Turn with me to Hebrews 11, the scripture Brother Ronnie
read for us. You know, the world has what
they call their Hall of Fame. Baseball has a Hall of Fame. I think Pete Rose would give
everything in this world to be in the Hall of Fame. I hope he
makes it for his sake. I sure do. Because that's the
goal and the end of his very existence, is to be in the Hall
of Fame. And I watch those fellas when
they give their speeches, when they're nominated to the Hall
of Fame. It's like, this is it, this is the end of living, being
in the Hall of Fame. But we just read about the Hall
of Faith. That's the one. That's what I'm
interested in, the Hall of Faith. We read the names of many of
these great believers. The Lord said they saw the promise
of Christ afar off. They saw it. They saw him by
faith. that promise, that eternal covenant. And it said they not only saw
the promise of Christ afar, but they were persuaded of the promises. Confident. I am persuaded that
he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. And then it says they embraced
him. They not only saw this promise of God's grace and mercy in Christ,
but they were persuaded of the certainty of them, and they literally
embraced them with heart, mind, and soul. And then they declared
plainly that they desire a better country. Look at verse 16 there.
Now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly country. Wherefore, and listen to this,
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared
for them a city. Talking about all those old time
believers, people of God, prophets of God. And then in verse 38,
the Lord says this about these people. Verse 38, in the parenthesis,
of whom the world was not worthy. Of whom the world was not worthy.
And then in verse 39, he said, and these, and these all, all
of these believers, they obtained a good report. What does that
mean? They obtained divine approval. Abraham offered a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained a good report, by
which he obtained divine approval, whereby God called all of these
people by the same name he called Abraham, my friend. Abraham, the scripture says,
called God, my friend. Abraham, my friend. of whom the
world was not worthy, but they obtained a good report. They
had Christ in promise, but we obtained a better report. Look
at that next line. In verse 39 it says, These, all
having obtained a good report through faith, received not the
promise, they didn't see it in its fulfillment, but God having
provided something better for us, something, a better thing
for us. What is this better thing for
us? Well, they had Christ in promise, we have him in person. They had Christ in type, we have
Christ incarnate. They were redeemed by looking
to Christ who should come. We are saved by Christ who has
come. That's a better report. Yes,
they obtained a good report, but we have provided for us a
better report. But, look at that last line,
that they without us should not be made perfect. Not without
us. They'll be perfected and so shall
we. They'll be in his likeness and
image and so shall we. And David said, I'll be satisfied
when I wait with his likeness. Turn to Hebrews 7 for a moment. We talk about this better, this
God provided a better thing for us. They have a good report.
They have divine approval. But we have that special revelation. You and I do. Look at Hebrews
7 verse 19. Would you look at that with me?
It says in Hebrews 7 verse 19, For the law made nothing perfect,
the giving of the law and the rituals of the law and the traditions
of the law, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by which
we draw nigh unto God. And then look down at chapter
9, verse 23. Chapter 9, verse 22. And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood
there's no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the pattern of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, with these types and shadows and pictures. But the heavenly
things themselves with better sacrifices. What is the better
sacrifice? Christ is not entered. into the
holy place made with hands as the Old Testament priest did,
as Avon did, as all the priests did, which are figures of the
truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us, oh my, my, my, God having provided a better
thing for us, the fulfillment of the promise. the fulfillment
of Christ's person and work. All right. Chapter 12. Here's
where we're going to start. Now listen. Chapter 12. Wherefore seeing that we are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Great,
a great, that's the word. I want to look just a word at
a time. Great cloud of witnesses. Someone said one time, Never
think of the kingdom of God in small numbers. Never. Let me show you that over here
in the verse we were reading a while ago. In chapter 11, Ronnie
read this. Look, if you will, at verses
10, 11, and 12. Don't think of the kingdom of
God in small numbers. The Bible talks about a multitude
which no man could number. You know what it says? A multitude
which no man could number. In Hebrews 11, For he looked
for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God,
through faith also savoureth herself conceived, receiveth
strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child, when
she was past age, because she judged him faithful to the promise,
therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead."
We're talking about Abraham now. "...as many as the stars of the
sky in multitude, and the sands which are in the seashore innumerable."
Are we talking about all of the natural descendants of Abraham?
No, sir, we're talking about the spiritual descendants of
Abraham. They sprang from one. Our father Abraham and him good
as dead a multitude as the sands of the seashore and as the stars
of the sky in number. Turn to Romans chapter 4, let
me show you this again. Never think of the kingdom of
God in small numbers. In Romans chapter 4, I just looked
at that a little while ago, Romans 4. Listen to this. Romans 4,
17. As it is written, I have made
you a father of many nations. My friends, not just the Jewish
nation or the Israelite natural nation, a father of many nations,
Gentile. Every tribe, kindred, nation,
tongue under heaven is blessed through Abraham. If they're sons
of Abraham, they're sons of God. That's what he says, I made you
a father of many nations, before him whom he believed, even God,
who quickeneth the dead, and causeth those things which be
not as though they were, who against hope, and being believed
in hope, that he might be the father of many nations, according
to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. We're talking
about so great a cloud. And I'm talking about one here
and one there. Great cloud of witness. Let me show you one
other scripture. Turn with me to Revelation. Revelation chapter
7. Listen to this. Revelation 7.
And verse 10. And cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, who is seated upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and
fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying,"
Listen, Amen, Amen, Blessing and Glory and Wisdom, Power,
Honor, Might be unto our God for ever and ever." And one of
the elders answered and said, which arrayed in white robes.
And whence came they? He said, I tell you who they
are, so you know. These are they that came out
of great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb. Who are they? Go back to verse
9. And after this I beheld, John
said, I beheld and lo a great multitude which nobody can number. Who is it? It's all these that
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. That's who this is. A great multitude. I saw a great cloud of witnesses. A number which no man could number.
Made up of whom? All nations, all kindreds, all
peoples, all tongues, they stood before the Lamb, before the throne,
and before the Lamb. All of them. Clothed with white
robes and palms in their hands. to never think about my Lord's
kingdom. Well, somebody sent us a handful,
but whose hand are we talking about? They're in his hand. All right, let's move on. I'll
never get through this. Wherefore seeing we're compassed
about, we're so great a cloud. Cloud? Great multitude cloud? What are we talking about cloud?
They're above us. They're not down here. They're
not among us here. They're in a cloud. They're above
us. Our Lord Jesus was received up
into the clouds. They're God's people who are
in heaven. That's who we're talking about here. A greater cloud of
witnesses. And he names them. Abel, by faith
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice. Enoch, walked with
God. He was not because God took him.
Noah, moved with fear. built an ark, Abraham by faith
went out not knowing where, Sarah by faith was conceived and brought
forth a son, and Moses by faith refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter, and many others, that's what it says here,
and many others. A cloud, a great cloud. Alright,
look at the next one. And so we're encompassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses. Now who are we talking about
here? We're talking about glorified believers of all generations
who are in glory, who made their robes white, washed them in the
blood of the Lamb and in the presence of God. What are their
witnesses out there? Are they looking down here watching
what we're doing? Are they looking down on our
persons and our activities and our works? No, sir. They're witnesses
of God. They're God's witnesses. It's
like Abel, when they wrote about Abel, says, he's dead. Yet he
that speaks. What does he speak of? He speaks
of the faithfulness of God. That's what he speaks of. A witness
is one who has seen and heard and experienced a glorious fact
and desires to tell it and to make it known. And these heavenly
witnesses are witnesses of the faithfulness of our God throughout
the ages. They're witnesses of the fullness
of His love. They're witnesses of the sufficiency
of His precious blood. And they're witnesses of the
certain victory that comes to those who believe on the Son
of God, thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, that's who we're talking
about here. I'm talking about these Old Testament
believers. Great cloud above us. Witnesses. They're not witnessing
what's going on here, they're not interested in what's going
on here. They're witnesses of His faithfulness and His love
and His grace and His mercy. Alright, that being so, verse
1, chapter 12. Let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race set before us. Now then, see if I can make
good on this. Folks who are dedicated to running
a race, and who mean business, and who mean to win and to accomplish
what they set out to do. If they're running a race, they
don't put on rubber boots, and they don't put on an overcoat,
a topcoat, and a hat, and they don't wear a backpack. They get
rid of everything, everything that will hinder them running
a good race, running a swift race. running a victorious race,
running a race where the victor is crowned. So he says, therefore
seeing that we are encompassed about with such a great multitude
of people, a great cloud of witnesses who are witnesses to us, he being
dead speaks. What does he speak about? He's
not going to go find out whether you bought a new car this year.
He's talking about the glory of God, the faithfulness of God,
the mercy of God, the love of God, the victory which we have
in Christ Jesus. So let us, if we're serious,
if we're dead serious about this race set before us, He didn't
say, see if somebody stripped me of these things, you do it.
You lay it aside. You do it yourself. You lay it
aside. God gives you the grace to do
it. God gives you the will to do it. God gives you the inspiration
to do it, but you've got to lay it aside. Lay what aside? I'm telling you what. These things
are weights. What does this weight do? It
brings you down. Every weight, every hindrance,
Every association, every companion. People, they can get in your
way running the race. They get in your way, they get
your sidetracked. So let's lay aside. You do it. You lay it
aside. Lay aside every weight, every
hindrance, every association, every companion, every interest,
every work which interferes your fellowship with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Lay aside everything which hinders
your walk, your spiritual life, your fellowship with God. Just
like a runner, I'm dedicated not to a corruptible crowd, but
to an incorruptible crowd. I'm dedicated to finding Christ
and being found in Him. Then I'm going to lay aside these
things. which hinder me from doing that very thing. Lay aside. Let us lay aside all these things
that drag you down. Drag you down. Whatever they
are. And then he says, and let us
lay aside the sin which does so easily beset us. You know,
I've read people writing about this, and they say, well, everybody
has his pet Everybody has his special weakness. Everybody has his special
power. But that's not what he's talking
about here. That's not it. That's what we're talking about
in the first part of this verse. Lay aside these weights. Get
rid of them. For the glory of God. For your
good race. But let's lay aside these sins. These sins. Which so easily doth
beset us, the sin. That is the sin of everybody.
Everybody. The sin. What is it? It's unbelief. That's exactly what it is. It's
unbelief. That's right. It's a problem
every one of us has. This preacher. These elders. These teachers. These old folks. These young folks. Scripture says, Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. That's my biggest problem, is
not believing God. I can do all things through Christ
with strength in me. Can you? Won't you do it? Well,
believe Him and you will. Believe Him and you will. If
you can believe, all things are possible to them that believe. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Take heed, brethren, if there
be found in you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God. Walk in your own way. Believe
him. Now I'll tell you why I believe
that the great sin which does so easily beset us and trouble
us is unbelief. I'll tell you why. Four reasons. Number one, Ronnie, what's chapter
11 all about? You read that, and I believe
you read that word faith 24 times in that 40 verses. What's this
chapter all about? Faith. That's the sin that doth so easily
beset us. That's what he's writing about
in chapter 11. Our second one. What is the one mark, the one
mark of all these people who reach glory? What's the one mark,
they believe? By faith. By faith, Abraham went
out. By faith, Noah, being warned
of God, built an ark. By faith, Sarah received grace. That's the one mark of everybody
in this chapter, but faith. What was the one thing that brought
them victory? Was it their working, laboring,
striving? Abraham believed God, it was
counted to him for righteousness. That's what it said. He believed
God. And fourthly, what's the one
thing that kept the rest of them out? They could not enter in because
of unbelief. So, let's lay aside every way
The things that cling to us, drag us down, turn us around,
slow us down, cause lay it aside. It's not worth it. It's not worth
it. If Pete Rose would give all that
to be in the Hall of Fame, what would I give to be in the Hall
of Fame? What would I give? And let's be sure to work on
this. Lord, I believe. Help my heart believe. All things
are possible to them who believe. And watch this right here, and
let us run with patience. Run with dedication. Let's run
with commitment. Let's run with all we have. Let
us run with patience. Patience. Wait on the Lord. Be
of good cheer. Wait, I say, on the Lord. The
race is set before me. What are you going to do with
that preacher? Let us run with patience, be race set before
us. Well, number one, it's my race. That's right, this is my race. Paul called it his stewardship.
He called it his ministry. It's the Lord's ministry. It's
your ministry. But in a special sense, it's
my race. It's race is set before. Let
me show you that in Acts chapter 20. It's my race. That's exactly
right. We're individual. We're not saved
as a group. We're saved as individuals. God
deals with each of us in his own way through Christ Jesus
and gives us grace. That's the second thing about
this course. He gave it to me. He said it
before me. It wasn't an accident. It was on purpose. Even for this
same purpose have I raised you up that I might get glory, my
name might be declared. That's why I raised you up, every
person. Now watch this Acts 20, Paul
talking about his course. Acts 20 verse 24. Paul's getting
ready to be martyred in a few months. But none of these things
move me. Neither count I my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course, my race, with
joy, and my ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Is there any doubt
at all about the fact that it's your race, it's your cause, that
he sat before you, it's your trial. That's right. I'm going to lay aside these
weights and sin that of unbelief and run with patience and dedication,
commitment, long-suffering, waiting on God. The race that God set
before me. Set before me. Do it with patience
and faithfulness. Is the race hard? Yes. I tried it. Every child of God
has temptations and tribulations and trials. If you be without
trial, you're not the sons of God. Is it hard? He said, my grace is sufficient.
My grace is sufficient. Is it? Is it really? Of course
it is. You know it and I know it. Is
the race lonely? Lots of times it's very lonely.
But he said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. You can't do it by yourself.
I'll never leave you and I'll never... Lord, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the... Cast all your cares on me. I'm
caring for you. That's real now. Is the race
mysterious? God moves in mysterious ways.
I don't understand. I just wish that... Is the will
of God so hard to find? It's not easy, is it? I haven't
found it to be so. Sometimes I have to look under
all places and then there it is. I wasn't even looking where
it was. There it was. He walked in. God moves in mysterious ways
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the
sea and rides upon the storm. You fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dreaded
are big with blessings and they will break. with mercy on your
head. Yeah, it's hard, it's lonely,
it's mysterious. And does this race bring tears
and heartache, disappointment, misunderstandings? Yes, sir. But we know all these things
work together for good to them who love God. through the call
according to his purpose. And I tell you this, if you look
at Hebrews 10, I'm going to give you the scripture here. Hebrews
10, verse 35. Now, listen. Hebrews 10, 35. Cast not away,
therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For you have heard You have need
of patience, run the race with patience, that after you've done
the will of God, you might receive the promise. For yet a little
while, and he'll come. He that shall come will come,
and he won't tell you he's coming, but I suggest you live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. But thank God, we're not
of them that draw back. We're not of them that quit the
race. We're not of them that throw in the towel. We're not
of them that draw back under perdition. We are of them that
believe to the saving of our souls. That's just it. And then here's a closing with
this next verse. Looking unto Jesus. Looking unto
Jesus. What does it mean to look to
Jesus? Looking unto Jesus. We don't look to Christ with
natural eyes. We look to Christ with our faith.
Our faith. And we see Him. We do see Him
as being invisible. But we see Him.
We see Him how? In the promises of the Word.
I saw him this morning in that Behold the Lamb of God. I saw
him. And you did too. We went through
that together, didn't we? We saw him. We saw him in the
promises of the Word. We saw him in the flesh, the
God-man. We see him living and dying as
our substitute. We see him risen as our justifier. We see him in glory as our mediator. We see him. We see, for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. Now, 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. I found
an outline on this verse right here that was a blessing to me. Talking about looking to Christ,
in the word, Our Redeemer. And then it told us down here
in verse 3, considering. Set your heart on it. Here's the outline that I got
from this fellow. Looking to Christ, that's the
whole of faith. That's the whole of faith. You
can read a dozen books on faith, but if you ever lay hold of three
words, That's all you need to know, looking unto Jesus. That's what faith is, looking,
looking to Christ. Secondly, this is the whole acceptance,
the whole of our acceptance with God, looking to Christ. While
the scripture says this is the record. God hath given us eternal
life. This life's in his Son. And he
that hath the Son of God hath life, and he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life. That's the whole of acceptance
with God. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Then fourthly, thirdly,
this is the whole of spiritual life. That's what spiritual life
is looking to Christ. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we appear with him in glory. That's the whole of spiritual
life, that's the whole of faith, that's the whole of acceptance
with God, that's the whole of spiritual life, and that's the
whole of hope of heaven. You want the truth? Here it is.
Christ in you. That's the hope of glory. Not
Christ in a doctrine. Christ in you. It's not Christ
in a ritual, it's Christ in you. It's Christ loved and received
and looked to by faith. I read this to Doris this afternoon
before coming to church. It's a ten tenfold exhortation
to look to Christ. And it's very brief. It won't
take me five minutes to read it. I want you to listen to it.
It's written by a Frenchman. His name is Adolf somebody. It starts with an M, but I can't
pronounce the other part of it. But it is so good. Look into
Jesus. Look into Jesus. Here it is. Faith is looking to Christ. Not
to how much faith I have. because it's not faith that saves
me, it's looking to Christ, it's Christ that saves me. Looking
to Christ, faith is looking to Christ and not to my prayers,
not to my worship, not to my meditation, not to my devotion,
it's looking to Christ. Faith is looking to Christ, not
to the name I wear, not to the doctrines I hold, faith is not
What I'm looking to is whom. I know whom I have to look to. That's what faith is. Faith is
looking to Christ, not to the law. The law wounds, but it never
heals. The law kills, but it never gives
life. The law disturbs, but the law can never give peace, but
Christ can. Faith is looking to Christ, not
to his mother. not to his apostles, not to his
preachers, not even to his cross. He's looking to him as one God
and one mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus. Six, faith
is looking to Christ and not to my brethren, either the best
of them or the worst of them. There's no confidence in my flesh
or your flesh, it's confidence in Second, faith is looking to Christ,
not to my strength, not to my weakness. In fact, all grace
and all strength and all things are by His grace. But when I'm
weak, really, that's when I'm strong. So just look to Him. Forget the strength. And eight, faith is looking to
Christ, not to my works. For without Him, our works are
filthy rags. So I look to Christ. Nine, faith
is looking to Christ yesterday, today, and tomorrow, if He gives
me a tomorrow. But I'm going to look to Him. Faith is looking to Christ at
all times and we never stop coming to him, we never stop looking
to him, we never stop resting in him, we never stop trusting,
we never stop believing, we never stop depending, we never stop
leaving, we just come to Christ. And when the clouds of death
around me roll, When the angels come for my soul, no need for
you to remind me of this grace, because then I'll be looking
at him face to face. That'll end this sermon. That'll do it. All right. Let's
sing a hymn.