It may be a little rough at the water cooler and you may get hassled in the philosophy class, but you haven't been crucified yet, and I know one who has. You see where his exhortation comes from? When you start feeling like it's too tough to live the Christian life, consider the one who endured such a contradiction of sinners against himself, who went even to blood and to death, and realize you haven't gone that far yet. Welcome to Grace To You with John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. What is it that pushes a world-class athlete to spend years hitting the weight room, running countless miles, doing untold numbers of drills, and constantly refining his or her skills? The answer is dedication. Now, if a person trains that hard for athletic glory that is fleeting, how much more dedicated should you be in striving for the ultimate spiritual prize for the eternal spiritual rewards that come from pursuing Christ-likeness? Well, today John MacArthur is going to take you to the gym, so to speak, and show you how to make great strides in your spiritual training.
He's continuing his study called The Power of Faith. And so with the lesson now, here's John. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 to 4, one of the great texts in the Bible, one of the most familiar, one of the simplest really, and yet one of the most profound.
I want to give you several items here. I'm going to give you just some points in sequence to help open the passage to you. Number one, in Hebrews 12, verse 1, the event. Now what is the event?
The event is a race. Second, back in Hebrews 12, first is the event, second is the encouragement. I love this. The encouragement. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Now, when I was a little kid, I remember hearing somebody tell about this, and they said, Now, you know, up in heaven all the Old Testament saints are watching you. It's just like being in a big stadium like the Colosseum, and you're down there running your little race, and they're all sitting up there watching you. The cloud of witnesses around us. The more I began to study the Bible, the more ridiculous that became.
People who've gone to heaven aren't interested in looking at me, they're interested in fixing the gaze on the wonders of heaven. And that isn't even what the text is saying. What it's saying here is, here is the encouragement to run.
What is it? Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. What does that mean?
People who have testified that running the race is great. That's what it means. Let me show you what I mean by that. You see the wherefore? What's the wherefore there for? The wherefore is there to take you backwards, isn't it?
And what do you have in chapter 11? You have a whole list of people who live by what? Faith.
Man, look at it. Back to verse 4, by faith Abel. Verse 5, by faith Enoch. Verse 7, by faith Noah. Verse 8, by faith Abraham. Verse 20, by faith Isaac. Verse 21, by faith Jacob. Verse 22, by faith Joseph. Verse 23, by faith Moses. Verse 30, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down. Faith of Joshua. By faith, verse 31, the harlot Rahab. And then you have in 32, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets who through faith.
Now look, here are the witnesses and what are they saying? They're saying this, the life of faith is the life that wins. We ran it right through the hot spots, right through the lion's dens, right through the swords, right through the wars, right through the persecution, right through crisis after crisis after crisis and it is the life of faith that wins. And we are living witnesses to the fact that you can run the race with endurance and know that God will honor you in the end.
See, that's the point. They ran the race and they witnessed to the victory all that nephile, that mass, that cloud say to us, live the life, run the race of faith. Listen, 12, 1 and 2 is simply the continuation of chapter 11. It is the exhortation based on everybody else's life of faith on the basis of how they ran by faith in God, on the basis that they put their faith in God, believed God and went right through the crisis to victory, so should you run the race on the basis of the testimony of those witnesses.
Look at them. One after another, he says, Abel, right through the crisis of the hatred that came from his own brother. Noah, the crisis of a generation of people who laughed and mocked and scorned everything he did.
Abraham, the crisis of being promised a nation and didn't have a son. And Isaac and Jacob and Moses and all the rest, crisis after crisis, look at them. Verse 34, they quenched the violence of fire, they escaped the edge of the sword.
Verse 36, trials of cruel mocking and scourging, bonds, imprisonment, they were stoned, they were sawn in half, tested, slain with a sword, and on and on and on. These are people who went through crisis after crisis after crisis and they stand up and say the life of faith is still the only way to go. You see, they put their trust in God and God came through, right? And so the writer is saying to the Hebrew people, he's saying, if you haven't put your faith in Jesus Christ and you're hanging on the fence and you've got some reason you're not doing it, let me tell you about a history of people who did it and they went right through crisis with a sense of great victory. What he's saying is you can put your trust in God and you'll come through.
And chapter 11 is living proof. You know, there are times in my own life, and I know you go through these too, when you feel weak, right? You feel lonely and you feel frail and you feel sinful and you feel like a failure and like a pilgrim and a stranger in the earth. And boy, when you get into those times, how refreshing it is to go backwards and say, hey, I may have my doubts and I may feel my weaknesses, but let me reiterate the people who ran the race with patience and endurance and didn't give up and kept at it and ran through crisis after crisis after crisis and God honored and gave them victory. And that encourages my heart. That's what he's saying. The God of yesterday is the God of today.
Jesus Christ is the same what? Yesterday, today, and forever. That's over in the 13th chapter and the 8th verse. So you see, this is encouragement. Get out there and run.
But you're not the first guy. Plenty others. So the event and the encouragement. Thirdly, the encumbrances. Lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us. Lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us. One thing you learn when you run, you've got to run light, right? You can train with weights on your ankles and you can train in your sweat suit, but when you get to the race, you probably ought to take it off. The word for lay aside every weight simply means mass or bulk.
Get rid of the bulk. A runner starts with a reduction of body excess and he comes to a perfect balance of power and lightness and he trains to keep that equilibrium and he can run to win only in that sense. And when the race begins, he gets rid of the bulk.
He strips off his sweat. You ever seen what runners run in? Those little tiny, fairy, flimsy pants. I mean, really flimsy little things.
You know the kind like your neighbor has on at 5.30 when he goes to get the paper. No encumbrance at all. He is down to bare minimum, see. So in the race of faith, you've got to strip off anything that's going to hold you back. You say, well what would it be, John? What would that mass or that bulk be there in verse 1? Well, some say it might be materialism and I agree, that will weigh you down. And some say it might be sexual immorality and I agree, that might do it. And some people say it might be ambition and that would do it too and so forth and so on.
But I'll tell you what I really think he probably has in mind here. What was the biggest weight that encumbered a Jew from coming to Christ? It was legalism.
Dead works. Pounds and pounds and pounds of legalistic bulk was all over those Jewish people. He was saying to those, get in the race and run.
And they were trying to run with all this legalism, ceremonies and rituals and rites and all these rules that they had kept from their old Judaism. And he says, junk it all and get in there and run the faith race, living by faith, not by works. You know, a lot of Christians live by works, you know that? They think they have to do this, they have to do that. God is this and God is going to say, oh that's wonderful, you did this, you went to Bible study, you read the Bible, you go to church, you do all as if God is racking up on His little computer, little numbers for every little goodie we do.
That isn't it. And God is not up there saying, if you have your morning devotions, you're going to be a good Christian. You see, but there are a lot of Christians who think that.
You know, if you do the little work, see, if you go to church every Sunday, don't kick dogs, be kind to your neighbor, those are good things, you know, they're good things. Morning devotions are good things, but you see, you can't count on that stuff. That won't save you and that will not secure your spirituality, not by those dead works.
If those things are done and the overflow of your love to Jesus Christ is an act of devotion in faith that He'll honor your love, beautiful. But you see, there's so many people depending on their...it's not Jewish legalism, it's Christian legalism. We're talking to one fellow who was telling me about a church where anybody who had their hair over their ears couldn't come in. What kind of church is that?
Only for the...only for people with a certain kind of haircut. The first crew cut church of whatever. That isn't...those aren't God's standards. Those aren't God's standards at all. We don't want to replace God's truth with man-made rules. Like Jesus said in Matthew 15, you've substituted the man-made rules for the truth of God.
And so He is saying, get in the race and when you're in the race, it's a race of faith, get rid of all that stuff, those dead works, those things that you do in your flesh to try to earn God's favor. And then He adds this, and the sin, that's singular, the sin that so easily besets us. The sin? What sin? A sin, a singular sin. What is the one sin that has the greatest effect on faith? Starts with a D, doubt. That's right. The sin that messes up the life of faith is doubt. You say, oh God, you can supply all my needs and every time something doesn't go the way it should, you get nervous. And you're really doubting, aren't you?
Really doubting. You see, that's why the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6, take the shield of faith with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Those shields were four and a half feet by two and a half feet, big shield, thureon, the Greek.
It's covered with thick leather and the leather was soaked in oil. And they'd get those shields and the arrows, the flaming arrows would come, they'd sink into that leather and they'd be extinguished. And the shield of the Christian is faith. Satan fires his temptations and fires his temptations and you just catch them all in the shield of faith. What does that mean? You just say, Satan, you're a big liar, nothing you say is true, everything God says is true and I'm going to believe God.
That's simple as it. You'll never sin if you believe God. God's over here saying, you do this, you'll be blessed, you do this, you'll be happy, you do this, you'll be fulfilled, you do this, I'll reward you, you do this and every good thing will come your way and after all, that sounds pretty good, that's what you wanted anyway.
And Satan's over saying, ah, do this, you'll enjoy it, do this, it's terrific, do this, you'll have fun. And every time you do what Satan says, you have believed whom? You believed him. Who did Eve believe? Believed Satan. Satan came to Jesus and who did Jesus believe? He believed God and he was without...what...sin. You see, every sin is an act of unbelief.
You have actually fallen prey to the fact that you think Satan is right, you're going to get something out of it and the fact of the matter is you're going to get anything out of it, but trouble. And so the one sin that besets the race of faith is doubt and unbelief where you have believed the adversary rather than God. So he says, junk your legalism and junk your doubt and run this thing with the confidence that will be given to you by an understanding of the great cloud of witnesses who lived this same life, ran this same race with triumph.
Then after the event, the encouragement and the encumbrances, and I love this best of all, is the example. Verse 2, looking unto whom? Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.
Stop right there. Looking unto Jesus. Who do you look to?
Who do you watch? Jesus Christ. When you run the race, you keep your eyes on Christ.
The obstructions are thrown away, the weights are thrown off, the race is underway. We have the encouragement of all those who ran the race in the past and went right on through trial and crisis after crisis. And there we are running this race and we're looking at a perfect example of faith, and that's Jesus Christ. Listen, He is the greatest example of faith that ever lived. Paul says, He thought it not something to hold on to to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, took upon Himself the form of man being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
You know what He did? He became a servant and He believed God who said, I will not let My Holy One see corruption. And He came into the world and He died on the cross knowing full well that even though He bore the sins of the world, He would come out of the grave to be the Redeemer and be restored to the place that He had with the Father before the world began. He believed the Father and His act of faith is unsurpassed. God became man and bore sin and died in the confidence that He would be raised by the Father and exalted again and He was and it was the greatest act of faith ever because He had the most to lose. And He says if you need a model of faith, look at Jesus, He went through an incredible crisis in believing God, He was victorious.
You know, you have to look at something. I remember when I was a kid learning sports, my dad used to teach me just about everything when I was little. He used to say to me when he was trying to teach me how to hit a baseball, he'd say, You can't hit the baseball unless you keep your eye on the ball. And then when we used to play basketball, he'd say, You can't make a basket unless you keep your eye on the basket. And then later on when I was about ten years old, he wanted to teach me how to play golf and that's a hard game.
Looks real easy, but it's a very hard game because you always want to watch the shot and as soon as you start watching the shot, you don't hit the ball. And so he'd say to me, For years, he said to me, You've got to watch the ball. And you know, the same thing is true. Your eyes are the focal point of everything. For example, when you drive a car, when you drive your car, you cannot watch your hood. Not and prevent an accident. Basically speaking, your eyes constantly focus on a point a couple of hundred feet in front of the car. You don't watch the car. You don't watch the steering wheel.
Lord help us, you don't watch the pedals. You watch a focal point far beyond yourself. And the Greek term here literally says, Look away to Jesus. Look away to Jesus.
The sooner you get your eyes off yourself, the better off you are. Peter says in John 21, Well, Lord, what about John? And what did Jesus say to him? He said, None of your business, you follow me.
You don't need to be looking at anything but Jesus Christ. He is the archegos. He is the originator. He is the pioneer. He is the leader. He is the primogenitor. He is the supreme.
That's what that word means. He is the greatest, the beginner of faith and he is the end of it all and everything in between. He's the model of faith. His incarnation was the greatest demonstration of faith in the history of the world and he went through a crisis unmatched by any other.
So he even said in his life, I have come not to do my will but the will of Him that sent me. So the event, the encouragement, the encumbrances and the example, let me tell you about the end, the end. What do we get if we win? The end, look at verse 2, 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.
What are you running for? Two things, joy and...to set down at the right hand of God in his case meant triumph. Joy and triumph.
One is subjective, one is objective. One is that great exhilarating feeling that you have won and the other is the actual reward of God that is given to you for your triumph. An athlete knows that there is nothing equal to the thrill of winning.
It's just...and it's something inside. And it isn't the medal or the trophy or whatever else, it's just the winning, the exhilaration of victory. And that's what he's saying, there is the joy of victory as well as the reward of God. And in the case of Christ, the reward was He was seated at the right hand. In the case of those of us, there are five crowns that our Lord has promised, aren't there?
They can be ours. I don't know about you, but if He's offering them, I want to win them for His glory. And so there are two sides to the end of the race, joy and triumph. And you know, I don't even think that's necessarily just future, it is set before Christ insofar as it's at the end of the...it's after the cross, it's after the crisis. And I'm sure ultimately for us the same thing is true, that the real joy and the real reward is in heaven with Christ when He comes with reward, but even here and now, don't you experience as a Christian a tremendous sense of joy and a tremendous sense of triumph when you win the victory over temptation?
Boy, I know I do. And it's just like getting a little taste of what the ultimate joy and the ultimate victory is going to be. Well lastly, he says, I've given you the event, the encouragement, the encumbrances, the example, the end, now here is the exhortation.
I'll close with it. Abraham presented this powerful appeal to the race, to get in the race and run it. He knows that there are going to be some people that are going to say this, well, you know, it's not easy being a Christian. I'm abused at the water cooler.
They short me on the paper clips. It's not easy at the philosophy professor. He really attacks us who are Christians. You know, really running, you don't know what's going on in my home, it's very difficult. My husband just very, very opposing.
And you know, it's not easy in our society to really run, to win, to really be bold, to really wear the uniform and it's very, very difficult. You know, this is a...we are getting close to the end times. I like this answer. Verse 3, for consider him...who would that be? Christ...that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. He says, I don't see any of you bleeding, it may be a little rough at the water cooler and you may get hassled in the philosophy class, but you haven't been crucified yet and I know one who has.
Do you see where his exhortation comes from? When you start feeling like it's too tough to live the Christian life, consider the one who endured such a contradiction of sinners against himself, who went even to blood and to death and realize you haven't gone that far yet. You don't have it so tough. You're no Savannah Rolla burned at a stake. You're no great patriarch beheaded for Christ. You're no early church father put in the skin of a sheep and thrown to a lion. You don't have it so tough.
You're not like those people hiding in mountains and dens and caves. You haven't been sawed in half like Isaiah. You haven't been put in a lion's den like Daniel.
You haven't had your eyes plucked out like Samson. When you start getting weary and you start getting faint in your mind, you consider Jesus Christ who endured such contradiction of sinners and if the life of faith was his life of triumph and victory, it can be yours too because you don't even have to carry it that far. So I say to you, if you're not in the race, come on, get in the race.
There's a crown out there for you. Joy and triumph and Christian, if you're in it, run it with all you've got. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. Today's lesson is from John's study titled The Power of Faith. Now John, a conclusion that we can draw from your series is this, a powerful faith in God is a faith that comes from God. In other words, faith is a divine gift. Scripture even says that in Romans 12, 3 and yet it's also true, isn't it, that every believer has a role and a responsibility to cultivate a stronger faith. Yeah, that's a dynamic that works out in every aspect of the Christian life. When you are made new in Christ and you become a new creature, you receive from the Lord a new nature. That new nature has all of the elements of the divine recreation.
But they're there in a very sort of basic way. Like a baby, that's what 1 John 2 says, you're a child, you know the Father, and then you grow to be a young man who is strong in doctrine. And then you grow to be a spiritual father who knows Him who is from the beginning, meaning a deeper and richer understanding of God. So what you're basically asking me is, is there progression in a life of faith?
Absolutely, absolutely. Even Jesus grew in wisdom and favor with both God and man. So even the incarnate Lord had a faith that developed as He grew through the years of His life.
If that was true of Him, it's certainly, certainly true of us. So faith is a power that operates not just at the time of your conversion, but continually operates to strengthen you. It reveals itself in every vicissitude, every difficulty, every challenge of life, every triumph of life, every good thing, every tough thing, is an opportunity for you to express that trust in God for His goodness or even for the trials that make us strong.
That's how faith grows. It trusts in divine providence. It believes in God's promises. It obeys in every circumstance. It shows courage in the midst of trials.
And it endures to the end of life. So if you're looking for flesh and blood examples of faith, Christian life in action, there's no better place to go than Hebrews chapter 11. Now this series is available on 10 MP3 downloads free from our website. And remember the companion study guide, brand new, The Power of Faith, you can order from us if you contact us today. Again, the title of the series as well as the study guide, The Power of Faith. Thanks, John.
And friend, this is a great series to review at your own pace. To download John's study called The Power of Faith or to order the companion study guide by that same name, contact us today. As John said, all 10 messages from The Power of Faith are available to download free of charge from our website, that's gty.org. And in addition to those sermons, remember that all of John's sermons, that's more than 3,600 messages, are free at our website.
Jump in today and start downloading. Visit gty.org. And to order The Power of Faith study guide, call us at 800-55-GRACE or you can also order from the website, gty.org.
The study guide costs $9 and shipping is free. Our customer service number one more time, 800-55-GRACE and our web address, gty.org. When you visit the website, gty.org, take advantage of our numerous free Bible study tools. That includes Grace To You's blog, past episodes of this broadcast, and episodes of Grace To You television, along with multiple devotionals from John MacArthur and much more. To see all that we have to offer, go to the website, gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Watch Grace To You television this Sunday on DirecTV channel 378, then be here Monday as John fields questions from the congregation he's led for over 55 years. Just another half hour of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.
