Jesus our Champion

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Well, if you open your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, and we're only going to focus on the first three verses, but I'm going to read an extended section because the chapter and verse separation are not inspired.
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And I believe that the first three verses of chapter 12 actually are connected to chapter 11.
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For those of you that may not know, and for those of you that do know, the chapter separations didn't come about until about the 13th century through Archbishop of Canterbury.
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And then later on through Stephanas in the 16th century, our verses came along. So that is how it is separated today, is how it's been since the 16th century.
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But I will read all of chapter 11 into chapter 12, verse 3, and then we'll focus on those three verses.
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Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the convention of things not seen, for by it men of old gained approval.
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By faith we understand that the world's prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
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By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous,
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God testifying about his gifts through faith. Though he is dead, he still speaks.
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By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death, and he was not found because God took him.
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For he obtained the witness that before he was taken up, he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.
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By faith Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen, and reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the whole world, and became the heir of righteousness which is according to faith.
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By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed, by going out to a place where he was to receive for an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going.
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And by faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.
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For he was looking for that city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is
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God. By faith even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
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Therefore there was born even out of one man and his being as good as dead, that many descendants as the stars of heaven, in number and innumerable as the sand which is of the seashore.
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All of these died in faith, not receiving the promises, but having seen and having welcomed them from a distance, having confessed that they were strangers and exiles of the earth.
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For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own, and if indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had the opportunity to return.
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But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their
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God, and for he has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.
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It was he to whom it was said, and Isaac your descendants shall be called.
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He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.
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By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.
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By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped leaning on the top of his staff.
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By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the Exodus and the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.
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By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw him as he was a beautiful child, and that they were not afraid of the king's edict.
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By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.
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Consider the reproach of Christ's riches greater than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking for the reward.
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By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, as seeing him who was unseen.
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By faith he kept the Passover with the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.
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By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as though they were passing through dry land.
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And the Egyptians, when they attempted it, they drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had encircled it for seven days.
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By faith Rahab, the harlot, did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace.
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And what more shall I say, for time will fail me, if I were to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Japheth, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions.
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They quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword. From weaknesses they were made strong, became mighty in war.
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They put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection.
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But others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection.
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Others experienced mockings, scourgings, yes, also even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned.
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They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword.
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They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and ill -treated, men of whom the world was not worthy.
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And to that I say amen. They wandered in deserts, mountains, caves, in holes in the ground.
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And all of these, having gained approval through their faith, they did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
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Therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us.
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Let us run the race with endurance, the race which is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and He has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
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Let's pray. Father God, what an amazing text we just read.
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Father, I pray that in this moment, that I would decrease and You would increase. I pray that I would preach in such a way,
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Father, that would bring honor to You. Set Your Son as the majestic King of kings and Lord of lords, as the
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One who is high and lifted up and rightfully to be praised. And that, Father, I would make good of the
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Holy Spirit, that the Spirit would preach through me, that,
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God, You would give me an extra measure of Your mercy as I proclaim Your truth to Your people.
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That, Father, You would keep me from error. And that, Father, hearts would be encouraged, lives would be changed.
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And for those that are in this room that do not know You, that today would be the day of salvation. Father, You say when the Word is preached, it is life unto life and death unto death.
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I ask today that, Father, it would be life and life eternal to the person that does not believe. In Your name we pray.
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Amen. What a text! I don't see how anybody that can be a preacher or teacher can read those texts and not want to preach every one of them.
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There's enough material right there to preach two years of sermons.
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But I ain't got two years. The life of faith is a race.
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And it is a race to be completed. The book of Hebrews, if you go all the way back to chapter 1, it says that the angels are subservient to the
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Christ. Christ is better than the angels. And then you keep reading on, and Jesus is better than Moses.
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And you keep reading on, and Jesus is better than the Levitical priesthood. And you keep reading on, and Jesus is better than the
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Arianic priesthood. And then you keep reading, He's better than the tabernacle. He's better than the temple. And then, you know what?
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He gets to this mysterious dude named Melchizedek, and it says Jesus is better than Melchizedek. And then he talks about how the old covenant could not do what was intended to be, which was to take away the sins of people.
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And then the new covenant would come, and it is better than the old. Why? Because it blotted out all the sins of every person that would ever believe.
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The text of Scripture in Hebrews is Jesus Christ is better.
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Quit looking at that stuff in the past. Don't focus on that stuff in the past.
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Look to Jesus. He is the author and perfecter of your faith. Verse 1 of chapter 12 starts with a conjunction.
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Therefore... Now, if you were to see this in the Greek, this is... Only two times this conjunction is used that's translated therefore.
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It's only used two times in all of Scripture. And it is actually been translated in a couple of different ways.
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The other place it's used is in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 8, and it's translated so.
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And that's really not the best way of understanding it. It's actually consequently. That's why
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I read that whole section that when you get to this therefore, consequently, we should look not back, but forward.
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And he says why? He's going to give us the application of Hebrews chapter 11. He says, therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.
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A cloud is a metaphor. It's a metaphor of an assembly. It's a metaphor of a group of people in this context of those
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Old Testament saints that had gone before us. It has often been said that these
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Old Testament saints are sitting in the grandstands of the arena and they're looking down upon us, cheering us on.
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Or it's also said that they are standing over the banister of heaven looking down on us as the ones that have gone before us.
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There are some huge theological problems with that. They can't see us and you can't see them.
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Just like we said in Sunday school this morning, there is a chasm in which they can't see us and you can't see them.
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Now, there is an idea where there's an encouragement through those that have gone before us, but they're not cheering us on.
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Santa's not going, run Tim, run. Okay? I know that sounds cool.
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He might sound like Sylvester Stallone, run Tim, run. You know? I don't have
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Jeremiah up there saying, run Tom, run. As cool as that is, that's not the case.
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They are an encouragement. That great cloud of witnesses, that witness is
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Martyron, which would later be, we all know would be a martyr, but they were those that are testifying of a life of faith.
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We look at that group of people and we look at them of a life well lived by faith in God.
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That cloud of witnesses are those that have passed on.
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But hey, I don't want us to think for one second that we can't look around in this room and look at people that are testimonies of those who are running a good race.
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Think of Jack, Paul Turner, Lee Frazier, Bert. If I leave your name out, sorry.
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I'm even sometimes careful of even saying names because, you know, sometimes you say a name and somebody does something wrong and then you're like, oh man,
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I should have never said that. You know, everybody in here has had their experience and I look at men who have gone before me and look at the experience that they're going through and go, if I run into that situation,
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I want to be faithful. I want to be faithful. Mike and Deborah, very much so.
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I'm going to write a book one day. Putting my thoughts together, you will be in it, brother.
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There's this journey of grief. So I look to people who have lost loved ones and then when we lost our own, it gave me the encouragement to go,
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I know where he was at in two years, I'm looking for that marker. I know where he was at in three years, I'm looking for that marker.
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Just like men of faith, Jack, Paul. I still got the letter you wrote me, Paul. I look at those men whose lives of faith, faithful men, 90 years old.
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I ain't even going to be 90. But faithful men that are serving the
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Lord. So when you pray for these people during the week, not only pray for your young people to remain faithful, make sure you're praying that your old folks finish the race.
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He says then, let us also lay aside every encumbrance in the sin which so easily entangles us.
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Hey, what's cool about where it says, let us also. That means we're to do exactly what those people before us did.
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Let us also. Also is telling us do what they did. Which was lay aside those things that are an encumbrance to us.
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Look, if we're running a race or you're in some type of fight, boxing guys come in, they come in with all their garb on and what's the first thing they do?
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They take it off. Because one thing you're not going to do in boxing or fighting is fight with a robe on.
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And if you're going to run a race, you're not going to run it with a cape.
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You're not going to run it with a freezer suit on. You're going to strip down those things that actually keep you from running well.
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And it says here, let us lay aside every encumbrance. Every encumbrance is anything that hinders you.
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Those things may not be all bad. I think that he makes that distinction here because he says lay aside those things that entangle you.
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And then he talks later on, I mean he says right after that, the sin which so easily ensnares us.
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So there is a difference. Not everything that entangles you is sinful, but it may slow you down.
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It may keep you from running well. And you're careful to say any of those things because then somebody says, well that's not my problem, so I guess
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I'm okay. Well, we shouldn't look at it that way. We know what's keeping you from running well.
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We, well I say we, I used to have men over to the house and we would pray.
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There was a friend of mine named Bobby, a guy named Josh, Dax, Sean the Baptist, and Sybil would make us cookies.
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And I would always have my own dozen cookies because I like to eat. I'd have to share the other dozen with the other guys.
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So we would sit there and we would eat and we would pray. And this went on for about a month.
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And Josh left that night and he called me late. I was like, man, this is weird.
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He's calling me at 1030 at night. And he said, Mike, I need to talk to you.
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I said, sure. He said, Josh is a big guy. Nickname was
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Biggins. We'll just let you know that. He was a big guy. He said, Mike, I want you to know that I don't know if I can come anymore, man, because the cookies are getting to me.
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I was like, I listened to what he had to say. And he said, you know,
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I'm trying to watch my weight. And I, okay. So when he finished talking,
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I was like, you no good remedial disciple. You carnal.
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No, I didn't say that. I felt bad. I felt bad because I was putting something in front of my brother that was causing him to be entangled.
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I was like, no problem. Sybil, cut out the food. And we started doing.
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That was something that was entangling him. And I was thankful that he told me that.
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I was setting a trap for my brother. I had no idea. But we all have stuff like that.
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I mean, you all have heard me say it before. You got the trap of TikTok and the black hole of YouTube.
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Hey, look, man, I fall into that too. I'll be scrolling there reading. Next thing you know, I see a guy fall off a YouTube short on a ladder.
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And I'm like, I could watch this for hours. So we all have those things that aren't bad that entangle us.
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Whatever they are, they may not be sinful, but can. Whatever is keeping you away from being a better disciple, you are to cut it loose.
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The Scripture says here, lay it aside. The same words used in Colossians and Ephesians where it says, put off the old man.
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Lay it aside. Put it over here. You don't have any need for that anymore. And then he says here, and the sin which so easily entangles us.
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Now, there is the V is a definite article.
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So I think, let me say it, I think, I am to the persuasion, he is speaking of a specific sin here.
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You may disagree with me. I will tell you my conclusion and you can throw tomatoes at me after church.
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I believe the sin that so easily entangles us, that keeps us from running the race is unbelief.
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Every sin you and I and every person in the world has ever dealt with is unbelief.
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Men steal because they're not satisfied by faith because God has given them what He's wanted them to have.
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Men pursue other things because they're not content by faith of which God has given them. Men run off and do other things because they're not with other women because they're not content by faith with what
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God has given them. So unbelief is the root cause of all sin.
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That's the sin that entangles me. That's the sin that entangles you. And we're to put to death that sin by the
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Spirit. That's hard. We're to run that race unentangled.
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He says here, so that sin of unbelief, which so easily entangles us, so that we can do this.
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Now he's telling us what to do. Let us run with endurance. Run this race with endurance.
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Look, if you're going to run a race, nobody in here, is anybody in here ready to run a marathon today?
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Is anybody ready to run Dollar General? There is some preparation.
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He uses the word race in here and it actually is the Greek word agon.
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And agon is what was the competition in Greek games was the race.
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It was the foot race. But it wound up encompassing the whole epentathlon. Epentathlon is five sports.
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It was the javelin, the discus, the long jump, wrestling, and the foot race.
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That's what the pentathlon was in the Greek games. And you know what all five of those were revolved around?
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Being a good soldier. So, he uses these things all through Scripture.
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Hey, if you're going to run the race, you're going to need... Paul says you're going to need armor because you're going to be wrestling.
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You know, he uses the imagery of boxing in 1 Corinthians chapter 9.
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What did he say in that race? He says, you run in such a way that you finish the race. You discipline yourself for godliness.
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You prepare yourself to run the race. And you put away those things that keep you from hitting the aim.
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And what's the aim? To finish. To finish. He said you run the race with endurance.
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The writer of Hebrews has already said back in chapter 10, you lack endurance.
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You have need of endurance. Why do we need endurance?
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We need endurance because we are prone to quit. We are prone to go, man, this is a little harder than I anticipated.
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This is a little more difficult than I wanted it to be. And what do we do?
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Well, I'm just going to get off on this exit here and I'm going to take a break. That's not what we do.
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We run in such a way that we run with endurance. We have to run the race that is set before us.
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And what is that race? It's the race of life provided through the faith in which
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God has given us. Paul will say in his swan song this, in 2nd
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Timothy, that he has fought the good fight. He has finished the race.
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He finishes it by what? I've kept the faith. He has kept the faith.
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Running the life of faith is endurance. It's not a sprint. It's not like you're running from something.
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You're running in such a way that it's long. It's almost like a marathon with obstacles.
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Has anyone ever thought about the life of faith? Hey, it's not like you're just running straight. You know,
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God throws obstacles in your life. Loss of job. Loss of people. Change of places.
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Moves. Houses get sold. All these things. And you're trying to navigate through that as you're running the race.
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Sometimes you've got to hurdle stuff. Sometimes you've got to stop, drop, and roll. You know, you're running this race that is requiring you to continually trust
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God. Hey, faith is putting trust in stuff you can't see.
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We want to see everything. We want to see the outcome of everything. Let's be honest.
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I mean, hey, if you're making an investment, you're looking at the bottom line. If I do this now, this is the guarantee.
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Well, in the life of faith, the only thing we're guaranteed is that we'll make it to the end by faith.
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And then, as he's telling us to have endurance and to run this race that is set before us, verse 2 says this.
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Fixing our eyes on Jesus. The word for fixing in the
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Greek is aphoraho. It is a preposition with the word see.
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The preposition apo means away. Horaho means to perceive.
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So the words actually are saying look away unto.
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So he's just said all these people and as good as they were, as good as those people were in what we would say the gallery of faith, the writer of Hebrews is now saying don't look at them.
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Don't look at them. You think they did what they did? No, no, no, no. God was the hero then.
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That's our problem. And he said it last week. Our God's too small. I mean, all right.
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David goes out there. He slings his sling. He hits the
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Goliath in the head. He walks over there as a young teenage boy, picks up a sword probably bigger than him, whacks that joker's head off, and then walks around carrying his head.
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We're like, dude, David was bad. David did that through the power of the Spirit.
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Don't you forget that. He was anointed a king as a shepherd boy.
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And it says the Spirit of God came on David and it never left. David was not the hero.
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God was. The Spirit of Christ was. Japheth, Daniel.
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Daniel, man of good character, you better believe it. But was it
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Daniel? No, it was the Spirit of Christ working through Daniel that made Daniel faithful. Now, Samson, that's a whole other story.
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But what he did, he did by faith. It tells us. When he sent armies to flight, when he killed more
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Philistines in the day of his death than he did all of his life, he did it by faith, trusting that God would give him the strength to kill himself and the people that had him bound.
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He did it by faith. What about Gideon? Did what he did by faith.
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Trusting in God. It wasn't Gideon, it was God. So just remember, the hero of the Bible is not these men, it's
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God. So, look away from them and look unto
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Jesus. Look to Christ. Look, the purpose and goal and the central focus of all of Scripture is
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Jesus Christ Himself. It's not Old Testament Israel. It's not the
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Old Testament people. It wasn't the prophets. Every prophet pointed to Christ. Jesus Himself said that walking with those men from the road to Emmaus.
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And what did He say? He opened up their eyes, showing them all of the Scriptures, how the Psalms, the prophets, and the writings pointed concerning Him.
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That would have been awesome. To see how everything... What a Bible study that would have been. To see everything that had been in types and shadows.
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Everything that you did not understand in a split second. Poof! You now know it and could see it.
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We focus our eyes on Jesus. Why?
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He's the author and perfecter of faith. That word for author is probably translated several different ways in your translations.
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Maybe some say... Does anybody say pioneer? Anybody say leader, prince?
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Because the word that's actually used, archagon, is actually a word that means leader, prince, pioneer, trailblazer.
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So, if you were to take that word... And I looked up how many times that word was used in extra -biblical
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Greek, meaning anything outside of the New Testament or the Septuagint.
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And just look at what was it used for. Well, you had men like Plato that used it, Diodorus, Polybius, those historian
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Greeks that used that word. And it was used for prince, leader, champion.
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Champion. Jesus is our champion.
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Why is He our champion? Because He's the one that ran before us. He was the pioneer. He was the one that all the prophets pointed to.
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Look, if the Old Testament saints didn't receive what was promised, because they needed something to come along and to perfect it, who is that?
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That is Jesus Christ, the pioneer of your faith. He is the example of faith.
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I know we went through all of those people, whether it be Rahab, any of those men, examples of faith.
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Certainly Abraham, an example of faith. Yes. But who is the person we look as an exemplary person of faith?
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It ain't Abraham. It ain't Joseph. It ain't Jacob. It ain't Isaac. It's Jesus.
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He never failed. Samson run off to a prostitute. Samson married outside the covenant.
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Sarah offered her husband a concubine. Hey, we've done a lot of bad things, but you ain't offered me that, baby.
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Yeah. Every one of those men, as much as we like their history and see great acts of faith, they failed.
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But they continued to believe. They continued to trust. Because they were seeking a
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God and a city that was made by Him and for Him. Even when they did not see it.
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Even when they did not see it. And it says He's the perfecter of your faith.
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Or perfecter could be the one that brings it to full consummation. And that is what
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God will do to you and I if we continue to run the race. We run the race. He has guaranteed that we will consummate our life of faith by receiving the crown of righteousness that is set up for you.
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We have to run the race. Notice it says run.
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Did anybody's translation say take a meander? Did anybody's translation say take a trot?
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Did anybody say just take a little stroll? It's run.
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And running is difficult. Running is hard. But if we fix our eyes on Christ and we put our eyes on Him, He is the author, the forerunner of faith.
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And we look at His steadfast, putting His face like flint to the cross, and He never wavered.
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He is our example. And He will bring it to full perfection.
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And why did He bring it to full perfection? Why is
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He our champion and trailblazer? Because for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross.
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You know, this is the only time, the only time in Scripture where it says that Jesus endured the cross.
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The only. Every other time He went to the cross, He bared
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His cross. The writer wants you to know that He endured it. He endured it and we should look at Him because you and I lack endurance.
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He's already told us that. We have to run with endurance. And Jesus ran with endurance to the cross and then
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He endured that cross. So that He could perfect in His sufferings, as it already said back in chapter 2 verse 10, not that Jesus was lacking in any...
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Let me flip over there. Chapter 2.
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I'll read verse 9 and 10. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely
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Jesus, because of the sufferings of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God, He might taste death for everyone.
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For it was fitting for Him, for whom all things, and through whom all things, in bringing many sons to God to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
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Wait a minute. He had to be made perfect through His suffering? Look, this has nothing to do with His character.
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It had nothing to do with Jesus coming in and having to suffer because He came into the world not perfect.
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It had to do within His humanity experience. He had to suffer.
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And He had to suffer so that He could be mine and your great High Priest who is sympathetic to your sufferings.
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So that we could look to Him, our great High Priest, as the author and finisher of our faith.
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Why? Because He has gone before us. Do you understand that the same
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Holy Spirit, when He was baptized by John the Baptist, when He came up out, the
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Holy Spirit descended on Him, the same Holy Spirit in power, in its fullness, lives with inside the believer.
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If you don't believe that, then you don't understand when it says you've been given the Holy Spirit without measure. You know why we don't walk the way that we should?
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It's because we quench the Holy Spirit. We love our sin more than we love God at times. That's why we lack endurance.
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That's why we don't look to those who sinned in the Old Testament. We look to Christ.
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And it says that He endured the cross despising the shame. You know, the cross was such a terrible, excruciating thing.
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It's so bad, so shameful, so degrading, that not even Roman citizens were crucified.
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They were beheaded. That's why Paul, history says, that when he made his proclamation, most likely before Nero, the second time, that he was beheaded because he was a
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Roman citizen. Why do you think they crucified Peter? Because he wasn't a
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Roman citizen. He was a Jew and was considered an insurrectionist. Therefore, he called someone else king and they crucified him.
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Not only did they do it in such a way that they had perfected the way of crucifying, they increased that shame by stripping a man down to nothing, letting him carry the beam where he was going to go to increase the shame.
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Imagine taking the Son of God, stripping Him down to nothing to increase
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His shame. God should have spoke a word and just flattened it all. If I was
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God, that's what I would have done. That's why I ain't God. But He endured the cross,
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He endured the shame so that Jesus would get what
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He paid for. Jesus came into the world to secure the salvation of the elect.
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He came into the world to die for the many. That's even spoken of in the prophets.
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Certainly through Isaiah 53, it says He would come and He would justify not everybody, but who? The many.
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He would justify the many. He would provide atonement for the sins of many.
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Even Jesus says, I have come into the world that He would save many, not all.
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He didn't come in to make salvation available. He came into the world to secure that salvation.
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He came into the world to make sure the very thing that God did in eternity past by electing a group of people for Himself, that He was going to purchase them with His own blood.
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And that's what He came to do. And He endured the shame, He endured the cross, because He knew the joy that was set before when
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He paid that, He was going to get what He paid. I don't know about y 'all, but when I buy something and I don't get what I paid for,
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I get mad. Well, God made sure that He got what He paid for. And Jesus got
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His sheep. And His sheep hear His voice and they come to Him. And they follow
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Him. Why do you say you love Me and you don't do what I say?
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If you love Me, man, I can hear that out of the words from Christ. If you love
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Me, you'll keep My commandments. And when
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He did all that, resurrected on the third day, busting open, man, I hope they got whatever the new stuff is, 4D, whatever it is.
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I hope we can watch those in heaven. It would have been awesome to see those guys fall over dead at the tomb when the stone rolled away.
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And then Jesus just comes strolling out, bright and clean. That would have been awesome to see.
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I hope we can see those things. And then He ascended and He is sitting at the right hand of the
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Father. That's what it says. He endured those things. He could get what He paid for. Provide and secure salvation for every person that would believe.
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And now He is sitting at the right hand of God. So, consider
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Him who endured such hostility. And who did
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He endure the hostility by? Sinners. Sinners.
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He endured it. Not only was it His own countrymen. Not only was it
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Judas. Not only was it the Samaritans that hated Him.
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Remember when they were going to go through the city? They were going to pass through Samaria and they didn't like Him. And what did
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James and John want to do? The sons of thunder. I love those guys. They wanted to call down...
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You want us to call down fire, Lord, and consume them? Sure. No, He didn't say that.
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It's like these guys had no idea what they were talking about.
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And as Jesus, hostility by those sinners, and all against Him, what did
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He do? He still went and died for even some of those.
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And the answer for why did He endure such hostility? Why is He seated at the right hand of the Father?
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Why did He despise the shame? Why did He endure the cross? So that you and me will not grow weary and lose heart.
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Tim, when you call me, how many times do you ask me, Mike, what can I pray for? It is that I would not lose heart. That I would not lose heart.
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Pray that I would not grow weary in running the race. Pray that I would not grow weary in doing good. Because sometimes it gets hard.
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And if it ain't hard yet, then you ain't running. That doesn't mean
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I'm done yet. If you're not getting entangled, you ain't running.
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If you're not putting to death the deeds of the flesh, fighting with your sins, it's because you ain't fighting.
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Box in such a way that you're not boxing at the air. That's what He said.
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That's what Paul said. No shadow boxing in the life of the believer. It's duking out the enemy.
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This is a war. This nonsense of let go and let God is absurd.
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That's nowhere in Scripture. You know that? The book of Hebrews can be summed up in two phrases.
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Jesus is better and hold fast. Hold fast. Hold fast.
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So we just went through the gallery of faith. And I think there are people that we should look at Christian biography and go, that's awesome.
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But it was by faith in Christ. Christ is the hero. Whether it be those men or the life of John Calvin, Martin Luther, Jim Elliott.
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Whoever you want to read. Men of faith that have gone before us. Every one of them did it by faith in Christ, knowing
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He was the author and perfecter of their faith. And that which He started, He was going to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
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And that's what you and I should do. So as we look over here on the right, we have the gallery of faith of people that had run before us.
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We've got those people that had fought the good fight of faith. You've got
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Rahab. You've got Abel. You have Joseph and Jacob and Esau.
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And you've got Jeremiah. Let's name all the prophets. And what an amazing thing that is.
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There is another gallery over here that's filled with Cain.
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That's filled with King Saul. That's filled with Absalom.
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That's filled with Judas. One of whom Jesus said, it would have been better for that man to not been born.
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That hall's got Hymenaeus and Alexander. Anybody remember those guys from 1 Corinthians chapter 9? I mean, 1
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Timothy chapter 1 where he says, Timothy, you need to fight the good faith because I've turned over Alexander and Hymenaeus to Satan to teach them not to blaspheme because they departed.
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What about Demas? What gallery are you in?
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That's the question. Are you going to be in the gallery of running the race and running it in such a way that you finish the race?
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You have to finish the race. I ain't saying you're losing your salvation. That ain't the message today.
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The message today is keep running the race and run in such a way that you run looking towards the end.
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Jesus gave a parable about a person when they put their hand to the plow who looks back.
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Does he say, hey, the guy that puts his hand to the plow when he looks back, his furrow gets crooked?
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Is that what it says? Does he say, hey, the guy that's pushing the furrow, when he goes to plant all his seed, they're going to be crooked?
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No. He says, he who puts his hand to the plow and looks back, that man's not fit for the kingdom of heaven.
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Quit looking back. Quit looking back. What has happened in the past, you cannot change.
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What has happened that has caused you consternation with God, whatever has caused you to have a hiccup in your faith, you can't look in the past.
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It doesn't change anything. It doesn't matter if you're upset with God. If you're mad at God, they don't give you any answers.
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The answer is to look at Christ, the author and perfecter of your faith.
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And that which he has done, he will complete until the day of Christ Jesus. And I look to him no matter what.
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These men will be coming forward here in a minute. And we'll be partaking of the table. This is something to be nonchalant.
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This is a table that is to remember what Christ had did in our behalf, by securing the salvation of those that would believe.
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And it says that there are some of you that have taken that table. This is Corinthians. Some of you have taken that table.
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And you've taken it in such a way that you did it in an unworthy manner. You did it in such a way that you had something in your life that you shouldn't have.
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You should have something in your heart that you shouldn't have. You have unrepentant sin in your life. He said some of you are sick and some of you have even died.
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My question to you is why wouldn't you confess those things and have communion with God?
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Now there is a time to examine your heart. And there is a time you go, you know what, I probably shouldn't do that.
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But that shouldn't be the pattern of your life. Jesus came, endured the cross, despising its shame, so that we could have communion with him.
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So as the men will be coming forward when I pray, examine yourself. Anything in your heart.
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Confess it. Commune with the Lord. Let's remember his sacrifice today as the author and perfecter of our faith.
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Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for your
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Word. Father, thank you that your Word is true.