Welcome to the Liberty Baptist sermon archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty, Baptist
Church in Eastern Massachusetts. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my Liberty, Baptist dot org or just look us
up on Facebook. And now, we hope that this
message from God's word will be a blessing to you.
Well, we are moving forward in 2023.
That is our theme January. We are looking at going forward
in our daily walk and so that is going to bring us to a familiar
passage to many of you and that is Hebrews chapter 12 this
morning. So would you turn in your
Bibles? Please to the book of Hebrews
chapter number 12 and will stand in a few moments for the reading
of God's word Hebrews chapter number 12, as I mentioned to
some of you, I do have a surgery tomorrow.
I am going for outpatient surgery to Boston Medical Center
just to get Some of this excess skin removed, some of those dead
skin cells have been causing me some problems from my surgery.
They've been getting infected several times over and so the
best course of action seems to be just to remove that
completely, so that will be happening on Monday tomorrow
1:00. So I appreciate your prayers
about that but I'm looking forward to being back on
Wednesday. But going along with all of that
in the surgery, I'm actually believe it or not.
Going through my second round. Now of physical therapy.
I went back to physical therapy on Wednesday and The reason was
because I've had stress injuries and both of my legs that have
caused it to be difficult to walk for a little bit, although
not badly, but it was a difficulty.
But more, the difficulty wasn't running that I have run for
several years and then because of the fibula being taken out of
my left leg and then running. And then they didn't like me
running, I guess without a fibula.
I don't know, exactly. But I do know this.
I had to go back to physical therapy and I had to find out if
I'm doing something wrong. Am I doing?
Something that is preventing me from running the way that I want
to run. And so after going through about
45 minutes of, you know, push this pull this stand up, stand
on one leg stand on both legs. You know, you know say your
alphabet backwards. I felt like I doing all kinds of
stuff at Physical Therapy. But going through all of that,
finally, the therapist that I've had now, for several sessions of
physical therapy and lymphedema therapy, helping get some of the
swelling out of my face. This woman said to me, all
right, now I want you to get on Treadmill and I want you to run
now, I haven't run at all for six months.
It's the first time I've been on a treadmill in six months and so
I did and I ran at a very slow pace for about three minutes.
And she said, oh right, you can go ahead and stop and she says I
can already identify couple different problems with what
you're doing now. Which could cause problems.
One is the fact that you're kind of running and your kind of
straight up and you need to be leaning forward a little bit
kind of leaning into the run a little bit Geo.
Secondly you're landing on your heels.
When you're running, you need to be landing in the middle of your
foot or on the ball of your foot but you keep landing on your
heels and you'll get shin splints.
And I said, I know I've had shin splints and she says, I know you
have that's why you're here. That's why I'm telling you you
need to stop playing and on your heels.
And so it's amazing to me within three minutes.
She told me of things that I'm doing wrong with my form and was
trying to help me correct those things I've done wrong.
Now, I say this here today, not because I want to explain to you
the details of me. Going through physical therapy
because, well, you don't want to hear about it.
I don't want to do it, but that's just kind of the way that
it is. What I'm saying is, I believe
there's actually a spiritual connection between me having to
understand the right way to run and for us in understanding the
right way to run, not in a physical race.
But in this spiritual race in which God has put us.
And so, when we think of the race that God has called us to
run, we consider that there are some who just aren't able to
move ahead. In their daily walk.
And I believe the reason for that is found right here in our
text and Hebrews chapter 12 and I would ask you this this
morning. Maybe you would say I just don't
feel like I'm getting ahead in my spiritual life.
I feel like I'm I'm Treading Water.
I feel like I'm supposed to be going forward but I'm not and I
want to ask you a question. Don't answer it out loud but
answering your heart. Aren't you kind of tired of
that? Aren't you tired of spinning
your wheels? Spiritually and it don't you get
tired of your walk producing desire to serve God but not the
actual service to God that he desires.
And I believe, if that's your heart this morning, there's hope
for us and Hebrews chapter 12. Hope for us as we move forward
in our Christian race, in a tie, a message that I've entitled
this. What's holding you back?
Would you stand Please Hebrews
chapter 12 and we're just going to read the first three verses.
The word says this. Wherefore seeing we also are
compassed about with so great, a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience, the race that is set before us
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross
despising, the shame and is set down at the right hand of the
Throne of God, he gave himself who I see right there for
consider him that endured such contradiction.
Diction of Sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and
faint in your own minds. Thank you for listening.
The word of God and you may be seated.
Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds one.
Interesting, that, that phrase there is not that she we be
wearied and faint in your bodies.
But rather that you be saying, well, let's try it again, faint
and weary in your minds. And for some here this morning,
maybe that's your testimony. That when it comes to running
the Christian race, you are faint and you are weary in your
mind's. Well, the good news is there's
hope for us here in Hebrews chapter 12.
Hope for us to understand what's holding us.
That from running the Christian race that God has called us to
run. You know, the Christian Life is
a race but I found that many people don't treat it like it's
such. In fact I was just reading this
from the commentator William Barclay and he said this about
the Christian Life he said the Christian is not an unconcerned
stroller along the byways of Life.
He's a Wayfarer on the high road.
He is not a tourist who returns each night to the place from
which he starts. He's a pilgrim.
Who is Forever on the way. The goal is nothing less than
the likeness of Christ. The Christians life is going
somewhere and it would do. Well, if at the days ending, we
were to ask ourselves. Am I any further on that as we
realize we're not just tourists on the highways and byways of
life, but were pilgrims that this worlds on our home we're
just passing through, but as we go on the Christian walk, every
single day as we run the Christian race, we ask
ourselves, am I in Further on today than I was yesterday.
Have I moved ahead? And this is really what our
theme forward is all about this year.
Am I any further on? Am I any further on this month
than I was last month? Am I any further on this week
that I was last week? Am I any further on today than I
was yesterday? Think of the distance that we
could go for God? If we just went a little further
every day I remember a man told me once many years ago, he says
son. He says you can get far in
Earth, you can walk around the world, rather he says, if you
take your time, And as a sixteen-year-old I thought
that's one of the weirdest things I've ever heard that
doesn't even make any sense and the older I get, I realized what
he was trying to say. Listen just take a little bit at
a time and you'll get were God's trying to get you to go.
If we could just say every day, not that we're going to
necessarily hit a home run for Christ that day, but are you
willing to move forward from today to tomorrow?
And from tomorrow to the next day imagine a year.
Imagine 10 years, imagine 20 years if we just looked back and
saw that we went forward for God a little bit each day.
How much We do for his cause, but this Christian Life is a
race but like my bad running form.
Hinders me from running physically, like I want to bad
running form. In the Christian Life, can do
exactly the same. Now, thankfully, the text that
we just read gives us a warning of bad form, but it also gives
us a diagram of the right form. So it tells us, this is the
wrong form and running the Christian race.
And then it says this, then you have the right form in running.
The Christian race. So we need to look at both of
those this morning to make sure we're running in our daily log
walk like we should, but I would say this before we even begin,
you can't run the Christian race today without knowing Jesus
Christ as your savior, you can't go on a journey for Christ
without knowing the Christ of the journey.
And before you go on any Journey beyond the cross, you must take
a journey to the cross and Neil, they're submitting yourself to
Jesus Christ. Realizing that only he Can save
you from your sins. So my appeal to you this morning
before we even go any further is, if you don't know, Jesus
Christ. As your savior, if you were to
die today and you don't know that when you open your eyes
after you died and yes I said that correctly.
I say a lot of things incorrectly but I said that
correctly, when you open your eyes after you die, will you be
an eternal Lake of Fire? Will you be in heaven forever
with Jesus Christ? If you don't know where you
would spend eternity friend. Listen, I don't care.
If I miss lunch. I don't care if I miss dinner.
I don't care if I miss samael. That's saying a lot.
I don't care if I miss a meal, I want to know that, you know,
Jesus Christ, as your savior before you leave today, do not
let embarrassment do not. Let a delay of time do not let
the fact that you have the rest of your life to figure this out.
Get in the way of deciding today.
Today is the day of salvation. The Bible says, if you don't
know him you need to repent of your sins and call upon him
today while you have the opportunity and so I'd encourage
you to do that today. But before we consider that We
also realized that, for those of us who are saved, we got to run
this Christian rights. And so we have to diagnose the
bad form that we have in running this race.
And in fact, it tells us this the writer of Hebrews says, in
verse number one, it says wherefore seeing.
We are also compass'd about with so great.
A cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside.
So we see right from the get-go. Right from the jump, we realized
this, if we're to run the race that God wants us to run, that's
the end of verse number 1 there. Some things we have to lay
aside. There's some things we must
forsake if we're to run the race that God wants us to run,
there's some things that will tank our ability to run.
There's some things could we put it this way that will hobble us
if we're trying to run the Christian race, if we
incorporate them into our lives and there's some things we have
to lay aside and he gives us to him, he gives these to us here
in our text says. Let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily.
Beset, us actually want to start with the second in that list
here just briefly. That there's some sin that we
have to lay aside, you say, well Pastor, if I'm saved then I
don't have to deal with sin anymore and the answer to that
is well certainly we don't have to deal with the Eternal
repercussions of our sin because we have been forgiven of our
sins. We are justified in the eyes of
Jesus Christ, but you don't have to walk long in this earth to
realize that after you get saved your old flesh, still wants to
do wrong. And your old flesh is still
trying to rise up and trying to do things then that the holy
spirit inside of you is telling you not to do.
And so the writer of Hebrews do the inspirational, holy spirit
makes it so clear to us this morning.
That if we're to run the race that God wants us to run, we
must lay aside sin. It says Paul said in Romans
chapter 6 twice over, he said, shall we continue in sin that
Grace May abound. God forbid, don't keep doing it,
just stop, it's not helping you at all.
Only hindering you on the race to sin.
Literally means the definition of sin.
Literally means to miss the Mark we sin.
When we missed the Benchmark of God's holiness as described to
us in his holy word we sin. When we miss the Benchmark of
God's holiness as described to us in God's holy word, you can't
run races your own way. You realize that this morning
you can't run races your own way.
We have some in this assembly who not myself who have run not
just races but there's these kind of crazy races they're
called like Spartan races or mud runs or different things.
And you know what? You don't just run because
that's because that's easy enough, right?
Anybody can do that, apparently. But you had to go through mud
pits and climb ladders. I've seen ones we have to belly
crawl, and there's like electrical fences.
If, you know, if you go a little bit too high and it shocks you
at all, That I mean, it sounds like a great way to waste, 50
bucks to me. You know, I don't know.
I can't, I don't know but there are people have done it and I
can see the appeal somewhere but imagine running one of these
races and coming up to the next obstacle and saying this.
Yeah I don't think so and so you run around it and you go to the
next obstacle and you say mud on these brand new running shoes, I
don't think so and you run around that and then you see
this ladder that you have to go up, it's about 10 feet tall, I
think I'm Of heights. I guess I'm going to skip that
too and you get all the way to the end.
But because you skipped all the obstacles, you're actually in
first place and you be, everyone else to the end of the course
and you celebrate and you're expecting them to put the medal
around your neck and they just look at you.
And they say this, you're disqualified.
Why was first? Well you may have been first but
you didn't run the race. The right way.
Do you may have thought that you had come ahead but you didn't
run the race as prescribed in the rulebook.
Do you realize there are people here today who believe they're
living in first place because they have a big bank account
because they have a nice job because they're popular because
everyone seems to love them because they have power and
authority and they feel like they're in first place.
But what they will realize is this, that if you don't follow,
Follow the rule book that God has and I'm not talking about
trying to live a good life to be saved.
You can't live a good life, enough to be saved but I'm
talking about in this race this Christian race that God has
called us to run. It's not those who have the
biggest churches. It's not those who necessarily I
have them outward Conformity, that everyone thinks that they
should have, but it's those who have run the race that God has
called them to run. They've laid aside the sin.
If God says it's in, I'm laying it aside.
Those are the ones who are running the race properly.
Many Christians have made their own hybrid version of
Christianity. Using their own opinions and
their own specific needs. Why see what the Bible says but
in my situation more when you keep you get yourself into
dangerous territory, right there, you know what you're
doing? You're picking up sin instead of
laying inside and it's going to harm you.
As you run the race, you can tailor a suit, you can trick out
an automobile. You can custom design a ring,
but you can't custom design your Christianity.
If God says, lay it aside, We Lay it aside.
If God says, don't do it, we don't do it.
It it doesn't matter what your opinion is on it and by the way,
it doesn't matter what my opinion is on it.
It's what God's opinion is on it and we do it and we lay aside
the sin that duck and it doesn't just say lay aside the sin.
It says lay aside the sin that does so easily beset us, meaning
this that each of us are tempted by different sins, that happened
to arouse our flesh differently than other people.
What may be a Temptation for you?
I'll be a Temptation for someone else.
Now, it's still sin for everyone because if God says it's in it's
in. But God will tempt me with
different sin that he will tempt you very often.
Why is that? Because he understands to easily
beset mean, the word. Beset means this to press on all
sides as to perplex to entangle. So as to render Escape difficult
or impossible that there are certain sins in our lives, that
that who Satan loves to tempt us with and what does he say, you
better be set. Those, you better get rid of
those, listen, some are easily beset by foul language.
It's just the way they've always talk.
And it just seems to come so easily when they get into a
difficult situation, you had to lay that aside, some are easily
beset by pornography. It's something that they looked
at when they were younger and they were suddenly struggle with
or it's something that has come into by the way, not just for
men, but for women as well, the statistics show that it's
something that is a epidemic in our nation for both men and
women. There are some who are easily
beset by that. There are some who are easily
beset by bitterness. Oh sure, they don't show
anything on the outside, but on the inside, they're bitter and
they're angry at situations in life.
There's Some who are beset easily, beset by alcohol or
substances, where were some may not have any difficulty saying
no to those things for others. It's a great difficulty because
of their last, their life decisions.
There are some who are beset easily beset by hypocrisy
showing outward Conformity to the things of Christ while
having little spiritual desire on the inside.
All of those are sins that we must forsake.
If we're going to run the race, God wants us to call it, what
God wants us to run. Will you forsake the sin that's
bad form it, but you can't run the race with that sin, but not
just that. It said in verse number one, not
just the sin, but lay aside every weight.
Now, I've explained this before this isn't new, but I felt just
so impression by the Lord, to be able to present this to the
whole body here, this morning on a Sunday morning, but the
weights are not sin. In, if the weights were sin, we
wouldn't had the word sin following behind it.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
It's obvious because they're two different things named.
They're two different things I would submit to you.
This that the weights are not sin, but they are inconveniences
on the race course. They are not sin, but they are
inconveniences on the race course of Life.
They are not violations, of the rule book, but they are things
that. If you incorporate into your
race will not have you run the way that you should back in
2011? There was a firefighter name's
James, guess key of Glendale Wisconsin.
He finished 115th in the oh, he finished the 115th Boston
Marathon while wearing 30 pounds of firefighting gear.
Think about that, he finished in four hours, 18 minutes and 29
seconds. And I would say man, I like to
wear that if it made me run at that speed but he can actually
run much faster. He did it for, it was only two
minutes slower than the median marathon time for men that year,
but he completed this extraordinary effort as a
tribute to his colleague, John Harrington who was killed in a
crash while biking to a Station House in May 2004 and he ran to
raise money for the Wisconsin burn survivors.
Network see, for James guess key.
He ran the race for cause he wasn't running to win.
I would say. James guess he would probably
say this if he was running to win, he wouldn't have been
carrying 30 pounds of fire fighting equipment on his back.
You know what, he had, he had some weights, he was carrying
some weights that would have slowed him down and for us if
you're going to run the Christian race on, listen, this
isn't popular. When it comes to churches today.
And so what I understand what I'm about to say, there are some
that may not like what it what what you hear.
But I want to encourage you don't listen to me, listen to
the Holy Spirit and the word of God as he speaks to you this
morning, but there are some things that are not inherently
sinful that the word of God does not forbid us to do, but it's
just not appropriate in certain Nations for a Christian to do.
Because it hinders our ability to run the race that God wants
us to run. It hinders the ability for us to
be able to share the gospel with other people.
It hinders our ability to be able to minister to our family,
the way that we should and it or not sinful.
Pastor, show me in the Bible where it's wrong, I can't.
But I would tell you this, in your situation in your life, you
would even know. And you would even admit, you
know, what this is kind of getting in the way between my
relationship with the Lord and I'm not running the race.
The way God would want me to run, maybe you need to change.
Check your gear this morning to see what slowing you down.
Maybe you need to strip down those things that don't belong
in the Christian race. The things that are holding you
back, they're not the sin, but they're the weights and the list
is different for everybody. The list is different for us.
All Could I give you some examples?
It could be the news for some of the news is await the news in
general just knowing what's going.
I'm not saying you should be informed about what's going on
in the world. But in the 24-hour news cycle,
some of us try to consume 23 of the 24 hours of it.
That could be a wait. news in general politics, specifically,
I'm afraid, there are more Believers today who are more
concerned about being a conservative than they are about
being Christian. I listen I'm conservative
because of what the Bible says. Jay Pastor you preaching on
politics? No, no, I'm not preaching on
politics that quite the opposite.
What I'm saying is this, I get my stances in life, not from a
political party, but from the word of God, political parties
shift, in fact, they're great at doing that.
You know, what doesn't shift the word of God, that's always been
the same. And so maybe for you the weight
is getting into politics and following that, and then should
go. What's going on?
Listen, I mean, 17, votes. 1000 vote.
I don't know how many times they voted for speaker.
I was intrigued. To, I don't know what they were
doing. I don't know what was going on.
They didn't know what was going on from quite honestly, but, you
know, we can get so involved in these things, it can be a wait.
And it may not be for some people.
You might just read about it in the morning and you don't think
about it, the rest of the day for some it's a wait.
It could be a Civics group or a club.
It could be a face group group or could be Facebook in general.
It could be a social media account because social media can
be a snare for many. All Pastor, you're saying,
nobody should be on social media, I'm on social media, the
church is on social media, that's not what I'm saying.
But for some people who are glued to social media, it's a
wait Or you're getting into things on social media that you
know, you're not supposed to. It's a vehicle may be for you to
look at things or to consume things, you know, you're not,
it's a weight. Well you can't say I can't have
it. Well maybe you just don't need
to have it. Maybe it's just inconvenient on
your race that God's called you to run.
Could be hobbies that have turned into obsessions, it could
be money. Pastor.
There's nothing wrong with money.
Well, inherently money's not sinful.
The Bible doesn't say that money is the root of all evil.
I hear that quoted. Bible says, the money is the
root of all evil. Well, no, it's not.
Bible says, the love of money is the root of all evil.
What is it saying when it becomes a weight instead of a
tool? When it becomes a weight instead
of a tool. Then we've missed the Mark.
What's happened were running with bad form?
We've got sin who Pastor, I don't like you talking about
saying, I don't like you talking about the weights.
Listen, you're not going to do better until you realize where
you're going wrong. I've been running for five
years. I don't want some woman that I
barely know to tell me. I'm not running, right?
I'm running fine. That's why I've had shin splints
twice and plantar fasciitis and why?
I'm seeing the physical therapist for the second time in
a year and a half. I'm doing fine.
He's a pastor, you're not getting it.
You how many Christians? I've met Pastor.
I'm doing fine. Well, here's what the word says
I'm doing fine, but but you asked me for help and I'm just
telling you what the word of God.
Well, I wanted help but that's not what I want to do.
What I'm doing fine. You know, who the head in your
daily walk, you're going behind, don't say that you're a follower
of Christ and then in turn around and deny every single
thing that he says to do just because it's inconvenient to the
race. You want to run.
I would ask you this in that condition.
Who's God? Because if God says this and you
say I want to do something else well who's the highest
Authority? And listen this steps on my toes
to this morning. So don't think I'm getting onto
you because every finger I got pointed you, I've got three
pointed back at me. But let's just be real if we
want Revival, if we want to get right with God, we got to get
real with ourselves and we got to realize there's some things
in the race that we don't want to discuss.
There's some things we don't want the Holy Spirit to talk to
us about. We they're closed doors that
aren't for him to talk about. Listen, I'm already going to
church, I'm already doing better than I used to.
How much more do I have to? Give up?
How many more things do I have to do?
I'm tired of the whole mess. Look, I'll be a Christian.
Sure, but I mean, there has to be a time where, I mean, how
much more does he want me to give up?
well, he wants us to forsake all and follow him and bar forsaking
all we gain Hall. He saves his life, shall lose
it. Lose his life for my sake, shall
save. But here's the problem.
Simply knowing you're running incorrectly.
Doesn't really help you does it, it's important.
It's important. But it's not everything.
Because if someone just tells you you're doing wrong, you're
doing wrong, you're doing wrong, you walk out and say hi.
I'm doing wrong but you know how to do right?
Can I be honest with you sometimes may be going to a
Baptist Church can feel like that at least in the General
Baptist circles. I'm doing wrong.
Okay, well I guess I'm just
doing wrong and you walk out of here and you think oh I'm
already doing wrong anyway. So I might as well just keep
doing wrong. But you know, running the race
properly means you correct, the bad form.
Then you replace it with good form.
I'm hoping after the first session where I was just told
how bad of a wicked rotten Center Runner.
I am She'll explain to me how to do it, right?
So you see I'm it's not like she, I saw her on Wednesday and
I ran Friday. I know I can't run until I do it
the right way. Okay, I did something wrong, but
then I could replace it with something else.
That's wrong. So we see there's a wrong way to
run, but there also has to be a way to run with the right form.
So, physically for me, it means having someone who knows what
they're doing, correcting the flaws and replacing them with
Correct behaviors. I need to see someone who knows
how to run and have them teach me how to run.
I'm not very good at golf. I want to play golf this year.
I really do. Brother Sam's begging me to play
golf this year and lately. I don't know.
But we'll see. We'll see how the your goes but
I'm self-taught which means I can't.
Just learn unlearn all the things I'm doing wrong then I
got to learn how to do it, right?
Because just because I switch to something else, I could switch
to something else. It's just as wrong, instead of
slicing 30 yards One Direction. I can hook 40 yards the other
And so I'm going to replace it with something.
That's right, so in the Christian Life, it's not just a
pastor, you know, this pastor, he's always down us.
He just tell us all the stuff that's wrong.
He says, God bless you and leave and don't forget your tithe on
the way out. I mean, what's all that about
What's all that about? This guy doesn't even get it.
Boom, you realize I'm in the same boat as everyone in this
room. We're all there but it's not
just about what we're doing wrong, it's about what to do,
right. You know, I just wonder as a
Christian who could point out to us the wrong way, the wrong ways
in our life and who could show us an example of the perfect
form of living. If only there was someone who
could show us what's wrong in our life and show us the A
perfect for I wish. There is.
It's in our text. Go to verse 2.
Looking unto pastor. Everyone should say thank.
Thank the Lord. No, yeah, God forbids even
better. Looking unto my spouse.
Looking unto the televangelist. Looking unto my favorite online
preacher. Looking unto Jesus.
The author and the finisher of my faith, the author and the
finisher. That means he's the Creator and
the completer of our faith. He's the example of faith and
he's the executor of Faith. He is the one that we are to
look to. If we were to run the race that
God wants us to run, we are to look to Jesus as the author and
the finisher of our faith. And if you aren't sure why here
are his credentials, who for the joy, that was set before him, he
was joyful to go. To the Cross, not joyful for the
pain, not joyful for the suffering, joyful that you.
And I could be reconciled with the father once again.
And so, because of that, even though he sweat, great drops of
blood, there is the garden. There was still a joy deep down
within his soul knowing that when his mission was completed,
once he died and was buried and rose again and apply his blood
at the mercy seat at heaven and sat down at the right hand of
God, the father that you and I had the ability to be reconciled
with him. That's his credentials.
And we look unto him as the one who's the author and finisher of
our faith. How do I run right?
Look to Jesus. And you'll know how to run,
right? Look to Him, He endured the
cross despising, the shame. That that phrase there,
despising, the shame means he had no regard for the fact that
the process of his death was humiliate, humiliating and
degrading despised the shame. He says this, I care not for the
shame. It doesn't even move me.
I'm afraid for us as Believers a lot of time at the shame that
comes with publicly being called a Christian, keeps our Bibles
closed, it keeps the tracks in the pocket or in the purse.
It keeps us from claiming the name of Christ.
It keeps us from telling someone to please stop saying the name
of my God in the way that you're saying it.
And I'm not saying to be haughty, and I'm not saying to
be unkind because we need to be careful about that.
But sometimes, we're so concerned about what other
people think that we forget, here's Jesus Christ, he despised
the shame. He he literally cared not for
the shame, it didn't move him. He was going to that cross.
He's set down at the right hand of the Throne of God, for
consider him that endured such contradiction of Sinners against
himself. That the Creator was put to
death by his creation, what a contradiction of Sinners and yet
he didn't gladly What's the right form?
Well consider him. Consider him in your daily walk.
There's a saying in the nineties.
It was it was so trite and to be honest with you is said, so
often hid lost any and all meaning, but what would Jesus do
you remember? That was on bracelets and
Clothing and all kinds of things that was on who's on pogs if you
remember, those are 90s, anyone know nobody?
Okay, good. But there's all these things
from the 90s. It was very popular.
What would Jesus do? And it became?
So, what lesson would pop culture takes over something
like that? You know, probably not going in
a great Direction, but I will say this, the thought is true.
Consider him. What would Jesus do?
You know that is consider him How often do you consider him
during your day? Someone said something to me, I
didn't like. But what would Jesus do?
I was angry at somebody for what they did to me, what would Jesus
do? How often do we truly consider
him? What, what would being like?
Jesus. Look like, you know.
What's wonderful about that, brother.
Rick just read that for us a few minutes ago, Philippians chapter
2. Who always in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Made himself of no reputation and took upon him, the form of a
servant. And being obedient unto death.
Went to the death of the cross. I love when the Bible gives us
an assignment. It tells us how to complete the
assignment. Consider him.
Well, how well, here's what he is like.
It's the right form. It's the way to run.
Listen. if you're thinking like I am Feeling like I'm first of
all, you're thinking you're hungry.
But secondly, if you're thinking like I am, You're thinking this.
Who can do this? Like who could even do this?
You Pastor, you could do it. I don't feel like I can not like
I should. Who can do this.
But again, when the Bible gives us an assignment, it always
gives us the ability. And the guidance to complete
that assignment. and it's actually at the beginning of
chapter 12, Luke 12:1, wherefore seeing we are compass'd about
with so great. A cloud of witnesses.
Now, stop right there. I skip that before on purpose.
Here's a little help when you're doing your Bible reading, and
you're trying to study, when you see a wherefore or therefore in
the Bible, you want to check what's before to see what it's
there for. Wherefore So that we're for
means there's a conversation that's just happened.
Wherefore here's what I want you to glean from that conversation
and so we just kind of jumped into the middle of a greater
conversation chapter 12 starts where for okay?
So there was something that was discussed in chapter 11 that
would help me to be able to fulfill that which is talked
about in chapter number 12. What could it possibly be well,
will you remember that in Hebrews chapter number 11, we
find that there is a great listing of Old Testament Saints
who had faith. Faith in God.
Wherefore seeing as we have a compass'd about with such a
great cloud of witnesses. Well, what are those Witnesses?
Who are those Witnesses? Well, there was able who had a
faithful sacrifice. There was Enoch, who walked with
God, and was translated, there was no who built an ark.
There was Abraham who followed his God, LED there was Sarah,
who came to believe that which was impossible.
There was Isaac who saw the future.
And there was Jacob, who knew that God would fulfill his
promises. There was Joseph who bones were
arrested in case Ninh. There was a am and Jacob who put
Moses in a vessel to save his life when babies were being
murdered by Pharaoh. There was Moses himself, who
forsook Egypt for the Israelites.
There was Joshua, whose Faith brought down the walls of
Jericho Rahab, who cast her lot with the Israelites.
There was Gideon, who whacks Mighty and War and they rack who
subdued kingdoms and Sampson. Who from weakness was made
strong in jeptha who defeated armies and David who obtained
promises and each and every one of those are witnesses.
God, imagine this seated in a courtroom not just witnesses as
in they were just on the sidelines just watching us run
the race. I think sometimes that's the way
that it's preach their Witnesses, they're just cheering
us on there in the crowd there at the Finish Line, just up in
heaven. Going to go ahead.
You can do it. We're proud of, you know, that's
David's not up there in heaven. Just watching us saying.
Keep going turn that TV off, turn that TV off.
David's not doing that. I promise you but here's why I
believe there's a great cloud of witnesses who were saying we
couldn't do it either. Either we had no way to run the
life that God wanted us to run. We were weak.
We were feeble. Abraham David?
Jacob. These are people who have no
business being in the faith Hall of Fame. but yet they believed
God and it was counted for that for righteousness and they stand
as Witnesses, not in Judgment of us, but in a courtroom saying,
if we could do it, You could to me that's a whole lot better
than Abraham saying. Go read your Bible.
Go read your Bible. it's them literally being Witnesses in
heaven saying, God helped us. And he'll help me.
Pastor, we can't do it today and maybe even saying this becomes a
walk in my Christian life. I don't see it, I don't see it.
You don't know my past. You don't know the sins that
doth so easily, beset me. You don't know the things I
struggle with the things that tempt me, you don't know.
And yes, I'm a Believer but I have so much trouble with my
flesh and I want to do so much for God.
I want to move forward this year.
I'm encouraged by the theme. I know I want to move forward
but I just don't, I don't see it.
I don't know how it can happen. Can I leave you with Hebrews
11:1? But faith is the substance of
things hoped for And the evidence of Things Not Seen.
Don't see it. That's good.
That's the first step of faith. God, I can't run this Christian
race, but either could David, neither could Abraham either.
Could Jacob, neither could amram and jochabed, or Rahab or Joshua
or Bay, Rack, or Samson. But yet by faith.
They stand as Witnesses saying, we could do it with God's help
and you can't, you are you willing to forsake the weights
and the sin and follow the perfect running form of our Lord
and Savior. Jesus Christ.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info, at my Liberty Baptist dot org,
or you can visit us this Sunday at eight hundred Washington
Street in Eastern. Massachusetts, may the Lord
bless you as you grow in his word.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info, at my Liberty Baptist dot org,
or you can visit us this Sunday at eight hundred Washington
Street in Eastern. Massachusetts, may the Lord
bless you as you grow in his word.