Hebrews 12:3-13 • Jesus = Endurance • Joel McCarty

Our Scripture reading is Hebrews 12/3 through 13.

For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners

against himself, so that you won't grow weary and give up and

struggling against sin. You have not yet resisted to the

point of shedding your blood, and you have forgotten the

exhortation that addresses you as sons.

My son, do not take the Lord's discipline lightly, or lose

heart when you are reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son

he receives. Endure suffering as discipline.

God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a

father does not discipline? But if you are without

discipline, which all receive, then you are illegitimate

children and not sons. Furthermore, we had human

fathers discipline us and we respected them.

Shouldn't we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live

for they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed

good to them, but He does it for our benefits so that we can

share His Holiness. No discipline seems enjoyable at

the time, but painful later on. However, it yields the peaceful

fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, and

make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may

not be dislocated but healed instead.

This is the word of the Lord. Jess stole my opening question.

How many of you started school this week?

Raise your hand, teacher or student?

How many of Y'all started school this week?

All right, cool. How many of you are excited that

school is back in session? Even parents, Some of you guys.

Yes. Yay, nay okay.

How many? Y'all are like bummed out that

school is back? Yeah, some of y'all.

All right, cool. So everything in between, right?

Decatur City Schools is back in session this week.

And so as we did every year, we got our kids ready for the first

day of school with all their new gear and backpacks and school

supplies. And what was unique about this

year as we got to drop all four kids off at the same building.

So we have two years of that. All that Julie Harris

Elementary. And so we're going to appreciate

that. But that is something that it's

just that time of year we're all thinking about.

And if you have kids in here, regardless of your choice of

education for them, whether that be private school, public

school, home school, whatever. Your goal for them and your hope

for them as we enter this fall semester and every year, is that

they continue to grow and be learned and trained and

instructed about certain things. We understand that normal part

of growth for a person requires a form of instruction and

discipline. And this is true for anyone,

right? Not just students, whether it be

in your career, whether it be in your college classes or in

something like your sports that you do.

We understand that any growth requires instruction and

discipline and that sometimes receiving this instruction and

discipline is hard work. But any good teacher or coach or

boss, if they can see the big picture, they are willing to

allow others, those that they are leading to experience

seemingly painful struggles, even sometimes maybe

intentionally, putting people in those struggles for the purpose

of joy and growth in the long run.

In our text today that you just heard, read, The preacher of

Hebrews will encourage us to consider what it means to be

instructed by God. And the beauty of this is, it's

not just God as a teacher or a coach for a semester or a

season, but rather for your entire life and eternity as a

good father who always has our best interest.

And because of this, our call is to simply respond in simple

obedience, to leave the results up to God and trust that His

instruction, His discipline, as it's interpreted in this

translation, is what leads us to life.

And joy. And that is what our text is

about this morning. So good morning again, church.

It is a joy to gather with you all.

If I'm not had the chance to meet you.

My name is Joel. I get to serve here at New Eden

Church, specifically, I get to serve as one of the elders and

one of the the pastor for preaching and oversight.

And so as always, it's just a joy to be with you guys this

morning and to gather, to be reminded of the good news of

Jesus and to just see what God is doing in our midst.

As you can see, we're jumping back into our series through

Hebrews. We kind of stayed in Hebrews

through the summer. But we spent time in Hebrews

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Chapter 11, looking at different characters listed there.

And now we're going to continue working our way through the

book. And so we're in Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

12, verse three through 13, as you heard read.

You can follow along however you'd like.

There's Bibles around you on your phone, whatever.

We'll also have the verses on the screen when we go through

them. We're in the CSV version, if

you're interested in that. So let's see if you remember

since it's been a minute, I think six or seven weeks since

we've been in Hebrews. So the theme of the book is

what? Oh, that's so weak.

All right, let's try it again. The theme of the book is what?

See, I knew some of y'all snarky people are going to say Jesus is

greater. So yes, it's Jesus is better.

Or if you're snarky and you realize that this actually says

Jesus is greater, you can say that as well.

It means the same thing. So.

But it is true, right? It's what we've seen through the

entire book of Hebrews is that Jesus is better than the Old

Covenant and all that went along with it.

He's better than the angels. He's better than Moses.

He's better than the temple, better than the sacrifices.

Whatever it is, whatever you want to name Jesus is supreme

and superior. And so it's important for us to

remember that this was meant to be delivered as one sermon and

so as we go into our text today. Don't forget that this comes on

the heels of 11 chapters of exposition about the supremacy

of Christ as we are reminded and called to endure suffering.

Don't forget that this is not something we do in isolation or

in our own strength, but rather we endure by gazing deeply on

the one who first endured perfectly for us.

As we work our way through the passage, and as you heard it

read, you're going to hear the word discipline used quite a

bit. You're going to hear it

specifically in conjunction with the way that God relates to us

as sons and daughters. And so I want to kind of just

address this up front before we fully dive in that honestly,

this word might be better translated for us as education

or instruction. When we hear the word discipline

in our context, I mean, that's a faithful translation.

But when we hear it, we hear it as primarily punitive.

You did something wrong and then God is going to punish you, is

what we kind of hear. But in this case, and I'm, you

know, commentators are clear, the context is clear.

This specific instruction in Hebrews 12 is not a punishment

for past sins, but rather a training for future

participation. With Jesus and the glory that

awaits. And so this is an active

education and instruction, A discipline as a disciple.

And so I want to make that clear upfront.

Our big idea for the sermon today is this.

It's a little lengthy, but it's this right here.

Jesus endured in resisting sin to the point of bloodshed,

giving us the privilege of being educated as sons.

And daughters of God, Jesus endured in resisting sin to the

point of bloodshed, giving us the privilege of being educated

as sons and daughters of God. So let's read verse three and

four again. As we begin to unpack this text,

it says For consider him who endured such hostility from

sinners against himself, so that you won't grow weary and give up

in struggling against sin. You have not yet resisted to the

point of shedding your blood. So by calling his hears to

consider the endurance of Jesus, the preacher of Hebrews is

acknowledging a reality of the Christian life.

And it's this, the struggle is real, right?

Some of you guys might have said that when you were finishing up

your masters. Maybe if you were at RI.

Those three people, you know I'm talking about maybe as you were

just trying to get kids to go down for the night, right?

Maybe you're trying to get some certification for your job.

You're just like the struggle is real, right?

And here the preacher acknowledges that the struggle

against sin is real. He doesn't minimize it.

He is encouraging them to not grow weary or give up, which

means that he acknowledges there is a temptation to do so.

He acknowledges that a war is being waged.

There is a real temptation to give in to the pressures of this

age that seek to lure us in the enemy.

He knows how to talk to us. He knows what lies were most

susceptible to believe. He knows how to dress up the way

to death, to deceive us into thinking that it is the way to

life. And in the midst of this

struggle, we need to be strengthened by God.

We need to be reminded and given eyes to see when the enemy seeks

to lie to us. The enemy needs to be exposed

for who he is. On the way to school this week,

some conversation in our car came up that caused my 7 year

old daughter, Everly to inquire of me about Satan's appearance.

She wanted to know what what does Satan look like?

And I told her I was like, well, we we don't know exactly, like

we don't have a picture. But we do know that sometimes he

dresses up real nice to look like this beautiful Angel of

light just to trick people. And like she got this look on

her face like jaw dropped, eyes rolling in disgust and

disbelief. She could not believe the

audacity. That the devil would dress up as

an Angel of light and like as she gets older.

I I want me, I want her, I want us to be able to have the eyes

to see when the enemy is seeking to deceive us and to be

disgusted by that. To be sober minded.

The scriptures don't sugarcoat the struggle against sin.

First, Peter 5/8 and nine. Be sober minded.

This is a call to the church. Be alert.

Your adversary, the devil, is prowling around like a roaring

lion looking for anyone he can devour.

Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of

sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers

throughout the world. I love how we're placed in this

like global context as we live in a local context.

And what's important to understand that not only is

there a struggle against sin and it's real that it's actually a

type of suffering. Peter labels it that Hebrews

talks about resisting sanity labels it as suffering.

This can include the temptation to give in to personal sin that

is attacking you and tempting you.

But it also and probably in Hebrews more is talking about.

Just the cultural pressures on the church, this tension that we

constantly live in, to give up on God, to reject Jesus, to walk

away so that things seemingly might be easier.

Because reality is you might have got sold a pipe dream that

if you follow Jesus, your life is just going to be go happy.

You're going to get the job you want, the money you want, the

house you want. That's not reality.

That's not the scriptures. Following Jesus is is not always

easy. The temptation is to adjust what

we believe to fit in the rooms we most want to be a part of.

And I don't know what rooms those are for you.

I don't know what political party that is for you.

I don't know what theological camp that is for you.

But there is a temptation, and you feel this tension a lot.

If you're following The ethics of God's Kingdom, maybe you're

at work with the group of men and you hear them either

objectifying or demeaning women. But we believe those lies as

well, begin to be sucked into that because it's humorous or we

want to be accepted by the group.

Maybe we we feel the temptation. This is one I I struggle with,

to believe the lies of the culture that says as a parent,

you bear the entire weight of your child's future on your

shoulders. So if you miss out on this or

that education opportunity, this or that sports opportunity, he's

going to be screwed. She's going to be screwed.

You're less than as a parent if you're not involved in this or

that. Maybe you sit under the

pressures of the world's expectation that says maybe

you're behind in life because you didn't get the degree when

when the world said you should have.

Or you didn't tie the knot. Or you didn't get the career in

the white picket fence, as if that's what life is about.

We feel those pressures and those are just a few examples.

I I don't know what it is for you, but if we live a life

through the lens of a Kingdom ethic, we will be living in a

state of of constant tension and pressure.

There will be no singular room we can fully fit into because

the only place that we will fully belong is being prepared

for us by Jesus. As CS Lewis said, if we're not

at home, maybe it's because we were made for another world.

And that constant tension and struggle is an actual form of

suffering. If you've lived it.

It's it's hard. We need to acknowledge that

following as a disciple of Jesus, submitting to his rule

the reign even when we don't fully understand trusting that

what you say leads to life. I'm following that.

It's literally in the scriptures referred to as suffering because

it is an attack on us. In fact, it's guaranteed for the

one who has given their life to Jesus.

Paul told Timothy and Second Timothy 2-3 that he was to share

in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

The next chapter he says, in fact, all who wants to live a

godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, not will be

blessed abundantly with earthly blessings, and a good father

will sometimes give us that. I'm not saying that we can't ask

for that and he will take care of his own, but persecution is

guaranteed. There are principalities and

powers at work seeking to come and destroy the good reign of

Jesus, both in our lives and in the world around us.

This is a reality. But he also offers them a bigger

perspective. Now, I don't know if you've ever

been in a situation where you're struggling with something as

someone's, like, you know, maybe you're hungry and someone's

like, well, imagine starving kids.

You know, wherever, right? You're like, shut up.

I don't want perspective right now, right?

But there is the reality of a perspective.

Even though their struggle is real, what he tells them is

you've not resisted to the point of shedding blood.

You have not had to face martyrdom.

And this is relevant for us. We should acknowledge that the

struggle is real, but let's let's put it in a perspective.

Sometimes I hear someone complain about their coworking

coworker cussing or something, and they're like, man, it's just

really hard. They cuss a lot at my job and

I'm like, OK. You know, or like man, I had to

talk to my kids about something they learn in school or I had to

sit through a presentation at work that I disagreed with.

And and again, I'm not saying that those constant pressures

like a constant drip, they they are real struggles.

We just talked about that. But but let's put things in a

perspective We have not yet resisted unto blood like in

Alabama following Jesus. Maybe we'll make you have to

have an awkward conversation if you speak up when someone's

talking about women in a certain way, right.

It's not going to cost you your life.

In Alabama, it's not even going to cost you your job.

And like, like sometimes you're worried about things happening

around the world or over even like in another state.

And like, maybe we're called to just have that awkward

conversation, right? Like in our context where you

attend church can actually be thrown on your teacher bio and

it's like, whoo social status points, that person goes to

church, they must be a better teacher, right?

As if that has something to do with it.

But, and yeah, anyways, I'm not going to.

Here's the point. As we face cultural pressures,

let's let's put it in perspective.

We have friends of ours who are heading to serve in places where

they could eventually be required to shed their blood as

they resist sin simply by sharing the good news of Jesus.

We just read in Hebrews about people who had been imprisoned,

beheaded, sawn and two for their faith, whipped, beaten, hanged.

And that still goes on today in many parts of the world.

And So what that does, it doesn't cause us to just demean.

Well, this isn't really a struggle.

Why are you getting upset about that?

What it does is it puts it in perspective and allows us to

lock arms with people around the world who are facing kinds of

suffering and it encourages us and spurs us on depressed on in

the midst of our culture pressures.

And to respond not in hate, not by waging cultural battles.

I got to win this. I got to go up and protest this,

but rather by loving our enemies.

That's what Jesus did on the cross when he was resisting sin.

He resisted sin by loving them. Steven being stoned, Father,

forgive them. They don't know what they're

doing. Our battle is not against flesh

and blood, but principalities and powers of darkness in the

world around us. And so, yes, the struggle is.

Real But the question is, when we're faced with this struggle,

how will we respond? And verse five, he quotes from

Proverbs Chapter 3, and he addresses the two unhealthy

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

responses that we could have when we are faced with God's

instruction through the struggle and suffering in our life.

One response is to he says take it lightly, which means to

ignore it. I'm gonna ignore it.

No big deal. The other response is to lose

heart, to be crushed by it, to be so discouraged that we want

to just give up. When I coach sports, and if

you've you've taught kids at all, there's two responses that

take place that tell me immediately that the young man

or woman is probably going to lose out on an opportunity to

grow. And it's when they respond in

this way, neither ignore the instruction.

It's no big deal. Why do you tell me I got to run

past the line? It's just a foot.

It's no big deal, right? They ignore it.

They think it's pointless. Or maybe they think they know

better, or they get really down on themselves, right?

You get on to some kids. They're like, absolutely

crushed. Like, Oh my gosh, it's the end

of the world. Like I'm somehow attacking them

or I'm against them, right? And the preacher exhorts us to

avoid these two ditches, and instead to think soberly and

rightly about the struggles in her life and how God might be

using them to form and shape us into His image, because instead

of losing heart. The opposite effect can actually

happen, and it takes the very spirit of God on our lives.

But we can actually be encouraged if we get an insight

into what God is doing. Yes, the struggle is real, but

the struggle can also be encouraging, and this is what

the preacher continues to address.

He tells us that the struggle against sin, which he now begins

to talk about in the lens of suffering and discipline.

In verse seven, he tells us that it's there for our benefit to

instruct and train us. Now I want to be clear, Does

this mean that all suffering we face in life is because God just

has some specific lesson he's trying to teach us?

Some. Some of that can't happen, so.

So there's nothing wrong with asking that question.

But I've seen people get, as Kevin would say, wrapped around

the axle, axle, the phrase I've stolen from them.

Just trying to figure out like what is God teaching me in that

sometimes life sucks, sometimes the world's broken and sometimes

you just got a flat tire because you got a flat tire.

Right. Like in it and OK, like, it can

remind us that the world is broken, that come quickly,

Jesus, fix the mass. But it's not like he's

specifically like, well, you did this, and so let me teach you

this lesson. See, there are many forms of

suffering that the Christian faces, and we have to be careful

to not, like, put all suffering in the same category.

There are times where God will use things to kind of get our

attention. But but in this specific

instance, he's talking about just training and the suffering

that we face as pressures from the world.

See, the reason behind all suffering is not the same.

But by God's grace, we can be confident that the result of all

suffering is the same, which is our good and God's glory.

We can trust him with that. And so in this passage, as we

talk about the resistance against sin, the pressures we

face, the temptations we wage, war against, the attacks from

the enemy on ourselves or our friends or our family.

Our preacher is saying, hey, that suffering you're resisting.

The tension that you feel you live in, It is not meaningless.

It is a form of instruction, and it actually has eternal value.

It's this idea of a trainer putting an athlete through a

grueling workout so they can be more prepared on game day.

It is the picture of a teacher giving out homework or a pop

quiz so the student can be prepared for the upcoming test.

Every single bit of suffering in your life is promised to not be

wasted. And this specific type of

suffering is promised to train us and educate us for our

benefit so that we might be more like Christ, sharing in His

Holiness this, this progressive sanctification as we are

transformed from 1 degree of glory to another.

We say sin begins to fall off because we say our eyes have

been open. That is the way to death.

This is the way to life. It's not just like oh don't do

that. I really want to, but I can't.

But rather like no, that's death.

This is life, and we are formed and instructed as we endure and

trust God. It's what the Apostle Paul tells

us in his letter to Titus. He says for the grace of God has

appeared. What does it do?

It brings salvation for all people.

And what does it then do? It instructs us to deny

godlessness and worldly lust and to live.

Isn't this a beautiful life in a sensible, righteous and godly

way? In the present age, while we

wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our

great God and Savior Jesus Christ, He gave himself.

He sacrificed for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and it

cleanse for himself. Listen to this identity of

people for his own possession, eager, flowing from who we are

to do good works. So this struggle encourages us

because it trains us. It has value, but that's just a

piece of it. If that's all that was, we would

just get tired and burn out. I promise you, I've tried to

live where I'm just going to do big things for God.

The author of Hebrews gives a much greater reason, and what he

spends more time on is why our struggle can be encouraging, has

less to do with our activity and more to do with our identity, he

says. The reason we can be encouraged

in the midst of our struggle is that it is evidence that we are

God's sons and daughters. Culturally.

In the time this was written, fathers only took time to

educate their legitimate sons. They were the ones seen to have

value, to carry the family name, and so that's how it was done.

But what he does is he he's not. The preacher is not excusing

this practice, but he is using it as an example to make his

point. Because for a child to be

educated was a privilege that was only reserved for the men,

the boys of society and the legitimate boys, the ones that

the father wants to. And he says, under the gospel

ends, everyone through Christ has a privilege to be educated

as a son and as a daughter. You get that right For a child

not to be educated, not to be given the time and energy to to

just to be discipled and instructed and trained, which

takes a lot of work. That was evidence that they were

illegitimate. You could literally, in this

culture look at a kid and say we know he's not really his because

that father just kind of ignores them.

Maybe he was born by some slave or something like that.

And even today we understand this right?

It might not be that extreme, but I'm not going to get onto

your kid the same way I get on my own.

And if you get onto my kid the same way you get onto your own,

I'm going to be a little upset. Like let's be real.

The other day someone was running on their communion

table. One of our kids that just and

about, like, grabbed it was like, hey, and then I was like,

oh, that's not mine. All right, back up.

Hey, you wanna let's let's get away from that.

Right. Like, we recognize that because

I've I've earned the trust. And again this isn't excusing.

Like I there's times I have to apologize to my kids because

it's not. I'm not instructing them

rightly. I don't always have good

motives. But there should be a care and

sincerity and energy with which I instruct my own sons and

daughters. God has given them to me to do

that. And the author uses this earthly

example to remind us that the reason your your struggle and

your suffering can be encouraging is that it is

evidence you have a new identity.

Being educated by the Creator of the universe is a privilege, not

a negative thing. Through Christ you've received

the right to be heirs, sons and daughters of God, receiving all

the privileges therein, including the privilege of

learning obedience through suffering, like Christ did.

The privilege of being parented and instructed by a perfectly

good parent. Because when we talk about

discipline of parents, the reason sometimes we struggle

with this thought is because we might have had over, we might

have had the abuse of discipline, we might have had

parents that didn't do this right.

And he acknowledges this. He says earthly parents instruct

for a short time based on what seems good to them.

And sometimes what what seems good to a parent in the moment

is. You're getting on my nerves and

I'm just going to yell at you. But that's not necessarily good

for the child. But in Christ, through God the

Father, we are parented by a perfect parent for our benefit,

with perfect motives. He says, for your benefit so you

can share in my holiness. That's wild, guys.

We don't deserve that. God's motives are always

perfect. He's never instructing you

because you get on his nerves because you got out of bed for

the 20th time. That's not God.

He's not getting on to you because he's petty and you

showed out in front of his friends, and so he wants to let

his friends know that I really am a disciplinarian.

So let me chew my kid out. That's not God.

He's not petty like that. He's a perfectly good father who

has promised to work all things together for our good, even when

it seems painful in the moment. You might remember back in

chapter 5, the preacher of Hebrews told us that Jesus

himself as God's Son in a sense learned obedience through what

he suffered became complete and we are invited into the same

privilege. Just as a child receives all the

privileges of family when they are adopted into a family,

including the privilege of being guided, instructed and

disciplined, so too do we receive these privileges when we

are welcomed into the family of God.

And it's not always enjoyable in the moment, actually, he says no

discipline is enjoyable in the moment.

The scriptures are honest about it.

He even uses the word. It says punishes.

In the CSB. The root word there is scourge.

OK? It's not that God is physically

beating us or that's the attitude.

It's this idea of cutting deep into the recesses of our hearts

that only a father could see what's really going on.

Maybe you said that someone pointed out a blind spot in your

life and you're like, ooh, that cut deep, right?

Like you got me there. But you're grateful for that.

He's looking deep into our soul and and forming and shaping us

because he loves you too much to let you run to what can hurt

you. And the reason we're grateful is

in the end, all of this works to produce the fruit of peace that

comes from righteousness. We can't fully understand all of

this like you can. You can go all day trying to

figure out why is this suffering happening?

What is the reason for this And not?

And I don't even think we're called that.

We're called to trust that our struggles against sin and

suffering in this life, as we seek to remain faithful, will

only serve to bring about us a peace that passes understanding.

And yes, this means it takes time.

There's a reason the analogy here is fruit takes time.

Fruit is not grown overnight. In fact, much of what prepares

the way for fruit to be born is invisible to the naked eye, most

of its roots burying deep underground that God might be

doing in your life. But like a football team working

out for results they won't see for months, like a friend

disciplining someone over coffee over the course of years, like a

teacher investing into a new, wideeyed classroom of students,

eventually Fruit fruit will come forth.

And when it does, it's beautiful.

This is the way Peter talks about it In First, Peter won six

and seven. He says, you rejoice in this,

even though now, for a short time if necessary, you suffer

grief in various trials so that the proven character of your

faith more valuable than gold, which though perishable is

refined by fire, may result in praise, glory and honor at the

revelation of Jesus Christ. And when I I get the privilege

of of sitting back and watching someone who has been matured

through suffering and in the midst of trials, they experience

a peace and a trust that I don't mean it's always pretty.

I don't mean it's like, yeah, God's gonna work this out.

And like, we don't even really mean it.

We're trying to commit, but like this, this deep rooted in their

bones, like this, trust joy on their face.

Because fruit has been born and in the struggle against sin, God

has kept and sustained them. And if you ever get the

privilege to talk to these people, what's incredible is

you're not going to hear about a story of someone who figured out

life, who had enough discipline and who kind of just got it all

right and checked all the boxes and now made it to the end

unscathed. That is not the story you hear

of someone who has deep peace in the midst of trials.

You'll hear story of men and women who tell you it's grace

upon grace upon grace. I've got knocked down, I've got

beat up, and all I could do was lift my weary head to the one

who won the battle for me, which is what spurs us to press on,

not in our own strength, but in his.

And even when we do grow weary and we do give up, which

happens, Jesus picks us back up and carries us back on the path.

This is the point of the passage anyways.

It's not about you figuring it out and having enough

discipline. I promise you, it is all about

Jesus. He's the one we're told to look

to, the one to consider. He's the Prince of peace, the

son of righteousness who has risen with healing in his wings.

That's why you hear about joints that are knocked out of place

like it's this cross sometimes. And it is looking to him because

healing will come. He will care for us and bind us

up in the midst of our struggles.

He's not aloof. He's not like someone who's off

to the side and doesn't get it. He left a a throne of perfection

and entered into our struggle, took on flesh, took on humanity.

Fully God, yet fully human, surrendering to His Father's

will. And unlike us, he never grew

weary. He never gave up in the

wilderness, facing the temptation against sin.

Bow to me, I'll give you everything.

The world at his feet. And as the better Adam and the

better Israel, he stays faithful all the way, even to death.

The enemy was attacking him. He became the true son, who was

punished for our iniquities, who actually was scourged and and

bore our transgressions, who was physically cut deep.

And it's through his stripes that we receive healing for our

tired hands and our weak knees. And when all was said and done,

when sin had done its worst with the God man, Christ Jesus, what

does he do? He gives up his life.

He trusts. He doesn't try to fix it.

He says, You know what? Into your hands, Father.

I give you my spirits. And he prays and he trusts God

to complete the work. He obeys, just leaves the

results, knowing that his suffering would not be wasted,

that his resistance against sin, even to the point of shedding

blood, would change the course of humanity, and he laid in a

tomb for three days resting in peace.

But in that tomb of death, God was laying down the roots

necessary to bring forth the fruit of life.

And even though his journey was painful, the joy set before him,

he endured the cross. It was an endurance.

Even though he entered into our suffering on that Sunday

morning, the earth gives way to resurrection hope.

His surrender to suffering produces the fruit of

righteousness in you if you trust in his life, death,

burial, and resurrection. And the empty tomb stands to

serve as a witness. That suffering may endure for a

night, and it might seem like a long night, but joy comes in the

morning. This is the one we look to.

This is the good news. It's all we have to offer as

Christians. It's not about measuring up.

It's looking to the life, death, barrel, and resurrection of

Jesus. And that is what begins to

produce in us. Peace in the midst of suffering,

looking to him. The one who started your faith,

The Founder, the one who's gonna finish it.

You can't do it on your own. The one who who did not call us

to a struggle against sin without first facing it himself

and beating sin and it is gazing upon him, is what actually

transforms us to be a people who began to appreciate the

instruction and discipline of God in our lives.

This is why he ends all of this with a call to the Church, to

care for each other. He calls us to strengthen tired

hands and weakened knees, to walk in straight paths as we

await final healing. And it's not like someone

flippantly telling you when life has knocked you down, like, hey,

keep your head up, son. You'll be fine.

Like, you even know what I'm walking through right now.

Like, that's not it. It's more like the old battle

scarred warrior with bruises and scars still on their body coming

to you and your weakness. You look them in the eyes and

you can tell they know what you're going through, she says.

Hey, hope awaits. Healing is coming, so take

heart, take heart. These verses here, they are a

communal corporate call. We love to interpret everything

through the lens of individuals because we're Americans.

But the reality is this is to the church together.

Y'all strengthen your tired hands.

Y'all strengthen your weary knees.

We can't do this alone. We need each other to remind us

of the good news of Jesus. He's actually quoting from

Isaiah 35. I'm going to read the passage.

It's a little bit lengthy, but look at it with me.

Isaiah 35. It'll be on the screens.

It says strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees.

Say to the cowardly, be strong, Do not fear.

Why? Here is your God.

Vengeance is coming. God's retribution is coming.

We normally see this negative. He's like, yo, hey, he's going

to put all things to right. He's going to end it.

He will save you. Look at the vision.

Then the eyes of the blind will be open, the ears of the deaf

unstopped. The lame will leap like a deer.

The tongue of the mute will sing for joy.

Water will gush in the wilderness and streams in the

desert. A road will be there and away it

will be called the Holy Way. We get to share in His Holiness.

The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for the one

who walks the path. Fools will not wonder on it.

There will be no lie in there. We do not have to be sober

minded. We can rest.

No vicious beast will go up on it.

They will not be found there. But who will be on it?

The redeemed will walk on it and the ransom that the Lord will

return and come to Zion with singing crowned with unending

joy. I love this line right here.

Joy and gladness will just overtake them.

You can't like just let me be happy.

Like no just overtakes us. And sorrow and sighing will

flee. When you walk in at the end of

the day and you're just like, oh, you feel the deep sorrow

because there's pain or grief or death or whatever you're walking

through. Just those deep size of longing.

They will flee and run because there's no room for them.

And you're suffering, no matter how big, no matter how small, in

ways that you could never see or know.

It is working. A weight of glory that cannot be

compared with the depths of your suffering.

And as I've said, that doesn't minimize the depths of your

suffering. It maximizes the height of

glory. Healing will come.

Hope does await. We are awaiting to return to the

city of the Living God that has been designed for us, where

we'll walk in the holy way, made righteous by Christ alone.

Singing songs that sometimes you come here and you're like, I

don't feel like singing today. That's OK.

But then we will sing. We will be crowned with an

ending joy. So yes, sometimes the Christian

life feels a lot less like winning a first round knockout

victory and more like Rocky, right?

Just trying to go 12 rounds. Like getting beat up left and

right, just trying to stay in it.

Survive. Is it 1512?

I don't know. But strengthen your tired hands

and weaken knees, because Jesus has won the fight against sin.

You are God's sons and daughters and he will bring you to the

finish line. Joy comes in the morning as we

closed band. You can start making your way up

or whoever's coming up to sing and play.

I'm going to read for us right before we go into communion from

2nd Corinthians 4, seven through 18.

And I just want you to to receive this and says, now we

have this treasure in clay jars so that this extraordinary power

may be from God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way,

but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in

despair. We are persecuted, but not

abandoned. We are struck down, but not

destroyed. We always carry the death of

Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be

displayed in our body. For we who live us are always

being given over to death for Jesus's sake, so that Jesus's

life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh.

So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with

what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke.

We also believe and therefore speak.

Listen to this, for we know that the one who raised the Lord

Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you.

Indeed, everything is for your benefit, so that as grace

extends through more and more people, this is bigger than just

us. It may cause Thanksgiving to

increase to the glory of God. Therefore, because of what God

is doing in the world, we do not give up.

Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner

person is being renewed day by day, for our momentary light

affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable

eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is

seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary,

but what is unseen is eternal.