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God Pleasing Faith, Looking Unto Jesus, Lesson 23, Hebrews 12:1-3
So we will read Hebrews 12:1-3, Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Our Lord Jesus, thru his faithful Apostle Paul, in this short passage has us picture a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, and are specifically listed in chapter 11.
This great cloud of witnesses witness to those of faith.
And those of faith have come to faith by their witness.
This is not an insignificant thing but a major thing that is to move us to continue in the faith knowing that we also belong to that great cloud of witnesses for those who will come after us.
Our faith, as did theirs, will witness to others, to our loved ones, to our friends to our work fellows and even strangers.
We are compassed about, we are surrounded by witnesses almost as if we are being embraced and in that embrace encouraged to keep on keeping on in the faith that all glory will go to that One in whom our faith rests.
But as a coach would encourage his team, we are encouraged to have a mind that moves us to have a walk of faith that grows, a walk of faith that gives us an ever improving ability to serve the one in whom we have that faith.
Therefore, as an athlete examines his body to insure that he is ready in all ways for the race, we are to examine ourselves to see if we are ready to run with patience the race of faith that is set before us.
We are to be at our lightest weight and therefore we are to shed those things, weights and sins which so easily hold us back.
And as we run the race our focus is to be on the finish line where the author and finisher of our faith awaits our arrival.
For He has laid out the course that each of us is to take as we run the race, a race where we all arrive at the same finish line, where all of us have a place prepared by His hands.
This race is indeed a marathon, this race courses through the city in ways the runner may never have imagined and may take the runner through all kinds of difficult and challenging places.
But faith recognizes that the runner does not choose the course.
Faith recognizes that the author of the race sets the course.
So we are to be: Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
So we are given to recognize a great cloud of witnesses who are there to encourage us to enter the race and we are given Jesus who we are to look to as we run the race.
Jesus authored our faith, Jesus is the finisher of our faith and He is our example of faith for he looked beyond his present circumstances.
And saw that which moved him to endure, for he saw that which was beyond the torture of this world, great joy which resulted in his setting down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Paul uses the name Jesus and by doing this we are to focus on His humanity for he lived a perfect life and showed us how to live this life by faith in God.
He was tempted by Satan but he overcame Satan.
Faith in God will also bring us through this.
His life taught us to trust in God completely telling us that he could do nothing of himself.
Jesus wrote the book on faith.
He is the author of our faith.
The primary sense in the word “author” is one who brings or causes to come forth.
To be an author then is to produce something, to bring something forth.
So an author is a person who creates or brings something into being.
An author is the first mover of anything, an author is the cause of a thing.
When Jesus spoke with authority the people were astonished but remember the word authority contains the word author for when Jesus spoke he was the author of the Word of God.
Jesus taught the people as one having authorship and not as one who interpreted the author.
He taught them as one who wrote the law and not simply as one who interpreted the law.
Jesus in being the author or our faith means that he is the source of life, salvation and the leader of the way of faith.
Jesus, who is the Word of God, goes before us showing us how to live by faith in God alone.
For as we read in Hebrews 2:9,10, But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. 10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings
And as the captain of our faith we are to follow him in all ways for he is also the finisher of our faith.
John the Baptist was in prison and no doubt, began to doubt.
And in doubting he sent two of his disciples to Jesus asking, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
John was questioning whether or not Jesus was the finisher of our faith.
Jesus are you just another step we take along this road of faith leading us to another who will lead us along the path to God?
Jesus sent John’s disciples back to John telling them to provide witness of the things that they saw and heard, telling him that:
5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
Jesus is the finisher of our faith and we are never to be offended in him thinking that another is to come who will add to what Christ has authored for the book is finished, the Word of God has spoken and we are to walk with him only along the path of faith.
Paul added to this instruction when he told the Philippians in 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Paul is saying here that Christ is the end-all of faith, for when he said on the cross, It is finished, he assured us that the course of faith that he has laid will indeed lead to God and will lead us to our home with God in heaven.
His map to God is perfect with no detours, no errors, no faults.
It is a perfect course, authored and finished by the perfect God-Man, Jesus Christ.
It is a course traveled first by Jesus who along that course endured the cross.
And upon that cross he bore our sin but in bearing our sin he looked by faith and saw the joy that was set before him.
He saw that this tortuous act put upon him would result in bringing him many sons unto glory.
He saw his authored and finished course of faith bringing glory to his father, for in this course he completed the work given to him by his father.
He saw his triumph over the world, the flesh and the devil, bringing great joy in heaven.
He saw the bride, the bride for whom he had laid down his life gathered together at the marriage supper of the lamb.
He saw his great rule upon the throne for one thousand years and the Holy City descending above the earth, and he saw eternity ushering in and the new heaven and the new earth and pleasures for evermore.
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.
Do we who walk along the road of faith need another?
No, there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved.
There has never been another nor will there ever be another who has endured a greater trial of faith than has Jesus who endured the cross.
Think about the glory and perfect fellowship Jesus had with his father in heaven before he condescended to come to earth to seek and to save that which was lost.
It is impossible for us, earthbound sinful creatures to even know such a condescension.
Yet he willingly in obedience to his father left perfect holiness in a perfect place to come to a place of evil and sin.
He willingly yielded himself to evil and sinful men who killed him for their own benefit.
But we are taught here in Hebrews 12 that faith moves us to see what Christ saw; the joy that was set before him for we too by faith are given a glimpse of what awaits us in heaven where we will go to be with Christ.
And going to be with Christ we go as Romans 8:17 declares, as : children, (as) heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
So we are to be walkers of faith, at times we are to be runners of faith but as we live by faith we are to fix our eyes upon Jesus.
We all live in a highly intensive world where Satan has packed the world where the eye can be busy at all times.
In our time eye candy abounds and competes for our eyes even in our dreams.
Satan’s world is to focus our eyes on ourselves, to focus on that which pleases us but the faith walk is to be a different walk, a walk where we are to turn our eyes upon Jesus desiring to please Him.
It is so easy to only see that which our physical eyes can see but faith brings us new eyes and those eyes are to be engaged in seeing Jesus.
And we see Jesus by seeking first the kingdom of God and using those eyes to study God’s word, and to listen to the instruction of God’s word and to see the Lord in prayer.
We can be so taken in on the things of this world that our faith walk is disturbed and because of our lack of seeing Jesus we will fall.
Each day we will walk by faith examining our self whether we be in the faith.
Each day as we see Jesus we will see our sin and seek the cleansing of forgiveness in order for our faith walk to be successful.
Seeing Jesus daily, fixing our eyes upon him, will bring us to remember that he is all in all.
When we fix our eyes upon Him we remember that we are in Christ and He is in us.
What a difference that will make as we walk the walk of faith.
The walk of faith is walked under the blood of Christ which covers us from the attack from the devil.
The walk of faith asks the question of Romans 8:33: Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
And Romans 8:31, 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
And Romans 8:34, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
These promises of Christ encompass us about as we walk the walk of faith and by fixing our eyes on Christ we will walk that walk boldly not fearing what may come.
II Cor. 1:20, For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Now in looking unto Jesus who authored and finished our faith we are also to:
consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
The walk of faith will bring great cost for aside the walk of faith will be what is called the contradiction of sinners.
This means that those who walk by faith will meet conflict, denial, illogicality, inconsistency, and great deceit.
Christ, the perfect man, our example was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, stricken, smitten and afflicted.
He was oppressed, and brought to the slaughter.
We of faith are not being given rose colored glasses with which to see on the walk of faith.
This we are to consider.
We are to consider that Jesus the perfect man, endured such contradiction of sinners and therefore as we follow Jesus on that same walk we too will find opposition directly proportional to our obedience to Him.
So the faith walk must be a walk where we always look to Jesus, fixing our eyes upon him, lest when we do otherwise we grow weary and faint in our minds.
The faith walk is not a sprint, but a marathon to be run evenly and tenaciously.
It will always demand endurance but every mile of that walk is to be accompanied by a daily charge of the energy of God; that is the Word of God.
Walk the walk of faith, with eyes straight ahead looking always unto Jesus so instead of you growing weary and fainting in your mind the things of earth will grow faintly dim and grow so unimportant in light of that which is eternal.
let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; |