mean quickly in our outline. Listen to what
our outline says. The difficulties of faith amount to his loving,
chastening hand. And under it, there are a lot
of things that we learn. What does the trying of our faith
work? works a lot of things doesn't
the train of our faith work a lot of things listen to what first
Peter chapter 1 verse 5 through 7 says turn in your Bible there
I want you to see it I want to remind you of a few verses on
this topic and I'm gonna let you go for the day and we'll
come back and take this up next week what does the trying of
your faith due for you. Listen to what Peter says in
1 Peter 1 verse 5. He says, We are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time wherein you greatly rejoice. What do we rejoice in? The salvation
that's about to be revealed. Although now for a season, if
need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations.
Are some of you going through trials? Do you trust Christ as
Savior? Watch this next statement. That
the trial of your faith being much more precious than what?
The trial of your faith to God is much more precious than gold. The trying of your faith, the
testing of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the what? Appearing of Jesus Christ. See
what God is doing? He's making sure when he shows up and you
show up, that you glorify him. He's making sure that that happens.
And here's the thing that I want you to grab. When you come to
learn about difficulties in your life, you come to learn that
God has come closer to you than when he left you alone. He's
drawn closer to you to affect three things. What does the train
of your faith works? It works an affirmation in our
life about the character of God. You know, we can think stupid
stuff about God until God shows up and say, hey, that's not me.
Right now, watch this. So the trials of our faith help
us to think accurately about God. The trials of our faith
help us to think clearly about ourselves. Do you know how sinful
you are? A test will show you that, won't
it? So trials help us see the character
of God, it helps us see our sinfulness, and then it also shows us his
faithfulness. See, God has to show up in your
troubles to show you how faithful he is. I want you to see it in
the Word of God. I want you to see what David
said about this and also what what Job said about this in Job
chapter 42 verse 5 and 6. Do you remember how Job complained
all the way through the book? God hates me. God doesn't love
me. God didn't abandon me. God is
like a giant trying to squash a fly. You know what he said
in chapter 45 verse 5? I have heard of thee with the
hearing of the ear, but now my eyes have seen thee. Stop. He
didn't see God with the physical eye. He comprehended God accurately
through his trial. And his initial and former perception
of God was distorted because he had fell prey to some assumptions
like we all do. You know how you start building
an idol about God? And then God crashes your idol. He demolishes your idol. And
he lays you low like he did Joe. And then you see God more accurately.
It's as if you never knew God the first time. Remember that?
I have heard of thee with the hearing of the ear, but my eyes
have seen thee. Verse 6, listen to what it says. Wherefore, I
abhor myself. I love it. Because see, sometimes
we get away from ourselves. And we think we're all that and
a piece of sliced bread. And then we want God to sign
off on our agenda. Am I telling you the truth? when
God steps back and let your bread mold so that you can smell yourself
the way you really are and realize that you're a hell-bound sinner
apart from the grace of God that in you dwelleth no good thing
that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above everything
even after conversion that if left to yourself you would manipulate
everything that God gives you and order to cater to your own
goals and agenda. If it wasn't for the Lord who
had you to see yourself for what you really are, you'd be deluded
in thinking that you were all that when you and I are nothing
but a sack of worms. So the revelation of the Holy
Ghost in convincing the world of sin must start with me. I
must be convinced that I am the sinner all by myself. Otherwise,
we mess it up. We mess it up. We mess it up.
And so this is where Job is. Now, you remember what God said
about Job. God said that man was perfect. God said that man
was the greatest man in the East. God said that man eschewed evil.
He did good. He boasted in Job. I want God
to boast in me. But if God's gonna boast in me,
you better know what I've got to do. I've got to see myself
as corrupt and vile and unworthy of even the notice of God. Do
you hear me? It's so very important for us
to understand. So when you and I get to acting a fool, thinking
we're all that, God has stepped back from us a little bit. Say,
all right, son, go for it. I already told you without me,
you can do nothing. Try it. So what God does by our
trials is he lays us low and he affirms his character. He
shows us our sinfulness and then he shows us his faithfulness.
He's not going to let us go. I love it. I love it. The second
thing that he does, trials are affirmative of God's character,
our sinfulness, his faithfulness, but they're effectual. Because
ladies and gentlemen, trials actually work to humble you. Yes, they do. Nothing like trials
to get you where you need to be. Listen to what David said
in Psalm 119. Psalm 119 verse 71. I want you
guys to see a few Bible verses. Now, I know you ain't opened
your Bibles in about a year, so you get to peel the pages
back. Now, the Psalms is in the middle of your Bible. That's
where the Psalms is. It's in the middle of your Bible,
and it's spelled P-S, not S. So let me help you right quick. So we want to go to the book
of Psalms, okay? 119. Psalms 119. For those of
us who go to government schools. Psalms 119. I want you to listen
with me to what David said in Psalm 119 verse 71. This is in the division of Teth.
Watch this now. Are you ready? It is good for
me. that I have been afflicted, that
I might learn your statutes. So you don't learn without affliction.
You don't learn without chasing. You don't learn without correction.
You don't learn without instruction. You don't learn without training.
You don't learn without rebuke. Now, when you are God's child,
it is good that you have afflicted me, that I might learn your statutes.
Look at verse 75. Here's what David says. I know,
oh Lord, that your judgments are what? And that you in faithfulness
have what? Afflicted me. See it? Do you
see it? You better get it. You see it?
You better get it. God afflicts because he's faithful. He afflicts because we're sons
and daughters of God. He afflicts because he knows
the goal that he wants to achieve. I'm closing right here. Listen
to me now. This exercise of a father-son
paradigm is utterly hated in this world. Because this exercise
of a father-son paradigm where he chastens, where he disciplines,
where he scourges, where he rebukes, forces us to look to Calvary. Because on Calvary's tree, the
only begotten Son of the Living God hung there under the chastening
hand of His Father. as a substitute for hell-bound
sinners, as the only remedy for our brokenness. The whole world
through the gospel has defaced this reality that the true and
the living God, this loving God, chastened His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believes on Him should not perish. He poured
His wrath out on His Son. He punished His Son. He laid
upon him the iniquity of us all. And he chastened his son. He
bruised his son. He put him to death. This is
the bloody gospel that this world hates. I wouldn't serve a God like that,
they say. I would. I would. I would in all humility bowing
before his majesty amazed at the wonder of his love that he
would take the wrath that should be poured on me and you and all
of us and pour it on his darling son so that we stand back in
glorious spectacle watching the father punish him instead of
punishing us and all he's doing with us by the holy ghost is
correcting us you better be corrected You better be corrected. You
better be admonished. You better be instructed. You
better be rebuked. That's what it means for God
to love you. Listen to me. And my master got it well. He
said, I know my father loves me. I know he loves me. Isn't that what he said? He always
loves me. He has never stopped loving me. Even when he went to Calvary,
the father loved him. We will not succumb to the definition
of this secular world system telling us what love is. Love
is a father chasing his son that he might conform him to the image
of his darling son. When God's done with me, I'm
going to look just like Jesus Christ. Oh, Lord, do what you
got to do to get me where you want me to be. Help me stay on
the straight and narrow course. Help me run this race with patience.
Discipline me. Restrain me. Bind me in. Limit me in. Do what you need
to do, O God, so that I don't faint. And we'll come back to
that next week. Amen.