Fixing Our Eyes On Jesus, our Finisher, Part 1

Music Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Hebrews 12-2 calls Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. What a joy to know that He carries out the work from start to finish. As we entrust ourselves to the Savior, He does a mighty and beautiful work in His children, one that could only be accomplished by our mighty trailblazer.

Let's listen to this message titled, Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus, the Finisher. So in Hebrews chapter 11, the title of the exposition was people living by faith. And the Bible gives us a picture of what it looks like to live by faith. The Bible doesn't just simply attempt to define what faith is, but living by faith is given to us an example.

So it's defined not so much by what it is, but by what it does. People living by faith have a single ambition, and that single ambition is to pursue God. We have our focus fixed on the objective, and because our single ambition is to pursue God, then we take action on the information that God has given us. All the information, all the revelation that God has given us, He doesn't give it to us just for our information so that we can know it. The information, the revelation that we have from God is given to us, so that by faith we take action upon that, and that transforms our lives.

Beginning by transforming our understanding, our thinking, our habits of thought, our attitudes. People living by faith move towards the goal. They live with the end in view. People living by faith, as they move toward the goal, they live with the end in view.

They don't allow themselves to be defined by their circumstances, by their environment, whether it be adversity or prosperity. That's not what defines the person living by faith. The person living by faith lives with the end in view. And because of that, then, as we learned from Hebrews 11 and the examples given there, the person living by faith makes bold choices. Bold choices. Why? Because there's only one opinion that counts, and is the opinion of the one before whom I will stand when it is all said and done.

That is the opinion that counts. Therefore, I will make bold choices that bring pleasure to Him, that bring glory to Him. That's what it means to live by faith. Having presented all that, the writer of Hebrews then takes us to chapter 12. Look there with me. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, all these that we just talked about, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Verse 2, 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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

There are words that describe Jesus because He is the one upon whom we ought to fix our gaze. If my gaze is not fixed on the objective, then I'm going to be distracted by the things around me or the things behind me. And it's going to take me off stride. It's going to slow me down. It's going to take me off track, and I could end up derailed. And the Bible says, don't do that.

It's not worth it. Keep your eyes, keep your gaze fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it gives us the why here. Last week, last time we considered it, it says the why is because He is the author of our faith. He is the captain. He is the pioneer, the trailblazer of our faith. This week, the word that we're looking at is the finisher. He is the finisher of our faith.

The word is teleotes. As it was originally written, it means one who completes and who makes possible the successful completion. Jesus is the finisher of our faith, and when it says our faith, it talks about our common faith that we trust in God and Jesus Himself trusted in His Father. So we look to Him as our primary example of one who completely trusted His Father with abandon. Therefore, He had that single ambition of pursuing His Father. He had the single ambition of taking action on the commands that His Father had given Him. He had, as living by faith, He lived with the end in view, and we're going to see that as we look at that in Scripture. And because of that, He made very bold choices.

It's very, very clear that in Jesus' ministry, His opinion, His behavior was not dictated by the opinions of those around Him. And so we look to Him as our prime example in that, as the author and the finisher of our faith. So when it says He is the finisher of our faith, He had work to do.

He came here with a purpose, as you and I are here with a purpose. And He completed His purpose. He finished it.

And you say, wait a minute, didn't He die young? Yes, but He finished His work that the Father had given Him to do. You see, it wasn't when He finished His work. He wasn't just over. It wasn't just when He died. He wasn't just over. He finished the work that God had given Him to do. There might be a day you say, well, what's the difference there?

Well, consider this example. At the time of His death in 1870, Charles Dickens was perhaps the most celebrated writer in the English language. His last book was The Mystery of Edwin Drude, a murder mystery that Dickens was close to finishing when he died at the age of 58. He left behind no notes or plot sketches.

So what does that mean? In other words, His writing was over, but He wasn't finished. It was an incomplete work. When Jesus died, His ministry was over, but also He was finished. He is the finisher of our faith. So this word teleotes is a word of achievement and a word of completion.

That is why when Jesus was on the cross, even before He yielded up His Spirit, He cried out what? It is finished. Replete with significance and meaning. So this word, the finisher of our faith, the word of achievement and completion is something that we need to understand here in the context given to us in Hebrews chapter 12. What is God's plan to be achieved? What is it that He finished?

What is it? The work that He finished, the purpose that He finished was the path and the process by which we can be made perfect. Look with me back at the last verse of chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 40. God having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

Who is they? It's the Old Testament saints. And the us there is the New Testament saints. So all people of faith of all time that they should be made perfect. That is the work that Jesus finished. The pathway and the process by which we can be made perfect.

Well, what does that mean? To be made perfect means that we can be back in fellowship with God. That we are made acceptable to God because God has a perfect standard. And therefore, I can know and enjoy life as it ought to be. Now there is a present sense of that as a foretaste.

That's why I can sing with Horatio Spafford, it is well with my soul. I have that foretaste of glory divine as Fanny Crosby said in her hymn. There is a reality that exists within me as Paul says to the Corinthians, if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation. As John says, I have been born of God and his seed remains in me. That means, as Peter says, that I have become a partaker of the divine nature. That means that at the core of my being, things are as they ought to be.

Because I have the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to my life and therefore, I am acceptable to God and I am destined to enjoy him forever. That's the finished work. And Jesus completed that.

But there is the future sense to that also because as we realize, we live in this fallen created order still, we're still here and the frustrating characteristics of this fallen created order, the disappointment, the pain, the hurt, the broken relationships, the death. But our glory, the work that Christ has perfected is our glory. What is our glory? Those of us who are in Christ, it is when we are forever with him, exactly like him in character. That work that God has perfected because he says in the middle of Romans 8 that from his perspective, we're already glorified. You see, that's the finished work that Christ has done. He is the finisher of our faith.

There is a second point. It's important for us to point out here in verse 40, 1140, that God provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us. What that verse is saying right there, it's not that there are two faith systems. This is a verse that points to the continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old foretells and prophesies the New and the New fulfills the Old. One God, one faith.

Not two faith systems. All faith from all time looks to Jesus Christ because he is the author and finisher of our faith. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others any time by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.