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177.
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John's Gospel, chapter 12.
And just the last part of verse 21.
Sir, we would see Jesus.
Seeing we also are accomplished 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 race 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 is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Or consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.
Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds, ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin, and ye have forgotten the excitation which speaketh unto you as unto children.
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My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him for whom the Lord loveth He chasing us.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he of whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, where of all our partakers then are 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 spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but He for our Prophet, 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 in the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. But let it rather be healed.
Full of 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, lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as he saw, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing.
He was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. For ye are not come under the mount that might be taught, and that burned with fire, nor undue blackness and darkness, and Tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they 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 should be stoned, or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, into an innumerable company of angels.
To the General Assembly and Church of the first Born, which are written in heaven.
And to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.
And to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speakers better things than that of Abel.
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh, for 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 has promised, saying, Yeah, once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken as of 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 and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
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And.
Book of Hebrews is brethren. It's the person and work of Christ are the major focuses in this book, as perhaps could say from chapter one through chapter 8, it's mainly the focus on the person of Christ, although you cannot say that the work of Christ is not included, but in chapters 9 and 10 it's more the work of Christ.
Uh, that is.
Accomplished eternal redemption for us. But then Chapter 11 and 12 shows the workings of faith by which we come into the blessing of these, uh, things that we've been talking about.
Tremendous. In Chapter 11 we have the Old Testament believers who walked in faith and like our brother in the address mentioned that they all had failures in one way or another.
But here in this chapter 12, he says.
Looking.
Unto Jesus there was only one who walked.
This world who was completely perfect in all his ways. Isn't that wonderful, brethren, that we have?
That person as the object set before us.
So you have Chapter 11 and I suppose that's the cloud of witnesses that is referred to in verse one of our chapter.
We have a great cloud of witnesses. We look back at those witnesses in Chapter 11 and what tremendous examples of faith we have.
Shown in their lives.
But now we come to chapter 12 and.
He says that should be an encouragement to you. They are watching in a certain way. Are running the race now too. How are we running? Are we half hearted in our running?
Oh, brethren, it is an encouragement to see those different witnesses of faith in Chapter 11.
But we too are running the race, and we are to be looking unto Jesus.
Help 2 The way in which the person and work of Christ is presented to us here in Hebrews, and to see how the heavens are open to us to the eye of faith.
Because if we go back to the Gospels as we know, we find that they present to us the Lord Jesus.
Here on earth, the lowly man of grace sitting on side cars, well weary with his journey, thirsty, getting a few moments rest on the in the back of a boat as they cross the stormy sea. We see him at the end of it, hanging on a cross of shame, crowned with a crown of thorns, that which was part of the curse, and so on. And we often find, as you read through the Gospels, that heaven opened up so that heaven could look down.
And be occupied with the only perfect man that ever walked here on planet Earth.
As someone has said, there was an object in the world that might commend the place, and so heaven delighted to look down and be occupied.
With God's beloved Son and a voice often declare who He was and what he meant to the Father.
But the book of Hebrews, in contrast, it opens to us the heavens as well.
Not so much, brethren, that heaven can look down. Now. Heaven does look down, of course.
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But so that we can, by faith, look up and see where Christ is now.
Not the lowly man of grace walking through this world. Not in his shame, hanging on a Roman cross.
But to see the results of what was accomplished here in this world to the glory of God.
To see where He is now, the results of the work, the resurrection, the ascension, and the glorification of Christ.
The seeding of Christ at God's right hand are God's Amen to the work of Calvary.
And what God wants for us, brethren, is to look up by faith, and to be occupied with the one that God would always occupy his people with.
And that's what we're going to find at the beginning opening of this chapter. As Bob said, he's taken up that tremendous list of men and women and young people who lived and conquered by faith against all kinds of odds and difficulties. But remember, while they're given to us as an encouragement, our brethren are never given to us as the object for faith. It does say whose faith followed? Not the person, but whose faith follow. But what is? Who is the object for faith?
Not anyone in this room. Not anyone who's ever gone before us.
Yes, they're given to us as an encouragement, and I'm thankful for those whose faith has been a real encouragement and blessing to my own soul. Some of them are with the Lord now. Some of them are still with us. But as soon as the list is completed.
He takes our eyes away from that list and he lifts them to the open heavens, and he says, now here's the object for faith. It's the one and the only one whoever walked, began and completed the path of faith and perfection.
And that is the object for you and for me. And brethren, that's what we need. There's so much to distract today, a lot going on in the on the world stage, so much failure and diff, many difficulties in our personal lives, in the home, in the assembly and business and so on. What do we need to to keep our focus on one another? We're gonna see an end of all perfection if we do that. Circumstances, we're gonna get discouraged and overwhelmed if we do that.
But to lift our eyes this afternoon to the open heavens and be occupied with God's man.
The one that's seated at his right hand. That, brethren, is what is going to give us the spiritual energy and courage.
To press on until the end.
Maybe they are, but I don't know about that. But I think it is what you mentioned first. It's they are there for our encouragement.
They gave testimony in their lives that by faith we can live for God's glory, no matter how dark the day or what the circumstances. Not that we want to get on the subject, but I would suggest that they are not watching us now. I say that because Job speaks in the, I think it's the 14th chapter of that book of those that have gone before. It says their sons come to honor and they know it not. They are brought low and they perceive it not.
I think those who have gone before, brethren, once they are in the presence of the Lord, conscious sense of the Lord's presence and occupied with himself, it has eclipsed everything else. My father is not occupied with what his children and grandchildren are doing on earth. I, I, I just suggest that. And there are some other Scriptures, but I believe the thought is here, as you say, Tim, that they gave witness in their lives, testimony in their lives.
That no matter how dark the day, no matter how overwhelming the situations may have seemed, that faith can overcome and conquer all. And brethren, if we can learn that lesson, I believe we've learned a great lesson in the path of faith. Sometimes we look at our situation in life again individually, maybe the family situation, maybe the little assembly we come from, the difficulties and we may be begin to get feeling sorry for ourselves and think we're the only ones that have had to ever face these kinds of difficulties.
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The only ones that have ever lived in a dark day, morally and spiritually. But when you go back and trace the lives of those that are listed.
They had problems and difficulties that perhaps most of us in this room have never had to face. I've never had to face the burning fiery furnace from the wrath of the king. I was never, I never had to face being cast into a den of lions.
And many of the other situations that they faced. Brethren, it's never been easy to stand for the Lord.
It's never been easy to live by faith, but the point is, the resources were there for them to avail themselves up and if they were there for them, brethren and Christianity and the full revelation of what we have and are in Christ, why we have more than they do. They did and remember this too. They didn't know the end of the story. You know, we go back and we read their lives with confidence. Tell a little interest what made it home to my own soul. I remember one time we were having some Bible readings.
With some folks on the book of Esther. And there was a young man, those Bible readings, and he'd just gotten saved. Well, he'd never read the book of Esther. He knew nothing about the book of Esther. And as we started to go through the book of Esther, he started to speculate on what might happen in the end and what might happen to Esther when she went in to see her husband and make petition for her people. And it made me realize I read the story with confidence.
Because I've heard it from before. I can remember from the very early days of my youth, we read the story of the lion's den or the three Hebrew children because we read it with confidence. Esther didn't know what was going to happen. In fact, she said if I perish, I perish. The three Hebrew children said our God is able to deliver us from the furnace, but they didn't know what was going to happen. Daniel didn't know what was going to happen. And it gives real import or impact to the story when you look at it in that light.
To realize that they had the faith and the faithfulness to stand for their God.
And the truth and to seek to be a blessing to His people, no matter what happened.
They had absolute confidence in their God, not knowing what was ahead.
And brethren, if we can learn that lesson in our lives, we don't know what's ahead.
But if we can learn to trust our God in every circumstance without knowing the future of questioning why, then we have learned one of the great lessons that this cloud of witnesses teaches us.
That I'd like to notice that our chapter begins with the word wherefore, which is very similar to therefore it it is jumping off from something previously presented. So I'd like to take us back to the last two verses of Chapter 11 and these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us.
That they without us should not be made perfect. So we're linked with them there. And then again, we're linked with them in verse one of our chapter. We're encompassed by this cloud of witnesses.
To me, what it says to my soul is we're in good company with a great hope and a magnificent object.
His faith is.
We often call the 11Th chapter the faith chapter, but in verse two it says looking unto Jesus. The author and finisher of and ours in italics is of faith.
Tell us, Brother John, what is faith?
Taking God at His word.
There's the.
Energy of faith and there's the patience of faith, isn't it and I think it is important to see that it's easy for us to witness somebody else that has faith and admire what his faith has done but brethren it comes down to the point where we have to reflect do you and I have that faith that same faith what impresses me as I read through Chapter 11 That every.
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Single witness of faith is different. None of them manifested the faith in the same way as anybody else.
And so it is something that you and I in our confidence in God have to work through in our lives. It's a race. It's something that we have to put energy into. And so he says in verse one of our chapter, let us lay aside every weight and.
Sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience.
The race that is set before us. We are in a race. It is not easy. It takes endurance, but it comes down to the point. You need an object of your faith. What is the purpose of your life? What are your sights set upon?
In a race, you have to know where the goal is that you're racing towards. You have to know about it. And then there are other questions that have to be addressed. The question of weights, the question of sin.
Those are something that will hinder us in the race, but I think it is important to see that it is, like you say, John is confidence in God, bringing God into the picture. And like you were saying, Brother Jim, they faced extreme obstacles.
Question us, brethren, is God up to the challenge?
Can he be trusted in my life? Can he be trusted?
Oh, I think this is beautiful to see that this is the challenge now.
Run, you run. Don't be looking at anybody else. So often when I go on my visits through Latin America, I hear complaints that in this meeting the brethren are very active. So why are you looking in another direction? Why don't you look at yourself?
Why don't you trust God and go forward? That's what faith is, isn't it?
Just in that connection.
Go back first of all to John's Gospel Chapter 3.
Because there's the question of what faith is and what faith does. And so we find in the probably the best definition of faith in Scripture language, John has given it to us simply, and that's perfect. But let's just notice it from Scripture, John's Gospel chapter 3 and verse 33. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. And so as you say, it's taking God at his word. It may not be understanding why.
It may not be able to reason it all out or fit it into a nice neat little package, but as another has put it, God says it. That's it, I believe it. That settles it. That's faith, unwavering faith. But now let's go back to Hebrews, this time to the beginning of the 11Th chapter. It's one thing to know what faith is, but let's see what faith does. The beginning of the 11Th chapter, he says verse one.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
I don't believe this is so much of A definition of what faith is. This tells us what faith does because all those who are listed in the chapter had substance to their life. It was faith and purpose that gave real substance and quality to the to their life, and it was the evidence of things not seen. Now it's true as we've been saying, faith always needs an object, and I think we need to stress that.
And as you go on in the 11Th chapter, you find that every person who lived by faith had an object.
Voffren said there's no such thing as blind faith, and faith is not a leap in the dark. There were those who looked for a city who hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God. Moses endured us, seeing him who is invisible, and so on.
But it is to grasp that which is not seen by the physical or natural eye.
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But is no less real to the eye of faith. And when we do that, as I say, it's going to give purpose and substance to our lives. Just talk to a Christian or observe a Christian who really doesn't have that proper faith and purpose. They're going to be like a ship without a rudder. They're just going to turn into the wind and drift. They're going to be open for every wind of doctrine. They're going to be open to be pulled this way and that way.
It may be even in service for Christ, but there's not going to be real direction and purpose. And as they say in the business world, stick to itiveness. Daniel had real purpose of heart. Why? Why did he go on all those years faithfully and quietly for his God? Because he was a man of real faith. And though he's not mentioned by name in this chapter, you know at the end he he's alluded to. I want to say one more thing before we leave this 11Th chapter.
The verses that John read to us at the end of the chapter show 2.
But faith has different results and God doesn't always act in the same way.
When we have faith, you know there were this wonderful company who through faith quenched the violence of fire, stopped the mouths of lions.
Enemies were put to flight and and subdued kingdoms and so on. Tremendous. But others, it says, and others, they didn't have those great experiences like that. They didn't accept deliverance. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins. They were sawn asunder. They were martyred.
You say, did they have any less faith than those that went before?
Know what John read to us they all had a good report by faith they obtained a good report they all died in faith the the the chapter tells us and so I say this because I think sometimes we're taught or not we're not taught but in Christian circles there's this thought that well if you're not experiencing great deliverances and mountaintop things and.
And, and great charismatic things. I, I'm speaking very plainly. Well, you don't have the faith. I, I, I, I heard a preacher one time say that you could get a, you could get a brand new car today if you had the faith. Well, a lot of people prayed and didn't get a brand new car and I'm sure they were quite depressed by, by sundown. But, but that's not what faith is and that's not what faith does. And just because God doesn't give you some great experience or deliverance from your circumstance.
Doesn't mean you don't have the faith God operates in different ways in our lives for for different purposes and to bring us to through certain lessons as we're going to learn from the next few verses in this chapter.
Hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So it's always based on some revelation of the Word of God and that is important. And that's why we try to encourage young people, we who are older, it's the same way. Don't give up reading the Scriptures. That's where you will find your faith.
Uh, strengthened and it's so important to uh, not only.
The way it puts it is interesting. It doesn't say faith comes by the word of God. It says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Listen when God speaks.
Think about it. That's the way faith comes. And like I say, it's not going to work out exactly the same as anybody else. In your case, it may be completely different, but it is that same faith that we see reflected in these in the 11Th chapter. But now we are the ones to take up their race and we're told to.
Lay aside the weights and the sin that so easily besets us.
And a run with patience. The word is endurance, the race that is set before us. Where does the race end?
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There is the Lord Jesus. He ran that race completely.
And he had contradiction of sinners against himself.
It looked like his life was complete failure.
But it was the greatest triumph there has ever been.
The Lord Jesus, his death and resurrection.
And there he is at God's right hand. There he is as the object of our faith. Oh dear young people and older ones too. Let's get the vision of future glory. So often we get distracted. It speaks here of weights. And weights are things that in themselves are not wrong.
But they do not let you run freely as a believer.
Sports, for example. Nothing wrong with sports in themselves.
But if you get so occupied with that, you're not going to run properly as a believer.
Music is another thing that sometimes hinders young people. There's so many things that in themselves are not wrong.
But they can become weights, and who, if they are going to run a race, puts on big heavy boots and a heavy overcoat. They don't do that. Not even if it's cold out. They don't do that. They make it as light as they possibly can. And when I look at the Lord Jesus, dear brethren, and see how simply the Lord of glory passed through this world.
What did he have to his name, materially speaking?
Only thing I can come up with is his clothes and that they took away from him when he was crucified.
But he always had to meet the needs of those that came to him.
In simplicity I I just marvel at it. Brethren, here is the Lord of glory. He's the owner of everything.
And yet he passed through this world as a homeless stranger.
I suppose he spent the night under the stars many times.
Translate the first word.
Kept, uh, laughing a little different. It says phase is a substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
When I look at face myself in the German language, you have can't. You don't have a word that replaces faith. You always end up with belief.
You have to believe and in in that verse for me, believing me means in such a way as though it already had happened.
And that's what the Lord Jesus did when he spoke about his suffering and his.
Things that he would have to go through.
It was always as though he had done it already.
He speaks about it in such a way as it was already done, even though when it wasn't done yet that he was going to suffer and be crucified and rejected.
People have faith in many things, and often their faith is shaken because what they really believed in, or who they really believed in, let them, let them down. But the faith that we're Speaking of is not faith-based on something abstract or something that's hard to understand. It's based on a person. It's the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as you say, we could substitute the word believe. I enjoyed reading one time about John Patton, the pioneer missionary to the New Hebrides.
And one of his arduous tasks when he first went out to take the gospel to those people who had never heard it before.
Was to give them part of the word of God in their own language and as he was going through the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
He found it very hard to find a word for believe or faith or trust, something that was to the natives way of looking at things. And finally he came to the portion in the 16th of Acts.
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Where the question is raised by the Philippian jailer, what must I do to be saved?
And the answer given by Paul and Silas, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
And he translated it like this. Lean your full weight on him. I thought that was very good.
We've leaned our full weight on Him for salvation. It's only in Him that we have salvation.
Now, brethren, can't we lean our full weight on Him for every circumstance of life, knowing that what He's doing is for our good and blessing? I remember not long after I had read that my wife and I had the opportunity to visit an elderly sister in her home. And as we entered her front room, she stood up. And as she crossed the room to meet us, she had some confidence to take step after step because she was leaning her full weight on her Walker. And that was what gave her at least some confidence to come and to greet us into her home. And brethren, we can go through life leaning our full weight on Christ.
To to have that faith and confidence in himself and to realize that he will never disappoint our faith. Has someone let you down? You say, well, that brother let me down. You say, I never thought that sister would let me down.
Oh, be careful. As I say, we're going to see an end of all perfection if we're looking for it in the flesh, if we're trusting in it in man, but we'll never see it in the Lord Jesus. I want to go back just for a moment to what Bob said about weights, because let's take the thought in our minds of a race and we'll suppose some runners line up at the beginning of the race, the starting line, and there's a runner there that has a backpack on. And in that backpack is the rule books book of the race and.
Several other things and they, they halt things from the start of the race and the coach comes out the runner's coach comes out and he says, umm now why do you have that backpack on And the runner looks at the coach and said, well I've read the guidebook, the rule book and there's nothing says I can't run this race without a backpack on full of full of stuff. Well the coach would say of course, but uh, it's gonna slow you down And so he, he insists and so they.
Consult the officials of the race and they they go to the guidebook and they look through and they say, you know, he's right. There's not a thing that we can do to stop him from running this race with that heavy backpack. But you'd say how foolish. It doesn't make sense. They plead with him on the sense of, on the on the basis of sensibility. You're never gonna have a chance to come in at the beginning of the at the end of the race as a winner if you carry this backpack.
And brethren, we're running the Christian race. So often it's likened as a race or an athletic event.
And there are those things, as Bob said, that will hinder us. We can't go to a verse of Scripture and say This is why we shouldn't do this or we shouldn't do that.
But are they things that are hindering us from running the race with focus? Brethren, that's what we need. We need focus in our Christian life. We talk about multitasking, but again, let's go to Philippians. Just, I know we, we could quote it. We know it well. But you know, sometimes I find in a meeting like this, it keeps us alert if we, uh, kind of wake up a little bit and turn in our Bibles in Philippians chapter 3.
And verse 13, again, Paul is likening the Christian pathway to an athletic event in verse 13, Brethren, I count myself. I count not myself to have apprehended.
But this one thing I do, this isn't multitasking, this is focus, this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth under those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul wasn't looking behind. You know, I had the opportunity one summer when I was in Belgium to actually stand on the side of the road as the Tour de France went by.
And justice, dozens and dozens of cyclists in that very famous race. And we just stood about 5 feet from the cyclists. You know, a cyclist that looks behind him in a race like that is going to not only cause himself a problem, but those around him. And I've seen where those cyclists look behind for just a moment, and not only do they go off the course, but they bump others. And then there's a ripple effect. And I've seen where several have gone down because of it. They not only affect themselves, but others. We do that.
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As Dave said in his address, we all influence one another. But Paul was running a race. He left the things behind. He was looking to the things before he had the prize in view. And brethren, what's the prize in our Christian life? It's Christ and glory. Is that right? It's Christ in glory. And if we have Christ and glory before us, then we're going to be able to endure. We're going to be pressing towards the mark. We're going to be preserved in the path of faith.
But it is only as we have Christ and glory before us that we are going to have that endurance and focus that is needed.
Example, at least I've enjoyed looking at it and Mark chapter 10.
You see an example of weight versus faith. Mark chapter 10. We know the story of blind Bartimaeus, so I'll pick up in the middle of the story, verse 49, Mark 1049. And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus.
Bartimaeus heard the message. He believed it.
And his garment, which had previously been an asset to him was now a wait. And I just want to mention that this we say casting away weights as with as we might think, well, we do it once, but things that have been assets in our lives to a certain point may become a weight and environment life. This garment which had been an asset to him became a weight. Everything in life is either a wing or a weight. It helps us forward or holds us back. I'd like to make one other little point on it.
If we get in the business of collecting weights, we're apartment to collect more than we realize. I'll tell you a story. My grandfather.
Spence in Iowa was a fruit farmer. He raised apples and a few other kinds of fruit, but primarily apples. And he would hire men from the State Farm and have people from the State Farm, as it was called. It's a mental institution, come out to pick apples.
And, uh, my cousins who lived on a neighboring farm often came along to pick apples too. And they observed these fellas from the State Farm would come out and for some reason they show up there at work with overcoats on. They were, they had this thing about wearing an overcoat even in hot weather. And my cousins decided to see if they could get them to shed their coats. They, they, they suggested it. And these guys in the State Farm, though, they wanted to keep their coats so surreptitiously, my, my cousins.
Would, as they walk by these men fill their pockets with rocks.
And by the end of the day, these fellows were so stooped down.
And still carrying their wearing their coats. And I'm just going to say that Satan does that to us too. If we start, if we're not careful about this, we'll collect more than we ever intended and maybe not even notice it.
Material things can be a real weight, brethren, and I don't know, I still remember a comment that Brother Lundin made and it's impressed me said.
Pilgrims are those who have very, uh, simple living habits. Let's cultivate simplicity in our lives at a moment's notice. We're going to leave everything behind. And what meaning will it have in that day? All the things we had. I, I must say, when I look at Abraham.
Abraham was a wealthy man. He had 318 servants.
Is there anybody in this room that has 318 employees? I don't think so. But he had 318 servants and he never lived in more than just a tent. Why in the world didn't he have a decent house? Was there anything wrong with that? Nothing wrong with it, but what kept him living as a Pilgrim was the vision of that city.
Whose foundations were God? Whose?
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Whose builder and maker was God, and when he saw that city, he wasn't interested in having a house down here. And I think that's what's going to free us from materialism, brother. And if we get our sights set on heaven and heaven's glory and the Lord Jesus who is there waiting for us, O brethren, that's what's going to make us simple in our living habits. Why do we always want to do more and more and get this and that and the other thing?
I can't say that I'm much of an example, brethren, but let's try to be simple in our living habits. It will make us happier people in the end. I must say I have been supremely blessed by seeing people who are very poor in this world but extremely happy in their souls. It it really impresses me.
It's the same, so there's weights, but then there's something else. The sin that does so easily beset us. I suggest that the sin here is the sin of unbelief, because that's really the context of these chapters, and isn't it?
Solemn brethren, to think that we can be as Brother Gordon Hayhoe used to tell us when we were growing up, we can be unbelieving believers. We speak, we sometimes speak of unbelievers as those who don't know the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
And we'll address that issue tonight in the gospel meeting. But brethren, there's maybe unbelieving believers, right, sitting right here in this room.
Where our faith has waned or is lacking, you know, I think of Thomas. We often speak of doubting Thomas, but if you read the account carefully of what Thomas said, it was more than really just doubt. He said, except I see I will not believe now. Thomas was a true disciple. He was a true believer. But there was a moment in Thomas life when he was filled with unbelief.
And we want to be careful, brethren, that we don't fall into that. Just go back to the 10th chapter of Hebrews to see how much God values, and the Lord values confidence or faith in Himself. I'm going to read you a verse, but before I do that, I'll tell you a little story to lead up to this verse. There was a brother one time visiting in a convalescent home, and he was going from bed to bed and giving out some tracks and encouraging those who knew the Lord as their Savior.
And he came to one lady and she looked up at him and she said, you know, she said.
I've been on this bed for so many years, there's nothing I can do, she said. There's nothing here I can do to gain reward.
There's nothing really I can do to please the Lord and and to to get reward in a coming day. Well, the brother turned her to this verse. I'm about I'm about to read chapter 10 of Hebrews and verse 35.
Cast not away, therefore thy confidence, for of such is great recompense of reward. And he told her, you just lie here and trust the Lord for your circumstances, and it's being jotted down in God's book of remembrance.
And you'll get a great reward, perhaps a greater reward than some who are able to be active and out on the front lines of service and so on. But it was a great blessing and encouragement to that sister who had been there on that bed for so long.
And maybe there's someone here and you just feel so weak. You say, I just, I haven't had the faith. I, I, I, I failed and and so on. But oh, just to trust the Lord. You say, I, I, I don't know what to do in my circumstance. How can I get, get out of this problem? How, what can I do to deal with it and to untangle the circumstances? Maybe there is nothing you can do but trust just to have that faith and confidence, but realize that just having that faith and confidence.
Brother or sister in Christ, God values that highly. It's going to be rewarded in a coming day. And I'm going to rejoice to see some of you who've gone through difficult circumstances, things I've never been called on to pass through. And I'm going to rejoice when it's all manifest in the coming day. And I see you there. There. You wasn't much you could do, but I see you get that great reward. Oh brethren, what a day that's going to be. Let's just learn to trust Him more.
As we said earlier, he'll never let you down. He's worthy of your confidence. Jim, you talk about a besetting sin of unbelief, not putting our full trust in the Lord. And I I think of Peter in Matthew 26 and verse 33, and he's boasting here of his faithfulness. And he says, Peter verse 33. Peter answered and said unto him, So all men shall be offended because of thee.
00:55:21
Yeah, well, I never be offended. And so he was putting his confidence in his own abilities and his he figured things out for himself. He wasn't putting his belief, his faith in the Lord. And I know before I.
Can take a step of faith, I have to figure everything out, make sure that I know the end from the beginning, but then it doesn't become faith. And so when we take that step of faith, it needs to be full trust on the outcome, full trust on the Lord.
Is a choice.
That's the point of this verse here that says let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so beside us, as as uh has been pointed out, this sin is the sin of unbelief. And some people say, well, I have doubts and I can't help it.
Faith is a choice. When Bartami has heard Jesus voice, he could have argued, he could have. He could have had doubted. He chose. He actually doesn't say that he heard Jesus voice. He heard the voice of somebody else that said rise he calleth thee.
And that was enough for him and he chose to believe it and to act on it. And faith is a choice. We when we say I can't, I have doubts and I can't help it. That's not what this verse says.
Doubts come through our minds, don't we? But we have to filter them through the word of God. Is this doubt in scripture or is this just something that Satan wants to stumble me with? And I think we have to think them through and, and they don't come from God. They don't come from his word. They come from another source. So don't just take any doubt that flies through your mind and give it credence.
Challenge it by the word of God. Every sin really hinders in the race of faith. But it is, I think this is a, uh, way of generally addressing it, this sin of unbelief, because every sin is basically you're saying, I think I know better than God, I'm going to do my own thing. Don't do it because it's going to be a hindrance to you in your faith. It's going to hinder you from.
Winning the race.
Chapter 12 The means whereby God keeps us in that path. The 1St is an object for our hearts, Christ and glory. And if that fails and we don't resist sin.
Then he comes in with chastening to keep us on that path. And then also in the chapter, there is the possibility that there might be one who professes to have faith but does not. And the wilderness path proves whether there's faith there or not. And so the warnings come in to those who make a profession, but there's no reality.
Just say this too, that we need the shield of faith, don't we? It's part of the armor of God for our Christian warfare and pathway. Here it's likened to a race in Ephesians 6. It's Christian warfare. But the fiery darts of the wicked are those darts of doubt, aren't they? You know, it's interesting that the first recorded words of Satan in the Old Testament are half God said.
Raising a mind, a question in the minds of Adam and Eve of Eve, did God really say that? Bringing a doubt in as to the spoken word of God and the first recorded words of Satan in the New Testament are if thou be the Son of God. When the living word came, the Lord Jesus immediately trying to raise a doubt in the mind of the Lord Jesus. Was he really who he said he was?
But we find that the Lord Jesus, he answered Satan.
With the scriptures and the scripture is what had the power.
And so we too, brethren, what are we resting on? Are we resting on, as Bob said, some doubt that the enemy puts through our mind or raises before us? He does that just like he tried to do with Eve, raise a doubt in her mind as to what God had said. Well, with the Lord Jesus as that perfect example, he went back to what had been stated in Scripture. And that's absolute. We can rest wholly on that, and we can lift the shield of faith and quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, or if I can just put it this way, for our purpose, all those fiery darts of doubt that the wicked one sends our way.
01:00:25
Does that commend itself?
The darts are doubts, yeah.
The point, brethren, that I think at the end of this meeting we need to grasp in our souls is what we've already alluded to several times, and that is that there are the full resources. And God, as Steven has just pointed out, works in one way or another in our lives so that we can avail ourselves of those resources that we have. And there is no excuse for failure.
Lack of faith.
Doubt missing the path. There's always a way back, there's always restoration and so on. But there is no excuse because the resources are available in a ascended, glorified Christ at the right hand of God, the word of God that we hold in our hands, as Peter put it, all things that pertain unto life and godliness. We are fully equipped.
To run the Christian race with endurance, with the object before us. And when I stand and have to give an account at the judgment seat of Christ in the coming day, will I be able to give the Lord any excuses or reasons for some failure or lack of faith in my Christian pathway? Not for one moment He's going to say, but Jim, you had all the resources. It was all there provided for you, and you didn't avail yourself of it. And so, brother, no matter how dark.
And difficult the circumstances of the day and the things we find ourselves in in our lives, no matter how overwhelming they may seem, there are those resources to overcome. Often told the last time I visited brother Eric Smith that he was coherent in the nursing home in Montreal. He said to me something I'll never forget. He said, Jim, remember, we can still be overcomers, not be overcome.
And you and I don't have to be overcome in the Christian race. We can still be overcomers and live by faith for God's glory.
Until the end of the race. And as we said, the end of the race is Christ in glory.
God, umm, God is for us. God desires our blessing and He deserves to be trusted because His heart is towards us. I think that's one of the greatest offenses to God when we don't trust Him and we don't put our confidence in Him as we're actually questioning the goodness that is in His heart towards us. And that's the greatest defense.
To God, you know, it says without faith it is impossible to please him. Why do we, why do we have faith in him? Because of his heart. His heart is towards us. That's the greatest resource we have.
And and you know.
This, this, this, this path of faith is his heart.
I know her time is gone, but uh, we spent a lot.
For things that'll slow us down and wear us out. Umm. But then the sins uh, Darby would render that word be set, umm, as entangles up. If you get caught in the briar pass, you're not going anywhere. So our weight will slow us down on.
Sin will stop us in our race. Let's play that aside, press on for Christ.
Mm-hmm. Oh, Jesus Christ.
We don't need a lot of confidence.
In my life.
So I'm here to get in. Well, I'm staying in the city, continues to spend the time.
01:05:07
I don't understand Franklin Street high education.
It's been for all the girls together.
Falls like I'm down on fire together and Burger King and.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
Uh, I'm just gonna buy dinner for anything.
Laughing out loud Pizza stop 303 Crazy.
One second and I wanna like woah woah woah woah woah woah.
Psalms 56.
Just to give this scripture in connection with some of what we had before.
So I'm 56 and verse 9 the end of the ninth verse.
This I know.
For God is for me.
I thought in my Bible.
For quite some time, of course.
Brother, just read that any connection with those kinds, of course, because.
Believe it's very important and helpful.
Over happiness and failure, whether a St. or Sinner.
Springs from unbelief of the goodness.
That is in the heart of God for us.
Just to give an acronym for faith, one I've been enjoying recently.
Forsaking all, I trust him. I trust him.