Fix Your Eyes on Him || Brad McKerley || March 15, 2026

Uh, have you ever walked through a

difficult season?

Now, when I say a difficult season,

whether you're like, Brad, I'm walking

through one right now. Uh, whether

physically or or spiritually, have you

ever just gone through a difficult

season? I I would assume for many of us,

we we have walked through difficult

seasons in our life. Uh, if you've not

yet, at some point, you may. Well, uh,

as you as you go through difficult

seasons, uh, this this phrase I would

use is you begin to walk weary. You're

you're a weary walker.

And what we're going to look at today

from Hebrews 12 is uh, God writes to

this group of people

and and they've gone through some

difficult stuff. I mean, they've had

struggles. They've had persecution.

And yet, the entire time throughout the

book of Hebrews, God keeps pointing them

to Jesus. And that Jesus is better than

your circumstances. Jesus is better.

Jesus is better. And today, what we're

going to do is simply look at Hebrews

12. We're looking at three verses, but

through it all, we're going to see that

yes, Jesus is better. Because Jesus is

better, we have to fix our eyes on him.

And through seeing him and understanding

what he has done for us, not only does

it give us hope for now, but also helps

us kind of pave the path for the journey

that we're on. So, if you have your

Bibles, go ahead and open them. And uh

we're going to read starting Hebrews 12

1-3. And then we're going to just really

just walk through what the passage says.

So,

uh Hebrews 12:1 here. Here we go. So it

Hebrews 12:1

says, "Therefore,

since we are surrounded by such a great

cloud of witnesses, let us throw off

everything that hinders

and the sin that so easily entangles,

and let us run with perseverance the

race marked out for us, fixing our eyes

on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of

faith." Then it says, 'For the joy set

before him, he endured the cross,

scorning its shame and sat down at the

right hand of the throne of God. Verse

three, consider him who endured such

opposition from sinners so that you will

not grow weary and lose heart. So, as we

as we walk today, as we go on this

journey together, as we look at God's

word, there are several things I think

we can kind of pull from this passage

and just see that's true about Hebrews,

see that was true about these people

couple thousand years ago, but also we

can see that's true for us. And first is

this

as we fix our eyes on him, we got to

remember God's faithfulness. So verse

one at the very beginning it says

therefore if you know the word therefore

a lot of times in the Bible therefore is

wanting you to look back at what was

just said. So Hebrews chap 11 which is

the the chapter before

it lays out a list of these people. They

were normal everyday people uh but they

were people like Moses,

Joseph, Rahab.

And a lot of times we stop there when we

talk about Hebrews 11, people that were

everyday people that placed their faith

in God, but they were not perfect. But

if you if you go beyond that, at the

very end of Hebrews,

talks about no-name people that were

persecuted, that endured hardships, it

gets pretty graphic in there of what

some of these people faced.

But through it all,

the therefore is pointing back just to

see not that these are perfect people,

but they are pe people that persevered

because they placed their trust in a

faithful God. Now, what's interesting is

the passage says, "Therefore, since we

are surrounded by such a great cloud of

witnesses,"

now this word witness, a lot of times we

think, "Oh, they're witnesses. They're

they're spectators. They're they're

watching."

But the word witness here is actually

meaning that they are declaring. They

are witnesses like hey I want to share

with you what I saw, what I experienced,

what has happened. So they are

witnesses. They are declaring to us

God's faithfulness and goodness.

They're saying that listen, God is

faithful to his promise. If you're

walking through a difficult season,

God has been so faithful. Now these were

people then that they looked forward to

God's promise

whereas now we sit today we have the

privilege of looking back and seeing all

that God has done. We we serve a risen

savior. They look forward to that

promise but we get the opportunity to

look back. But what they show and

declare is that God keeps his promises.

that faith outlasts suffering.

Let me let me repeat that again. That

faith outlasts suffering

and that the reward is worth it.

Now you're saying, Brad, my my story

right now does not feel like that. That

that's not how I feel. That's why it's

so important that even for these people,

these these people in Hebrews 11,

they didn't feel like that at the point.

They they they struggled. I mean, this

was real. But I think the beauty of

Hebrews 11 is it gives us stories of

people, men and women, that were not

perfect, but they show and declare of

God's perfect promise, his faithfulness.

And then when we turn the page to

Hebrews 12,

now we get the opportunity to look to us

and go, okay, how do we live this out?

How do we walk this journey

when it's going to be tough?

So before we move on, I want to I want

to just ask you this question.

when you may go through a difficult

time, when you're when you're maybe

weary,

do you do you remember God's promises?

Do you recount what God has done?

Let me encourage you. If you don't do

that, whenever you're walking through a

difficult season, a difficult time, look

back and just remember all that God has

done in his word, but but also in your

life. Let me let me let me make a real

quick challenge. And again, I'm already

starting to step on toes when I do this.

Let me make a challenge. So, real quick,

by raise of hands, how many of you in

here are grandparents or parents? Raise

your hand. Okay, there's a few of you.

Okay, thank you. Get her hand higher. I

like that. That's perfect.

So, what if grandparents, parents,

what if this was a normal natural rhythm

for us? That part of our daily weekly

routine with our kids or our grandkids,

whether they're 47 or seven,

was to recount the faithfulness of God

that you've seen in your life, whether

you've been on the earth for 40 years,

50, 60, or 70.

What would that what would that do? What

would that instill? What would that

continue to communicate and teach to the

next generation, to your kids, to your

grandkids, if we recounted all that God

has done in our life?

Think think how that would equip and

help them because not only are they

reading it about reading about it in

God's word, but they're hearing about it

from mom and dad, grandma and grandpa,

or Gigi, Papa, or whatever whatever name

you go by.

But I think that's important for us just

to remember.

We've got to first and foremost remember

God's faithfulness. Remember what he's

done. But then he moves on from there.

And then he says, "Let us throw off

everything that hinders and the sin that

so easily entangles." So we start

getting into these let us, which we'll

hear a couple of these today. So he says

we've got to remove anything that gets

in the way

and then we got to run. And so the the

word let off, let us let us throw off is

very intentional,

but there's two two different words he

uses here. One is very specific. It

says, listen, you got to remove you got

to throw off any sin that so easily

entangles you. That word for sin is sin.

It's clear disobedience.

That could be pride, selfishness, lust,

anger.

God says as somebody that has placed

their trust in Jesus, somebody that's

pursuing Jesus, you got to remove that.

You got to you got to get it out of your

life. But then he he also uses a

different word that's a little bit more

broad. He says to throw off everything

that hinders us. Now, this is this isn't

sin. This could be a good thing. This

could be something that's not bad,

but it could be a distraction in your

life. This could be a hobby.

This could be a habit. This could be

things that you go to for comfort. This

could be things that maybe you seek

approval from.

Uh let me let me go real real specific.

So for my students in the room, maybe

this is peers and you go, "Man, I just

want to be liked. I I want to pursue

this this peer group, this friend group

because I want to be a part of their

friend group. So I want to do these

things."

Uh mom and dad, you may get upset with

me. Students, your goal in life is not

to make perfect grades. That's not your

highest achievement.

Maybe you're pursuing that. Maybe you're

pursuing I I have to be the best

athlete.

What we're hearing is anything that gets

in the way of pursuing Jesus. Now again,

I'm not saying you don't go to school.

I'm not saying you still don't try hard,

but it's Jesus first. Pursue him.

Likewise,

uh, hey parents,

if the pursuit for you right now is a

job, a status, a house,

uh, a vehicle, those aren't bad things,

but if they're distractions, if they're

hindering you,

God tells us we need to we need to

remove it. We need to throw it off.

But what I want to make sure you you

don't hear when I say that and when we

talk about this and what God's word is

saying is not that we remove things

to get God's love.

Let me let me let me repeat that. I I

don't the passage doesn't say okay I

have to remove all these things and then

I get the love of Jesus.

What it's saying is because I'm loved by

Christ, because Jesus is better than

anything else, I'm going to remove those

things. Because anything that entangles,

anything that slows me down, I want to

get out of the way so I can pursue

Jesus. Let me ask let me ask this. What

What are you clinging to that Christ has

died to free you from?

What seemingly innocent distractions are

slowing your pursuit of Jesus?

Are there sins that you need to confess

and forsake?

The uh if I can be completely

vulnerable right now, one of the fun

things about preaching a passage and

also knowing for weeks ahead of time,

one of the fun things is you get to

spend lots of time reading, studying it,

praying over it.

One of the not fun things about reading

a passage and praying and studying over

it is

God begins to convict and move in my

heart and go, "Hey, Brad, what are what

are those maybe not even sinful things,

but what are those good things that

you've you've held on to that maybe is

slowing you down?"

Woo. You talk about difficult.

Uh, two that the Lord really brought to

me and I don't I don't have it on me,

but you know, everyone's got a most

everyone has a phone.

Recently, the Lord has just really

convicted me about the amount of time I

spend on my phone. May sound silly. Uh,

again, my phone is not bad, but the

amount of time I spend on my phone,

uh, again, it's it's a device. There's

not I'm It's nothing bad on there that

I'm doing, but I'm I'm realizing the

amount of time is wasteful time. The

other area that the Lord has been

convicting me about for a long time is

I'm a to-do list guy. So, if any of you

are to-do list people, I that's my

that's my love language. Give me a to-do

list and go through it. But sometimes my

to-do list will dictate everything else.

Jesus will get put behind or after my

to-do list.

And that's something the Lord has just

shown me like

it's a distraction. It's something I

need to throw off and go, Lord, how do I

pursue you? H what do I need to remove?

What's interesting as you look at this

passage, he tells us what to remove

before we even run. And as we get into

the the next part, the the run part,

he says, "Let us run with perseverance

the race marked out for us." Uh the word

race there, if if I have any runners in

the room,

you're going to you're going to love

this. The the word race means

agony.

Okay?

The the word race means a I mean,

literally, that's what the word means is

agony. like it's not this is the best

thing ever. I in the first service I I

pointed out we have a elder his name's

Drew by the way. Uh Drew is like a avid

runner and he enjoys it. Like he ran the

Philly marathon several months ago and

he's like it was great and I'm like that

must have been brutal. But when you hear

the word agony you understand that it's

it's not easy. But what I love is what

comes right after the word for race is

he says the race marked out for us. So

our journey is set before us but it's

assigned and pointed appointed by God.

God is involved. God is here. God is

present. God is working and moving

which means you're not alone. It's not

going to be easy but God's presence is

there. And I think that's important for

us to remember. times when you feel

hopeless and helpless,

remember God is present. That his grace

is there. His He's He's coming alongside

of you. He's not forsaking you. He is

walking with you.

One of the things as we read a passage

like this is there's some dangers that I

just want us to make sure we hit before

we keep moving. There's a danger for us

to read the dos. So remove and run,

but we lose sight of the done. And

that's Jesus did it all. Jesus completed

everything.

There's also a danger of getting so

focused on the race

that it overshadows the throne.

You know, we're we're not the source of

our own strength. Jesus has completed

everything. He is finished. He is the

the the pioneer, the perfector, the

author. He is the source of our

strength. And so I think that's why it's

important when we talk about uh the

remove, the run that we also remember

that the passage doesn't end here. The

passage actually then tells us that we

have to fix our eyes on the savior. So

look at verse two. It says, "Fixing our

eyes on Jesus,

the pioneer and perfector of faith. For

the joy set before him, he endured the

cross, scorning its shame, and sat down

at the right hand of the throne of God.

What's what's interesting, this word

fixing here, so fixing your eyes is

actually two words brought together.

It's it's to look away from something

else. So, it's looking away and driving

your attention to something. I've got a

a a an image that's going to come up

here, but it's really this this passage

here is modifying the race. It's it's

modifying how we're supposed to run.

We're supposed to run by fixing our eyes

on Jesus. So, do you have any people

that swim in here? Okay. So, if you've

ever done it's called open water

swimming. So, this would be an example

of a group of people doing an open water

swim. So, I want to point out a couple

things about it. What's really important

when you swim, if anyone knows, when you

swim, you're either in two places.

You're either here because your head's

above water or you're here. If you're

here, that's bad. Because when you're

here, you can't breathe. And the most

important thing with swimming is not

kicking, moving your arms. It's

breathing. You got to be able to

breathe. But when you swim,

you've got to look to a point. You've

got to sight on something. if you watch

the other people. So, if I'm watching

pink guy over here with the pink thing

on his head, that's not going to help

me. You're also dealing with waves

coming up. So, you're getting water

splashed in your face, which makes it

really difficult to breathe. But you

also, if you start following somebody

and they're going the wrong way, you're

going to go off in a a direction you

don't want to go. That's why you've got

to find a point that you can fixate on

and then that becomes the point you want

to ultimately you're going to.

So when God's word says fix our eyes on

Jesus,

it's not focusing on a problem,

it's not focusing on other people,

but it's focusing our eyes on a person.

And that person is Jesus. But not only

it does it say that it then goes on to

explain why why do we focus why do we

fix our eyes on Jesus

says because

he's the pioneer the word means

trailblazer he he went before he blazed

the trail where there was nothing

but not only was he the trailblazer he

was the first but it says that he was

the perfector

in fact it's he's the one who completes

and fulfills.

But not only did he complete and fulfill

it,

God's word says that he finished it and

he's now seated at God's right hand.

You know, Jesus gives us the ability to

finish through his spirit. So he he

doesn't leave us alone. He provides us

his spirit.

I think it's important for us to

remember as we look to the throne.

It it shows us that Jesus is seated at

the throne that helps us understand that

the cross worked. That what Jesus did on

the cross is complete.

Now, I I want to say this because we can

we can talk about fixing our eyes on

Jesus. We can we can we can get the

understanding. But I want to just real

quick I want to speak to maybe

maybe you in the room

that you're struggling

maybe some of you that are weary.

Uh several several years ago I I did

this race. Uh it was an all day event.

So, it started literally it started at

7:00 a.m. and I knew it was going to

take me anywhere from 12 to 15 hours. It

ended up taking me 13 hours and 37

minutes. And so, I I knew at some point

that the end of the race was you would

run. Just so everyone knows, I'm not a

runner. I I do not enjoy running. It's

it's not fun.

So, at the very end, it was, you know, I

knew I was going to be spending several

hours running. Well, the way the course

worked is it was three loops of about

nine miles and you started I started at

about 4:00. Well, I knew night was

coming. And the way the course worked,

there was a back section which honestly

looked a lot like this. It was about 2

to 300 yards where you go through the

woods. It's a a path, but

at 4:00 and roughly about 6:30, it

wasn't bad because there's people. It

was light. Uh about the 13th hour,

so I'm I'm getting close to getting I'm

a couple miles from getting done. I

remember being on this path

and no one's around me. It's really

dark. I'm really tired.

I'm really discouraged.

And the whole time I'm kind of in this,

they call it the shuffle. You're kind of

jogging, but it's like a walk shuffle.

and I just want to quit.

Uh, you know, other parts of the course

you have people cheering you on, but at

this point I'm like, I I want to be

done.

And maybe that's where some of you are

at today. Maybe you're uh maybe you're

just spiritually discouraged.

Uh maybe you're just tired.

Maybe you're battling with private sin

and you're struggling of is this worth

it?

Well, I think when you're weary, when

you're discouraged, when you're walking

through a difficult season, what should

you do?

Who should you look to? And I think

that's where verse three gives us the

answer to that question is that's why

it's so important then that that we

focus on him when times get tough. So he

says here, "Consider him

who endured such opposition from sinners

so that you will not grow weary and lose

heart." The word for consider is

literally to reckon, to calculate, to to

think. So in your weariness,

consider the opposition that Jesus

endured.

Consider the joy set before him that his

whole plan was to redeem and rescue you.

but also considered the throne that he

now occupies.

He completed the race. But not only did

he complete it,

but he ran in our place. A race that we

could not run. And he secured the

outcome.

You see, we are helped to run to the end

not only by what Jesus has done for us,

but by what Jesus is doing in us. I'm

reminded of a a passage somebody

recently shared with me from Hebrews

Hebrews 13:5

13:5 where it's quoting Joshua 15, which

if we go all the way back to Joshua,

Moses had just passed away. God is

telling Joshua, "Hey, you're getting

ready to lead this large group of people

into the promised land. But Joshua, this

is going to be huge. I mean, this is a

lot on you, but Joshua, I need you to

hear that I will never leave you nor

forsake you.

And that's what's quoted in Hebrews

Hebrews 13:5

13:5. He says, "I will never leave you

or forsake you." And so, I think we have

to remember that that as we focus on him

when times get tough,

we can look to him because we know he

did it. He will work in and through us.

And if I can share as you walk through

the 13th hour, maybe right now

as we look forward, we know that God

will be faithful. Uh as I realized in

that race, 37 minutes later I would

cross that finish line. Uh I'm glad I

did it. Uh there was joy at the end. It

was experiencing some hardships

throughout the race, but the journey was

incredible. And I think for us to

realize,

we've got to remember that God is

faithful.

But also, he he's going to call us to

remove some things that are slowing us

down.

But most importantly, we have to fix our

eyes on Jesus.

Friend, I don't know where you're at

today,

but

but my prayer for you is is that as we

have been walking through Hebrews, you

will see that Jesus is better. Jesus is

better. Jesus is better. Jesus is

better. And because Jesus is better, fix

your eyes on him.

He's the pioneer and the perfector of

our faith. Let's pray.

As we close our eyes and bow our heads,

I want us to just take a moment

and I want to give you just

a moment just to spend time talking to

God. You know, the hope of this passage

is not that you will suddenly become

strong.

The hope of this passage is that your

savior already was. He endured the

cross. He finished the work and he sat

down.

So when you're too tired to look ahead

to the difficult time you're walking

through, look up and see him

in light of what you heard today. What

is God calling you to remove?

How will you respond to him this

morning? Father,

I just pray for

my brothers and my sisters in here.

God is not knowing what they've walked

through.

We know that it's worth it because your

word says so. But it's worth it because

of Jesus, what you have done. God, I I

pray that as they consider you

that your spirit will work and move. If

if there are things that they need to

remove, God, make that abundantly clear.

But God, we all need to be reminded of

your faithfulness.

God, not only help us remember what

you've done, but help us to fix our eyes

on you. That we won't look to people,

our own strength, our own problems, but

we will fix our eyes on a savior that

came, died, rose again, and now you're

seated because you have done the work.

And we thank you for that. In your name

we pray. Amen.