Looking unto Jesus (Heb.12:1-2, comm. msg.)(transcript)

Introduction and Context for Communion Meditation

0:02 The following message was delivered on Sunday evening, February 5th, 1995, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, before we read the word of God and ask the Lord's blessing upon our meditation, just a brief word of explanation for those who are visiting with us for the first time or perhaps relatively new amongst us. Now, ordinarily the center, the focal point, the greater bulk of our time in public worship is given to the preaching of the word of God. That ordinarily means in the framework of an hour, more or less, of exposition and application. But we believe that when we come to the Supper of Remembrance in the language of Acts 20, it is said that they gathered on the first day. They gathered a week in order to break bread. And though there were unusual circumstances that meant Paul preached an unusually lengthy sermon, one man fell asleep, a young lad, and fell out the window, and they thought him to be dead, or he may have been dead.

1:18 But the principle being that there is a gathering in which the focal point is the coming to the table, and therefore we restrict the ministry in its length, to approximate, approximately a half an hour and its focus to something that will in a very special way prepare us for coming to the table so that when we actually do come to the table we are not excessively weary in mind that we do not need, then, a lengthy meditation at the table to prepare us to take the bread and the cup and to eat in faith and hopefully with hearts warmed up. And the person warned by the word of God. And so if you are visiting among us we want to assure you, that you will generally get more than a half an hour of exposition and application of the word of God, We would not want you to come and judge the ministry simply based upon tonight, and go away and say well I have heard that that is a place where you get a good six-sq.elt meal in the scriptures and all I get is an appetizer and my soup, and you would not rightly judge of the order, ordinary fare served in this spiritual restaurant. So hopefully that word of explanation will put our gathering in a proper and accurate context. Will you turn with me now to Hebrews

2:42 chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12, and I shall read in your hearing the opening two verses which to many of us are very familiar words, Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Now let us pray and ask God by the Holy Spirit to give us the fresh sight of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father, we thank you for the words of our Lord Jesus, who speaking concerning the

4:04 person and ministry of the Spirit, that he shall take of mine and shall reveal it to me. And we pray that the Holy Spirit this night will do that work which he delights to do in testifying to Christ. Take, we pray, his own inscripturated word. And make it a living word to each of our hearts. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Central Command: Looking Unto Jesus

4:38 Now for our brief communion meditation tonight, I want to direct your attention to one simple, fundamental, but all-important word found in the two verses read in your hearing. That is the word embodied in the phrase in verse 2, verse 1, verse 2, verse 1, verse 2, verse 1, verse 1, verse 2, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1. It refers to Jesus. It says, Look unto someone who, at its beginning, is looking unto Jesus.

5:12 Notice here what I mean by he is continually looking toward the land, headquarters, into the familiar place by the threeってる of Israel. He It means that there are multiple castles unlikeจ acontecendo in the land. Now, those words are the kind of words that very naturally lend themselves to plaques that are found in Christian book stores and in various forms of calligraphy or other forms of visual art, or that are set on plaques because there is a bit of a catchy ring to them looking unto Jesus. So I want to't wait here until broadcast us this performance and get such a great piece of information that comes out today.

5:33 us, but so often the words are used in a relatively sentimental way, in a way that has very little intelligible content, and yet the way in which they are set before us surely is just the opposite of that. Let me say just a word about the general setting of these verses from which that phrase is taken. Those of you familiar with the epistle to the Hebrews will know that in this epistle the writer is calling his readers to persevering faith based upon the better things of the new covenant. Here were people tempted to go back to the types and shadows of the old covenant because their confession of attachment to Christ as the mediator of the new covenant and to all of the privileges of that better covenant with its better priesthood, better sacrifices, and all of its better things was bringing upon them bitter and sometimes even life-threatening opposition and persecution. And so the writer to Hebrews is concerned by drawing on the believers, by holding out before them the better things,

The Setting of Hebrews 12:1-2: The Christian Race

6:58 and as it were getting behind them and driving them on with some of the most sober threatenings and warnings to be found anywhere in the word of God. So he is enticing them to persevering faith by opening up the better things of the new covenant, and he is seeking to drive them on in the way of the better things of the new covenant by sober warnings. And in the course of doing that, he came to chapter 11 in which he set forth this marvelous display, this honor roll of men and women who manifested such persevering faith. And starting with the patriarchs and moving right on to some of their own contemporaries who were being martyred for the sake of Christ, he set forth this display, this honor honor roll of the men and women who manifested this persevering faith and thereby attained the reward of the eternal inheritance. In the light of all of this, he now is going to give this very focused exhortation

8:17 in verses 12, verses 1 and 2 of chapter 12, Therefore, let us also. And he begins with this encouragement to enter and remain in the race. He says, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us do something because there is a great cloud of witnesses. And the witnesses could either be regarded as those who've gone before and are now in the stadium beholding us, or I rather believe that the meaning is they are the ones who bear witness that persevering faith does indeed bring a glorious reward. The idea that the saints who've gone before us are actually beholding us in our race is something that, to my knowledge, cannot be established exegetically from the word of God. I believe it would cause great sadness to the spirits of just men, and it would be perfect if they saw the way in which we often run the race. And I don't believe God is going to make them our encouragement at the expense of their joy in the presence of God.

9:36 But they are witnesses by their presence in the very immediate presence of God that to run the race of persevering faith is not to be engaged in a fool's endeavor. So there is the encouragement to enter and remain in the race, and the race that comes from this cloud of witnesses who tell us that to run the race in persevering faith is indeed to attain unto a blessed reward. Then there comes, in the second place, the call to make the necessary preparation to run well in the race. Compassed with these witnesses, we are to lay aside every weight, everything that would encumber us, and the sin which doth so easily beset us. Not referring to what we call a besetting sin, but sin of any kind, sin of any nature, sin in its totality. We must lay aside all encumbrances. We must lay aside the very body of sin like a cloak that would encumber us.

10:46 I had the privilege of watching the Millrose Games on Friday night. I was invited by one of our church members to see them in Madison Square, and it was interesting to watch that before every race, no matter what kind of warm-up clothes the athletes had, they stripped down to the bare minimum of their racing gear that they might not be encumbered in seeking to win the prize. So we move from the encouragement to enter and remain in the race that comes from those who have gone before and witnessed that to do so is not to be a fool. Then there is encouragement.

11:24 call to make the necessary preparation to run well in the race, lay aside all encumbrances and the body of sin. Then thirdly, there is the summons to run the race with endurance determined to finish. Let us run with patience or endurance the race that is set before us. And the language here is very similar to the language of 1 Corinthians 9.

11:55 We have been dealing with the subject of Christian liberty and the necessity of having our liberty regulated by the determination to keep our own souls in a healthy state, by the determination not only to enter the Christian race, to run for a while, but to complete the race and to seize the prize. And some of the technical language from those athletes is the same as the technical language from those athletes. And some of the technical language from those athletes is the same as the technical language games is found in this passage. And so we are summoned to run this race with endurance, determined to complete it. Then we come in the fourth place to our phrase, the directive for the fixation of our eyes throughout the entire race. Everything leads up to this. We have responded by grace to enter the race. We have and continue to seek to lay aside

The Nature of 'Looking Unto Jesus'

12:58 all encumbrances and the sin which besets us. Our hearts are set upon running and completing the race, and in all of that there is to be this directive understood by us that touches the fixation of the eyes of our soul throughout. The entire race looking unto Jesus. Now the word looking is a rare word in the New Testament.

13:30 This particular word is found only twice. There is a standard word for looking, but that's not the word that is used here. This word literally means to take your eyes away from one thing and to concentrate them upon another. It is a looking away.

13:50 Looking off unto Jesus. So that in the entirety of the Christian race there is to be a fixation of the spiritual eyes upon Jesus himself. And because in the very nature of being true to the text in 1 Corinthians 10, we have had some very deep, long, searching, sobering looks at our own hearts. We have had some deep, long, searching looks at the sins that lurk within our own hearts and are constantly there to threaten us in our Christian race. And in the midst of all of this, I believe this text is the most appropriate meditation for our coming to the table tonight that in our determination to regulate all of our liberties by the determination of the Holy Spirit to complete the race and seize the prize, we are to turn our eyes away from every other object, including ourselves, the sins into which we might possibly fall, the

15:08 many who are strewn as wreckage along the race course, and we are to fix our eyes upon Jesus himself. But now this is the time. Looking off unto Jesus is not some mystical, sentimental notion, but we are to look off unto Jesus basically in a two-fold light. Look at the text. Looking away unto Jesus, the author or captain and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured away. The cross despising shame and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. The two-fold light in which we are to gaze by faith upon our Lord Jesus with a faith that is constantly instructed and enlightened and shaped by the scriptures so that it is not a Jesus of our own imagination, our own fantasy.

Jesus as Author and Perfecter of Faith

16:23 I am not going to weary you with the possible meanings of the various words and the different opinions of the commentators, but this much is clear. With respect to our faith, whether we consider it as our faith, the subjective exercise of trust in Christ. Faith, the body of truth revealed concerning Christ, for the term the faith, or faith, is used in both ways in the New Testament. One thing is clear. Jesus stands paramount at the beginning of it and the end of it, and he is everything significant in between. So to look off unto Jesus, if it is as captain, originator, and perfecter of our faith, then it is looking unto Jesus who began the work of saving grace in us and who will certainly complete that

17:45 work. And whatever heaviness, and leaveness we may feel in our legs in the midst of the race, whatever burning of lungs and oxygen starvation we may feel as we're coming into our last lapse, Jesus puts no one into this race of faith but what he is both originator and perfecter of their faith. Yea, I to the end shall endure. As sure as the earnest is given, but not more secure the glorified spirits in heaven. And if it is referring more to the objective truth about Christ, of which he is both author, captain, and perfecter, then it is saying, fix the gaze of your soul upon Jesus as the one in whom all the provisions of God in the gospel find their expression. This has been the great theme of this epistle to the Hebrews. Do I need a priest to represent me before God by sacrifice? He is the priest greater than any Aaronic priest. He is a priest after the order

19:02 of Melchizedek. Do I need a sympathetic priest who has been tempted in all points like as I have been tempted yet, never stained with sin? Well, he is just such a priest. Do I need a sacrifice that having once been offered never needs to be repeated? He is the one who by one sacrifice hath perfected forever those that are sanctified. So whatever my need as a sinner is in Christ and in the truth concerning Christ, there is a faith of which he is both the author and the perfecter. He is the beginning and the end. Hence the scripture says the truth as it is in Jesus.

19:49 And Paul could say, though he ranged over the widest field of Christian doctrine in Colossians chapter 1, whom we preach with reference to the Lord Jesus. And so the direction for the fixation of our spiritual eyes throughout the entire race, it is to be a fixation upon Jesus. It is to be a looking unto Jesus, not as a lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely, little spiritual catch word, but with spiritual intelligence contemplating the fact that I am in the race because it was first of all his idea, not mine. Left to myself I wouldn't be in this race. I would still be with those drifting down into perdition on my way to everlasting darkness and the wrath of God. He is the one who laid hold of me and brought me into the race. With the sense here is the captain. He is the one who conscripted me. And he waits at

20:55 the finish line to reward me. Look away unto Jesus. He knew all the difficulties I would face. He knew all the impediments. He knew the times I would stumble. He knows the times when I wonder, will I make another step in that race? Looking off unto Jesus, the author, the originator, and completer of faith. But he is not only set before us as the one upon whom we're to fix our eyes as originator and completer of faith, but as the great pattern and example. Look at the latter part of verse two.

Jesus as the Pattern and Example of Persevering Faith

21:36 Who for the joy before him endured the despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. There is no clearer example of this. I am in the midst of death, though I be in the midst of death. This is in and of itself the fact. The people who have looked me up, I have looked him in the eye. I see his face, Of the pattern of persevering faith. And is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

22:06 He lived the life of faith. Without a tinge of unbelief. And notice the pattern and example of his faith. It was one in which he fixed the end in his eye.

22:23 Who for the joy that was set before him. And what was the joy set before him? Well according to this passage. We could say it was the joy.

22:37 Personal reward for his own humiliation and suffering. Namely being brought to the place of messianic exaltation. Described in this verse. As being sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.

22:52 And that certainly is a biblical truth. It seems to be alluded to here. It's the truth of Philippians 2. Because Christ was willing.

23:00 To empty himself. Taking the form of a servant. Being found in fashion as a man. Humbled himself.

23:07 Became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. Wherefore. God has highly exalted him.

23:13 And given him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus. Every knee should bow. Of things in heaven.

23:20 And things in earth. And things under the earth. And every tongue should confess. That Jesus Christ is Lord.

23:26 To the glory of God the Father. Or Acts chapter. 2. Where Peter speaks of Christ's exaltation.

23:33 As messianic Lord. Being the fruit of his willingness. To be crucified at the hands. Of wicked men.

The Joy Set Before Christ: His Sufferings and Our Salvation

23:41 I rather believe that the allusion here. Who for the joy that was set before him. Is the joy spoken of in Isaiah 53. He shall see of the reward of his sufferings.

23:55 And shall be satisfied. The joy spoken of in Hebrews chapter 2. Where it speaks. That the captain of our salvation.

24:05 The same word in the original. Translated there. Captain. Translated here.

24:10 Author. Make the captain of our salvation. Perfect. Through sufferings.

24:18 And in that setting. We are called his brethren. A wonderful allusion to Psalm 22. Where Messiah says.

24:28 In the midst of the brethren. I will sing praises unto thee. So could it be. That in our Lord being the pattern and example of faith.

24:40 He fixes the end in his eye. And the end for him. The joy set before him. Presenting all whom he puts into the race.

24:54 And sustains throughout the race. Who brings to the end of the race. And upon whom he confers the prize. The joy.

25:05 Of presenting them. Unto his likeness of angels. And to present them unto the Father. But whether that is the precise nuance of the passage.

25:21 The thing that is clear. Is that the pattern and example of our Lord's faith is. That future joy. Became the motivation and the strength.

25:36 To endure present difficulty. Look at the passage. Who for the joy that was set before him. Endured the cross.

25:50 Despising shame.

Christ's Endurance and Our Motivation

25:53 As a man of faith. That lay before him. Shame. A mystic way to describe all he bore.

26:04 And he didn't go through it stoically. By some kind of internal floating. Upon the great weight and strength of his divine nature. His experience.

26:16 In Gethsemane shows. As the perfect God-man. The thought of his human soul. Being the receptacle.

26:27 Of the unleashed fury of the wrath of God. Caused him such an agony. That it pressed as it were. Where great drops of sweat mingled with blood.

26:39 From his brow and other parts of his body. Till in some of the nuances of the account in Mark. It could well be seen. that he was a man of faith.

26:47 It could well be. That some of his very garments had the appearance of being blood soaked. As a result of that agony. Everything in him there was an aversion.

26:59 Oh my father. If it be possible. Let this cup pass from me. What enabled him to endure that cross.

27:08 To embrace it. To march out of that garden. And on to the high priest's place of judgment. And on before Pilate.

27:18 And Herod. And all that followed. Who for the joy that was set before him. Endured the cross.

27:28 Thinking lightly of its shame. Now that's relatively speaking. In itself the accounts. Of our Lord's trauma and agony.

27:39 Prior to and upon the cross. Was real. My God. My God.

27:45 Why have you forsaken me? But relatively speaking. In terms of the joy set before him. And holding to his course.

27:53 Knowing that he would receive. The full reward of his sufferings. He ran. With endurance.

Application: Looking to Jesus for Strength and Motivation

28:01 The race that was set before him. And on this communion evening. As we come to the table. With many of us having been duly.

28:09 And properly sobered in recent days. Regarding this matter. Of the race. And that though we are free.

28:18 Men and women in Jesus Christ. Free from the curse of the law. Free from the galling. Pressure of the law.

28:26 With no internal delight. In its standards or motivation to obedience. And though we are free. From all of the trappings.

28:34 And the ceremonies of the mosaic system. And free from men. Lording it over our consciences. We have seen that that freedom.

28:42 Is not unto a liberty. That tempts God. Leaves us vulnerable to a dull conscience. And to a shoddy life.

28:50 But freedom to be. The willing joyful. Meticulously obedient. Bonsleys of Jesus Christ.

28:58 Where we will derive. Both motivation. And strength. To run with endurance.

29:06 That is set before us. It will come as we look at yourself. And you will see weakness. Accumulated massive weakness.

29:22 Look to others. And you will see that. Which often will disappoint you. Look out into the world.

29:31 But looking unto Jesus. What will you see? You will see him. Who is originator.

29:39 And completer of faith. You will see him as the pattern. And example of faith. Who for the joy set before him.

29:47 Endured the cross. Buys in shame. And has sat down at the right hand. Of the throne of God.

29:55 And it is he who says. In the book of the revelation. To him that overcometh. Will sit down with me.

30:04 In my throne. As I overcame. And sat down. In my father's throne.

30:12 Dear people. What better place. To look off. To look off from one another.

30:22 To look off from all the dangers. In a seductive and bewitching world. To look off. From the prince of darkness.

30:30 Who with all of his power. And machinations. Peter says as a roaring lion. Seeking who he may devour.

30:38 And look off unto Jesus. Not in some mystical sentimental way. But with the faith content. He is originator.

30:47 And perfecter of faith. In the objective faith. Christ is all. And in all.

30:55 And everything I need. To be a perfect savior. To take me all the way to glory. Unto Jesus.

31:05 Look off unto Jesus. Put me into the race. Who by his grace. Has granted repentance.

31:13 And faith to me. And having begun that work. Will complete it. And then look to him.

31:21 As the pattern and example of faith. In which we seize the prize. With our eyes. Who for the joy.

31:29 Set before us. The joy of knowing. A few more breaths. To use the imagery of the race.

31:37 A few more meters. A few more breaths. Even with burning lungs. And leaden legs.

31:47 A few more strokes. And will break the tape. And seize the prize. And then it will be unmixed.

31:57 Undiluted joy. Forever and forever. In his presence. Looking to Jesus.

The Lord's Supper as a Means of Looking to Jesus

32:08 We do not see him now. The scripture says. In an artist. Whom he inspired.

32:16 And to whom he revealed. What his face looked like. We don't know whether he was five foot six. Five foot eight.

32:24 Or six foot seven. We don't know whether he was of medium build. Or stocky. We don't know whether his big bone.

32:32 Small bone. He left us no record. But what he did leave us. His bread.

32:42 And the fruit of the vine. To be brought into my church. To serve the interest. Of nurturing the devotion of my people.

32:50 That's why there's no. Solvement head of Christ. No crucifix. No cross.

33:02 None. But there is bread. And there is a cup. That bread signifies and symbolizes the body.

33:12 In which he carried out. The very thing our text talks about. Endured the cross. Spicing the shame.

33:22 Signifies his violent death. His blood poured. For sin. All to ratify a cup.

33:34 That would be sure and certain. In all of its provisions. All of those that covenant was made. Unto Jesus.

33:48 May God help us to look at him afresh. And keep the eyes of our souls. Fixed upon him. And for such people.

33:57 In a very real sense. The transition from this life. Into heaven. Is such a shocking thing.

34:05 For having looked upon him by faith. And been sustained by his grace. Through life. They will be raised to entirely new levels.

34:14 Of the same blessed realities. When faith shall be turned to sight. That it will not be a different Christ. But the same Christ.

34:22 In that sense. It will not be a great shock. If we've lived looking off. Unto Jesus.

34:32 We die. And we wake up. May we so live. And may we so die.

34:43 Let us pray. Father we thank you for your word. We thank you that portions of it. That we have read.

34:56 Dozens of times. When you are pleased by the spirit. To grant our hearts. Fresh sensitivity.

35:05 And our minds fresh illumination. Those very portions. Become neat. And drink to our souls.

35:14 Bless we pray this meditation. In this very brief. Portion of your word. Make it a means to help us.

35:22 As we run. With endurance the race. That is set before us. We ask in Jesus name.