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And the Bible reads Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses Let us lay aside every weight and a sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race That is set before us Looking onto 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 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. Let's he be weird and faint in your minds You have not yet resisted on the blood striving against sin and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou are rebuked of him for whom the Lord loved He chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom we receive it if you endure chastening God deal it with you as with sons For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not But if he be without chastisement where of all our partakers then are you bastards and not sons? Furthermore we had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence Shall we not much rather be in subjection onto the father of spirits and live For they verily for a few days chasten us after their own pleasure But he for our prophet that one we might be partakers of his holiness Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous Nevertheless afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness not to them which are exercised thereby Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet Let's that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be Defiled lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright For you know how that afterward when he would have received inherited the blessing He was rejected where he found no place of repentance though. He sought it carefully with tears For you are not come onto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire nor onto blackness and darkness and tempest and The sound of a trumpet and the voice of words Which voice they that heard and treated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore For they could not endure that which was commanded and if so much as a beast touched the mountain it shall be stoned or thrust thrust through the dart and so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly ferret fear and quake But you're come on to Mount Zion now to the city of the living God Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels to the General Assembly and the Church of the firstborn which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all into the spirits of just men made perfect and To Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant into the blood of sprinkling that speak of the better things than that of Abel See that you refuse not him that speaketh For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape We turn away from him that speaketh from heaven whose voice then shook the earth But now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not the earth only but also heaven and this word Yet once more signify The removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverent reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire Let's pray Thank You Heavenly Father for the King James Bible you wrote Thank you for this wonderful Church you have given us to your God. We thank you for our pastor Please bless him tonight as he preaches your word in Jesus name Amen, okay, we're continuing tonight with our Bible study in the book of Hebrews and tonight We're in chapter 12, and we're gonna spend a large portion of this chapter Talking about the chastening of the Lord, but let me give you a little bit of a review from chapter 11 chapter 11 really focused on many of the patriarchs and saints of the Old Testament and Testified of the works and how great their faith was Toward God and some of the great exploits that they accomplished because they have faith in God And this really this thought carries over to chapter 12 And it's important because of the fact that really what the Apostle Paul is doing here is Using the examples of all of these men and women in the Old Testament Who essentially ran their course they ran their race and they finished their course with joy and therefore they're an example to us that we should endure and Basically stick it out to the very end right be in this thing for the long haul that's really what chapter 11 is about But look at verse number one of chapter 12 It says wherefore seeing we are also compassed about was so great a cloud of witnesses now Let me just stop there and clarify what that means because a lot of times and I remember even being in Bible College This was often interpreted as meaning that you know those in heaven can look down on us, right? And I don't know if any of you have ever heard that interpretation they'll often say, you know It's like a Colosseum and you have all these great cloud of witnesses all over heaven and they're like rooting for you They're like finish, you know make it to the very end. But you know, the only person who can do that is God Okay, he's the only one who's omnipresent who's able to look at the lives of every individual in this world This isn't referring to some sort of Colosseum It's not giving us the picture of a Colosseum where all these witnesses in heaven are You know witnessing us do the Christian life and serve God and so forth What this is referring to is like it's saying here in verse number one Seeing that we're compassed about what's so great a cloud of witnesses referring to all those people in chapter 11 Seeing that we have these examples. He's saying these people who witnessed of the Lord. They testified of God They essentially lived their lives until the very end they were faithful unto death Seeing that we are compassed about those patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob Jephthah you have David you have all of these men who ran their course It says there Let us 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 so let me give you a couple points regarding verse number one here And the first thing I want to mention is that you know the Christian life is a marathon It's not a sprint because it says run with patience The race that is set before us and what it's implying here Is that in order to live the Christian life you need a certain amount of endurance right you think of a sprint is How fast can you run in a short amount of time whereas a marathon? It's like you're pacing yourself for a long distance And you never have to we as Christians should never have this attitude that man We have to learn everything right away and be a successful Christian right away and reach our full potential Right away and inherit the blessings right away. We got to be in this thing for the long haul okay? And you know the most practical application that we can get from this Principle is for example when you want to read the Bible you know sometimes when people want to read the Bible They're like well I'm gonna just go in it, and I'm just gonna read 20 chapters a day You know but that's not necessarily the wisest thing to do Especially if you've never read the Bible all the way through right the best thing to do well Let me just say this if you've never read a book period You know sometimes people bite off more than they can chew and they're like I'm gonna read 20 chapters a day 30 chapters a day, but they've never even read a newspaper They've never read a book and so it's important that Christians pace themselves When it comes to the Bible this is your first time reading through the Bible read about 10 to 15 minutes a day Then ramp it up to 30 minutes a day then ramp it up to 45 minutes to an hour But it's important that you build that endurance because a lot of times Christians will say well I'm gonna read 20 chapters a day, and they do it consistently for about a day You know two days Maybe three at the most but of course with everything else life gets busy they miss a couple chapters now They're only reading ten chapters then only five and then only one and they're just like this is too hard Well, it's because you made it hard for yourself. You want to be in this thing for the long haul start small by Reading 15 minutes a day and as the years go by build up that endurance to read more Bible content And you realize that as the years go by you can actually digest more Biblical content without gassing out too fast right just like oh, this is just too much now It's like well. I'm now I have built an appetite for spiritual things I want to read the Bible more I can I can handle more chapters without growing weary and Feeling like I just can't handle it and the same thing is with church You know I think it's great when people Do three to thrive and when someone comes and they start doing three to thrive. I'm not gonna complain about it I think it's great, but sometimes it is a lot for people to come to three services in a week And so it's good to just build up to that right start Sunday morning for a couple weeks For a couple months, and then you add a service and then after a couple months you add another service And I think it's great when people start soul winning right away, but at the same times There's instances where people need to pace themselves now eventually you just got to do it Okay, some people would pace themselves so much. They just never do it. You know they just never add the service They never add a soul winning time They never consume more Bible and so the point that I'm making here is that the Christian life is a marathon Don't bite off more than you can chew build endurance and don't try to do too much too soon Because you got a picture the future and realize I'm trying to be in the Christian life when I'm 50 60 70 80 years old if the Lord wills that I live that long I want to be in this for the long haul and so It's important that we build that Endurance the Bible tells us you don't have to turn there in 2nd Timothy 4 6 it says for I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departures at hand I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith and One thought that we see here in the Bible when it comes to this type of a race Is that we're not competing against each other Okay, we're running our own race and far too many times people compare themselves among themselves and in doing so they're not wise you don't want to outdo someone else what you're trying to do is outdo yourself and Everyone has their own race to run you have a certain amount of miles that you have to cover in your lifetime There's a certain amount of works that you have to accomplish and it varies based upon the person So it's important that you focus on your particular race that you're running for the Lord Okay, so the first thing we mentioned there is the fact that we are in a marathon not a sprint and Also that you have to realize that others have finished this course before okay Because of the fact that sometimes the Christian life gets hard and you can become discouraged you can become disillusioned you can just become you know tired and weary and you want to take a break from Doing the church thing Bible thing Doing living and serving for serving God But the reality is this is that whatever trials that you're facing whatever difficulties may come your way Someone else has faced those trials too. And not only did they face those trials. They also passed with flying colors So you go through a particular trail or a road and you think oh man I must be the only person who's ever been down this road. No, there's been plenty of people Christians who love God who took that course they ran that course They were in that same situation and they pass with flying colors now what he's talking about specifically are the witnesses from chapter 11 and The Bible tells us that there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man And so any trial or difficulty that you face whether financial situation health situation emotional Marriage children you think of the trial that can just deters you sometimes from serving God everyone in chapter 11 has faced something like that and the reality is this is that those people they stay faithful to God and They kept serving God they exercise their faith in God and they made it to the finish line and So what the Bible is telling us here is that we need to consider those cloud of witnesses when we're running this race Because if they can do it we can do it and it's not like they have some sort of supernatural power either You know and in fact they have less to work upon than we did because we have the entire word of God They didn't have that some of them didn't even have the Old Testament per se because a lot of these people were from the book Genesis when the Bible was still being written still being revealed to mankind Yet in spite of that they did what they could with what they had and they were able to finish their course So the Bible is telling us we need to consider this great cloud of witnesses Who ran their race and finished their course and they serve God to the very end They were faithful unto death lest we be wearied and faint in our minds as well They serve as a good example unto us that others have Experienced some of the things that we've experienced in our lifetime. The Bible says in first Peter chapter 5 verse 8 be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a Roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour listen to this whom resists steadfast in the faith Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world So when you feel like Satan is just attacking you and you're going through a season when Satan is just out to get you Just keep in mind That those same afflictions that you're experiencing your brothers who are all around the world from the beginning of time up until now have gone through those same temptations and Those same afflictions by Satan himself. Okay, and I think you know a good way to say this is that misery loves company one of the most Comforting things that you can experience when you're going through a hard time is when you talk to someone who's experiencing that same exact hard Time, even if they don't even have a solution to their problem. You're just thankful that someone's suffering, too There's like man. I'm so glad someone's just Suffering just like I'm suffering because you want to feel like someone's like, you know You know what I mean? You want to feel like someone is acquainted with your grief and obviously the greatest person Who has been acquainted with grief is Jesus Christ But he also gives us earthly people to be acquainted with when it comes to grief because everyone Christians believers throughout the world have experienced those same afflictions. They've experienced loss Discouragement disillusionment all types of things and so the Bible's telling us here resist Satan and Don't think that his attacks are just too much and it's just too overwhelming Because other people who are believers were able to resist him and they suffered those same afflictions and pass with flying colors The next thing that I want you to notice is the fact that in order to run this race The Bible says that we're to lay aside Every weight. Okay. Now, what does that mean? Well, I don't think this is referring to sin Okay, because sin is covered later on. I think the weight is that which is not necessarily expedient You know, the Bible says that all things are lawful unto me, but all things are not Expedient and another place he says all things profit not so it's obviously very wise for us to stay away from sin But it's also wise for us to stay away from things that would even that are not necessarily sinful But keep us from serving God to our fullest potential. You understand what I'm saying? And this is why he says lay aside every weight and I don't run Let me just make that very clear. I know you thought I did Okay, I don't run because the Bible says the wicked flee when no man pursue it and You know, I'll be danged if I get on a treadmill run from no man. I'm just kidding I hate cardio, but I love the Illustrations that the Bible gives about it. Okay, and I'm glad that other people do it. That's just not my thing. Okay, and And so, you know when you're running in a particular race a marathon I'm sure that those runners have to have clothing that are as light as possible So as to not weigh them down. They probably have to have very lightweight shoes and Clothing and whatever it is that they have so as to not hold them down and that's why a lot of runners are Very thin right? I mean am I correct on that? They're very thin They hardly have any fat on them if anything they hardly have any muscle, too Okay Because that weight can actually deter them from finishing the race and it can cause them to gas out and not Have that endurance to make it to the very end. And so when we relate that to spiritual matters It's important for us as Christians to take inventory of the things in this life that can cause us to be weighed down Even though it's not sinful But it's causing you to be hindered from actually serving God to your fullest potential and I think of this verse second Timothy chapter 2 and verse number 4 says no man that warth and entangleth himself with the affairs of this life That he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier the Bible says so the Bible is telling us like if you're gonna be an effective soldier of Jesus Christ at Baseline obviously, you know, you're not supposed to be involved in sin But more than that it says don't entangle yourself with the affairs of this life things that don't really pertain to the kingdom of God things that can really take you to your attention your resources your time and energy From the things of God and it can actually be a hindrance to you when it comes to winning souls to Christ Raising your family for the Lord or just reaching your potential in general for the Lord lay aside Every weight, okay, you know a most the most practical example that I can give with this is hobbies For example, right, you know a hobby isn't necessarily sinful unless it's a simple hobby Right, but you know you just think of any hobby. Okay, let's take running or Lifting weights for example, you know, those things are great for the body. They're great for the mind They are just good in general so you can be healthy, but you can see how that can be a weight In someone's life where they become so good at it that now they're doing meats on Sunday instead of being in church So some of these weights can actually become sinful in the long term When you allow it to take up more time in your life and it ends up robbing you of thing of time Money and energy that you should be that you should be investing into the things of God And so the hobby of exercising the hobby of running, you know, what's another hobby that people have out there? That's that's all I know Coin collecting. I don't know what stamp collection. What's another hobby that people do? Hiking or fishing, you know, you have high, you know hiking is a good thing But you know if you want to become like a David Goggins It's a weight upon you where you know, it can actually take away your attention from spiritual matters You know fishing is a great hobby You know Catching fish eating them even doing it for sport But I'm sure there's people out there that would you know, it can affect them to the point We're now on Sundays instead of being in church That's like a great time for them to go out and fish and do whatever deep-sea fishing or whatever may be What I'm saying is that what the Bible is telling us is that in order for us to effectively finish this race We need to make sure that we shed that weight the things that would hinder us from serving God to our fullest potential Then then he says that we need to lay aside the sin the besetting sin Besetting meaning the sin that surrounds us in particular, okay, and What I believe it's referring to when it talks about that besetting sin It's that which you are tempted to do. Okay, because not everyone suffers from the same temptations people suffer from different Temptations of sin and the Bible tells us in James chapter 1 verse 12 blessed is the man that endures temptation For when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life when the Lord has promised them that love him Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man but every man is tempted when he is drawn away listen to this of his own lust and Enticed then when lust hath conceived that bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death Do not err my beloved brethren and look we could point to many people in the Bible Who had the potential to do something great for God, but were hindered by sin, you know Samson being one of them Right David to a certain extent even Solomon a lot of these great men of God who had a race to run But they were taken off course by a besetting sin whether it was adultery Fornication some even drunkenness and the list goes on and on and on So the point here that the Apostle Paul is making is the reason he gives us the examples of these witnesses in chapter 11 It's the servant is an example to us that we need to make sure that we lay aside The weight we lay aside the sin The way these men did not lay aside the sin in Order to run with patience and of course when he says run with patience and means endurance pace yourself Don't try to do too much too soon Don't try to add too much too soon. Don't try to put too many plates on the bar too soon Don't try to run too far too soon a lot of people like on me I'm gonna get into running and then they just run. I don't know ten miles You know, but then the next day they can't even walk You know what? I mean I I would I would assume that you would want to start off so that you're not Debilitated the next day and you can run the next day, right? you want to make sure that whatever it is that you're doing you can handle it and Also not come up with this excuse. Well, I can't handle it and it's like ten months in one year And yeah, I just can't handle at that point. You're just making excuses. Okay, the point of the admonition here is that You shouldn't buy it off more than you can chew but you need to bite something though okay, and So look at verse number two Here is the key to enduring because he says that we should run with patience. Here's the key Look at verse two looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him Endure the cross Despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God for consider him That endured such contradictions of sinners against himself lest he be wearied and faint in your minds So the greatest thing that you and I can do To have endurance in the Christian life believe it or not. It's focused on the Lord Jesus Christ that's the best thing you can do and Obviously, there's a lot of motivations in this life that can help us stay on the right track, right? I preached a sermon years ago called creating a reason to stay and It's a sermon that basic where I talk about some of the things that you can do on a practical level To essentially keep yourself in the will of God, you know marry into the will of God raise children in the will of God These are things that when you feel like quitting you're not gonna quit because you have too much invested into the will of God right, but the greatest thing that you can do is Look unto Jesus because it's the love of Christ that constrains us to actually keep doing what we're supposed to be doing And you know what folks I'll just be honest with you I'm gonna disappoint you Someone's gonna disappoint you your spiritual mentor is gonna disappoint. Someone's gonna disappoint you. Someone's gonna offend you We're sinners, right? And the problem is is that sometimes people put too much faith in the arm of the flesh They put too much faith in a person and so when that person fails them it kind of derails them spiritually and What the Bible's telling us here is that we need to look into Jesus not necessarily unto a man obviously We got the witnesses you have your pastor and you have other spiritual leaders that you probably look to for inspiration and for Encouragement but folks even if those individuals were absent The Bible says that we should always be looking to Jesus Christ do everything as unto the Lord because when you serve Christ Should I say when you do the service of God from the heart that wants to serve Christ, you'll never be disappointed Might just be disappointed in people, but you'll never God will never make you ashamed He'll never disappoint you even if no one says thank you or great job, or I'm sorry You know, whatever may be it's okay because God is always watching. Jesus Christ will never disappoint you He'll never fail you You got to keep looking unto Jesus and the Bible says that thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusted them and So if you want perfect peace in your life, if you want that type of mind that is steadfast. It's focused It's fixed. You need to fix your mind on the Lord Jesus Christ set your affections on things above not on things of this earth the Bible says and Why well because of the fact that the Bible says that he's the author and finisher of our faith So he lays the course out for you, but he's there to kind of carry you through as well You know being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you listen to this will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ and So when we when we keep our eyes on the Lord, especially in times of trial We got to realize like God's gonna see me through this Even if you can't see it, right God's gonna see me through it and I can endure this trial I can endure this season I can endure this pain and this affliction Because I'm keeping my eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ and he does he will not let me down He's not gonna make me ashamed I know that I can place my faith in him for the things pertaining to this life And he says that you know consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners The greatest contradiction in the Bible is the contradiction of sinners of the Lord Jesus Christ So put yourself in his position. He was the man Jesus Christ was the man Who heard some of the most ridiculous claims about him, right? I mean you have sinners people who he created Who he gave life to? persecuting him hating him Crucifying him and Yet he endured all that he despised the shame and the Bible says that we need to take these things into consideration Obviously, you know this Sunday is Easter And so it was within these days that you have the crucifixion of Jesus Christ It's important for us to think upon those things. Why lest he be weird and faint in your mind and You know the Bible tells us that if any man come after me let him deny himself and what take up his cross Follow me well part of taking up the cross is suffering that same affliction that Jesus suffered that same hatred that same contradiction of sinners and the Bible says that we need to consider these things because we Don't want to just give up in our minds and before you get out of church Here's the thing folks is that sometimes you think about people like oh, man I haven't seen so so in a very long time They got out of church, but the reality is this is that when they were physically here They were already out of church in their heart You know why because they fainted in their mind There was a time when they were here when their hearts already turned back to Egypt as the Bible says They fainted in their mind. They could not endure mentally and eventually the body followed, right? So it's important for us to when you feel discouraged and you want to quit you want to throw in the towel folks be Not weary and well-doing for a new season We shall reap if we faint not but at the same token think about the Lord Jesus Christ Think about the fact that he endorsed his contradictions think about the self-control that he had You know what I mean? Cuz Jesus could have been like zap you know, they're like whipping him and disrespecting him he could have just opened up the earth right then and there and Just swallowed everyone who you know who hated him into hell if you wanted to He had angels on deck on call To destroy his enemies if that's what he wanted he exercised an incredible amount of self-control and Obviously we can't zap people. So it's like we really have no choice but to just endure You know what I mean? So don't be weary and faint in your minds You know recognize that when you we think about the Lord Jesus Christ and you think to yourself man Like I just I just can't handle the fact that my family just kind of disowned me or my friends separated for me Well, just think about what Jesus said that if they hate you just know that they hated me first Right anything that you're experiencing in your life That's a very negative effect of Christianity as we talked about on Sunday. Just realize that he received those negative effects first Okay, he experienced those first and you my friend are in good company if you're experiencing such contradiction So we're starting off the chapter really what the Apostle Paul telling us. Hey stick it out on this race Don't get derailed keep going forward. Look unto Jesus Don't be weary and faint in your minds and now we're gonna get into having the right perspective When we're in that trial and affliction look at verse 4 Ye have not resisted unto blood striving against sin now, that's that's powerful there He's like look, it's not like you're like dying for your faith either It's not like you shed it people have shed your blood For your faith right now. Maybe some of you have gotten close to that But as far as I know no one has yet resisted unto blood striving against sin And he says there verse 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation would speaketh unto you as unto children My son Despised not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou are rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Now. I do think this is interesting because You know, he's kind of segueing from the thought That people suffer because of the contradiction of sinners the persecution of other people, right? And he kind of relates it to God's chastening hand and we often think well God only chastens us when we're involved in sin But according to the Bible there are instances that even when you suffer some sort of affliction By the hand of someone else or you're just going through an affliction period you could essentially translate that as God Chasing you because he's allowing that to happen to you. Okay. He's kind of using that situation to chase him and He uses that word chasing and maybe people aren't really familiar with that word that what is chasing me? Well chasing just you know, the modern term would be like spanking me, okay, and It just means to discipline to punish to rebuke and in fact that the Spanish word will be Castigar, which is kind of similar to Chasing castigar chasing means the same thing and Jesus says in Revelation chapter 3 that as many as I love I rebuke and chasin So when you go through a hard time, it's hard to do this But listen to me when you go through a hard time. It's like oh the Lord loves me. I Mean you're probably not gonna say that but it's just that basically that's basically what it means because whom the Lord loveth he chasin and Here's the blessing about being spanked of the Lord to being chasin and rebuked of him is That it's confirmation that you're a son of God That's really what it is, you know Everyone wants to pull out all these eternal security verses and verses to prove that we're safe. Well, how about this one? You know, how about you? How about you? You are verse? Because when you're spanked and you're chasing of the Lord, it's like well this proves that I'm a safe person right and Of course, this is a quotation from Proverbs chapter 3 Talking about the correction of the Lord and So and it says in Proverbs 3 13 happy is the man that finest wisdom So one of the byproducts of being chasing of the Lord is that God gives you more wisdom because of it So God is trying to change our perspective that when you go through a difficult time First of all, it means that God loves you. Okay, and whom the Lord loveth you chasing it if you're going through a hard time And you think to yourself. Well, how is that even a good way of thinking? You know, it's just you're in pain. You're going through a hard time How is that that you know chasing means that he loves me Well, what if he just allowed you to just go unfettered in your devices? with no Consequence with no wisdom being imparted unto you the fact that he's chasing you means that he actually cares Right the fact that he's correcting you He's punishing you means that God actually loves you and he cares about your well-being and we're gonna see later It produces the peaceable fruits of righteousness in your life. He's trying to make you better Okay, you know God is not for this. I don't know. I can't remember what the parenting is called Positive only parenting or something like that any of you any of you guys who never were never spanked know what I'm talking about You know, you know what I'm saying, you know There's this parenting philosophy that says like I'll never spank your children only speak positive things to them You guys know what I'm talking about I know someone in here knows what I'm talking about because some of you were not spanked And so you you live that way, okay, you know, that is a very that God is not for that You know, it's just like oh man. My children are just like Living a rebellious wicked life, but I don't want to say anything negative to him because I might discourage him whoop him The Lord whoops his children because he wants you He wants me to be righteous to live justly to honor him and to be humble and that requires Chastening that requires punishment. It requires some form of Scourging the Bible says okay And so, you know, you're not gonna obviously say like oh man, the Lord loves me, but really that's what it is It's a confirmation that God does love you because he's actually paying attention to you Look at verse 7. It says if ye endure chastening God deals with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not But if you be without chastisement where of all our partakers then any bastards and not sons Okay, so what is what's being stated here? Well again, if you are being punished by the Lord, you're suffering some sort of affliction from the hand of from the hand of God It's confirmation to your son of God and he's basically saying like if you just went through life unfettered and just Nothing ever happened to you. You're a bastard In other words, you're not a safe person Because safe people get whooped by God you understand Now go to Romans chapter 8 if you would hold your place there in Hebrews chapter 11 or Hebrews 12, excuse me And by the way, it's saying that this chastisement all believers are partakers of it Everyone has suffered the hand of God Against them at some time or another and I can literally point to times in my life Where Bad things were happening to me in the early years and I knew for a fact like God was chasing me And I remember even thinking like as a new Christian like, okay, maybe it's not God, you know Maybe it's just you know bad luck or something And then that one thing just kept happening it kept happening and I just knew like God's hands against me right now It was backslidden in my heart. I was going through the motions, but I didn't have the right heart attitude You know, I was backslidden in my heart and I knew that God's hand was against me and I knew this passage and I understood like, you know At least I know that I'm a son of God You know because God is not allowing me to prosper in this particular area in my life and it's because he's punishing me Okay, but here's the thing is that I can think about times before salvation Where I was involved in sin I wasn't living a godly life and I wasn't being punished for it and in fact, I remember specific times in my life where it felt like God delivered me from certain things and You know if you're to compare it to now, it's like well the reason God probably allowed me to escape certain Consequences or certain dangers was to essentially bring me unto Christ to make me think upon the Lord To bring me unto the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ where I would be open to the gospel. I would get saved So that when I do do bad things, then I do get whooped You understand what I'm saying? So I literally remember being 17 18 years old. That was very long ago you know 17 18 years old and thinking to myself, you know man, I feel like God allowed me to escape that and I literally remember having that that thought in my heart. Like I wonder if God's doing this so I can like look for him. I literally remember thinking that Just as I literally remember thinking after salvation When I would go through something I was like God's doing this to me But the reason I took you to Romans chapter 8 is because of the fact that Look what it says in verse 12 It says therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh For if you live after the flesh you shall die But if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body you shall live For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God Now a lot of false prophets will try to use this passage to say see if you're not Spirit-filled if you're not being led of the Spirit, then you're not a son of God Because what it's what it's implying here is that if you are a spirit-filled person, you're essentially operating like the Son of God Right a son of God, excuse me And of course, we know that the inward man is that which is the Son of God that which is saved that which is redeemed So you would only what people implies that well if you're not being spirit-led then you're not a son of God Hence you're not saved But if we were to compare this to Hebrews chapter 12, if you are not being led of the Spirit Which means that you're involved in sin or you're rebelling against God's commands or whatever. What's gonna happen to you? You're gonna get chastised which confirms that you're a son of God So in either case, we're just sons of God. So this is just like your spirit-led. You're a son of God All right, you're backslidden you get spanked which proves that you're a son of God Understand what I'm saying? So this is just another way of showing that you're son So if you are living a godly life, you're being spirit-led you can say you know what man This is this just proves that I'm a son of God Because I'm living a godly life unto the Lord But then when you get prideful and arrogant about it, and then God has to whoop you you're like Oh, I guess this proves that I'm a son of God and I'm not a bastard cuz God's whooping me for my pride Does that make sense to everyone go back to Hebrews chapter 12? And so of course the reason he says bastards is because of the fact that a bastard is an illegitimate child and The Bible tells us but as many as received him to them give you power to become The sons of God even unto them that believe in his name showing us that you know This doctrine that everyone is a child of God in this world is a false doctrine A lot of people say that Catholics will say that unsafe people will say that are we all children of God? No, we're not all children of God Okay, because the Bible says in John 1 12 you have to become one which would mean that you weren't one prior To believing on Jesus Christ. And so the only way to become a son of God is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and Therefore you're saved But if you're just living a life of sin and nothing ever happens to you God never punishes you for it Then you're a bastard according to the Bible now I don't think it's up to us to really look at someone's life who has been backslidden and To say well, they're not suffering. So they're a bastard because you don't really know that You know because a lot of people will put up a front You know, they're backslidden they could make it seem like oh, yeah, nothing's happening, you know God's been good to me and I'm like, you know prospering and whatever and they can make it seem like nothing's happening to them But folks you're not there when they're in their bed crying themselves to sleep because they're miserable You know because at the end of the day you only see what they want you to see you only see their Instagram or whatever You don't really see their heart where they're miserable Because let's just be honest any Christian outside of the will of God is just miserable gets they become miserable at one point or another It's fact even if you don't know a whole lot of Bible because of the fact that you know, you're not right with God and If you're involved in sin, it's only pleasurable for a season. So once you know that the tank is run out of pleasure Then it's just not fun anymore. And now you're miserable So it doesn't matter if people claim to be having a great time in the world at the end of the day When they're by themselves having a monologue With thus within themselves with the inward man and the Holy Spirit's there. They hate it They're miserable about it That's why they have to put all types of things on to drown out all the noises because they know for a fact that They're miserable. Okay Go back to Hebrews 12 and so he's saying here, you know This is the right perspective to have don't become a wearied person if you're going through affliction Which is synonymous with God chasing you it's confirmation that I love you. It's confirmation that you're my son It's confirmation that you're in the right place Look at verse 9. What's the result of being chasing furthermore? We have had our fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live For they barely for a few days chasing us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit that we might be partakers of His holiness so it's basically saying look you've had fathers that Chastise you physically they whooped you and you literally obeyed them Even if you weren't the one that colored on the wall or something, you know, the the it wasn't even your fault Right because you know if you grew up with brothers and sisters, you know, the someone's getting blamed for something they didn't do and sometimes they get blamed and they get whooped and it's just like I didn't do it and it's like you're getting anyways cuz I think you did you know and you know parents make a mistake I've made the mistake to you, you know, and sometimes that happens you chastise them after your own pleasure and But the Bible says that even in spite of that those children will respect reverence and obey their parents. Well how much more When God does it to you? Because what's being implied here is that when you're getting chastised people can have the tendency to say why me? I'm not I didn't do anything. I Didn't write on the wall. I'm serving God. I'm doing everything that I'm supposed to be doing. I'm winning souls I read my Bible. I'm trying to be honest here Why am I being chastised if I'm not the one who did it get someone else who is out there? Disobeying you but at the end of the day is that God does it for our profit? So even if you're not guilty of a particular sin and you get afflicted the mentality should be oh God's doing it to help me to profit from this Look what it says in verse 11 now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous So this it doesn't mean that like oh man. God's chasing me great No one no one's like happy about that. You're not happy about your financial. Whoa, you're not happy about your physical ailment You're not happy about the fact that you know, your possession was stolen or whatever trial that you're experiencing. It's not joyous It's grievous. It's like man. This is rough Nevertheless Afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness Unto them which are exercised thereby. So when God chastens you he does it because he knows it's gonna make you a better person And it's interesting that it says it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness and it's in Context of a person who's being afflicted by God, even though maybe they didn't do anything Now What I think about when I read that is the pruning pot process I mean you think of John chapter 15, right where it says I am the true vine And my father is a husband man Every branch in me that beareth not fruit He taketh away, but listen to this and every branch that beareth fruit He blesses and never whoops them never spanks them. Everything is just hunky-dory No, he purgeth it that it may bring more fruit So what does it mean to purge it means he he clips away So it's just like you're serving God your winning souls the Christ you memorize first Thessalonians chapter 1 hopefully, you know you know you you're just in church and you're just Man, everything is just going great and then boom something bad hits you And it's just like why well, it's God pruning you too too because you're successful It's like oh you're getting pretty good at what you're doing. All right, let's let's chip away some of that bad habits Do you got going on there some of the bad character? Let's prune you a little bit why because when you prune more fruit is able to be produced You understand and pruning hurts It's not pleasurable and it kind of makes you mad because it's like I didn't do anything. Why am I suffering? If I'm literally supposed to if I'm literally doing what God's called me to do why am I suffering for it? But you have to have the spiritual maturity to realize I'm being pruned right now And obviously you don't have to tell people like yeah, I'm really good at the Christian life So it's like I'm just going through this hard time because I'm just I'm just like a boss right now. So God had to just do this because then he's gonna prune you even more Cuz we're pretty supposed to do is just humble you Right when you're successful what you do God in order for him to keep using you he has to humble you Winning a bunch of souls to Christ great. He has to take the carpet out from under you so you don't get too proud So he won't because he wants you to keep winning souls to Christ Oh, you're learning some deep truths of the Word of God great. He has to humble you So you don't get all proud about it so he can continue to bless you with more knowledge It's the prune you he has to cut at you understand what I'm saying And so yeah, you know God often chastises us when we're involved in sin, but if you're trying your best to live a life That's sanctified pleasing unto the Lord. You're gonna get it anyways Because in order for you to get better, you just need to get chastised sometimes okay, and It does yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. It makes you a better person. It makes you a better Christian It opens new doors for you That's what the Bible teaches look at verse 12 wherefore he says because of this lift up the hands which hang down in the feeble knees when I think of that is just like everyone's just like You know, it's like straighten up your back lift up your hands, you know Your little feeble knees because you're so weary of the Christian life and you're sad because you got whooped, you know fix your face I Being so down all the time. I know you're mad suck that lip in that little poochy lip you got going on there You know kids do right there's like I Mean you guys know what I'm talking about. I got five kids. So I I just I'm speaking from experience here sometimes kids are just like And I know some of you do that in your heart Okay And he's saying like, you know anoint your head wash your face Lift up your hands and your knees Strengthen your feeble knees. It says in verse 13 make straight paths for your feet so don't be the type of person that like when you're going through affliction, you're just like No, it's just like hey walk straight You know someone who's like who's down and has a bad attitude to have a tendency to drag their feet Pick up your feet when you walk Stop looking like you just don't want to go somewhere. It's like make straight paths for your feet Less that which is lame be turned out of the way, but rather let it be healed. What does he say? You know, it's better for you to just strengthen your knees and say I'm gonna suck it up and go straight because if you're throwing a fit Left and right you're gonna turn out of the way and do something. You're not supposed to be doing That trial that you're going through is gonna be a waste You understand what I'm saying? It's gonna turn you out of the way So make straight paths for your feet Don't let that which is lame be turned out of the way look at verse 14 follow. Peace with all men and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord now let me just deviate from what I'm talking about here just to mention something because Ray Comfort loves using this verse and Anytime he does his witnessing or whatever may be he's always just like are you living in holiness? Are you living in holiness, you know, cuz he's a repent of your sins heretic and So his marker for whether someone is saved or not is if they're living in holiness if they're actually not sinning Okay, but the guy is a walking sin because he's he's prideful. He's arrogant. He's a false prophet But he always says, you know, he quotes this verse and it says Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Okay. Now first of all, if you want to relate this to salvation It's absolutely correct And in fact, the only reason we're able to see the Lord is not because of our holiness But because of the holiness of Jesus Christ, right the righteousness of Jesus However, you know this could also just imply that in order for you to see God working in your life Because no man shall see the Lord and live So this could also be referring to the fact that if you want to see God working in your life, you need to pursue Righteousness you need to pursue holiness because it's at that point that you can see God work in your life And I think of Matthew 5 and verse 8 that says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Okay? Go to 1st Peter chapter 3 if you would, 1st Peter chapter 3 What is the Bible telling us here in Hebrews chapter 12, you know when you're going through a hard time Make sure you're fixated on Just doing right Even when you don't feel like doing it Okay Nothing's going right for you don't change your course You know make sure you don't reroute make sure the GPS stays on course understand follow peace Even when you're going through a hard time and it says follow peace with all men So it's easier to do right when you're coming to church and you have other men helping you and going in the same direction Look at 1st Peter 3 verse 10 for he that will love life and see good days Let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile Let him eschew evil and do good Let him seek peace and ensue it and so it means to pursue For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil So it's like if you want to if you want God to continue to listen to your prayers in the times of hardship Pursue peace pursue holiness, you know, it's true evil do good And I like that it says that his ears are open unto the prayers of the righteous Did you got someone like Kanye West who recently came out he's there I got my issues with Christianity I got my issues with Jesus cuz I prayed and he didn't answer my prayers. It's cuz you're wicked. You're not saved That was easy You know, he's over here you might as well have prayed at the bail because you weren't gonna get an answer to anything He's over here praying to Jesus and Jesus too busy listening to us He's like did someone say something was there like a wind blowing or something? I don't know what that was. He's over here praying Oh, Jesus is he's he says Jesus is King. He came out with that album called Jesus is King But now he's saying me willing though How blasphemous is that instead of saying God willing? He says I'm not gonna say God. Well, I'm gonna say me willing And obviously Kanye West has been a positive for a long time. We know we know that But You know, he literally said that his problem with Christianity his problem with Jesus is that Jesus didn't answer his prayers Oh, you mean the prayers of making more money and being rich and wicked? Yeah, first of all, he doesn't answer those kind of prayers. You got to pray according to the will of God Kanye Second of all, you got to be saved Kanye and the last time I checked you weren't as chewing evil you were pursuing it and So, you know, he's all mad at Christianity but you know God's not even thinking about him. He's just like who are you? He's a bastard is what he is Kanye West is a bastard because he's not saved So he can complain about Christianity all he wants he's not making a dent in Christianity whatsoever Like God is not gonna lose if he if God were to sleep. He would not lose any sleep over Kanye West It's not like Jesus is like, oh no You know all that investment what are we gonna do about the album he made about me You know Jesus is not even batting and he doesn't care about Kanye West Let me just let you know that right now. He does not care about Kanye West whatsoever Okay, and apparently he's made a very known very clear to Kanye West that he's not answering his prayers Right you just let it know he just Because now Kanye went on this podcast millions of people have seen it and now everyone knows that Jesus didn't answer Kanye West's prayers Well, that's such a bad testimony. No, it's not No, it's not It's a testimony of the Word of God that he's that his ears are turned away from the wicked You know whose prayers Jesus listens to yours And You don't have to be Kanye West East South or North You can just be you but because you're a safe person. He's gonna listen to your prayers and he is teams you more than Kanye West But here's the thing is that you know when you go through a hard time not like Kanye West Okay, Kanye West is not going through a hard time. He's got a grill on his mouth As those aren't necessarily indicative of a hard time he doesn't want to grow what a grill is okay, you know You know I'm talking about let me see your grill type people you know the diamonds and all that right Nelly and all that That's not a hard time If you got You know What is it platinum? Huh, well diamonds if you got diamonds in your mouth, you're not going through a hard time I Mean if you have diamonds in your mouth, what are you asking Jesus for? Yeah Look at verse 15. Let's finish up here, so he's telling the reader here He's Telling the reader you know we need to make sure that When we go through a hard time don't deviate from the paths of the Lord the paths of the righteous Make sure you stay the course walk straight Lift up your hands be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Now is not the time to get all weak about it and mad about it make sure you keep going forward okay? He says in verse number 15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the great fall of excuse me fail the grace of God Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled So he's saying look you need to make sure like he said in verse 1 that you look unto Jesus Diligently why because the temptation is you can become bitter and You know Temptations and trials can yield a lot of peaceable fruits of righteousness but it can also produce a root of bitterness as well if you don't know how to handle it and Make no mistake about it. There's plenty of Christians who have gotten out of church because they're upset at God and they're saved But they're upset upset at God. They're bitter and you know what they produce other bitter people as well Many are defiled because of their bitterness and he gives them examples There be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one more cell of meat sold his birth, right? For you know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance Though he sought it carefully with tears, you know a lot of the blessings that we experienced in this life some of them are seasonal and So it's better for you if you're going through a hard time to stay the course Because if you choose to deviate from the path and Then somewhere down the road you seek the blessing carefully with tears. It may not be there for you anymore That's why it's important to endure it's important to just stick it out It's important to you know, follow peace with them that fear the Lord and those who are living righteous lives Because it's so valuable to just stay in the will of God because you might miss out on a major blessing Make no mistake about it. Every trial has a blessing behind it. There's a huge blessing for you to inherit But if you quit you're never gonna get it Let's keep reading here You know what I'm gonna stop right there because we're running out of time It's gonna be a part two next week. And so what's what's the message tonight from Hebrews chapter 12? The message is this hey church Let's endure as much as we possibly can when we're going through a hard time And you may not be going through a very difficult time at this point, but you will Because as you as as you get better in the Christian life, you're serving God you're doing that Which is pleasing unto the Lord you will be pruned. You're gonna be put to the test and The Bible is telling us here clearly. Hey, make sure you keep your eyes on the Lord Because you know, you might go through a hard time and you feel like no one's noticing you Like no one's helping you Pastor isn't noticing that you're going through a hard time Your favorite brothers and sisters in Christ aren't paying attention to you. You feel isolated you feel alone, but it's at that point That God tells you keep your eyes on Christ And he's there at the finish line You know the Lord's there. He's He's our advocate. He's praying for us. He's interceding for us. He's praying that our faith fail not You know and he's there at the finish line Just kind of telling you like stick it out stick it out because even though no one's noticing you're going through a hard time He's acquainted with your grief Okay, so endure. Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word and Thank you for the admonitions here Lord and the example of not just the witnesses But of our Savior Jesus Christ and everything that he experienced in this life Lord, of course the most Turbulent trial that he ever experienced was the cross and Bearing the sins of the world even though he committed no sin You made him to be sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him And I pray Lord that we think upon our Lord. We think upon our Savior Jesus Christ So that we don't become weary in our minds and quit and faint Lord help us to stick it out to the very end that we should be in this for the long haul And Lord give us endurance help us to pace ourselves we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name Amen