The Key To Holy Living - [Hebrews 12:1-2]

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I don't know if you know this Christian or not, but you are in a race. You're in a spiritual marathon.
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Christianity isn't a sprint, it's a long -distance race, maybe even an ultra -marathon.
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It's a lifetime race. Here's my question for you this morning. How do you stay motivated in such a long race?
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Some of you have been Christians for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 50 years and more.
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And if you live long enough, you're going to realize that we need to have a motivation to run the
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Christian life. It's a long race. It's a hard race, suffering trials.
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And so I'd ask you this morning, how do you stay motivated? What do you do when you feel kind of down in the dumps and you're weary and you're spiritually fatigued?
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What's your strategy? There's lots of strategies out there. Maybe it's kind of a military boot camp strategy that you employ and you think it's just kind of grin and bear it, kind of Navy SEALs deal.
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Maybe you rely on special knowledge from some internet sage and they give you the insights for spiritual living.
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Maybe you want to have an emotional experience or maybe what you think is even a spiritual experience, getting slain in the spirit or having some kind of zap by the
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Holy Spirit. Maybe you just think, you know what, I can't even stay motivated so I'll just lay back, passively kind of let
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God, how do you stay motivated? Stuart Oliot said this, standing on the touchline are people who are shouting to us, telling us that we will never get anywhere in the
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Christian life unless they forcefully warn us that all real progress is impossible unless we receive the baptism of the
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Holy Spirit or unless we're sealed by the Holy Spirit or unless we're fully consecrated to the
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Lord or unless we experience a revival. The terminology changes but the message is always the same.
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We will get nowhere in the Christian life unless we have some sort of memorable special experience quite distinct from our conversion.
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And so this morning my appeal to you, I will plead with you not to fall into that trap and if you'll take your
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Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter 12, I think the writer of Hebrews will appeal to you the same way and he will appeal this way, since it is difficult to run the
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Christian life, you have to be motivated by the only way that will motivate you long term and that is keeping your eyes fixed on the
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Lord Jesus. I'd like to read Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1, 2, 3, and 4 for our passage today and it's kind of nice because this passage includes
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Jesus at the right hand of God the Father. He is alive. He has been resurrected from the dead but you're going to see this writer and he is going to say, you know what?
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There is a way to sustain motivation for the Christian life even though it's difficult and it's lengthy.
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What motivates a Christian to keep walking a holy life?
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Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1, 2, 3, and 4, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
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Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint -hearted.
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In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
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Hebrews 12 gives us a wonderful counter to the world that says, you've got to do all these things.
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You've got to be all these things. You have moralistic, kind of pietistic things you have to do to run the
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Christian faith. The writer's advice is keep looking to the
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Lord Jesus, not just in chapter 12, but also that's the entire book. If you want to summarize the entire book, if you want me to just give you kind of like the key for Christian living, by the way, if anybody ever comes to you and says,
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I have the key for Christian living, don't really pay attention to them, but I'm going to go against my own advice. The writer in Hebrews says, here's the key to Christian living.
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Don't forget about Jesus. Don't forget about looking to the Lord Jesus. That's the theme of the book of Hebrews.
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And if you're an unbeliever, I want you to see who Jesus is through the scripture. And if you're a believer, even though there are certain things you need to do in the
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Christian life, you do them with an eye toward the Lord Jesus because he's the only one that can motivate you to keep living this difficult life.
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I think sometimes we say we're saved by believing in Jesus, the gospel that he lived, died, was raised.
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But now that we're Christians, we just kind of have to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We just have to try harder, work harder, sweat more.
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I need practical Christian living directions. And I don't care if you have practical living directions for Christianity, but if they ignore who
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Jesus is, if they're not looking to Jesus, there's a problem. Remember, Augustus Toplady wrote that great hymn,
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Rock of Ages, and he talked about Jesus was the double cure. What's the double cure? The double cure is
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God saves us from sin's guilt. That's the first cure. And the second cure, he saves us from sin's power, sin's guilt and power.
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You are saved apart from works, but you're saved for works, and both of those are motivated by the
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Lord Jesus. Here's a way I guess I could summarize the sermon this morning.
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Don't read chapter 12, verse 1, without reading chapter 12, verse 2. If you notice, it's one sentence.
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Chapter 12, verse 1 is talking about running this race full of endurance and having endurance, but you can't forget about chapter 12, verse 2.
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Now if you notice, for context, chapter 11 at the end is talking about these great men and women who have run the
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Christian faith, and they are enduring. And even back at the end of chapter 10, do you notice the language of chapter 10, verse 36?
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For you have need of endurance. That's the same language of chapter 12. So that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
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For, yet for a little while, the coming one will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, if he has no endurance, my soul has no pleasure in him.
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But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
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He, the writer, wants you to have endurance because life is difficult. Remember what was going on with these dear recipients of this letter?
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They're having their things taken from them. They're having their homes confiscated. Some are thrown into jail.
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And so you can understand the temptation. When things are difficult, what do I do? Is Christianity real?
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I thought it was supposed to be a bed of roses. Will things be better if I just start denying the faith? I could live a better life if I didn't have to be focused on all this?
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And the writer says, don't do that at all. I want you to run the race, but run the race looking to the
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Lord Jesus. Once again, if I had to summarize, my entire message today is, don't read verse 1 without reading verse 2.
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Run your Christian life with endurance by faith in the Lord Jesus. So let's go to chapter 12, verse 1, and just see the tie -in and work through it.
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And these are those verses, by the way, that if somebody ever calls you and says, I could use some
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Christian encouragement, could you help me? Go to Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. Someone calls you and says,
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I need some counseling. Could you help me with counseling? Go to Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
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It's like almost every situation, you could go to Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
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I hate to give you the inside scoop, because since we have this higher knowledge, this Gnostic knowledge, this counseling knowledge, you have to pay to come to the professionals to get this kind of insight, and I hate to give you my secrets.
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Of course, that's just in jest, and of course, these five people sitting here today didn't think that was so funny, but that's okay.
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This isn't just for insiders. This is what we regularly need, because if we just look to ourselves and our own consciences, the only thing we get really is law, and try harder, do more.
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We've got to excel still more, which is fine, but it can't be the entire story.
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Here we have Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, that is helpful in every scenario when you're tired, struggling with sin.
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Is this all worth it? This is the Christian life, not just Jesus for justification, but Jesus for sanctification.
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Not just Jesus to get me into heaven, and the penalty of my sin is taken care of, but Jesus giving me the power to do things.
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Why even obey? Well, because He loves me, and He's done this for me. Why even obey?
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Because I'm thankful to the Lord Jesus. It's all about who Jesus is, and therefore, He says, therefore, we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.
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The argument of chapter 11 comes to a conclusion. The climax of chapter 11 is really in chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
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They go together, as you know, you were taught probably many times, what's the therefore, therefore, to tie it in to chapter 11.
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These men and women in chapter 11 were written about so that we would say to ourselves, essentially, if these men and women who were under the old covenant before Jesus came, they had faith in the
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Messiah to come, they're trusted in the faithful God who keeps His promises. If they can make it, you can too.
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That's the point, the goal of these faithful men and women, is to give you hope.
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Remember what it says in chapter 11, verse 2, for by it the people of old received their commendation, that is, by faith.
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How do you stand before God and be pleasing to Him? Well, you're trusting in the Lord Jesus. Verse 40, the tie -in of chapter 11, since God has provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
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We have Jesus, new covenant, these things are for us, we have something better.
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If they ran the race with less knowledge, with less revelation, in the old covenant, what about us?
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And so he says, therefore, and I love this language, we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, chapter 12, verse 1.
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Now here's the thing, lots of people teach this like they're spectators of chapter 11.
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The people there are watching, and they're shouting this on, and Mike Abendroth is struggling with sin, and they're saying, go,
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Mike, go, way to go, they're clapping. There's a Greek word for spectators, it's not this.
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This word here is, as you see, a witness. These people aren't cheering me on, these people aren't up there in some kind of stadium.
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By the way, what do you do in heaven once you're in heaven? Look back to earth and cheer us on? I don't think so,
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I think you're going to be enamored with the glory of Christ Jesus, the risen Savior in heaven. But these are a great cloud, not just a few, but a great cloud.
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So many witnesses, and they're not spectators, but they're other people just like us, sinful, frail, but trusting in the
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Messiah, and they made it, and so can you. Some people say, well, they ran with a baton, they passed the baton to you, they're going to watch you to see if you keep running.
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It's true, we have the baton of faith, but they're not watching us at all. They're witnesses, there's lots of them, but they're not watching some athletic contest.
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They're essentially saying, by their life of faith in the Messiah, we have done it, you can too.
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They had lesser advantages, you can do it. We have greater advantages, we can do it.
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Listen to what S. Lewis Johnson says, many picture the saints who have gone before us as spectators in the stadium. So we as Christians are running a race with spectators observing us.
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Even your loved ones may be looking down and they're watching you carefully. This may be a motivation for you to run well.
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If I knew that Moses and Paul and all the prophets were there watching, that would indeed be an incentive for me.
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However, that is not what he is talking about. Rather, it is the lives which faithful men have lived and the stories found in scriptures which are witnesses to us.
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It is not that we see in our spectators that move us, but what we see in scriptures.
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So we look at these men and women. There should come to our minds this conviction, that the
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God of yesterday is the God of today. In other words, Johnson concludes, the things that God did through Enoch, through Noah, through Abraham, through Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, the things that God did through them, he is able to do today through you.
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That's the point. They're not spectators. They're witnesses. They're witnesses to what?
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That the just shall live by faith. They're witnesses to God keeps his promise. They're witnesses to faithful is the
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Lord and he will accomplish his purpose. They're witnesses to the only way I could be in heaven is divine grace.
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They're witnesses to the sufficiency of divine grace. Hudson Taylor was in China and he went through some horrible scenarios with trials and disappointments and suffering and persecution.
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And then he used to think about Adoniram Judson in Burma. And he said, I think in light of what
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Judson endured, I can endure a few hardships in ministry. That's the point.
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They did it because they're trusting in God and we have the same God. And so in light of that, what does the text say?
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Let us lay aside every weight and sin which cling so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
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So this is a race. Christianity is a run our race. I don't know if you've run very often.
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Of course, now as you get older, it's hard to run. But I used to run in the old days.
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And here's what I know about running. You don't have heavy shoes. You don't wear a suit when you run, that is a suit like this or sports coat.
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You get all the things off and you want to try to, I don't know what they run in today. I think it's probably spandex related.
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I'm not sure. Everything's kind of like light, ultra light. And you just get rid of everything.
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Matter of fact, they used to run in the old days, these days with nothing on.
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And so if you're going to run, you got to run with hardly any weight. That's the point. Even this week,
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I was looking at ultra light backpacking. And my wife said, honey, why are you looking at ultra light backpacking stuff?
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Because she knows I'll probably never do it. But I like to read about it. And so you can get a backpack now that has a sleeping bag, a thing to heat your food, have the food, everything else you need.
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And it's 8 .5 pounds. That's the backpack and sleeping bag and tent and everything that is ultra light.
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That's the idea. You know, you're sort of getting some kind of big rucksack and you've got 50 pounds to run.
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His idea here is just run lightly. And he's got two things that he talks about. Kind of nonsense that you need to get rid of and sin.
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Get rid of everything that hinders you. The Bible talks about laying aside deeds of darkness, laying aside the old self, laying aside falsehood, laying aside anger, wrath, malice and slander.
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Paul does that in Romans, Ephesians and Colossians. And here he's saying, get rid of any weight or impediment.
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You're running a race. Don't get bogged down. Fight the good fight of faith with this race.
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When I was a kid, I also wore ankle weights because I thought, you know, my dream was to dunk a basketball.
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And so since I really couldn't jump that high, I thought if I wore ankle weights in elementary school, junior high and in high school, my legs would become stronger.
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And one day, I would be able to dunk a basketball. And it happened. Well, it was an 8 -foot basket.
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Actually, a few times on a 10 -foot, I did. But I didn't wear ankle weights when I actually played the game of basketball.
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That was just to practice and to get me ready. Now, when it's game time, I've got to get rid of all these things that would just give dead weight.
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Anything that doesn't help hinders, in other words. And the two categories are generic things that aren't really sin and things that are sin.
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Get rid of everything. Every weight, anything that diverts your attention and decreases your energies.
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Now, I don't want to turn this into some kind of legalistic thing where I'm trying to make you get rid of all these things that are just generally fine.
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But you just take an inventory of your own life and think, what in my life is bogging me down from running the
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Christian life? Not even sinful, but just maybe your hobby is too consuming.
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You just walk through those things. I'm running a race. These people in Hebrews 11, they were running the race.
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How did they run the race? I have to think about it as well. Christianity is a race.
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Paul said, I fought the good fight. I finished the what? The race. I've kept the faith.
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He said in 1 Corinthians 9, do you not know that in a race, all runners run, but only one receives the prize?
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So run that you may obtain it. The point isn't I finished. The point is win.
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How do you win the Christian life of running with endurance? Getting rid of even things that are innocent, things that are not even sinful or righteous, but anything that is in my life that slows me down.
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And of course, it doesn't surprise us that we should also get rid of sinful things. Lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.
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What an interesting way to talk about sin. It's just right there. It's grabbing on. It's attaching. Get rid of sin that so easily besets us.
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Any kind of sin in your life that impedes, it's time to repent of and get rid of.
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Spurgeon said, I wish that saints would cling to Christ half as earnestly as sinners cling to the devil.
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If they were as willing to suffer for God as some are to suffer for their lusts, what perseverance and zeal would be seen on all sides?
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The sin that kind of besets and comes around, it's the language of a lion kind of crouching there waiting to attack.
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Just get rid of it all, laziness, complaining, sin in your life. It's time to just deal with that.
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Why? The text says, because you've got to run with perseverance the race that's marked out.
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You can't keep all this stuff with you and try to run. People say, well, you know what?
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Jesus has done all the work and therefore I just can be passive in my holy living. No, no, the way to think about it is since Jesus has done all the work and you don't have to worry about will
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God accept me, now I'm free to run. I'm free to run well, to sweat, to live a holy life.
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As one man said, you're not a tourist, you're a pilgrim. And I would say more than that, you're supposed to run the race with endurance.
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Calvin was a sick man and they said, you're going to die if you keep going the way you're going for gospel ministry.
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And here's what he said. Would you have my master come and find me loitering?
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I mean, it was Walden Pond's great author called, it's easy for me to remember,
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Henry David Thoreau, right? What was his big slogan? I can saunter. I just kind of walk around.
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I have nowhere to go. It's kind of like now when we're in quarantine, right? We just saunter around. No, no, you don't saunter in the
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Christian faith. It's a race I'm running. And so I could stop right now and ask you, how's the race? Say, well,
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I'm 65, I'm 85. It's just time to coast. Dear older Christian, we need you.
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The church needs you because you've been running for a long time and you've seen that God is faithful and you need to come alongside some of these younger ladies, older women, and you older men need to come alongside some of these younger men and say,
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I know you've been through difficulties. I know there's struggles and trials, but God is faithful. You're not done running the race.
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This is when you breathe your last breath, you finish the race. To run, to compete with endurance, to endure means to remain under.
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It's hard to just remain under the suffering and trial. Will it ever end? This heavy load is just bogging me down.
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But I think what happens as Christians, we think about dealing with sin. Good. We think about being holy.
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Good. We think about striving to please the Lord. Good. But don't do it without the next verse, looking to Jesus.
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Yes, deal with sin. Yes, deal with issues in your life. But with an eye toward Jesus, the one who loved you and gave himself for you.
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Never read verse 1 without reading verse 2. Now, I think what we'll do here is
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I'm going to give you, for an outline, seven words that describe this object of your faith, looking to Jesus.
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But I want to look at that word first, to look, or to fix, N .A .S. says in verse 2. Seven words describing the eternal son, something about his person or work, so that when you're striving against sin and running the race, you remember who
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Jesus is. But before I look at those seven, let's just take a look at the first word in verse 2, look, or looking, or fixing your eyes on Jesus.
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Again, if you want the secret for Christian living, the key for Christian living, this is why most every single morning after I read the
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Bible and I'm getting dressed, I'm making sure I'm listening to the gospel accounts, listening to John 7, 8, 9, and 10, over and over and over, remembering who
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Jesus is. There's nothing wrong with reading some Psalms in the morning and some Proverbs, but I want to make sure I keep thinking about who
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Jesus is. Looking to Jesus. This word is a present participle.
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What's that mean? It just means keep doing it, to consider attentively, to really look into something.
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And if you fix your eyes on someone, it's with an idea that underlays this of,
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I think they can support me, I think they can help me, I think they can inspire me, so I'm going to look to them, not casual glance, but a firm, fixed gaze.
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And our world is going to tell you with all kinds of siren songs, look at me, pay attention to me, watch me, whether it's politics and government or medicine or anything else that's swirling around, fix your eyes on me.
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No, no, we have to be careful. This is an undistracted, purposeful look that doesn't happen, as my father would say, by osmosis.
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All right, clean your room, son, it's not going to get clean by osmosis. When you look to the
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Lord Jesus, it means you're looking away from everything else. Fix your eyes to behold, and what are you looking at?
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To whom are you looking? Let me give you those seven words that describe the object of your faith, so that no matter where you are in your
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Christian faith, you don't forget about Jesus. Do not, dear Christian, fall into the trap that now that Jesus has saved you, we're going to move on to the good stuff.
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Now Jesus got me into heaven, and now it's time to just sweat and toil. Maybe you ask yourself the question,
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I'm getting kind of tired of the Christian life and faith and running this. Will it never end?
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You might be thinking about everything but the Lord Jesus, because when you watch him and you watch him endure, it will help you with your walk.
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Seven words describing the eternal son, either about his person or work. This is going to help those who say, you know what?
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My Christian life is going to be law only. My Christian life is going to be self -denial only.
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My Christian life is going to be work hard only. My Christian life is going to be bootstraps only.
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I want you to obey. I want you to be holy. I want you to strive looking. Number one, the first word is, you're going to find this really maybe odd at the beginning, but looking to Jesus.
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First word is Jesus. The name Jesus is important. Why? Well, when we call
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Jesus Christ, that's his name, the anointed one. No, that's his title, the anointed one.
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His name Jesus stresses what? If Christ stresses deity, what does Jesus stress?
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Humanity. Jesus actually ran this race. Can someone run with endurance?
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Can someone really run like this? Jesus actually did it. So make sure the first thing you think about when you're reading the
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Bible, when you see Jesus our Lord, our Christ, there are reasons why the writer says things.
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And he says, looking to Jesus. That's his humanity. That's emphasizing things like what?
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Tired, suffering. Living in a life among sinners and difficulties and trials, pain, the need for endurance, disgraces, humiliation, jeering, mocking, joys.
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He has called us in this book earlier, brothers, because Jesus doesn't take on angel.
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I can't say angel flesh, they don't have flesh, but he doesn't take on angel nature. He takes on human nature, right?
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The eternal son adds humanity and he understands. We're talking about the incarnation.
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You think, well, this is maybe more a Christian sermon for Christmas. No, this is a Christian sermon for every
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Sunday, every day. Don't forget about humanity of Jesus and pain and learning, suffering.
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He understands what it's like. God with us. The first word is Jesus. The second word is founder.
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We just walk through this. You could do this just as easily as I could. But just to break it up, to make obvious and to emphasize, who are we to look to when we're trying to run, dealing with our sins in this world, trying to get rid of anything that's going to be like a weight, sin just crouching like a tiger trying to get us?
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What do I do? Looking to number one, Jesus, number two, founder. Or maybe your text says leader, or maybe your text says originator.
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Well, when you would run back in those days, there was kind of an obelisk at the start, there was an obelisk at the end, and kind of an obelisk halfway.
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And so you would run and you could just imagine after the first few steps, maybe you have your head down and you're running, you lift up and you're looking.
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And so now what are we looking toward? Here, we could probably have like seven obelisks on the way of the
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Christian life. So we remember who we're looking to. And the first one is Jesus. The second one is author.
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This one word means to lead from the front. You can study the
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Israeli army if you'd like and other victorious armies. And so does a leader in the army lead from the front or does he lead from the back?
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Here, this trailblazer Jesus, this pioneer Jesus, this forerunner
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Jesus, he leads from the front. He's the originator, he's the founder, and he leads from the front.
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So this makes sense, doesn't it? The person in front of you who is running in front of you, who has in fact ran this race and completed it, you're looking to him as you run.
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He's the originator, the author, the preeminent example of endurance. So watch him.
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You don't watch the people that flame out. You know, watch Judas. You know, watch
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Goliath. No, no, watch Jesus. He's the pathfinder, the trailblazer.
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Hebrews chapter 2 uses this language. For it was fitting that Jesus, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
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Exact same word. You keep watching this Jesus who can bring multitudes to glory.
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This Jesus who makes atonement for millions, he brings those same millions to glory. He's the author.
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He's the captain. Some have translated this back in Greek writings, non -biblical
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Greek writings, as hero. We have a hero. Follow the hero. Sometimes this word archegos, the
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Greek word would be of a hero, and that hero would be given a city named after him.
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He'd be the guardian of the city because he was such a pioneer and trailblazer.
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That's who Jesus is. The starter of our salvation, the hero of our salvation, the captain of our salvation, sometimes translated, all because of who he is and what he's done.
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Number three, he doesn't start things only, but he ends it. He's the completer, third word, perfecter in the
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ESV. Jesus, founder, perfecter. I've got a difficult life. I'm running.
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There are health issues. There are economic issues. There are work issues. There are family issues. There are relationship issues.
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Issues of issues. There's all kinds of things going on. What do I do? Well, I have to deal with some of those things.
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You will naturally do that. You will normally do that. But what you won't normally do is to say, I need to step back for a second and think about who
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Jesus is in this race. This Jesus, he understands. He's God with me.
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He's made a promise to me. He's done this for me. He's given us his Holy Spirit. And now
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I've got to think through this. He started this, and I need to follow him. He's also going to finish it.
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I don't even have to be the finisher. He is the completer. Everything about Jesus, from his start to his finish, he is the
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Savior and has now entered into heaven because he has redeemed us. Redemption has been accomplished.
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Jesus is at the start of the race. He's at the middle of the race, and he's at the end of the race.
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He's the one that gave you salvation. He's the one that will crown you with glory. Looking to Jesus.
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Think to yourself, okay, what has the writer in Hebrews already told us about Jesus? Well, let's just think of a few things.
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That he's died for all your sins. Oh yeah, that's right. That gives me motivation. That gives me a life of gratitude.
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He is living a life of intercession now at the right hand of the Father. Remember Hebrews 7, 25?
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He always lives to make intercession for us. I'm going to look to Jesus because while other people may not pray for me well, while other people might not even pray for me, the
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Lord Jesus, He is praying for me. He's a high priest for me.
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I see Him there exalted. One man said, you should look backward to Jesus on the cross.
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You should look upward to Jesus at the right hand. You should look forward to Jesus coming again on the last day.
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Jesus starts your faith, He ends your faith. Word four, Jesus founder, perfecter, and now let's take the word cross.
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For the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. Can you imagine that?
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For the joy set before Him. What was the joy? The spitting, the nails, the crucifixion, the wrath of God poured out on Him.
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No, no, the joy set before Him. The joy of knowing I've honored my Father. It is my will to do the
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Father's will. Not your will, Father, but my will. It is my food to do the Father's will.
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I always want to do what's pleasing to the Father. This is the one that you need to be looking toward, especially when you fail and falter.
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When I sin, I think, you know what? I'm looking to Jesus. He always pleased the Father. Even when I don't,
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I'm looking to Jesus who did. He's understanding the joy of obedience, the joy of doing what the
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Father sent Him to do. It's amazing to me, it wasn't the joy of the pain and the suffering.
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It's the joy of obedience to the Father to please Him. This word joy means inner gladness, a delight, a deep -seated pleasure, a cheerful heart.
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And in light of that, He endures the cross. Nowhere in the Bible, except here, to my knowledge, does it say
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Jesus had to endure the cross. So if you have to endure 40 days locked up in your house, and you're like, man, this is killing me, what did
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Jesus endure? You can see that since He's endured more, He, the writer, is wanting you to say, you know what,
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I can endure less because I've got Him as my Savior, my author, and my finisher.
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Number six, the word is shame. Jesus, founder, perfecter, cross, and now shame.
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Now why did He say this? The text says Jesus despised the shame.
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Now remember, these people who were receiving this letter, they were getting shamed. The Jews were saying, you know what, look what kind of Messiah you have.
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And they were also getting shamed because the Romans were taking away their property. And you know what, maybe all this shame isn't worth it.
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Think honor -shame culture, think the East. People have views of me, and they're less than honoring.
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And here, the text says, Jesus despised the shame. Now the ultimate shame is to be hung on a cross.
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Everyone who's hanged on a tree is cursed by God, Deuteronomy 21 and Galatians 3.
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Naked, in public, such a shameful thing was crucifixion, as moms and dads would say to the kids, don't look.
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It was disgraceful, it was awful, it meant those people are unfit to live.
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And matter of fact, they're unfit to even put their feet on the ground, make them elevated. The death of a criminal, the death of a fool, the death of a miscreant.
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Reminds me of Isaiah 53. Jesus was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, like one from whom men hide their face.
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He was despised and we did not esteem him. Jesus, being found in appearance of a man, humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death, a shameful death on a cross.
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He says here, despise the shame. NIV says, he scorned the shame, suffering and shame.
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He takes it willingly, patiently and says, it is finished. I've got to think of my troubles in light of all this.
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To despise the shame, to disdain the shame. That means to think that it's treated with little value.
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It doesn't really mean much. We might say when we were younger, ah, despise something, that's no biggie.
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It doesn't really mean much. Jesus scorns the shame. What people thought of him, he says, it's of little value.
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I don't care about that. It's insignificant. I have no consequence in my mind to be mocked and ridiculed because that doesn't matter to me.
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Because what matters to me is I'm on a race and I want to please the Father. Remember they used to shout at him, he trusts in God.
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That does a lot of good, they would think. But it was very important that he would trust in the
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Father. One writer said, but this disgrace Jesus disregarded as something not worthy to be taken into account when it was a question of his obedience to the will of God.
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Hey, everybody thinks I'm crazy. The majority censors me and despises me and shames me just like these people back in the day who received this letter and maybe even you.
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But that's not the point. The one that I'm looking toward, the Lord Jesus, he didn't care about other people's opinions.
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He didn't care about other people's actions. He wanted to please the Father. That's the idea. I don't care what anybody thinks about anything else.
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I'm here to get the approval of God. And doesn't Hebrews 11 even talk about that? Verse 2, for by it of old, men received their commendation.
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I'm living for the commendation of one, the approval of God.
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I've heard it said people try to put this into ways we can understand it, would be something like this. Listen to me, shame.
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Do you not see that joy in front of me compared to that? You are less than nothing. You are not worth comparing to that.
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I despise you. You think you have power compared to the joy before me. You have none.
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Joy. That's my power. Not you shame. You are worthless. You are powerless. You think you can distract me.
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I won't even look at you. I have a joy set before me. Farewell shame.
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That's the idea. The world considers Christian shameful.
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Jesus isn't ashamed. Matter of fact, Hebrew says God is not ashamed to be called their
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God. And then word number seven, thrown Jesus founder, perfecter, cross, shame that he despised and thrown.
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And Jesus is what seated at the end of verse two at the right hand of the throne of God.
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And that means the language is he's still there. He is seated and he is there.
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Jesus ran the race. He got the reward. There was an end. There was a payoff.
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Now, we're not going to sit at the right hand of the father, but there is a reward for the end of this race. There's a resurrection, not only for Jesus, but for us death, burial, resurrection, exaltation,
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Heidelberg catechism 49. What benefit do we receive from Christ ascension into heaven? First, that he is our advocate in the presence of his father in heaven.
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Second, that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that he as head will also take us his members up to himself.
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Thirdly, that he sends us his spirit as an earnest by whose power we seek those things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God and not on things on earth.
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I have good news for you, Christian. Shall any one bring a charge against God's elect?
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It is God who justifies, who is to condemn. Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who is indeed interceding for us.
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This is why, Christian, because he has run the race, he's been exalted by the father. This is why we can read these words of Jesus back in John 14 and think, hallelujah.
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Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms.
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If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you,
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I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am, you may also be.
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The empty tomb signifies the fact that Jesus is raised and he is a place of honor.
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He's a place of authority and majesty. And therefore, what does verse three then say? So I'm running the race.
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I'm dealing with the sin and dealing with other things that are maybe neutral, but are bogging me down. I have to keep looking to Jesus.
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And then what does he say in verse three? Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary and faint -hearted.
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For the Christian that's lost their strength, they're faint -hearted.
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What is the solution? Try harder, do more, be better, sweat and toil.
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I'm happy for sweating and toiling and holy living. Unless it means getting your eye on yourself and not considering him.
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Here's what that means, to consider him. Here's my assignment for you this week as you live your
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Christian lives. This doesn't mean just, oh yeah,
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I forgot about Jesus. This means to study, to deliberate, to really think with intensity, to sit and think.
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I mean, I've had people come and I've said this before a few months ago. People come to me, they've got counseling problems. You know what
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I end up telling them? Your problem is a Christological problem and I have a book that I'd like to give you that talks about who
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Jesus is. Say, well, you know, I've got anxiety problems. Well, here's a book on anxiety. Well, you could do that,
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I guess, what the scripture's saying about anxiety. I've got problems with pride. Here's a book on how to deal with pride.
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I've got problems with fearing other people. Here's a book on how to deal with fearing God. Those are all fine and dandy.
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I don't mean anything about them except backing up just a hair, see those things in light of who
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Jesus is, the one that never was anxious by the way, never sinned.
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It's a Christological issue. What do you tell these people who went through so much? Think about Jesus.
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That's kind of odd advice to me, but it's the best advice to consider. This is where we get the word analogy, to consider again, to think again, to meditate.
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Am I for Christian meditation? Absolutely, if it means thinking about who Jesus is through scripture.
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So, dear Christian, maybe you're struggling in the Christian race. Maybe you're thinking, you know what,
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I don't think I can go any farther. I think I'm too tired to keep going. My reminder for you who might grow weary, might get exhausted, at Heartbreak Hill at Mile 20, you want to just quit.
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The writer says, inspired by the Spirit of God, don't you forget
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Jesus? In the middle of the Christian faith, isn't it odd that we might forget Jesus because we're too busy doing things?
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There's a reason why Mary and Martha both had different responses to Jesus and Jesus commended one and not the other, because there's time for activity, but if that activity ignores the person that you're doing it for, out of gratitude, out of thanksgiving, motivated because He gave you the
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Spirit of God so that in fact you could obey and lay aside sin. If you forgot Jesus, I think in my
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Christian life, too many years it was, let's talk about theological issues without stepping back and saying, let's talk about who the
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Lord Jesus is and what He's done, how He's conquered, how
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He's taught, how He's preached, how He's raised sinners from their sins.
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How do you not lose heart? The answer has to do with the Lord Jesus. I know people these days are locked in their house for long time periods.
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Some of the folks I know I saw online are reading through the entire Bible in one month, 30 days reading through the entire
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Bible. Here's the good news when you do read the Bible, you're going to be considering Jesus because as Spencer read in Luke 24, all this book is about the
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Lord Jesus, the unfolding types and shadows and plans of God and prophecy in the Old Testament, all leading to the
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Lord Jesus and we're supposed to be thinking about Him. In other words, you have to read your
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Bible to think about the Lord Jesus so you don't create this idle Jesus in your mind, not I -D -L -E, but I -D -O -L.
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Consider the person and work of Jesus this week so that you don't grow weary.
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Youth, I'm too happy to consider Christ, there's still time yet. Manhood, I'm too busy to consider
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Christ, there's money to be made. Prime of life, I'm too anxious to consider
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Christ, I must worry about many other things. Declining years, I'm too aged to consider
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Christ, my heart is too hard. Dying bed, I am too ill to consider Christ, I am weak and suffering alone.
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Death, it's too late to consider Christ, my spirit has flown. Eternity, you will have forever to consider
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Christ, but God's mercies will be passed. Into hell you will be forever and righteously cast.
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I say those words for those that are listening today who are not Christians and who need to consider not only their own soul and their own mortality, but also their own eternity.
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Today would be a good day to consider Christ for the first time. A great God who obeyed the law of God, died for sinners like you and was raised from the dead.
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And on the authority of God's word, I offer you forgiveness. Why don't you lay down your arms of sin and repent and believe and be forgiven?
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That would be a good way to celebrate Resurrection Sunday. And if you're a Christian, I know there are times of growing weary and getting faint -hearted.
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But dear Christian, in your struggle against sin, you have not resisted to the point of the shedding of blood. And you have the
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Lord Jesus, who is not only God, but man. He starts the race,
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He ends the race. It was through the cross, and now He's seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
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That's your Savior. No wonder people call Him a hero. Let's pray. Thank you,
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Father, for your word. Thank you for Hebrews chapter 12 and what it means to every
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Christian. Help us to look to Jesus this week, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
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We have those in our congregation that are dealing with all kinds of issues, maybe even those that I think of now with the health issues.
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I pray that you would especially give them a wonderful week of, by faith in the word, reveal the
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Lord Jesus and have them consider Him. We thank you that we can get together even at a time like this.
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May you give our president and cabinet great wisdom so they might know what to do and help us to understand that you are a sovereign