My message today will be taken
from the book of Hebrews, chapter 12. I'll be speaking from Hebrews
12, verses 1 through 3. Now, I have a simple title, very
simple title, but the message is one of the most important
truths that you can hear. The subject today is faith is
looking to Jesus. Very simple. But that's the heart
and essence of faith, is looking to Christ Jesus. Now, Hebrews
chapter 12, verse 1, begins with these words, Wherefore seeing
that we're encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Now notice each word, so great
a cloud of witnesses. The word great is used for their
number. Never think of anything relating
to the kingdom of God in small numbers. In the scriptures it
talks about 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and thousands.
It talks about a number which no man can number. It talks about
people out of every tribe and kindred and nation and tongue
unto heaven. So great a cloud of witnesses. And then it says a cloud. Wherefore,
brethren, seeing that we're compassed about with so great a cloud,
they're above us. They're not here on the earth
around us, but they're above us. They're heavenly witnesses.
Paul's been talking about them in the preceding chapter, chapter
11, this great cloud of witnesses. They're heavenly witnesses. And
in chapter 11, he talks about Abel. By faith, Abel offered
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. He talks about Enoch. By faith, Enoch walked with God,
and he was not, for God took him. He had this testimony that
he pleased God. He talks about Noah. By faith,
Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen, prepared an
ark to the saving of his house. He talks about Sarah, how that
she conceived and bore a child in her old age, by faith. He
talks about Moses. By faith, Moses refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. On and on and on. In chapter
11, the Apostle Paul talks about these great people of faith,
people who believed God, people who received the promises, people
who were persuaded of the promises, and people who embraced the promises
and who died in faith. So when he comes to chapter 12,
now that's the 11th chapter, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah,
Moses, David, all of these great men of faith who believed God. And he says that they are witnesses,
so great a cloud of witnesses. In other words, these glorified
believers of other generations are inhibited in the presence
of God. And they're witnesses, but they're
not watching us. They're not witnessing our activities
or looking on our activities. They're His witnesses. This great
cloud of witnesses are His witnesses. They're witnesses of the grace
of God and of the goodness of God and of the glory of God. And what is a witness? Well,
a witness is one who has seen and heard and experienced a fact. And all of these who embraced
the promises and believed God and died in faith, they're witnesses,
first of all, of the faithfulness of God. And they're witnesses
of the fullness of His divine love. And they're witnesses of
the sufficiency of His blood. And they're witnesses of the
victory of faith. It's like Paul said, thanks be
unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Their life on earth is over. And they have folded up this
frail tent, and they've gone to be with God. They've entered
into the presence of the Lord. And they have received that dwelling
place and that building, not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. And those are the people he's talking about. He says,
wherefore brethren, seeing that we're compassed about, we're
so great, innumerable. God told Abraham as the stars
of the skies, the sands of the seashore, innumerable company
of believers, great cloud of witnesses. They're not witnessing
what we're doing. They're not watching us. They're
not interested in things here. They're with God in the presence
of the Lord. But they're witnesses of his
faithfulness. of His love, of His grace, of
His goodness, and of the victory of faith. But now, we're still
on this earth. We're walking on this earth.
We're encompassed about and encircled with this great cloud of witnesses.
But he goes on, he says, wherefore seeing that we're encompassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us, who are still
on this earth, let us lay aside every weight Every weight. What's he talking about? Well,
Paul is using here as an illustration a man, runners, running a race. Running a race. And he said,
now, to run this race, you got to lay aside every weight. You
got to lay aside every hindrance that would keep you from running
a good race. And every hindrance and every
association and every companion and every interest which interferes
with your fellowship with God, and your walking with God. Lay
those things aside. You see, when people are running
a race, when men are running in a race, they don't wear boots,
and they don't wear overcoats, and they don't carry burdens
on their backs. They put off all these things that would hinder
them, that would keep them from giving their best, doing their
best, running their best. And that's what he's talking
about here. Let us, who are on this earth, still in this race,
still in this walk, still in this life of faith, let's lay
aside those things that hinder our fellowship with God and hinder
our walk with God. It's like one writer said one
time, he that would avoid the flu, he that would avoid the
flu must not run around with people who have the flu. So that's
what he's talking about. Let's lay aside every weight
every way. And what's the second thing he
says? And let us lay aside the sin which doth so easily beset
us. The sin which doth so easily
beset us. Now, some writers believe that
Paul's talking there about personal weakness or some particular infirmity
that an individual has. Let's lay aside the sin which
doth so easily beset us. But I don't think he's talking
about personal weaknesses at all. I believe he's talking about
the sin which is a problem to everybody. What is the sin that
would be a problem for every human being, every believer,
no matter male or female, old or young, rich or poor, learned
or ignorant, whomever? What would be the sin? Let us
lay aside the sin. I'll tell you what it is. It's
lack of faith. It's unbelief. That's the sin
which does so easily beset all of us. You know, the apostle
said to the Lord Jesus, Lord, increase our faith. The Romans
sent to him and said, Lord, I do believe, but help thou my unbelief. He's talking about that sin.
And I think I can make good on that. What is the preceding chapter
about? It's about faith. Able by faith. Noah by faith, Enoch by faith,
Abraham by faith, talking about faith. That's what the preceding
chapter is all about. What is the one mark of everybody
listed in that chapter, the one distinguishing characteristic?
Faith. What brought each one of them
to victory? Faith, believing God. What kept the others out
of the land of Canaan? Unbelief. And the Scripture says,
if you can believe, all things are possible to them who believe.
The Scripture says, without faith it's impossible to please God.
The Scripture says, take heed, brethren, lest there be found
in you an evil heart of unbelief. The Scripture says, he that believeth
on the Son hath life, and he that believeth not shall not
see life. So what would this sin be? It
would be the sin of unbelief. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be found in you an evil heart of unbelief." So, wherefore we're
seeing, we're compassed about with so great innumerable company
of witnesses. Let's lay aside all these weights
and hindrances and associations and companions and habits and
things like that that would hinder us running a good race, walking
with God, walking the walk of faith, And let's especially,
let's especially lay aside the sin which does so easily beset
us, which comes so naturally, and that is the sin of unbelief. And then he says, and let us
run with patience. The race is set before us. This
race is my race. This course is my course. It's
my life on this earth. Paul described it in Acts 20.
None of the difficulties of life, none of the trials of life move
me, disturb me. Neither count I this life, this
human life, overly important, so that I may finish my course,
my course, my race, so that I may finish my race with joy and the
ministry which I have received of the Lord. Lay aside every
weight and especially that sin of unbelief, which does so easily
beset us, and let's run our own race. That's set before me. Who set it before me? God gave
it to me. God gave me this life. God gave
me this course to run. God gave me this responsibility
that I have. God gave me this particular task
that is laid into my hand. God gave me this family. God
gave me my children. God gave me those things. This is my course that he set
for me. Now, let's run it with patience.
With patience. Does the way seem hard sometimes?
Well, he said, my grace is sufficient. My grace is sufficient. It was
hard for Paul. But God told him, he said, my
grace is sufficient. Does the rate, does the course
sometimes seem lonely? He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you, though I'm with you always. Does the
way seem mysterious and perplexing? It does to me, doesn't it to
you? Perplexing, mysterious. Well, God moves in mysterious
ways, his wonders to perform. Plants his footsteps on the sea
and rides upon the storm. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust him for his power. The bud may have a bitter
taste, But sweet will be the flower. Run this race with patience. Does the way bring trials and
tears? Of course it will. Of course
it does. But we know that all things work together for good
to them who love God, who are called according to His purpose.
Hebrews 10, Paul cautions us. Listen, he says, run this race
with patience now. Wait on God. David said one time,
he said, I would have fainted had I not believed to see the
goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. But Paul says
in Hebrews 10, cast not away your faith. Cast not away your
confidence in him. Faith has great recompense of
reward. You have need of patience. Yet
a little while and he'll come. Now the just shall live by faith.
But if any man draw back, If any man draw back, any man resigns,
quits the race and falls out, my soul has no pleasure in him.
But we're not of them who draw back under condemnation. We're
of them who believe to the saving of the soul. Do I still have
your attention? I hope so. Listen, we're foreseeing
we're encircled with so great a cloud of witnesses, those who've
gone before, those who've proven the goodness of God, great cloud
of witnesses. Let's lay aside every way, and
especially the sin of unbelief, which does so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience the race that's set before us.
Now here's the root of the whole matter, verse 2. Here's the root
of the whole matter. Looking unto Jesus. Looking unto
Jesus Christ our Lord, who's the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before Him. What's that joy?
To redeem a people, to save His people from their sins, who for
the joy set before Him endured the cross, the death of the cross,
the suffering of the cross, the agony of the cross, despising
the shame, and He sat down at the right hand of God, looking
to Jesus. Well, we don't look to the Lord
Jesus with these natural eyes, do we? Of course not. We've never
seen Him with naturalized but we look to him with our faith
and He's the object of our faith. We see him. Yeah, we do see him
The Bible keeps saying over and over he that seeth the Son and
believeth on it He that seeth the Son and believeth on him
what we see him in the promises of Scripture We see him in the
flesh as our representative when he walks this earth We see that
the testimony and the record God's given us in the Word We
see him on the cross as our substitute. We see him risen from the tomb
as our justifier. We see him on the right hand
of God as our mediator. Yes, we do see him by faith. And looking unto him, we look
to Christ. He's not only the object of our
faith, he's the author and finisher of our faith. What does that
mean, the author? Well, a person who's the author
of a book, the book was planned by him, proposed by him and written
by him. He's the author of the book.
He's the beginning and end. And our salvation, our faith,
Christ is the author. He's the author and finisher.
He said, I'm the alpha and omega. That's the beginning and the
end. He said, I'm the first and the
last. He planned our salvation. Planned it in grace and mercy
before the world began. The covenant of grace, everlasting
covenant. He planned it. Chose us, loved
us with an everlasting love. He executed our salvation. He
came down to this earth. He grew up as a tender plant,
as a root out of a dry ground. A root out of a dry ground, as
a tender plant. And He was despised and rejected
of men. And He went to the cross and
bore our sins in His body on the tree. He executed salvation. He accomplished it. And He applied
it. He called us by His grace. And
He sustains it. We're kept by the power of God
through faith, and he will perfect it. For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and the trump of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall
rise. So, looking unto Jesus, he's the object of faith, he's
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before
him endured the cross and despised the shame, for it became him. It became Him, for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons and daughters
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering. Now then, verse 4 says, and consider
Him, and consider Him, and let us not be weary and discouraged
in well-doing, and faint in our minds. Look to Christ. Look to
Christ. This is the whole of faith. Looking
to Jesus is the whole of faith. You can read a dozen books on
the subject of faith, and you'll find that faith comes down to
three words. Looking unto Jesus. That's right. That's the whole of faith. Looking
to Christ. Looking to Christ as the object
of faith, as the author and finisher of faith. This is the whole of
acceptance with God. 1 John 5, 11 says, this is the
record. God has given us eternal life.
This life's in His Son. And he that hath the Son hath
life. And he that hath not the Son hath not life. This is my
beloved Son. Hear ye Him. You see, looking
to Christ, that's the whole of faith. And that's the whole of
acceptance with God. And that's the whole of spiritual
life. I'm come that they might have life. and have it more abundantly. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Listen to this scripture. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we appear with Him in glory. The whole
of spiritual life is in Christ, through Christ, by Christ, and
for the glory of Christ. It's to know Him. That's what
He said in John 17. Eternal life is to know God and
Jesus Christ whom He has sent, to know Him. And this is the
whole of hope is looking to Christ. You want a thesis on hope? It
won't take three or four pages. You want a thesis on hope? Here
it is, three words, Christ in you. That's the hope of glory.
That's the hope of glory. That's the essence of life. That's
all in acceptance with God. That's the whole of spiritual
life. That's the hope of heaven. And that's the whole of heaven
is looking to Christ. I go to prepare a place for you.
I go and prepare a place for you. I'll come again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am there, you may be also looking
to Jesus. All right, let me close with
this. Wherefore, brethren, seeing that we're compassed about, with
so great a cloud of witnesses. That's those who've gone before,
those who've witnessed a witness to God's grace and love and mercy
and goodness and faithfulness and victory in Christ. Let's
lay aside every weight, every hindrance, especially the sin
of unbelief. Lay it aside and run with patience
and commitment and perseverance. Our particular race The race
set before us, given us by God, looking to Jesus, looking to
Him. He's the object of faith, the
sole object. He's the author and finisher
of faith. He is the author and finisher of our salvation. He
is our salvation. He is our hope of life. He is
our heaven. So looking to Christ and not
to how much faith I have. That you don't want to look to
your faith. You want to look in, you want to look out, you
want to look up, you want to look to Him. Don't, it's looking,
faith is looking to Christ, not looking to my faith. It's not
faith that saves, it's Christ that saves. It's not faith that
died for me, it's Christ that died for me. So whether I have
little faith or great faith or much faith or not much faith,
that's not the, that's not the issue. It's in whom. It's whom do I believe? That's
it. You say, I know whom I believe. So look to Him, not to your faith.
And then it's looking to Jesus and not to my prayers, and not
to my worship, not to my meditations. It's looking to Christ. Now we
do pray and we do meditate, we do worship God, but I don't look
to those things for comfort or for confidence or for assurance. I look to Him. He's my salvation. And then it's looking to Christ
and not to the name I wear. I don't know about all these
names that identify us in this day. Christians is a pretty good
name. The disciples were called Christians
first at Antioch. But it's not the name I wear.
It's not the doctrines I hold. It's what I believe depends on
whom I believe. You write that down. What I believe
depends on whom I believe. Paul didn't say, I know what
I believe. He said, I know whom. He didn't even say, I know when
I believe. He said, I know whom I have believed.
I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed to
him against that day. It's looking to Jesus and not
to the law. I love God's law. I delight in
God's law. And I know all who believe delight
in God's law. David said he delighted in God's
law. But the law commands, but it doesn't give him the strength
to obey. And the law wounds, but it never heals. The law condemns,
but it never comforts. Christ is our strength. He's
our righteousness. He's our comfort. So this faith
is looking to Christ, not to the law. And it's looking to
Christ and not to His mother. It's looking to Christ and not
to His disciples, not St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John, or
St. Jude. It's looking to Christ
and not any of his apostles. There's one God, one Mediator
between God and me and the man Christ Jesus. Faith is looking
to Jesus and not to our brethren. Not the worst of or the best
of. That's right, not to the best of, not to the worst of
them. You know, when Paul described true believers, he said true
believers are those who worship God in the Spirit and who rejoice
in Christ Jesus. and who have no confidence in
this flesh. We don't have any confidence in our own flesh or
anybody else's flesh. Folks always say, well, if the
hypocrite's in the church, sure, there is in every profession,
in every organization. But I'm not looking to my brethren.
I'm looking to Christ. He's perfect. You can find fault
with the church members, but you can't find any fault with
our Lord. It's looking to Christ and not to my brethren. Faith
is looking to Christ and not to my own strength or my weakness. If I have any strength at all,
it's not mine, it's His. If I have any gifts, they're
not mine, they're God-given. If I have any knowledge, He gave
it to me. So it's not looking to my strength,
I hope to grow in grace, but growth. I'm not looking to my
growth, I'm looking to Christ. Looking to Christ and not to
my weakness. Actually, when I'm really, truly
weak, that's when I'm strong. That's what Paul said. When I'm
weak, then am I strong. It's looking to Jesus and not
to my works. Not to my preaching, not to my
singing, not to my witnessing, not to my writing. Looking to
Christ, not to my works. You know, some of these people
are going to hold on to their works until they get to the judgment.
You hear them saying, Lord, we preached. We did many wonderful
works. We cast out devils. He said,
I never knew you. If they'd looked to Him instead
of those works, He would have owned them. It's looking to Christ. When? Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. And forever. Never
stop looking. Never stop coming to Christ.
Never stop trusting. Never stop defending. Never stop
looking to Him and Him alone. It's looking to Jesus. Compass
to bow. So great a cloud of witness.
Let's lay aside these weights. Especially unbelief. Let's run
with patience. The race set before us. Look
into Jesus. looking to Jesus. And when clouds
of death around me roll, and when His angels come for my soul,
no need to remind me of this special grace, because then I'll
be looking to Jesus face to face. Till then, look to Jesus. That's faith. It's looking to
Christ. If you want this message, Write for us. Send two dollars.
We'll mail it to you. Until next week, may God bless
you.