Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
What in the I love possess me not?
Unchangeable migration number 166.
We're also seeing one 72172 will teach us more of Thy blessed ways, Thou holy Lamb of God and sick, and root us in Thy grace as those redeemed by blood.
Continue to bring into the UMM.
Rest of all of the salaries of the life of all of our home. I have to wait to see if I'm going to go home.
00:05:01
Great.
Read a couple of verse.
Before We Pray and John's Gospel, chapter 21.
John's Gospel, chapter 21.
Starting with verse 15. Two verses together here.
So when they had dined, Jesus set unto Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas.
Lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yay, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lamb. He set unto him again a second time.
Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He said unto him, Ye Lord, thou knowest thy vote. Thee he set unto him, Feed my sheep. He set unto them the third kind. Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was greed, because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things.
Thou knowest that I love thee, Jesus said unto him, Feed my sheep just one other portion in first Peter chapter 5.
First Peter, chapter 5.
And verse one, the elders which are among you. I exhort to him also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you. Take the over, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, Not for filthy looper, but a ready mind.
Neither is being Lords over God's heritage.
But being in samples to the flock, and when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory, that fadeth not awake till we ask the Lord for guidance.
Our God and our loving Father, we praise Thee and we thank Thee for giving us this opportunity to be together in this way.
Where there is the place that has given our God, we believe for the leading of the Spirit of God. With thy word, blessed God in our hands.
And we desire that we might be fed our God from this precious book, that any who take part may be channels of vine. So we seek direction, Father, for thou alone does know the needs, and we know that Christ is sufficient.
For thy people. And so our prayer is our God, that as we begin by first reading meeting that thou was direct as to the portion, the subject that should be before us, and that we may wait on thee for comments, Lord, in connection with the chapter that we have brought before us. Thus, Lord, we thank thee and praise thee for the for the privileges that are given in this way. And we ask thy blessing for thy name's sake, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Amen. Amen.
We sang in the first hand, Let us run and never tire and in the Bible readings that we had with my parents this week, we were Speaking of running the race. I was wondering about the possibility of taking up even chapter 12.
00:10:07
People thought that was profitable.
I think that would be nice, Sean.
Happy to read that Hebrews chapter 12 and verse one.
Wherefore we're seeing we also are compass about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the rave that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and it sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest He be weary and faint. In your mind ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin.
And you have forgotten the expectation which speaketh unto you and unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, more faint when thou art rebuke of Him For whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom his Father chasing? If not, but if he be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, Dino, ye ******** and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirit, and live?
But they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His Holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless. Afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. The letter rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up, trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Let there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected.
Where he found no place of resentment. So we sought it carefully with tears. For year not come unto the mouth that might be touched, and that burning with fire, and that burned with fire. Nor on the blackness and darkness and Tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice saves that heard and treated. That the word should not be spoken to them anymore. For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with the dark. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.
But you are coming to Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and unto an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God appearance of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that you refuse not him that speaketh, Or if they escape not, who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.
Whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. In this word, yet once more signifying signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, and of those things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence. Godly fear for our God is a consuming fire.
Well, we know that the apostle Paul is likely the one that wrote this epistle to the Hebrews, but it was, let's just turn to second Peter chapter 3 or yeah, chapter 3, and just read one verse there. Not that we want to introduce anything that isn't found in Scripture, but it's interesting that Peter speaks of one who had written to the Hebrews.
And he identifies him as Paul. He says in Second Peter chapter 3.
Verse 15 Account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable, rest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction. And so Peter recognized that Paul was writing, and that what he had written was.
00:15:00
Scriptures those inspired words of God himself and so he had written perhaps this book, this epistle to the Hebrews and is in all the epistles the doctrine begins 1St and he takes up the doctrine until the 10th chapter and to the end of verse 18 and then from chapter 10, verse 19 down to the end really he he gives practical instruction as to how our walk should really be in connection with the doctrine that he's given so he contrasts.
Christianity with Judaism in the Epistle to the Hebrews and says tells us how much better Christianity is, far better. And he goes over all of those things. And then here in this chapter 12, he really gives instruction as to how we might be preserved, not becoming discouraged or disheartening, disheartened in a difficult time. Remember this letter was written approximately 7 years before Jerusalem was going to be destroyed.
And, uh, the Jews, those that had turned to the Lord Jesus had accepted Christ as Savior and had professed the knowledge of the Lord Jesus as Savior. We're facing persecution and they face a fierce persecution and opposition from their brethren, the Jews. And so they, umm, needed encouragement as they passed through those, uh, uh, trials, those fiery trials. And he says in verse 4, just for example.
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. And so they did face martyrdom themselves. And so He gives this instruction and speaks of how the Lord deals with us as a Father as well and corrects us. And there may have been those things that needed to be corrected as well in their lives. They needed to drop off those things that had to do with Judaism, and they needed to cleave unto Christ for the purpose of heart. They needed to leave all of that Jewish religion behind.
Because it was soon to be judged. And so we find that that warning, the last warning, there's five warnings given to leave Judaism and to be careful not to apostatize, not to give up the knowledge of of the Savior, the Lord Jesus, and to go back into Judaism. And so the last warning that's given in the Epistle to the Hebrews is in our chapter from verse 25 down to verse 29. And so he gives us warning not to.
Uh, not to forsake Christ and to he really presents to them that there's a future Kingdom and it's going to be the Lord Jesus is going to be the king. He's going to have a rule over his earthly people and his Kingdom is not going to end. And so they needed to leave their earthly hopes and they needed to cleave unto the Lord himself. So This is why he begins in this chapter after the chapter of the book of the umm, delineation of all those that were characterized by faith.
He then says, Seeing that you have so great a company of a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin with us so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. And so he says, in view of all of those that walk by faith, he says, let's lay aside every weight, every weight, everything that would hinder us from walking in the path of faith. And the sin, the sin here, I believe, was particularly the sin of unbelief.
The sin of unbelief in the goodness of God. And so they were to trust the Lord wholeheartedly.
I think that the thought of chapter 12 really starts.
Verse 39 in the previous chapter.
You know, the man has put the chapters and so on in the book, but for a 39 says he's all having a pain and good report through faith receive not a promise with undespeakable. The promise that that we have through Christ Jesus of eternal life, blessing to his own people to come. And it was something that was foreseen by God. We know it now because God has revealed it to us.
But it really starts to take that up. I believe in, in the previous chapter in verse umm 39. All these having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise. God having provided or foreseen some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect. And it is God has purposed in his households that every believer in the coming day would be made perfect body, soul and spirit together.
00:20:03
And the Old Testament Saints have been waiting a long time.
For that event to take place, and with some of her own, we know that it passed on and waiting for that event to take place. And we have the promise of it. And it's a certain thing for us. And the Old Testament Saints will not be made perfect until the Lord Jesus gives a shout at the rapture. And we're all going to be.
Beneficiaries of that event at the same time, and so it goes on then to.
Saying these things and saying what lies before us.
Uh, we should run the race without weights and things like that, you know, uh, pull us down, pull us back. So I really believe the whole thought of this 12 Chapter starts the 39th verse.
Want to, uh, be clear on the the whole subject of apostasy and backsliding because they are not the same.
And this, as our brother has mentioned here, the whole context of the book of Hebrews supposes that there is unreality.
Really.
Uh, touches on that subject that uh, if there was not fruit in the life, there was no reality.
Uh, an apostasy in the book of Hebrews apostasy at any time is without any hope of of our recovery. Apostasy is a a true believer can never apostatize.
Backsliding is entirely different. Any of us can backslide if we become careless in our in our Christian, uh, pathway. But in a?
Post apostate is one who has given up the truth and returned to a false system. And this was the danger here in the book of Hebrews of them returning to Judaism, embracing it again.
And this would indicate that they were not truly believers. And so this is the line of truth that the apostle is bringing before us throughout the book that, umm, there is that danger of unreality and yet having a place of profession, having a place of profession without reality.
But uh, coming to our, our fir, our first verse here, umm, the fossil, uh, gives these, uh, wonderful examples in the 11Th chapter, but there was failure in each one.
Uh, they demonstrated remarkably the pathway of faith amidst great afflictions, trials, sufferings.
Uh, which the, uh, Hebrew believers were going through, but there was failure in each one of them. And so he brings before us the perfect example of the Lord Jesus. Umm, I know it's often referred to in the sense that we look to him now in the glory.
And that is true, but I think the primary thought is awards pathway down here. He, uh, met all these, this persecution himself and uh, he started the path and he finished it perfectly to God's glory, the author, the beginner and the finisher of faith.
Very like beautiful.
Laying aside every weight and the thing was so easily entangles us.
Let us run within Europe for the race that lies before it, looking steadfastly on Jesus, the leader and completer of our favor.
And then gives, as John said, gives the example of his walk down here. That's primarily what he wants us to look upon. Not so much the Lord in glory, but the Lord and his, uh, and his walk down here.
So someone might ask, well, what's the difference between weight and sin? Well, there's some examples that we have. We know the Old Testament has little pictures. And so if we turn to Nehemiah chapter 4, we'll have a little bit of an expression that could be used to denote that which is just a waste, maybe not positively thin, but a weight. It says in Nehemiah chapter 4 and verse 10.
Judith said the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed and there is much rubbish so that we are not able to build the wall. So there's stuff, uh, there's rubbish. And then in Chapter 13.
00:25:12
It's UMM and verse 8.
It says it grieved me sore. Therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I commanded that they cleansed the chambers and thither brought I again the vessels of the House of God with the meat offering in the frankincense. And so you have in chapter 4 and verse 10, you have that much rubbish, the weight maybe not positive thin, but it's a weight in the path of faith. Maybe it's a hobby, maybe it's some activity that we're engaged with. Maybe it's a friend. It's just a weight. It's not really something that's going to help us in the path of faith. Chapter 13 though we have.
The sin, that which was positively defiling in the House of God and Tobiah, an unbeliever, a Gentile I believe, and he was really, he brought things into the temple that were defiling and into the very presence of God as sin. Both need to be dealt with. And so he presents this before we can run the race, we need to get rid of the weight and we need to get rid of the sin so that we might be able to be in a condition that would allow us to run the race.
With the the patients or endurance that is set before us and there are different times that erase as mentioned in Scripture, I think it's four or five times.
And every time the word is slightly different. This race is like an endurance race. This is a race you're going in a circuit and it's going to take some endurance. It's not a 500 yard dash. It's some endurance that's required. And so here the Lord Jesus endured. He endured unto death.
In an endurance race, you have to pace yourself. If you start out sprinting, you're probably not going to make UMM. And that's a good lesson for those who are new, new to the faith or new to any of the aspects of the truth. UMM is to be patient with yourself and understand it's a it's a long haul and there's a lot to learn and umm, it's like when the Lord brings you in, you can think of it as inheriting a vast.
Amount of land and it's gonna take you years to cover it. So be patient. And uh, some get, they just wanna be up there really fast. And I think that's fueled partly by pride. Umm, it's good to pace yourself and understand that obtaining knowledge of the truth is it's gonna be a long time. And then learning and buying it through your experience is gonna take a long time. It's gonna be years.
But it does say to run with patients, doesn't it? Doesn't say to sit in the chair and wait.
We're just on the concrete. That's taken into account in the phrase author and finisher or beginner and finisher. At some point it was authored, at some point it was finished. And what is the time frame that that takes in? I would suggest that the author from the internal counsel to glory, when the plan of salvation was put together to his incarnation with walk on earth, his death, resurrection returned to heaven. Is that the fine frame that's considered from authorship to finisher?
His whole life here was the beginner and the completer of the Lord's life here. Remember the words that are spoken in Loop 2. Wish ye not that I must be about my Father's business.
It shows us that from the time that the Lord as a man was young here in this world, that the object he had before him was the glory of God, doesn't it?
The words on the cross, it is finished. What was finished is work here for you and I. What an example that God has given us in His work. The object that is to be ours is His. The way He's left us. An example that we should follow His steps.
And we have the examples in Chapter 11, as I've been already mentioned of many that were Margaret for.
The Lord's glory and then we're told to look unto Jesus and in similar but far greater way, the Lord Jesus gave himself, He died on the cross. He gave himself for us. God gave his only begotten Son for us so that we have, as you say, brother, did the finisher when you said it is finished. Salvation's work completed on the cross. These ones mentioned in Chapter 11.
00:30:12
Guide for the Lord died for what they believe, and for the Lord Jesus gave himself forth the finisher of our faith, the beginner and the finisher.
In the passage here, we don't have the atoning sufferings of Christ. Umm.
Through the cross, it was part of the work that he finished. But we don't have the atoning sufferings in this verse. Umm, that couldn't be an example for us because, uh, we have, can have no part in that. But if we're faithful to the Lord, uh, we're going to, uh, encounter shame in our pathway. Uh, the Lord despised the shame. We don't, we make a great deal of it and we try to avoid it. Uh, and we miss the blessing and we testify for Christ, We, uh, intuitively, if I can use the term.
Know that we're going to be unwelcome, uh.
But if we're faithful, there's going to be a shame connected with it. But, uh, the Lord despised the shame because as our brother said, he had the will of God before him. That was what was the primary object of the Lord to accomplish the work that the Father had given him to do.
Uh, which involved the cross, of course, and, uh.
And umm, the joy that was sent before him, I believe.
Was the joy of entering into His Father's presence where He had come from, having accomplished the will of God? Now, I know it's often referred to in connection with the joy of having us with Him, and I would not detract from that at all. But the primary thought is the accomplishment of the will of God in His pathway down here.
Even unto death.
In the last verse of the previous chapter that has been referred to.
Perhaps it's all right to bring out there, I think the thought and connection with God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
What does that mean? I think that the apostle is bringing before the Hebrews here that the ones in the previous chapter in Chapter 11, Jacob's, the Abrahams, the Moses, and the various faithful ones that are brought before us, and as such a example of faith in the Old Testament. But there is something peculiar that is going to be given to those that are part of this dispensation.
After the Lord died on the cross, went back to heaven, the Spirit of God was sent down. What was it that happened? He formed the church, and the church is still growing in this world until this day. And you and I, brethren, are part of the church that is going to enjoy a sense of nearness to the Lord that previous dispensations will not enjoy.
Does that make us any better than them? How could we ever say that we would be better than a Moses or a Joseph or these various ones in the Old Testament? But it brings before us the grace of God that stooped down to where we were, picked us up, and has made us part of the bride of Christ. The closest relationship that a man, that a man and a woman, I believe can enjoy in this world is that of husband and wife, and that is a picture to us.
Of Christ and the Church.
They, the, uh, the Old Testament worthies will enjoy heaven just as much. I'm sure you remember the verse over in Revelation 19 where the bride is brought in. And then what's it say, the others say? And I take it it's the Jews that say in that in the Old Testament, Saints, let us be glad and rejoice, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
So they step back, as it were, when the when the bride is brought in to the Lamb. Oh how beautiful. And brethren, anyone who is saved during this dispensation will be part of that bride of Christ. Is that thought right?
00:35:10
So we could look at Philippians chapter 3 and we find out when we're going to be made perfect. We're all going to be made perfect at the same time, you might say. And so there are different families in heaven that we know if you've been bringing out and we are a part of the bride of Christ, we have the very best place in heaven, but we're all going to be made perfect at the same time. So it says in Philippians chapter 3, verse 20 for our conversation is in heaven, for our associations of life are in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who shall change our vile body, or our body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like under His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto himself? And then if we turn to 1St Corinthians chapter 15 and umm, verse 51.
Paul teaches this, what it means to be made perfect. In the epistles we don't really have a lot what we might call Christian doctrine In Hebrews we have it referred to, but we don't really have it taught in the same way as in some of the other epistles. So First Corinthians 15, verse 51. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Well, that change is going to take place and it's going to take place at the resurrection, at the rapture. We know that the Lord Jesus is the first fruits of resurrection. We know that at the rapture there's going to be another resurrection, the 2nd installment, you might say the resurrection. And then the murdered Saints at the end of the tribulation period were going to be raised. That's Revelation chapter 20. But umm, the Saints, those Old Testament Saints are going to be made perfect. They're going to have their bodies, they're going to be raised and they're going to be glorified at the same time.
As your body and mind, those of us that are alive and remain are going to have, our bodies are going to be glorified.
And so those Old Testament Saints haven't seen the Lord yet, and the New Testament Saints that have died haven't seen the Lord yet. Their bodies are in the grave. You need your eyes to be able to see, but they're in the presence of the Lord. Scripture says absent from the body, present with the Lord. We're all going to have be perfected at the same time. And so that's what he's Speaking of. We might just refer to one other passage in, uh, Romans chapter 8 that Paul brings out in connection with this.
That, uh.
Verse 23.
Romans 8, verse 23, not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit. We ourselves, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to quit, the redemption of our body. And so Scripture teaches that our souls are redeemed, our spirits are redeemed, but our bodies aren't redeemed yet. Redemption has to do with the setting at liberty not only being bought back, but set at liberty. Our bodies still are under the ******* of sin, as it were. We're still perishing.
Our bodies are suffering and have the effects of age and sin, but in that day, at the time of the Lord's coming, we're going to, our bodies are going to be glorified and we're going to be just like Him. And so the Spirit of God brings us before us in connection with that last verse in Chapter 11. God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect.
It could not be made perfect until the one that would come that would make them perfect, that was the Lord Jesus Christ. But I believe in that. It's leading up to that, those truths that should encourage us to lay aside every weight and continue on to the Lord. Because there's mentioned that the Old Testament Saints mentioned that there they had all had failures in their lives. But it brings us up to chapter 12. We read about the Lord Jesus Christ being our examples, one that didn't have failure, one that was perfect.
And, uh, He is the one that both Jew and Gentile alike we're going to spend eternity with at the rapture. And so it should encourage our hearts to want to go on to the Lord. But this is used and we're all going to be made perfect body, soul and spirit in that coming day.
Eight, I think it brings the future right here to the present that we might enjoy it. And we've been speaking about what our hope is, and we live in hope. And, you know, faith looks on debt which is not seen, and that's so wonderful that we can hold in our hands the Word of God.
00:40:18
That presents to us.
Avista, that's absolutely.
Powerful.
As to what our future portion is, it's out of this world. It's so wonderful. Now we just, I believe, touch on the surface of what God has for us to enjoy in the future, but we can enjoy it here and now. So it tells us, the pastor Paul, you know, we spoke about our affliction, heart illnesses and so on, our infirmities, but he said it's a light affliction. Why? Because it works for us far more exceeding.
And eternal weight of glory.
You know what we experienced in this life?
Often it seems very difficult, but if we look at it in view of the change that's going to take place, Apostle Paul, he said. It's life.
And he goes on to speak about how we don't look at the things that are seen.
Because the things that are seen are temporal, just for a little short time, but the things that are not seen are eternal.
And that's what we can enjoy.
Faith and faith is simply taking God at His word. God appreciates when we believe Him, we accept His word.
Any one of us here today?
We don't appreciate if we say something and somebody else questions what we said and maybe has to ask two or three other people as to whether we're telling the truth. We don't appreciate that.
I think the greatest favor we can do the Lord is to take Him at His word. And I think that's perhaps why here in Chapter 11 we have all these examples of faith, and even though they did have their failures.
It's been mentioned more than once here in this Chapter 11. We don't read about one failure. Is that true?
You have to look back into the Old Testament to see about this failure. Why is this? Could it be that God appreciates faith?
And when there's faith?
I believe God sees us in a different mind. He sees us in Christ and you know the results of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross, he said. Our sins are gone.
And in chapter.
10 Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more.
So I just think it's beautiful how that God, he doesn't see us in our failure now. He doesn't see us as sinners. He sees us as Saints. We are Saints.
We are incorrect and that's our standing and that's how God sees.
God appreciates faith.
In stock.
And you always reward space, so this is partly why you have here written.
At the end of verse two and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
So what race is it that the Lord ran?
What race is it that we're to imitate? It's not the 500 yard dash. It's a course of endurance, but it's the race from earth to heaven.
And the Lord was given a work to do in this world, in this world, in this earth, and it took endurance to accomplish that work. Everything was against Him. Everything the Roman government was against him. His own people, He came under his own. His own received him not, but as many as received him to them gave the power to become the sons of God. Everything was against them. And everything naturally speaking in this world is against the Christian.
So the heart of the natural man is at enmity with God, and that enmity with those that love God. And so that's why it takes endurance. And so we're to consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest he be wearied and faint in your mind. So there's two things here. One is wearied and the other is faint. And we faint as a result of becoming weary. And so we need to be refreshed with Christ. We need to be considering the person of Christ and the perfection of his work and consider where he's seated now.
00:45:10
Because of his race and that it was his work was perfectly acceptable to his God and Father. And he is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. It says that four times when the Epistles of the Hebrews and I think in the first chapter as he set himself down after his work, he set himself down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Here he sat, sat down after running this race. And so it's this exhortation is given by the apostle.
By the Spirit of God, that we might not grow weary in a time of conflict and that we might not. The result might be that we wouldn't think that takes endurance. And if we do endure, we're going to sit in the same place as it were, not as those that are gone, but those that are in a relationship with the Lord Jesus. We're going to sit, as it were, where He sits. Let's look at that in Revelation chapter 4.
S.
Revelation chapter 4 and uh.
Let's just read uh, verse 10. The four and 20 elders fell down before him that sat on the throne and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne, saying thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things for thy pleasure. They are and were created. I was looking for the place where it says that yes, in verse four, chapter 4 of Revelation, verse 4.
Round about the throne were four and 20 seats, and upon the seats I saw 4 and 20 elders sitting clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
The Lord's work is finished. He's seated. He's glorified. There's a man seated on the right hand of the majesty on high. But you and I, when we enter into the presence of God, the sun, we're going to have the authority, as it were, to be seated. The angels we don't find are seated. They're servants, and they're going to be servants forever. But you and I are going to be an association with the Lord Jesus, and we're going to be able to be feeded in His presence.
In connection with the, uh, second verse where it has that expression, we've spoken a little bit of it. Who for the joy that was set before him? Who for the joy that was set before him?
I think that we see in the Word of God that right from the very beginning that God made man that he has to have an object.
Hmm. When God made Adam spirit, soul and body before sin came into the world, he gave him a job to do, and that job was when he placed him in the Garden of Eden. He said to dress it and to keep it. I remember Mr. Siebenmann saying many years ago he was God's gardener. That was the job that God gave him. And if God had communion with him.
As He came down during the day, but He had that particular work that changed winds after sin came in. By the sweat of thy brows thou shall eat bread. But God made man that he has to have an object. Now the Lord came down, and as a man He walked through this world, and He had an object before him. And here we have in this verse, who for the joy that was set before him, and He is given us here as an example, look unto Jesus.
How did he conduct his life when he went through this world? You know, I can remember as a teenager growing up in the in the 50s, date myself a little bit here. But during that time, why? And I remember when Kennedy became president and the enthusiasm that was in the United States and, and how the world was going to get better and all of all these things. And here we go. We're going to.
To, uh, high school and they wanted to get us enthusiastic about the future and create a, a, a, get a good, umm, uh, education and go on and be somebody and, and so on. That was the object that the world took and put before the student, the students. And so there's different objects that take place in various things. They change, uh, in this world, the objects change. Well, the Lord had one object.
00:50:10
And what has God-given you and me for our object? Christ has left us an example that we should follow his steps. And I feel very much that, uh, the young people growing up in this world, when they see the frustrations of the and, and the corruption and all of these things going on, it must be difficult to make choices. But has God changed? Is there an object for, for, umm, uh, the young today?
As there there was in, uh, 50 years ago. It hasn't changed. It's the same object. It's the same book. And so just as he was presented as a pattern for the Hebrew believers in those days, why he is the pattern to the end. He is to be our object and as he the joy that was set before him, yes, trials through his whole life.
He wept at the grave of Lazarus, but he went on because he knew where the pathway ended for him. Sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And everyone in this room who's a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, he has a pathway for us. It's wonderful to lay hold of it and to seek to go on. And I believe that's why these scriptures are brought before us. Am I right, John? Yeah. I was thinking, brother, that, umm, the Lord never allowed anything to hinder him in the past.
Uh, how easy it is for us to uh, get another object before us, umm, which is a hindrance. It may not be a positive sin, uh.
It may be something legitimate, but it becomes.
Almost an idol and it detracts us in in the pathway. I was thinking of First Corinthians Chapter 9.
Where the race is mentioned again.
Uh, verse 24, E Corinthians 9 knowing enough that they which run in a race run all but one receiver the prize. So run that you may obtain. Uh, and every man that striveth for the mastery is tempered in all things. Now they do it. To obtain a corruptible crown would be an incorruptible. I therefore so run not as uncertainly. So why die not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection.
Less.
That by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. Well, I think the point is there that we are to keep the body in subjection. How often we are controlled by our bodies.
The Lord never allowed anything in his pathway to hinder him in, in obedience, devotedness to his father. But we have things that hinder us and we, we don't want to give them up. Uh, the Lord never needed self judgment in his life, but we certainly do because we have that old evil nature which is always clamoring for the preeminence and uh, uh, trying to, uh.
To to control us.
Uh, so.
We need to lay aside those things and self judgment in our lives is important. Every boy and girl knows that we're going to run a race here. They are ready to start, uh, starting line and, uh, there's some pretty, uh, uh.
Very good competitors in the race, they're not going to have a heavy coat on or heavy boots. Nothing wrong with that, but they know that that's going to be a hindrance to them. They want to win the race like we read there. So run that you may obtain. So they lay aside those things which would impede them in the race. And uh, so the apostle uses that same figure. He often uses the figure of Annabelle.
And, uh, he says, lay aside those things that, uh, you know, are going to, uh, impede you, hinder you, Uh, we, we are loath to do that. We argue that there's nothing wrong in it. And morally there may not be anything wrong in it, but it's something that, uh, occupies our hearts to the exclusion of Christ. And I was thinking also, brethren, that I have been studying, uh, privately in the book of Numbers.
00:55:07
Uh, and.
Received it I feel a lot of blessing from that book You know the manna was given to them. Uh, they got tired of the manna. Finally they began to load the manna with this light bread uh, but the manna is really a figure of Christ in his manhood pathway down here. They fed upon the manna until they got to the land of Canaan. You remember it was a wilderness food and that's what we need brethren, is to.
Look at Christ in his pathway down here, especially in the gospel.
Mr. Darby used to say, let us not get far away from the Gospels because there you have the perfect pathway of the Lord as the manna. Uh, he refers to himself in that character in John chapter 6. So we can feed upon Christ in his pathway. And in that way we have the example and we gain strength for our pathway down here. So for our, for our practical application of all of this, here we are in the world today, umm, and we wanna serve the Lord. Well, first we need to lay aside the weight and the sin.
That's gonna detract us from doing the will of God. And we see in Chapter 11, there's many people here we read of that. They were serving the Lord, they were doing the will of God, but they suffered for it and they died. Then we have the Lord Jesus in our chapter here.
As another example for us.
He was doing the will of God, but he suffered and he died.
Look in Acts chapter.
Acts Chapter 5.
We see here the apostles were out preaching in the name of Jesus.
In Acts chapter 5, verse 40.
Susan Wednesday had called the apostles and beaten them. They commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council. Rejoicing there is joy, there is joy there, Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple in every house. And they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. And so these ones, they were serving the Lord, they were doing the will of God.
And they suffered for it and they rejoiced. They had joy that they were suffering, not so much that they were suffering, but that they were doing the will of God. And I think that's what the joy of the Lord is in our chapter here, chapter 12, verse two. Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross. He despised the shame. And he has set down the right hand. He had the Lord Jesus had in doing the will of the Father. And so he was willing then to go to the cross and to endure that suffering and that shame. And so our example for this is.
We need to lay aside those weights so we can be sanctified and fit and for the masters use. And then when we're ready for the master's use, then he can use us. And it takes faith to go out and serve him. But you know, when you're doing the will of God, there's going to be a lot of opposition. Satan doesn't like it because anytime you are willing to devote your life to do the will of God, anytime you're going to bring glory to God, Satan doesn't like it. He's going to oppose it by the directly by him, through himself or through your friends or through the world.
Or through the flesh, there's many ways he uses to try to just to bring you down. And it may even be through persecution for being mocked by your friends. Or it's there's many ways that we are persecuted and opposed to do the will of God. But you need to expect that. That's why it says to go on in faith. You need to take that step of faith knowing there's going to be trials, knowing there's going to be struggles. And you take that step of faith and you and you do it for the joy of doing the will of the Father.
Not for the results that are going to happen. We don't know what the results are, We might never know the results till we get to heaven, but just have joy in doing the will of the Father.
You have the metaphor you're using started the chapter about running with endurance, and we've talked about it being a long distance race, not a short distance distance race. And then I thought of our brother Dave brought up the object that we're racing towards our savior, and I might tweak the metaphor a little bit.
We may wanna prepare ourselves for it to be a long distance for us. If you've watched racing, a long distance racer in a marathon can't see the finish line, but they're preparing themselves with endurance. They train to run a steady, disciplined race and you think of 100 meter dash.
And the runners on the blocks, they can see the object and how often do you see a false start, the runner wanting to get to that object. So I suggest that we should train ourselves and be prepared for a long distance race, but always keep that object in view and hope that the short distance race.
01:00:04
I think of the verses in Corinthians verse in Corinthians chapter 15.
Verse 52 in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump to the last for the trump chill sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. So we prepare ourselves in the mindset that the pace will be one of endurance. But let's not lose the object that may be there in the very near future, I believe Paul.
And dies on Christ gave him victory over the enemy.
Call said it's not gonna be easy.
And I'm thinking it lists you. I believe it was.
Lystra Paul was stoned and they dragged him out of the city. They thought he was dead.
Now that's a hard knock.
To be stoned. But you know what? You got that cup.
And he goes into the city and the next thing he does is to continue on his mission to the next city with farmers.
So we see how.
Called do not allow himself to become overcome of evil and he continues to encourage the Saints he environments and he tells them it's through much tribulation that we must enter into the Kingdom of God much tribulation.
Paul kept right on going. In fact, I believe he went back to the very place that he was stoned.
So I think we got Paul for an example too.
He was one who had his eye on Christ and that's what we need. You know, there's 5 words that come to mind just now.
Look up.
Don't give up.
I think that's very important to brother Molly. I just want to summarize some of the things we've been saying. Umm, this cloud of witnesses we were looking at in the 11Th chapter, they endured a great deal of suffering and difficulties. And I just want to say that we're living in a difficult day. Uh, we find that assemblies are getting smaller and, umm, young people are, uh, drifting away from these various things. But over and over again, it seems that the.
Umm, emphasis here is on, in, in, in, on endurance. If you notice there in the first verse of chapter 12 again it says, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, verse two, who for the joy that was set before him endured with the cross. And in the third verse for consider him that endured. It seems that the word that the Spirit of God keeps bringing before us is endurance.
And how important it is. I think about verse two in Second Timothy.
That says, endure hardness or difficulty as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And so we need that encouragement today to not give up. And it's been said before that, umm, the Lord Jesus is our perfect example. And, uh, for the joy that was set before him, he endured. And so we need to keep that object before us of, uh, the Lord Jesus and the glory. I was thinking of the verse in Philippians that's often connected with the, the race too, that says.
I pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. We need to keep our eye on him, don't we? As you were saying earlier, Brother Wally, we're only here for a very short time and we're going to be in the glory for all eternity. Can we just keep our eye upon him and continue? I think of that verse 2. Hold fast not which thou hast that no man take thy crown.
Need faith only Yes, absolutely. Breathe up faith here and previous chapter we had all the ones that was commended for their faith and they endured things because of their faith. They believe God and what God had told them and they acted upon us. That's what we need to do too. As believers, we need to act upon what the Word of God teaches. God has given to us faith the moment He is quick in the soul. There's faith there to believe what God says.
We have faith, give it to us to believe for our salvation. But then we read in Romans where faith cometh by re, by reading, reading by the word, hear, hearing, hearing by the word of God. And so as we read God's word, we increase faith. And so we need to be under the word of God to increase our faith. It's going to help us to endure the things that we encounter along the aspect. If we're not coming out of the reading meeting, we're not coming out to the prayer meeting.
01:05:24
We're not reading a Bible at home. Don't expect to be able to endure what is going to come up against us in the pathway. The Lord is going to preserve us. He's going to present everyone spotless in the coming day because positionally God has placed us in Christ and that salvation that we have in Him can never be lost. Sir, this is the sun's going to come up in the morning and go down at night. Our salvation is just as certain, but we do have the practical pathway to walk in and the practical pathway that we walk in here.
We need faith and we get it from the Word of God and being in it. And so we need.
Fellowship, we need the meetings that that the Lord and celebrations can provide on this these last days, conferences that we can go to, but we need to stress, we need the importance of our reading meeting.
It's, uh, the absence is just. It's appalling.
I had a reading, so I, you know, I bring that up because it's so important that if we, if we're going to apply what it says here, we need, it says if we run a race that we're not proud unless we run the race lawfully, well, we can't take shortcuts. That means we're running a race. We want to run the race we want to win, but if we're going to run it lawfully, we can't take shortcuts. So we need to apply what God's word says.
To us, to our walk in our way. Uh, too many years ago there was a, a Boston Marathon and uh, this woman come in at a record time, won the race according to her estimation. But when they look back on the, they record all the, the whole race on camera. And when they look back, they found that she was missing in the race. And apparently she could just get out of the race and got a subway to another station further along the road and get off the subway station back up and pop back into the race again.
And so she got caught, she wasn't proud because she didn't run the race lawfully. And so it is with us. If we're going to receive a crown at the end of the day, we need to run the race according to the Word of God. And that is being in the Word of God and learning what God has to say for us.
I'm going to take some training for the race to be able to get to into a condition, to be able to run the race, we need some training. And so brother John brought out in First Corinthians Chapter 9.
That it takes self-discipline, self-control, it takes exercise spiritually to lay aside those weights and the sin of unbelief that so easily besets us. But then we have in our chapter from verse five really down to the end of verse 11, that we have one who is our Father, who views the race as so vital, so important to us, so important to him, to his heart, that he's willing to train us and he's willing to identify those things that are not.
Profitable for us as we run the race. And if you have accepted Christ as Savior, you've entered the race whether you like it or not, so to speak. You've entered the race and you may not be acting like you're running the race. You may have forgotten that you're running the race, but someone who has called you and called you that worthy vocation, He says, let me just read it in Ephesians. I don't misquote it.
He says. I think it's in chapter 4.
He says, umm, in verse one, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that he walked worthy of the vocation or the calling wherewith ye are called. So we're called in this sense to run this race. And so he brings in the training and the discipline of the Lord. We need both. A father trains his children, he trains them, he teaches them, he works alongside with them.
And he trains them in the right way. He, he gives them little pointers. And uh, so we have a father who delights to train us, and he uses his word to train us. He uses other things and we'll get into that a little bit. But he also uses discipline. And so he quotes here in the book of the Proverbs. You have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint.
01:10:11
When thou art rebuked of him, it's not always disciplined. When it speaks of chastening and the word of God, it's not always discipline. It is discipline sometimes, but it's training. And the Lord loves us enough to train us. And sometimes it hurts when he trains, but he desires to train us and he uses this little term. I think it's beautiful, my son. It has that note of dignity. And uh, in the book of the Proverbs, I think that the term is used something like 23 or 24 times, my son.
And it has there in that book, the, the connotation of, uh, carrying the family honor and the name and the reputation of the family. And so you and I are given the position, the privilege in this world to carry the family name, as it were, and to be identified as the sons of God, children of God. And he loves us enough to discipline us and to chasing us, to train us. And so we're not to despise.
The chasing of the Lord.
Not to despise it, to recognize it and to thank him for it and to just grow to recognize the training that he loves us to train us enough to be able to run that race with patients. Endurance. I appreciate our brother framing this, uh, term chastisement in the proper context.
Uh, some years ago in a conference, it went off on a tangent talking about our, you know, the Lord dealing with us and, uh, got it out of context with the context here.
Isn't that the they were doing anything wrong except?
Going with Judaism, I mean, they needed direction from that. That's really, as our brother John said, is the whole context of this book is be done with Judaism. You know, this is a new thing you go on and uh, and so the chase thing is to get them in the right path, as we say, umm, the term.
Need to get out of our minds the the idea of punishment here. That is not the context. It's not punishment, it is correction.
With a purpose, which the purpose is in, uh, in a verse 10. So that's the purpose. And uh, but the chasing here, I think the root of it, a brother looked, looked the term up after that meeting in that conference or after that conference. And he came back to me and he said, I look that up. And it actually, uh, the root of it has to do with teaching, teaching, not punishment. So we have to understand it in that context.
Child training, isn't it Child training, Uh, the Lord never needed chasing in his life or discipline, but we certainly do because we have an old nature. I was thinking of that word. Consider, uh, just a remark here. It, uh, it really means to inwardly meditate. And you have the word consider four times in the book of Hebrews, Umm, you go back to the third chapter, verse one. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.
Consider inwardly meditate upon the apostle. That's the Lord coming down from the glory as a, as a man here. And the high priest is his return to the glory to intercede for us. Inwardly meditate upon those facts and you get to, I'm not sure of the second one. It's, it's, uh, connection with the high priestly work of the Lord. Then you have a Hebrews 10.
Uh, consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.
Umm, that is a practical thought of the of our conduct to one toward the other. But you know, each case, it is to inwardly meditate upon, uh, these things, umm, and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now our time is gone, but it's been a huge encouragement to me to consider that the Lord Jesus.
Live that life of faith.
If, if I may say so in part to, uh, experience what we would be called to go through. And we know we did it perfectly and he did it without sin.
I endured that contradiction of sinners against himself. He knew loneliness. He knew what it was to be misunderstood. He knew hunger. He knew sorrow. He knew pain.
01:15:06
And it can be a great help to us to realize, and as we go through this life of faith, that there's one who understands, one who has walked up that path of faith perfectly. And in Hebrews chapter 4.
Very well in 13 seeing them when we have a great high priest that is passed into the fast into the heavens. Jesus the Son of God, let his whole fact our profession.
So we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace. We may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We can get on our knees and speak to the One who understands the things that we sometimes experience in our pathway of faith, because He has furnished that example, and that can be a great source of encouragement.
It's both, uh, brother John's comments and Brother Sean's comments. I think what relate to them both is also chapter 5 of Hebrews and verses 8:00 and 9:00.
Says that he learned obedience through the things he suffered. Doesn't mean he learned to obey. He didn't need to learn that. But what it means is he experienced what it is to obey in order that part of perfecting him as being our high priest and our sufferer.
Let's say #80 #80.
All on earth. I saw me again.
By killing by someone, can you climb?
Everybody in Spanish.
Images.
OK.
Our gracious, loving God and our Father, we thank thee this morning for thy word that must be brought before us. We thank thee for the beautiful example we have here of the one who is indeed without sin, but yet pass through all the human experiences that we experience, our trials, etcetera. Of course, we'll send apart. We thank you for that blessed one. We praise his holy name. We pray, our Father, that what we have learned this morning we may take with us, uh, as we go forth and we commend ourselves to be thanking you for thy goodness and Jesus worthy and precious name. Amen.