A
A GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES.@ (Heb 12:1-2)Sept 8th, 2002
Int. Our study begins this evening with the word Awherefore@
1. Samuel Rutherford said: "Wherefore, ....let us run our race!"
2. Throughout Hebrews, Paul is reasoning with converts from Judaism who were threatening to turn back.
3. The temptation was great: they could argue: AWe have Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, etc. on our side.
4. Paul is saying: No you don=t have them. AIn heart they belonged to Christ.@ (Vr. 13) AThese all died in faith.@
I. CONSIDER THE WITNESSES THAT ENCOMPASS US.
A. THEY ARE THOSE MENTIONED IN (Heb 11)
1. Some will look to those godly witnesses of the Old Testament days.
2. Alas, many are looking to the "witnesses of this world" which offer "the fashion of this world."
3. I am satisfied that Hollywood has the eye of many more than Christ does.
4. Some suppose that Paul here refers to spectators, rather than examples.
a. It is true that the world looks on the life of the believer.
5. Instead of "looking unto Jesus", most have "turned everyone to his own way." (Isa 53:6)
B. NOTICE SO GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES. (Vr. 1)
1. They were few in comparison to those looking on
a. A great cloud of witnesses in heaven.
b. A great cloud of witnesses on earth.
II. CONSIDER THE WEIGHTS THAT ENCUMBER US
(Vr. 1)A. CONSIDER THE ADVICE THE APOSTLE GIVES US. (Vr. 1)
1. Lay aside or cast aside the sin that doth so easily beset us.
2. Sin, like weights, slow us down. Weights can be useful in training, but will slow you down during the actual race.
3. David laid Saul=s armor aside because of it=s excessive weight.
III. CONSIDER THE WICKEDNESS THAT ENTANGLES US. (VR. 1)
A. NOTICE THE SIN WHICH DOTH SO EASILY BESET US. (Vr. 1)
1. William Jay in his Evening Exercise.(Pg. 547) says: AThough sin be dethroned in us, it is not as yet destroyed.@ (Rom 6:14)
2. Sin tricks some men into a sense of false security.
3. Sin blinds some as it did Saul of Tarsus while still a Pharisee.
4. William Jay=s Evening Exercise, pg. 548 says: AA man=s easily besetting sin is that to which he is most frequently tempted, and which he is most anxious to conceal, and the discovery of which most mortifies and offends him.@
5. Besetting sins are opposed to Asimplicity and godly sincerity.@ (2 Cor. 1:12)
IV. CONSIDER THE WEARINESS THAT ENCOUNTERS US. (Vr. 3)
A. WEARINESS COMES TO BELIEVERS IN DIFFERENT WAYS.
1. Solomon said: (Ecc 12:12). A......much study is a weariness of the flesh.@
2. (Mal 1:13) AYe said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.
3. " It is but natural for a poor woman in her distress to run to her husband for relief. Just so is it with the believer that is married to Christ; when he is weary and heaven laden, he can never rest till he come to Christ@
4. (Isa 32:2) AAnd a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.@
a. Weary widows
b. Weary Orphans
c. Weary Mothers
d. Weary children.
e. Weary sufferers
f. Weary old folk
g. Weary pastors of being misunderstood.
h. Weary saints (Of persecution)
5. The secret to victory over weariness is Awaiting on the Lord.@ (Isa 40:31)
6. (Gal 6:9) AAnd let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.@
James M. Gray wrote:
Of self I am weary,
My sin I abhor,
I long to be holy,
And pure to the core.
Oh why do I labor
On husks to be fed.
Or spend my poor money
For what is not bread?
Thy church, O my Saviour,
Thy body and bride,
The saints Thou hast ransomed,
For whom Thou hast died -
How cold are we growing
In service and prayer!
Our love needs rekindling,
Our altars repair.
The world, in its sorrow,
The world needeth Thee;
Revive Thy disciples,
Beginning in me!
Endue us with boldness
Thy grace to proclaim;
O help us with power
To speak in Thy Name!
Thy glorious coming -
We long for that day!
But are we preparing
Thy holy highway?
Our hand seemeth weakened,
And feeble the knee;
O send a revival
Beginning in me!
V. CONSIDER THE WINNER THAT ENCOURAGES US. (Vr. 2)
A. LOOKING UNTO JESUS. (Vr 2)
1. A. W. Tozer..pg.75 "Genuine Faith has eyes only for Jesus."
2. Robert Murry McCheyne said: "For every look at self take ten looks at Christ."
Perfect Peace
- A. J. Flint
I don't look back; God knows the fruitless efforts,
The wasted hours, the sinning, the regrets;
I leave them all with Him who blots the record
And mercifully forgives and forgets.
I don't look forward, God sees all the future,
The road that, short or long, will lead me home,
And He will face with me its every trial,
And bear for me the burdens that may come.
I don't look round me; then would fears assail me.
So wild the tumult of earth's restless seas;
So dark the world, so filled with woe and evil,
So vain the hope of comfort or of ease.
I don't look in, for then am I most wretched;
Myself hath nought on which to stay my trust.
Nothing 1 see save failures and shortcomings,
And weak endeavors crumbling into dust.
But I look up - into the face of Jesus,
For there my heart can rest, my fears are stilled,
And there is joy, and love, and light for darkness,
And perfect peace, and every hope fulfilled.@
B. LOOKING UNTO JESUS:
1. Looking unto Jesus in the Scriptures, to learn there what He is, what He has done.
2. Looking unto Jesus crucified, to find in His blood our ransom, our pardon, our peace.
3. Looking unto Jesus risen , to find in Him the righteousness which alone justifies us, and permits us, as unworthy as we are, to approach with assurance God our Father through His name.
4. Looking unto Jesus glorified, to find in Him our heavenly Advocate, appearing even now for us before the presence of God and supplying the imperfection of our prayers, by the efficacy of those which the Father hears always.
5. Looking unto Jesus revealed by the Holy Spirit, to find in His abiding communion the purification of our defiled hearts, the enlightening of our darkened minds, and the transformation of our rebellious wills.
6. Looking unto Jesus to receive from Him the task and the cross of each day, with grace sufficient to bear His cross each day.
7. Looking unto Jesus in order that the brightness of His face may be the light of our darkness; that our joy may be holy, and our sorrow calm.
8. Looking unto Jesus, who having re-entered His Father's house is preparing there a place for us, in order that this blessed hope may encourage us to live without complaining, and prepare us to die without regret.
9. Looking unto Jesus, who gives repentance, as well as remission of sins, to receive from Him a heart that is conscious of sin's misery, that we might come to deplore it at His feet.
10. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, that He may keep us in that faith to the end.
11. Looking unto Jesus and to nothing else, and to fix our eyes on Him and to turn away from all else.
12. Looking unto Jesus, and not to ourselves, to our thoughts, our desires, our purposes.
13. Looking unto Jesus, and not to our meditations and our prayers, to our pious conversations, to our edifying reading, to the holy assemblies we frequent, nor even to the partaking of the Lord's Supper.
14. Looking unto Jesus, and not to our position in the Church,
a. Many of those who have prophesied in the name of Jesus will hear Him say one day, "I never knew you," but He will confess before His Father and before His holy angels even the most humble of those who have looked unto Him.
15. Looking unto Jesus, and not our brethren, not even to the best and most beloved among them.
a. In following a man we run the risk of going wrong; in following Jesus we are certain to go right.
16. Looking unto Jesus, and not to the obstacles which meet us on our journey
a. As soon as we stop to consider them they startle us, they stagger us, and overthrow us.
17. Looking unto Jesus, and not to the temporal blessings which we enjoy. To look first to these blessings is to expose ourselves to be captivated by them so that they hide from us the light of Him who gives us all things richly to enjoy.
18. Looking unto Jesus, and not to our own strength. Our strength is good only to glorify ourselves; to glorify God one must have the strength of God.
19. Looking unto Jesus, and not to our own weakness. By lamenting our weakness, have we ever become more strong?
20. Looking unto Jesus, and not to our sins. The contemplation of sin only brings death; the contemplation of Jesus only brings life. It was not looking to their wounds, but looking to the serpent of brass that healed the Israelites.
21. Looking unto Jesus, and not to the law.
a. The law gives commands, and does not give strength to perform them.
b. The law always condemns, and never pardons.
c. To place ourselves again under law is to withdraw ourselves from grace.
22. Looking unto Jesus, and not to what we do for Him. Too much taken up with our work, we may forget our Master; it is possible to have the hands full and the heart empty.
23. Looking unto Jesus, and not to the apparent success of our efforts.
a. Apparent success is not the measure of real success, and besides, God has not commanded us to succeed, but to work.
24. Looking unto Jesus, and not to our spiritual gifts. As for yesterday's grace, it passed away with yesterday's work; we can no longer use it, we ought no longer to dwell upon it.
25. Looking unto Jesus, and not to the degree of grief which our sins have caused us, or to the degree of humiliation which they produce in us.
26. Looking unto Jesus, and not to the liveliness of our joy..
27. Looking unto Jesus, and not to our faith. The last device of the Adversary when he cannot make us look elsewhere, is to turn our eyes from the Savior to our faith.
28. Looking unto Jesus, while we remain upon earth; to Jesus from moment to moment, without allowing ourselves to be distracted either by the recollections of the past, which we should leave behind, or by anticipations of the future.
29. Looking unto Jesus now, if we have never looked to Him before. Unto Jesus anew, if we have ceased to do so. Unto Jesus alone. Unto Jesus again.
30. Looking unto Jesus always. (1 Cor. 2:2)
a. Satan says: Look unto me and "all these will I give thee." (Mt 4:9).
C. LOOKING UNTO JESUS.
1. He is the Physician to heal every malady. (Mt. 9:12)
2. He is the Potter to mould us after His image. (Rom 10:21)
3. He is the Preserver to keep away every ill. (Job 7:20).
4. He is the Power to strengthen us in trials. (1 Cor. 1:24; 2 Cor. 12:8-9).
5. He is the Potentate to reign over our entire nature. (1 Tim 6:15).
6. He is the Prince to lead on in the Divine life. (Acts 3:15).
7. He is the Portion to satisfy the deepest longing of the heart. (Lam. 3:24)