For The Joy

Hebrews 12 1. wherefore seeing we also are compassed about what's 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 looking unto Jesus the author and finish of our of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endure the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God like to speak to you this evening on that phrase in verse 2 for the joy God bless you please be seated Hebrews 12 depicts vivid imagery grandstand filled with spectators waving wildly and cheering at the top of their lungs I wonder what the top of your lungs was I've said it all my life but it is a phrase that means it's an idiom that means really loud all right so many people understands that the noise Thunders and Echoes round about the stadium it's like the stadium in Ephesus where they cried for two hours Great is Diana of the Ephesians like the shout when the ark came back to Israel that was so loud that it made the ground shake I'm not describing this a college or professional football game it's bigger and louder than that if you look down at ground level there are marathon runners that are braving blistering heat sweating profusely nearing exhaustion the contestants are leaning into the wind pressing hard toward the finish line when the crowd Rises to its feet cheering wildly the runners get a burst of adrenaline with that surge of energy they race takes a whole new level goes to a whole new level but what makes this particular Arena special is that every spectator in the stands was once a runner on the field every one of them ran their own race the marathon and finished these fans know the discipline it takes to be a champion they've all watched blisters become calluses they've all born the burden and the Heat of the day they know the feeling of muscle cramps that drop you to your knees they also understand the feeling being supercharged by a runner's high that exception every fan in the stand has been down on the field they cheer with a special passion of understanding like no other audience ever but there's something even more unique about this race there is one fan also a former Runner who stands at the Finish Line security guards make no attempt to remove him from the track he's waving toward the field of Runners beckoning them to finish strong he also knows what it feels like to be in the field of action in fact his race was more like a battle his forehead shows the scars and of puncture marks his waving hands are clearly pitted with the print of the nails he is not unknown to the fans in the stands nor to the runners on the field he is their hero a living legend he's in a league of all his own he has no equal he has no rival and the Gaze of every Runner is fixed on him they draw strength from his presence these Runners we Runners Hebrews 12 and 2 are looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith I know you know but this race is a picture of the Christian Life the writer of Hebrews painted a vivid word picture when he called on Christians to finish at any cost this race for eternal life this great cloud of witnesses that Hebrews 12 and 1 describes are the historic he he rose that kept the faith until they crossed the finish line their stories are testimonies of races run and finally won Hebrews 11 gives a partial list of those who fill the stands looking down on our race Hebrews 11 32 speaks of them and what shall I say more for the time would fail me to tell and he begins to name some of those fans in the stands that are observing the race because of their testimonies these are people that have lived lives like ours who have overcome opposition have gone through deep trials who've suffered persecution and yet they did not stop but they finished their race there's no evidence that they are cognizant of the circumstances of your life but their testimonies stand as a witness that if they can make it so can you it is like they're shouting words of encouragement to those of us who in our daily lives battle real trials and real tasks and face real struggles in life of modern day 2023 life and though they lived in a different era their race was just as real just as challenging but they finished just the same there's one difference they've noticed between those who fail and those who finish failures focus on the pain of the process and finishers focus on the joy of the prize of winning to successfully serve God and see Heaven you need to learn the secret of these Heroes of Faith they saw what was ahead they considered themselves to be strangers and pilgrims on the earth they will not we're not mindful of their past and like Paul they forgot those things which were behind and they reached forward to those things which were ahead they focused on the future they desired a better country they looked unto Jesus the author and the finisher of their faith Hebrews 11 13. these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country and truly if they would have been mindful of that country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned but now they desire a better country that is in Heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a city when Heroes of Faith cross the finish line their testimonies become part of the Great cloud of witnesses gathered in the grandstands of Heaven they have a message for you you can make it this great crowd of witnesses I don't want to leave a misunderstanding here I do not see them to be a literal active audience of people but Hebrews 12 1-2 paints a vivid picture of people who lived life in Earth with great opposition great opposition they finish their race and they are cheering us on by their testimonies of their lives their faith and their finish are an encouragement for you to finish your race but I want you to imagine if they were really actively cheering they might turn their cheer into song they might sing things like it will be worth it all when we see Jesus they might tell you in gospel fashion that this is how we made it we were leaning we were trusting we were like job who depended on the Lord we were Moses like him who kept the faith trusting in the Lord we were like The Heroes of Faith who never gave up who never quit when we got knocked down we got back up and this is how they made it and this is how you can make it too there's a great grandstand of witnesses encouraging us to finish the race the Bible's a wonderful book there are over a thousand chapters and 45 years of ministry I've spoken on many themes this theme is not a part of a a series of messages but when I listen to brother jury's message after having felt directed of the Lord to speak on this theme tonight I felt like the Lord wanted to encourage somebody tonight that you really can't make it you can win this race that nothing else matters so just keep on keeping on Amen you may face some discouragement but like David encourage yourself in the Lord amen Hebrews 12 reminds us that we are not alone in our Christian Life you may not have the support of a spouse he may have a spouse that may not be supportive your children may be prodigals your family might have walked away from Apostolic identity and found a lesser route supposedly enlightened by pseudo Liberty of some other way a lesser way he might have close friends who have departed from the faith and they might have mocked you for staying in this race after all so many things have changed in our modern culture he might have had a mentor that you admired that disappointed you and dropped out of the race I was a young man when I was was disappointed by a person I had great confidence in but I learned that Jesus Christ has never failed me and if I would hold on my perspective would clear and the fog of confusion would lift and I would keep running this race you might have stumbled and Fallen spiritually but today I've really come to encourage you to look up to lift up your eyes to the great cloud of witnesses who testify that if they could do it so could you the Bible said that Elijah was a man of like passions like we are in other words he was a man subject to emotions to highs and lows to discouragement even wishing that he would die but Elijah prayed and God heard him and if Elijah could be a hero of Faith appearing on the mountain of transfiguration with Jesus and Moses then you can make it too amen the Bible reminds us that a just man falls seven times and Rises up again it's not falling that defines you it is getting up that defines you as a hero of faith amen I know you love this verse but Rejoice not against Me O Mine enemy when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me regardless of where you are in your life I've come tonight to tell you that you can make it and there are millions and millions of people that are like fans in the stand that have lived their lives and finished their race that are telling you this great cloud of witnesses to hold on to be strong to not give up to just keep on keeping on Amen you've got fans in the stands I preached about that on a graduate Sunday a few years ago that's not my sermon tonight but I like calling them that and their testimonies are pulling for you they're cheering your own E1 and I want to read it again Hebrews 12 and 1 wherefore seeing we are surrounded can passed about by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us let us run with patience endurance the race that is set before us so the writer is saying that since we have so much support in this race then let's really run this right and if you're going to finish strong you have to lay aside every weight that slows you down the word rate and the weight in the Greek is it means crooked or a hook or something that might be attached to you you know like some type of a utility belt that's got a clip on it and on that clip you're carrying something but this something that you're carrying is unnecessary in this race for heaven so the writer of Hebrews tells you to take that off you may think you need it but you don't really need it if it's not helping you get to heaven if it's slowing you down if it's waiting you down it may not be an outright sin but if it doesn't belong in your life if it's not something that's helping you go to heaven why don't you discard that from your life that weight that is suspended or attached to you amen lay aside every sin he says in those days many people wore long flowing robes and the imagery here is of a a garment that can wrap you up and slow you down the Bible talks about girding up the loins of your mind if you're going to run you've got to tie this garment to you so it doesn't trip you up lay aside every weight and the sin that will wrap you up and make you fall this writer tells us to lay it aside to get rid of it the other Epistles would say to mortify the Deeds of the flesh Jesus would say if you're right I offends you pluck it out and cast it from you it is better to go to heaven with one eye than to go to hell with two Jesus taught if your right hand offends you cut it off and cast it from you it is better to go to heaven even with one hand than to go to hell with two Jesus was not teaching a doctrine of self-mutilation he was just telling you that whatever it takes it might be your dominant eye it might be your strongest hand but whatever it is that is slowing you down and tripping you up get it out of your life and let us run with endurance this race that is set before us amen some types of sin may be more of a temptation to you because of your your nature some types of sin may be more of a temptation to you because of your past but may not bother someone else may affect you and doesn't have a place in your life although it may not be prohibitive or outright sinful for someone else some types of sin may be more of a temptation to you because of your environment your work your family your friends some types of sin may be more of a temptation to you because of a character weakness in you that makes you vulnerable but no matter why you struggle or how you struggle let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily trips us up and slows us down and let us run with patience or endurance the race that is set before you I've made it a a slogan here a statement here for almost the entire time maybe the entire time I've served as Pastor here that the Christian race is not a Sprint it is a marathon it's not the one who runs the quickest the one he shines for a day right the old song said it's the one who endures to the end that shall be saved I don't want to just burn brightly for a day or two the heroes in my life have been men and women who have gone through trials and difficulties and they just lasted they may not have been fancy or famous they may not have been extremely talented but they just kept living for God week after week and year after year amen amen so you've got to have the long look the writer of Hebrews said you've got to run this race within Torrance that is set before us amen so I want to encourage you so don't try it don't look at life for the quick reward Satan is always offering a shortcut the pleasures of sin for a season the kingdoms of this world Satan told Jesus I'll give it to you now and you don't have to go through the suffering and shame of the Cross he didn't say that part but he said if you'll just worship me I'll give you what you're ultimately supposed to have no pain and lots of gain that's his lie and it never works amen the test of your faith is not how many verses you read in a single week but I hope you read the Bible every day and every week the test of your spirituality is not how many hours you can pray in a single day although I hope you pray every day the race of faith is a test of endurance it's reading your Bible and continuing to read and study your Bible and if you miss a day you don't miss a week and if you miss a week you don't miss a month but you get back in the race if you fall from your schedule if you fall from your spiritual disciplines if you fall into sin you repent and you get back up and you go on again amen they said you keep praying and you don't faint amen it's that you don't give up you keep knocking on the door until you get an answer that's the secret of this race is that you keep on going and you recognize that this is a marathon amen he might be judged by a day if you backslide but you're not judged by your by your performance on a single day it's over a lifetime that you are faithful to God if you read the story of Abraham the father of the faithful he had some blips on his screen he had some mistakes in his life he was not a perfect man but he is called a faithful man because he finished in faith and he did not quit along the way Christian race is a marathon Matthew 10 22. Jesus said and you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake that he that endureth to the end shall be saved so I want to encourage you tonight that you are not alone that the testimonies of millions of saints who died in the faith are saying or Screaming tonight that if I made it you can make it too because this is how they made it verse 2 of Hebrews 12. looking unto Jesus the author or the founder and the finisher for our finisher of our faith I want to wear that phrase out a little bit looking unto Jesus if you look to other people who were ahead of you a little older than you who have lived for God a little longer than you that could be very encouraging but there are times that could be disappointing the Bible says that it's finishing that matters that if a person lives their entire life but toward the end of their life walk away from truth but all the righteousness that they had done will not count for anything but a person who may have not lived for God if in the end they turn to the Lord that God will forgive their sins and they can be saved the prophets are all about that if you look at others beside you your peers there may be days they encourage you and then there may be days that they disillusion you if you look at those behind you the Next Generation it's fascinating to me that sometimes as people get older they lose their faith in the Next Generation and there are things about every new generation that may have been lost but I I stand on the word of God that is truth endures to all generations and when the Lord comes I believe he's going to find faith on the earth amen so I choose to believe in the Next Generation but on any given day if you look at the Next Generation they might cause you to stumble and fail so no matter who you look at if you look at people even the fans in the stand you will find some flaws for the Bible said in Hebrews 12 and 2 looking unto Jesus who is the author it means originator or founder of our faith he is the one that ran this race who started this race who started us out in faith amen and he that has begun a good work in you shall perform it or complete it until the day of Jesus Christ they're not wasting your life serving God you have a purpose a goal and there's a Finish Line there's an end to all this now the Bible said that people who say that my Lord delays his coming they lose their heart these servants Jesus spoke about this and they start smiting one another there's some infighting because they lose sight of heaven and they get stuck in the nasty now and now and they find fault with one another and begin to fight amen that's why we look unto Jesus who is the author and the finisher verse finisher of our faith amen you're running in the footsteps of Jesus not a random road race this is not the peach trees not the Boston Marathon this is the race that matters it is a race for eternal life and it is not the pace at which you run that you never give up you know isn't it amazing the Bible tells us that we should not measure ourselves among ourselves or compare ourselves with ourselves that we're not wise when we do that have you ever noticed that on some days you can always find somebody slower than you but on most days you find somebody faster than you smarter better more spiritual preaches better if you're a preacher does better in Ministry if you look at people even if they're really really good that can be discouraging because you're not them you feel like you don't measure up right this is a race that it doesn't matter how fast you run it just matters that you run doesn't matter how your giftings compare to others giftings it just matters what you do but the gifts God's given you that's what matters at the end you're not going to be compared with whether you had five talents or two talents or one Talent God will hold all of us accountable for what we did with what he gave us and I know that to whom much is given much is required but it is required in stewards that's all of us that we are found faithful so it doesn't matter how fast you run it just matters that you don't give up and Jesus Christ is the founder of our faith he gave us the start he encouraged us he paid the price for us so that we would have a faith but he would all he is also the finisher of finisher of our faith that means that he's with us the entire Journey he paved the way he set the example he endured suffering and death to gain the Victor's Crown he did not stumble across the Finish Line when he said it is finished I love what I learned several years ago that in the Greek it's Jesus cried with a loud voice there was a man who was thirsting who was dying his blood has leaked from his body but he cries with the loud voice it is finished in the original language language it is funny megaly it's the same word we would say with the megaphone he cries with the loud voice it is not it is finished it is it is finished and in that moment when he said unto your hands I commend my spirit Jesus Christ finish the faith for every one of us amen he is the originator the author and the finisher of our faith he's not just in the Hall of Fame he's the driving force of everyone who is enshrined there and he is the one to study if you want to stand there one day with the faithful of all eternity looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith so as you run your race this Marathon from here to heaven be aware of the fans in the stands lay aside every weight lay aside every sin run with patience and look to Jesus the founder and the finisher of our faith but what was the motivation for Jesus to endure the cross Hebrews 12 and 2. looking at it Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God there God doesn't have a right hand but it's a figurative expression of power sorry wrong hand you know I'm left-handed so I'm prone to wish for the joy that was set before him the Bible is very clear that Jesus was despised and rejected of men of Sorrows and acquainted with grief he came to his own and his own received him not rejected by his own people Jesus was unjustly accused he'll legally tried and sentenced to die Jesus was mocked spit on and beat until his back was lacerated like furrows in a freshly plowed field that's how Psalm 129 described the back of the Messiah Jesus had a crown of thorns pressed into his head and face but he kept running toward the finish line he had to carry his own cross and he fell beneath its weight it was led in a shameful procession outside the city of Jerusalem to the place of execution nails were driven into his innocent hands and feet his hoisted upright in the weight of his weakened body pulled at the puncture wounds ripping flesh and making gaping holes Jesus faced incredible hostility torturous execution on the cross cruelest form of capital punishment known to man of that time but the writer of Hebrews says that consider him Hebrews 12 3 by the way that endures such contradiction or hostility of Sinners against himself lest you be wearied in feign in your minds in case you ever think you've got it bad consider Jesus taunted by his executioners to come down from the cross they railed on him wagged their heads and they said save yourself come down from the cross he saved others himself he cannot save he was cursed for everyone that hangs on a tree the Bible said his cursed he became sin for us who knew no sin you wonder why Jesus did it and how Jesus did it the Bible said he did it for the joy that was set before him the joy of defeating death in hell the joy of destroying the devil once and for all the joy of knowing that the price of redemption was Paid in Full the joy of becoming the firstborn from the dead the joy of being exalted is Lord in Christ The Joy of being given a name that is above every other name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and tongue every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father the Bible said that Jesus looked at the cross and he despised the shame but he looked past the cross to the joy that was set before him and this is the secret of the Christian Life to not get stuck in the trial to not be fixated on the cross but to look past the difficulty to look past the pain to look past this life however it may be and you've got to see the joy that is set before you that one day as the old timer said we'll be shouting on the Hills of Glory we'll be in a city where the lamb is the life we'll be in a place where there is no more death or pain or sorrow or tears or death for the former things are passed away will be there in the pleasures of the Lord forever and ever so today I want to tell you that live for God with for the joy that is set before you and on your worst day look up to the fans in this tan and look unto Jesus and look to the joy that is set before you for it will be worth it all when we see Jesus and it will be be worth every long trial it will be worth whatever you have to go through you've got to be like Jesus and do it for the joy whether you stand right now and lift your voice to the Lord [Applause] Hallelujah [Applause] you've got to be like Moses who esteemed reproach of Christ as greater Treasures in the pleasures of Egypt amen you've got to look past the temptation of the moment past the flirting of the world to try to get you off course to just drop out of the race and succumb for whatever's going after you today whatever comes after you tomorrow kind of look unto Jesus the author and the finish of our faith before the joy that was set before him endure the cross despising the shame so I want to assure you tonight that you can endure the darkest night of the Soul you can survive the toughest trial that you can overcome any obstacle you can Brave the most treacherous storm and you can resist the most enticing temptation can run the race the patience if you remember the joy that is set before you Proverbs 13 12 said that hope deferred makes the soul sick but when the desire comes it is a tree of life you know if you're just going through it and Heaven is put off but that does something to us for it to be so long thinking this past week or maybe a couple weeks ago I guess this past Saturday was listening to the Book of John as I was driving thinking about people who just threw in the towel and walked away Jesus said if the if the householder the owner of the house would have known what hour of the night the feet was coming he had been awake and you know sitting at the door ready that's just the way the Lord is going to do he's going to come as a thief in the night he will not give warning because he's looking for people who will stay in the race the Bible describes the woman Jesus talked about this in John 16. a woman is in travail she has sorrow because her Hours come she's feeling these tremendous labor pains but as soon as she is delivered of the child she remembers no more of the anguish for joy that a man is Born Into the world that's the way Heaven's going to be one of these days all the Bible said the Earth groans and travails you know that even us who have the this hope in us we groan within ourselves waiting to with the Redemption of our bodies amen the Bible said that though the Lord's anger endures for a moment favor is there and weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning we all know that life can be stressful and everyone in this room and everyone watching online everybody's got an excuse to quit God offended got hurt got whatever but no one has a real reason quit looking unto Jesus for the joy if you're able I'd like to invite you to come to the altar tonight we're going to take a little bit of time just to thank the Lord for the promise of Heaven for the strength of his grace that we can endure and be saved that God is on our side and we have a great cloud of witnesses but we have Jesus and we're looking past the Temptation past the trial pass the test we're looking for the joy