Eyes on Jesus

Amen.

Amen.

You may be seated, kids.

You are excused to your King's Kids class.

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.

And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,

who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted, so that you wouldn't give up.

May God bless the hearing of his word.

Distracted drivers are dangerous.

A danger to themselves and a danger to others.

A distracted driver is someone who takes their eyes off the road and fixes their eyes on something else.

Maybe it's their phone.

Maybe it's their companion next to them.

Maybe it's a French fry that has fallen to the floor.

Maybe it's an accident on the other side of the road.

You're part of the gaper's delay.

Maybe it's a good thought.

Distracted drivers are a danger to themselves and others, and they need to fix their eyes on the road.

Distracted Christians are also a danger.

Danger to themselves and a danger to others.

There are a variety of things that can distract Christians from Christ,

and one of which that we are hearing again and again in the book of Hebrews

is suffering on account of Christ.

Being marginalized for Jesus.

That can cause you to become weary and faint hearted.

Want to give up.

When you get distracted from Christ, you tend to drift from Christ.

And in some cases, you can actually fall away from Christ.

Where there was no faith to begin with.

It's a disaster.

In Hebrews chapter 12, the author likens the Christian faith to an endurance race.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

To a marathon.

In order for you, Christian, to finish the race and to finish strong, you need endurance.

Don't give up.

You need to endure.

And in Hebrews 12, 1 through 3, we're shown how to finish the race and finish strong in four ways.

First is run the legacy.

Second, run light.

Third, run long.

Fourth, run looking.

Those last three I heard in a sermon about 30 years ago.

Stuck with me ever since.

So, four points this morning.

Run the legacy.

Run light.

Run long.

Run looking.

Do you want to finish the race?

And finish strong?

Eyes on Jesus.

So, let's look at this first point.

We'll see it in Hebrews 12, 1.

Run the legacy.

We read, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.

The cloud of witnesses that the author of Hebrews is talking about here are all of those 20 plus saints of old.

Those people of old commended by God for their faith that we were looking at last week in Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

They are the cloud of witnesses.

They're the ones commended by God for their faith.

They finished the race that God had set before him.

They endured by trusting God and his promises.

It's a cloud of witnesses.

The original word for witness is the word martyr.

That's where you get the word martyr from.

And when we think of martyr, we think of people who give up their lives out of believing in Jesus and proclaiming him.

And so, what we're getting at here are these, this cloud of witnesses are those who bore witness to God to their last breath.

That they believe in him and they believe in his promises.

They were faithful all the way to the end.

So, what's happening here in Hebrews 12, 1.

Is that the author is making a connection between old covenant saints and new covenant saints.

Those commended by God.

We're being linked to Abel and Enoch and Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Daniel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah.

All of these commended by God for their faith who've gone before us.

We're being connected to them.

Linked to them.

They're the heroes of the faith.

The who's who of the faith.

Faith.

And they have left for us a legacy of faith.

A legacy is something that those who've gone before us entrust us with.

And what the kind of the heroes of the faith of chapter 11 have entrusted to us is an example of endurance by faith.

In chapter 11, verse 40.

We learn that apart from us, these Old Testament saints will not be made perfect.

Their salvation as ours was found in Christ alone.

Theirs by faith in what Christ would do.

And ours by faith alone in what Christ has done.

We are all united by faith.

We read here that we are surrounded by this great cloud.

It's a very interesting picture.

The Ethiopian Tamaral Tola won the 2024 Olympic marathon with a time of two hours and six minutes.

Pretty quick.

If you saw it, you would see that the last 100 yards of the race, it led into this massive throng.

A cloud of spectators.

And they were cheering him on.

And he ran that last 200 yards to the end.

It was like a stadium filled with people rooting him on.

In chapter 12, verse 1, the author is picturing our holding fast to Christ as a marathon.

And we're being surrounded by those who've endured to the end.

They've gone before us and they wait for us in the heavenly city of God.

They're the ones who we've been linked to.

They're the ones who surround us.

They're the ones who are the legacy entrusted to us.

Run the legacy.

Here's two ways this makes a difference.

First is this.

In our day and age, there's a lot of pressure to signal your tribe.

Whether it's politically, progressive or conservative.

Whether it's theologically.

Whether it's ethnically.

What's going on here is, brothers and sisters, we've got a tribe.

A tribe of faith.

We're to identify with them.

We're to check the box that we are in this group.

Have you ever filled out a government form where it asks for your ethnic heritage, whether you're Caucasian or you're black or you're Hispanic or you're Asian?

Just imagine another box.

By faith.

By faith.

Check.

This is who we identify with.

This is our tribe.

Tribe of faith.

Second thing this thing does is it locates us in God's story.

God has always had a gracious and glorious plan for the fullness of time to gather a people for himself from every tribe, tongue and nation in Christ.

And we're part of the story.

We're part of the unfolding story of God's plan.

We are numbered with this multitude.

We are to be part of this great cloud of witnesses unto God's grace and unto his glory.

This is the fulfillment of the promise he made to Abraham to bless all the nations of the world through his offspring whom we know is Jesus Christ.

Run the legacy.

You want to finish this race?

You want to finish strong?

Run the legacy.

The legacy of faith.

The second point in how to finish strong is you run light.

We read in verse 1,

Let us also lay aside every weight and the sin which clings so closely.

The New International Version of the Bible says,

Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles.

Have you ever noticed a marathon runner what they wear?

When they're running the race, they don't wear much.

They usually wear like really short shorts.

Who wears short shorts?

And then they have a tank top.

And that's all that they're wearing.

On cold days, they usually put on a stocking hat and have gloves on, but that's it.

They're running light.

In fact, the Greco-Roman Olympics, which began in 776 BC,

they wore no clothing at all.

Which would boost the Olympic kind of viewership if they did that today.

But the point is,

competitors run light.

They compete light to minimize hindrances to the running the race.

They lay things aside that would distract them or hinder them.

Think about it this way.

If it is not helping you run the race for Jesus,

it's probably hindering you from running the race for Jesus.

And the author points to two different types of hindrances in this passage.

The first is every weight.

Let us also lay aside every weight.

A marathon runner may show up to the race in a full-blown body warm-up suit,

but when it's race time, he or she will take off that warm-up suit and lay it aside

because they want to run the race and run it strong.

They don't want anything hindering them from running as strong and as best as they can run.

There are things that aren't in and of themselves sinful

that become hindrances to us running the race.

Let me give you some examples.

Would you say that sleep is bad or good?

It's good.

But if your sleep habits are resulting in your neglecting your pursuit of Christ,

you've got a hindrance.

You've got to lay that aside.

It's not helping you pursue Jesus.

It's hindering you.

It's keeping you from reading the Bible, from praying unto God.

Another example would be work.

Is work good or bad?

The Bible is very clear.

Work is good.

But if you are working so much that it's resulting in you neglecting,

tending to your soul,

it's something out of proportion there.

You need to rein something in.

In our culture, one of the things that people deal with on a regular basis

is busyness as a family.

We have families who are trying to do it all,

to have all of their kids involved in as much as possible,

whether it's athletics or whether it's performance arts

or even serving at the church.

You're trying to do it all.

But over time, it is thinning you out.

Busyness.

Is it good to give yourself to important good things?

Yes, of course it is.

But you can only do a few things really well.

Do you remember back in Luke 10?

Mary and Martha.

Martha was a busy body.

She was getting everything ready because Jesus was there.

And she's like,

Jesus, would you please tell Mary to help me?

Because Mary was sitting at his feet.

And Jesus says,

Mary has chosen the better.

There are first things, brothers and sisters.

When we're thinking about weights to lay aside,

here's the question to be asking.

Is this good thing helping or hindering me run the race?

You might need to cut something out completely

or just simply rein something in a little bit.

Something's gotten away from you.

The second hindrance is outright sin.

And the sin which clings so closely

or the sin which so easily entangles.

Sin is any thought, feeling, word, or action

that contradicts God's character or His command.

It is always by nature wrong, evil,

grievous in God's sight.

And we are to lay it aside.

We're to put it off.

The picture here is not of someone

who is being necessarily hindered by something

but being tripped up by something.

Do you guys know what shackles are?

Shackles are like these steel cuffs

that will go around your wrists

and there's this chain in between

that really limits you.

They're also leg irons,

leg shackles that go cuffs on your ankles

and there's this chain in between you.

Could you imagine if Tamaral Tola,

the 2024 Olympic champion,

he came up to the marathon line,

the starting line,

with shackles on his legs?

Do you think he would finish?

Do you think he would run strong?

No.

He would need to remove the shackles

to lay them aside.

There are some sinful shackles pointed to

in Hebrews 12.

Let me point them out to you.

Later on in verse 15,

we read,

See to it that no one fails

to obtain the grace of God,

that no root of bitterness

springs up and causes trouble,

and by it many become defiled.

Bitterness is a shackle on a Christian.

And it's dangerous for them

and it's dangerous for those around them.

It defiles people.

Bitterness is holding a grudge.

It is a hardness of heart.

It is resentment.

It's blaming someone

for something that has happened

and it's this hatred.

It's hatred.

It's unloving.

It defiles the people.

And it runs in the opposite direction

of verse 14.

Strive for peace with everyone.

You are to lay it aside.

You are to put bitterness off.

You are to repent of that.

There's another shackle.

It's in verse 16.

That no one is sexually immoral

or unholy like Esau

who sold his birthright

for a single meal.

Sexual immorality is sexual sin.

Whether it's adultery,

when you have a spouse

who's been sexually unfaithful

or fornication,

when you have two unmarried people

being sexually unfaithful to God.

Pornography is this visualized sexual sin

and it is wickedly wrong.

What makes this so grievous in God's sight

is it runs against the grain

of his good design of marriage.

This sexuality that he has given us as a gift

is to be enjoyed

in the context of marriage alone.

And when we seek to experience

and enjoy sexuality

outside of the good confines of marriage,

it's grievous in God's sight.

These are shackles.

These will hold you back

from running the race

and it will affect other people.

And then of course,

there's unbelief.

If you,

Amy actually referenced this

when she was praying moments ago.

In Hebrews 3, 12 and 13,

we read this.

Take care, brothers,

lest there be in any of you

an evil, unbelieving heart

leading you to fall away

from the living God.

But exhort one another every day

as long as it's called today

that none of you may be hardened

by the deceitfulness of sin.

Unbelief is a denying of who God is

and what he's done.

And you're to put that off.

That will shackle you.

So here we have shackles

that will immobilize you

as you seek to run for Christ.

You gotta put them off.

I've been praying

that God would put his finger

on something in our lives.

Has God been putting something,

his finger on something

in your life?

Some weight

that you need to lay aside,

some sin that you need to repent of?

That's his loving kindness to you.

He wants you to share

in his holiness.

And he wants you to run the race.

He wants you to finish the race

and finish strong.

So receive that

and turn from these things.

Lay them aside.

When we run,

we run the legacy,

we run light,

and the third point

is that we run long.

In 12.1 we read,

and let us run with endurance

the race that is set before us.

Eugene Peterson,

a title to his book,

helps with a definition.

Endurance is a long obedience

in the same direction.

Endurance is the ability

to press on

in the face of difficulty.

Endurance is not giving up.

It's not quitting.

It's not falling away

or folding like a cheap suit.

Endurance is pressing on.

It's getting back up

and moving forward

unto Christ.

It's holding fast to Christ

all the way to the end.

Your very last breath.

And if you're a Christian,

and you're seeking

to live by faith,

it's just a matter of time

before your faith,

your life,

will get challenged.

Before you'll be marginalized.

You will need to endure that.

You'll need to press through that

by faith.

We got a baptism coming up

in August,

and we have a good group

of people,

like I mentioned,

being baptized.

It's down at Eichelman.

It's highly public.

And anyone who comes out

in the water,

I'm going to ask them

two questions.

First question is this.

Have you put your faith

in Jesus Christ alone

for the forgiveness

of your sin

and the promise

of eternal life?

Yes.

The second question

is the endurance question.

It's the finish

the race question.

It goes like this.

Have you resolved

to follow Jesus

all the days of your life,

no matter what happens?

Are you going to finish

the race?

As far as it depends on you,

trusting in the living God?

Yes.

We baptize him.

Endurance.

The opposite of endurance,

of an enduring faith,

an endurance by faith,

is a falling away

because of unbelief.

faith.

Remember,

faith is like a muscle.

And if your faith

goes unused,

it atrophies.

But with use,

your muscles,

faith muscles,

strengthen,

and you are able

to press through hard things

by faith,

trusting in God's character,

trusting in his promise.

It's by use.

endurance.

This is endurance.

And we are to run

with endurance

the race that God

has set before us.

It's his paths

that he's laid out

before us.

It's a path,

a race for us to run.

He's laid it out.

He's laid it out

according to his word.

And we are to finish

and to finish strong.

God sets this race

before us.

It's a path of faith.

Nowhere does he promise to us

that this race

is going to be easy

and comfortable.

Nowhere.

In fact,

if it's anything,

he duly warns us

Jesus said

at the end of John 16,

in the world,

you will have tribulation.

You will have difficulty

on account of me.

You know,

we sing a song,

Amazing Grace,

Amazing Grace,

and there's this line,

through many dangers,

toils, and snares,

I have already come.

Brothers and sisters,

that's just normal.

Through many dangers,

toils, and snares,

blessed be your name

in a world

that is marked by suffering.

We just sang it.

You'll be marginalized

by being a follower of Jesus.

Don't be surprised by it.

Rejoice in it.

Just like Paul and Silas

rejoiced in the Philippian jail.

Now,

this is an endurance race.

In September,

I'm going to preach

three sermons

on Psalm 23.

I can't wait.

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

He makes me

lie down

and greet pastures.

He leads me

beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

Verse 3.

And then it says,

He leads me

in paths of righteousness

for His name's sake.

He's got a race

set out for us.

And then verse 4.

Even though I walk

through the valley

of the shadow of death,

the deep darks,

I shall feel no evil

for you are with me.

Even David knew.

Being a follower

of God

in the paths

that God had set

would lead through

deep darks,

hardship,

difficulty,

suffering on account

of Jesus for us.

He does not promise

ease and comfort.

Hardship and difficult

will surely come.

We must endure.

Not giving up,

not quitting,

pressing on.

You're going to have

some hard decisions

to make.

What are you going

to do

when your

gay nephew

invites you

to come to his

gay wedding?

What are you going

to do?

What does it look like

to walk by faith

there?

Because in God's eyes,

it's not a wedding.

Students,

what do you do

when your classmates

are cheating

on their schoolwork?

what do you do?

What does it look like

to walk by faith?

It might mean

getting marginalized,

taking some heat.

He doesn't promise

ease and comfort

to those who walk

uprightly.

But the thing is,

we get to do this

together.

together.

We run this race

together.

We're like a pack.

Remember the chariots

of fire,

those guys

and runners

and white

on the beach

in England

running

together?

If you look back

at Hebrews 10,

24 and 25,

I'm going to read

this,

but be thinking

in terms of

running the race.

And let us

consider how to

stir up one another

to love and good works,

not neglecting

to meet together

as is the habit

of some,

but encouraging

one another.

And all the more

as you see the day

drawing near.

As you're running

the race together

and gathering

together every Sunday,

be encouraging

one another

as you see

that day

approaching

when Jesus

comes back.

our Sunday

gathering

is an encouraging

gathering.

It's encouragement.

It is strength

for your soul

to press on.

We do this

together.

Do you want to

finish the race

and finish strong?

You need to run

long

with endurance.

The race marked out

and we do that

together.

One last point.

We run looking.

In verse 2,

we read

looking to Jesus.

In verse 3,

we read

consider him,

Jesus,

who endured

from sinners

such hostility

against himself

so that you

may not grow weary

or faint hearted.

You know,

there's just a general

principle in life.

It goes something

like this.

You move

in the direction

to which you're looking.

You move

to where you're looking.

Whether you're

driving a car

or riding a bike

or running a marathon,

if you look over

your left shoulder,

typically you're going

to move a little left,

right?

Or if you look over

your right shoulder,

you're going to move

a little right.

The general principle

is you move

to where you're looking.

Spiritually speaking,

your looking

aims your living.

you live for

what you're looking

at.

If you're fixing

your eyes,

scrolling,

scrolling for new

purchases,

again and again

and again,

you make the purchase

and you're scrolling

for a new purchase,

you're looking

and your living

follows.

If you're fixated

on something

that's happened

in your past

and you're just

looking and looking

and looking at it,

it's like trying

to move forward,

but you're just

staring in the

rearview mirror,

you're going to be

living in the past.

If you're fixated

on illicit images,

you're setting

your heart

on these things.

You're living

for that

which gives

no life.

They're broken,

empty sin cisterns.

There's no life

in these things.

we're told to lay

these things aside.

There's no life.

They distract us

from Christ.

They're impostors.

If you're a Christian,

but not regularly

looking to Jesus,

and what I mean by that

is this.

Have you ever heard

someone say,

every one look

at sin,

you look ten looks

at Jesus.

every one look

at this past wrong

that you need

to work through,

you need to take

ten at Jesus.

It's that kind

of looking.

If you're not

looking to Jesus,

you're going to be

looking at something

else.

There's dangers there.

There's the danger

of drift.

That word looking,

looking to Jesus,

has a very interesting

nuance to it.

it means to purposefully

stop looking at one thing

and to start looking

at another.

To very intentionally,

to consciously,

purposefully,

take your eyes off

one thing

and put your eyes

on another.

I've got a confession.

Sometimes I come home

from a hard day

of pastoring.

And I walk

in the side door

and I grab

the mail

and I walk

into the kitchen

and sometimes

Jenny's there

and we'll start

talking about our day.

But you know

what I'm doing?

I'm looking

at the mail.

Jenny's asking

me about my day.

Yeah,

huh,

huh.

But I'm,

I'm looking

at an AARP

letter.

Do you know

what I've got to do?

I've got to lay it aside.

And I need to fix

my eyes on Jenny.

And I need to be there.

Does this make sense?

I've got to take

my eyes off one thing

and put my eyes

on another.

In order for you

to finish the race

and finish strong,

you need to learn

and practice

turning your eyes

from lesser things

in order to fix

your eyes

on the greatest

treasure of all,

Jesus.

Eyes

on

Jesus.

And in verses

two and three,

the author gives us

some things about

Jesus to look at.

We've got a couple

titles,

a couple places,

and one example.

the two titles,

essentially two titles

are these.

Looking to Jesus,

the founder and

perfecter of your faith.

Maybe the founder

and finisher

of your faith.

Two titles.

The founder,

the originator

of the faith

of our salvation.

Jesus.

The finisher,

the perfecter,

the completer

of our salvation.

Jesus,

all of Christianity,

begins and

ends

with Jesus.

He is our

everything.

He is

our salvation.

If you're familiar

with Revelation,

in Revelation 22,

13,

Jesus says this

about himself,

I am the alpha

and the omega,

the first and the last,

the beginning

and the end.

And if you don't know

the Greek alphabet,

it starts with alpha

and ends with omega.

He's the beginning

and the end.

It's all about Jesus.

Have you ever heard

the song,

He's got the whole world.

We can adjust

that a little bit

to Jesus singing,

saying of Jesus,

He's got our whole

salvation in His hands.

He's the beginning

and the end.

These are two titles.

Now let's look

at the two places.

Looking to Jesus,

the founder and perfecter

of our faith

who for the joy

that was set before Him

endured the cross.

Place number one,

the place of His humiliation

and our salvation.

That place,

the cross,

was a shameful way to die.

It was the Romans.

They designed crucifixion

to be the most shameful

and painful experience

anyone can experience

to die.

It was incredibly painful

physically,

emotionally,

and socially.

It was shameful.

You died naked,

suffering greatly.

But for Jesus,

on that cross,

He bore God's wrath

for our sin

once for all.

At the cross,

He founded

our salvation.

Despising the shame.

Whatever.

He had a place

of His grace

and is seated

at the right hand

of the throne of God.

His place of exaltation

where He is now.

Sitting on His throne,

welcoming all

that comes to us

at the cross.

He's the source,

founder of our salvation.

On the throne,

Psalm 110.1,

He is sustaining us.

He's perfecting us.

He's finishing

what He started.

He's pouring out grace.

It's Hebrews 4,

14 through 16.

Do you have a need?

You make a beeline

to the throne of grace.

And He will give you grace

in that time of need

to sustain you

so that you endure

to the end.

He gives us grace

upon grace.

It's a beauty.

He's the founder

of our salvation cross.

He's the finisher

of our salvation throne.

But in verse 3,

we have an example.

Consider Him

who endured from sinners

such hostility

against Himself.

You see,

not only is Jesus

the source

of our salvation,

He is the ultimate example

of finishing the race.

It's all of Hebrews 11

climaxes in Jesus

as the greatest example

of endurance

who finished doing

God's will

at great cost.

He was mocked,

beaten,

unjustly convicted,

imprisoned,

humiliated,

put to death

the ultimate example

of endurance,

such hostility

against Himself.

And it's there

so you don't grow weary

or faint-hearted

as you pursue Him.

You know why He did it?

For the joy set before Him.

It could have been

the exaltation

of the throne.

I think it's more likely

that it's the joy

of bringing many sons

and daughters to glory.

Of gathering for Himself

a people from every tribe,

tongue, and nation.

A people that have been

flipped by God's grace

and delivered from

the domain of darkness

and transferred into

the kingdom of the beloved Son.

And it's us

around the throne

with all of those

who've gone before us

singing the praises of God

for what He has done.

That joy,

all of the blood bought

of God,

gathered together

for eternity

in the city of heaven,

which He's prepared for us.

We become part of

His great cloud

of witnesses.

He's the one to whom

we fix our eyes on.

We run looking to Him.

Do you need help

looking to Jesus?

I do.

To help you

lay aside

every weight in sin

and fix your eyes

on Jesus,

do you need help?

Of course.

prioritize coming

on Sunday.

Prioritize gathering together.

It's God's good design.

It's a habit of grace

that we endure together

by gathering together.

Another way to,

for help,

you're going to get

an email this afternoon

from me.

And what I do is

I lay out this week,

Monday through next Sunday,

and I give you something

from the Bible

to fix your eyes upon.

It would be great

for you to start

your day that way.

It would be great

if you've been looking

for something to do

devotionally with your family,

to be in God's Word,

to fix your eyes on Jesus,

to pray together.

This would be

an easy start.

You'll get that

at one o'clock

this afternoon.

But here's a way

that has helped me

this week.

Parents,

use your discretion

with your kids.

it's writing something.

On my left index finger,

earlier this week,

I've been writing

E-O-J.

Eyes on Jesus.

So whatever I'm doing

that day,

driving,

eating,

working on things,

eyes on Jesus.

it's been so helpful.

I can,

I look to Him

throughout the day.

We must finish the race

and finish strong.

Run the legacy,

run light,

run long,

run looking to Jesus.

Distracted drivers

need to keep their eyes

on the road.

Christians prone

to distraction,

and that's all of us,

need to learn

to fix our eyes

on Jesus.

Eyes on Jesus.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus,

we do acknowledge

that You are

exalted

at the right hand

of God right now,

the throne,

and You give grace

to those in need.

and we are

in ongoing need.

We need You.

You are everything.

You are

the beginning

and the end,

the alpha

and the omega.

Would You

sustain us

this week?

Would You help us

to look to You

with eyes of faith

and endure

to the end

day by day?

In Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.