Book of Hebrews - Ch. 12, Vs. 1-9 (06/20/2021)

ill this morning with Hebrews 12, verse 1. I'm going to read it and then we'll pray.

Wherefore, seeing we are all so compassed about, with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you and we praise you.

We praise you because you are God and you're the holy God and you're the only God. We love you.

We love you because you first loved us. We thank you for all the things that you have given us, not the least of which, in fact, the greatest of which is your son, who gave us an opportunity for a way to you.

Bless us and keep us as we go through the services today. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

So we'll begin and wherefore seeing we are all so compassed about, with so great a cloud of witnesses.

The first thing I'd like to do is clear up a common misunderstanding of this phrase.

This is not a collection of Old Testament saints sitting in heaven witnessing us as we conduct our lives.

Instead, they serve as witnesses to us of faith and endurance and serve as examples as how we should conduct our lives, especially in the stressful times such as we live in today.

As I was driving into work to church this morning, I saw or listened to the, oh

I can't think of his name now, Jeffers Bible study and he happens to be on Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1.

And he, as he was commenting on this, said that that's a call for remembrance, remembering the past, remembering what was just told us in chapter 11.

Chapter 11 is a litany of people, each with flaws, each with major flaws.

David, who committed adultery and had the husband of the, of the person with whom he committed adultery, had him killed.

Noah, the first thing he did after he got off the boat was get drunk.

All the people had flaws, but every one of them had something in common.

They all possess faith given to them by God. So what we are to do is to call to remembrance all of these

Old Testament saints that we have been dealing with in the last chapter and use them as patterns and role models as to how to behave ourselves.

Not that we should live perfectly, but that we should live faithfully. But now that begs the question, can people on heaven, in heaven, see what's happening on the earth?

What do you think? Can people in heaven see what's happening on the earth? You think so, and Otis says no.

Your dad thinks so. I'll tell you some other people that think so. Dr. Jeffers thinks so.

He told me this morning on the radio show that he thinks so. My best understanding, this is me.

This is not Brother David. This is not Jeffers. This is not anyone else. It's just me.

My best understanding is that those in heaven sometimes are allowed to see or know things that are happening on the earth, but only those things that God for his good purposes allows them to know.

So I guess I'm more in the camp with Brother Otis. Maybe. I'm not 100 % sure if I'm even with him.

He knows now, I guess. Now, here's the example that I chose.

This is one of one example of a person in the Old Testament that communicated with a person on the earth.

That was Samuel. Samuel was allowed to communicate with Saul, but we're not told that Samuel was able to see

Paul while he was still in heaven or to communicate with him while he was still in heaven.

You'll see that in a minute. After all, he was summoned, and apparently he was on the earth when he and Saul spoke to one another.

If you want to, you can turn to 1 Samuel 28 7 -19 and we'll read something.

This is always a good Halloween scripture.

Then said Saul to his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I might go to her and inquire of her.

And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.

This is the classical witch of Endor story. And Saul disguised himself and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him.

And they came unto the woman by night and said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom

I shall name unto thee. And the woman said unto him,

Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done. Now remember, Saul is in disguise.

She doesn't know it's Saul at this particular point. Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he has cut off those that have familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land.

He's put them to death. Wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life to cause me to die?

And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord liveth, there shall be no punishment happen to thee for this thing.

Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he said,

Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw

Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spake to Saul saying,

Why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul. And the king said unto her,

Be not afraid, for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.

And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said,

An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was

Samuel. And he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed himself. So now

Samuel and Saul are going to exchange comments. But you understand

Samuel is now on the earth with Saul, speaking to Saul and Saul to him.

And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou quieted me to bring me up?

To bring him up from where? From heaven, from paradise.

This is Old Testament. So it's not the final heaven. It's the heaven that's going to be called up later.

Okay, so we know that Samuel spoke to Saul. And we know that Saul spoke to Samuel.

So we might infer that they saw one another when they spoke, or at least they did communicate with one another.

That we know for sure. Well, that was my word.

That was my word. The scripture says this. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up?

So he was somewhere and he's now somewhere else. And Saul answered, I am sore distressed.

For the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me.

I want to go back to my comment. So I said, Okay, we might presume or infer that they saw one another.

But the scripture doesn't say that they did, nor does it say that it saw, does it say where they were when it saw.

So we're left with the uncertainty of our presumption. That's what I wanted to say. There is a supposition there that we make a presumption, but that's not scriptural.

That was just me. Okay. All we know for sure is he was brought up and he talked to Saul and Saul spoke back to him.

Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? And Saul said to Samuel, I am sore distressed.

For the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me and answereth me no more, neither by prophets nor by dreams.

Therefore I have called thee that thou mayest make known unto me what

I shall do. And brother Otis would say, do what you want to do.

That's what you're going to do anyhow. But then he said, but then

Samuel said, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from you, and this is thine enemy.

And the Lord hath done to him as he spake by me, for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand and given it to thy neighbor, even to David.

So he's telling Saul that the kingdom was going to be taken from him and given to David.

Now, Samuel's known this for ever since David was a little boy. And this is years, years later after Samuel is dead and gone.

Because thou obeyest not the voice of the Lord, nor executeth his fierce wrath upon Amalek.

Therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee. Moreover, I guess he wished

Samuel had stopped talking now, but he didn't. Moreover, the Lord will also deliver

Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines.

And tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. Be with him where?

In the grave. Kind of like in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, where Lazarus was in one side and the rich man was in the other side.

That's the situation here. Samuel will be on one side of that great divide and Saul will be on the other side.

And thy sons with thee. I suspect that Jonathan was on the side with Samuel.

And I don't know about the other sons. And tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.

And the Lord shall deliver the host of Israel into the hands of the

Philistines. So that's an example of a communication between a person that is dead and a person still alive on the earth.

So we know they can have communications. But again, I think in those occasions, when

God sees fit to let us know, it would be difficult to us to look back at all the people that we know and see them doing things that's going to take them directly to hell and still be happy and blissful in paradise.

So I don't know. Either we've got to understand that we will have a better picture and know what's more of the truth when we're in heaven, which that will be the case.

Or maybe he will shield some of that from our eyes. But in any case, the answer is

I don't know whether people in heaven can see people on the earth and communicate with them on a regular basis.

Occasionally we know for sure they are. Okay, back to Hebrews. Wherefore, seeing we're compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, not a group of people watching us, but us looking back and remembering them.

This is the witness here, us looking back and remembering the great things that they did and why they were able to do them.

Not because they were great people, not because they were powerful people, but because they had great faith.

And we'll get to that in a minute. Let us lay aside every weight.

Now that's different than sin. Sin will be mentioned next.

So it's weight and sin. This weight refers to the main encumbrance facing the

Hebrews. And what would that be? What was the main encumbrance, the main thing that kept the

Hebrews, the Hebrews that did not accept Christ? What's the main hindrance for the

Hebrews that did not accept Christ? The law, the

Levitical system, the Levitical system with its legalism, kept them from accepting

Christ. That is the main encumbrance. That is the great weight. The great weight was legalism.

They need to lay that aside. In fact, he says, lay aside every weight.

And the metaphor that he's using here, I think it's a metaphor. You can correct me if I'm wrong. It's life as a race.

And in the race, before the race began, the athlete would strip away every piece of unnecessary clothing before competing in the race.

The outward things emphasized by the Levitical system were the great weight.

They were the encumbrances. They not only impede, but they also ensnare. And now we get to the next item and the sin.

Okay. That's different than the weight, the weight and the sin, which does so easily beset us.

In this context, the focus is first upon the particular sin of unbelief.

That's the sin that Hebrews consistently talks about, refusing to turn away from the

Levitical sacrifices to the more perfect sacrifice that are Jesus. And then it focuses on other sins, but the main sin is the sin of unbelief.

That's the sin he's talking about, the sin of unbelief. And I, at this point, went to John chapter 16, verse 8, and just stuck this in.

And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

Of sin, because they believe not on me. That's the unbelief.

Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you will see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of the world is judged.

That's what John said. I would like to add, the world will be judged along with the prince of the world.

And then going on, and let us run with patience. Now, the

Greek word that's translated patience could have been translated endurance.

And if you translate it as endurance, it'll better fit the metaphor that we're dealing with the race.

The race is not a sprint. The race is not a 50 -yard dash, a 40 -yard dash that football players run and time themselves to see how fast they're going.

And when you say a runner can do 40 yards in 4 .4

seconds, that's pretty fast. But it's not speed.

It's not blinding speed out of the gate that we're looking for. It's running with endurance.

The race is not a 40 -yard dash. It's not a 100 -yard sprint. It's not a 100 -meter sprint.

It's not a 200 -meter sprint. It's not a kilometer sprint.

It's a marathon. It's a long race. And the hindrance in a long race is endurance.

So this word might better have been translated endurance.

Endurance is the determination to keep going regardless of the temptation to slow down or to give up.

And we know this, 1 Corinthians 9, 24 through 26.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize, no participation trophies.

So run that you might obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.

Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one.

So the race that we're running in is much more important than the race that they're running in.

They're running for a corruptible crown, something that is temporary. We are running for an incorruptible crown.

And let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Now here's why I know or I am sure or I feel sure that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

The word race, do you have any idea the Greek word that was translated race here?

It's agona. I'll spell that so you can understand what

I'm trying to say. A -G -O -N -A. Now you have any idea what

English word we have that is derived from that word? Agony.

So we might read that if we're reading in current English and let us run with endurance the agony which is set before us.

Now I'm going to again jump around and go to Matthew chapter 7 verses 12 through 14.

Therefore all things whatsoever that you would that men should do to you do you even so to them for this is the law and the prophets.

Now Jesus is summing up the Sermon on the Mount and he goes on to say enter ye in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life and few there be that find it.

Now this is John MacArthur's comment on that passage. This the closing of the closing section of the

Sermon on the Mount is an application of the gospel, the good news. What's the good news?

There are two gates. There are two ways. There are two destinations.

There's two groups of people. There's two groups of people at the judgment.

There are two kinds of builders building on two kinds of foundation and Christ is drawing a line as clearly as possible between the two ways.

The way that leads to destruction and the way that leads to life.

He goes on to say both the narrow gate and the wide gate are assumed and I felt compelled to tag this in assumed by many people to provide entrance to God's kingdom and I probably

I would say now I would almost agree with Dr. MacArthur. Both the narrow way and the both the narrow gate and the wide gate are assumed to provide entrance to God's kingdom but I think maybe we'll say most people believe that.

Here's what he said. Two ways are offered to the people. The narrow gate is by faith only through Christ constricted and precise.

It represents true salvation in God's way that leads to life eternal.

The wide gate includes all religions of works and self -righteousness.

That is to say all other religions. All other religions except Christianity is a work of is a religion of works and self -righteousness.

They're easy to find they're easy to follow but all other ways lead to hell not to heaven and just in case that wasn't clear enough

Acts chapter 4 verse 12 says it even so that I can understand it.

Neither is there any salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we might be saved.

So how can we be saved through Christ and Christ alone no other way any other way is a way but it's the broad way it's the wide way it's the easy way and it leads to hell.

Okay now we're to verse 2 of Hebrews chapter 12.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Now if you are in your Bible or on your machine you'll know and you're in King James you'll notice that hour the word hour is an italics that indicates that hour was not in the original text so the phrase might have better been translated leaving the hour out and just see what it says

God the author and finisher of faith not calling it our faith after all whose faith is it it's his faith how do we get it if we got it how do we get it he gave it to us

Jesus is the originator and the preeminent example of faith when it says looking unto

Jesus the author the author is the originator and the preeminent example not only is he the author what else is he the finisher and that's the beginning and the end that's right and that says he carries on this faith he gives us this faith and we can carry it with us to what to a perfect completion now here is a difficult part of the passage who for the joy that was set before him what was set before Christ okay in the long view is the plan for salvation

I'll give you that what in the short view it was the cross and even before the cross was rejection he was rejected even before he was crucified so who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down on the right hand of God and so what is this joy that he has it's the anticipation of the ultimate conclusion and I went to Psalms and and quoted something and I'm going to do three or four quotes now this is

Psalm 16 starting with verse 9 and part of this is probably

David and part of it is Christ and you can sort it out therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoitheth my flesh also and hope that part

I think is David for thou will not leave my soul in hell that part is still

David and but this part is no longer David I don't believe neither will thou allow thine holy one to see corruption now who is he talking about he's talking about Jesus for thou will not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption that will show me the path of life in the presence in thy presence in whose presence in God's presence through Jesus the path of life in thy presence is fullness of joy and in thy right hand are pleasures forevermore so we're all to see the joy at the end of our race as well oh it's agony it is an agonizing race no one that has ever run a marathon or ran a long distance will fail to understand the agony of the race and now

Luke chapter 10 this is a little bit different kind of a story but deals with joy again and it deals with misplaced joy and correctly placed joy let's look at it

Jesus has just sent 70 disciples out giving them uh authority to speak in his name and now they've returned and they are delighted so here we go

Luke 10 verse 17 and the 70 return began with joy saying

Lord even the devils are subject unto us through thy name and he said unto them

I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven behold I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you notwithstanding in this rejoice not you shouldn't be joyful because you have authority over the devils you shouldn't be joyful because uh you can step on scorpions and serpents and have power over the enemies and nothing can hurt you notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoice because your name your names are written in heaven so what's the joy the joy is that your destination is heaven your joy is that your destination is heaven and in that hour