I'd like you to turn with me, please,
to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12.
Hebrews, chapter 12, and we'll commence reading at
verse number one.
Wherefore, seeing we are all so compassed about,
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which doth so easily beset us, and let
us run with patience the race that is
set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of fame.
For the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and it
sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction of
sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and
faint in your minds.
Ye have not yet resisted on the blood,
striving against sin, and ye 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 art rebuked
of him.
For whom the Lord loveth his chastening, and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, or discipleship, God dealeth
with you as with sons.
For what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not?
But if ye be without chastisement, therefore, whereof
all are partakers, then ye are illegitimate, and
not sons.
Furthermore, we have had 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 verily for a few days chastened
us after their own pleasure, but he for
our profit, that we might be partakers of
his holiness.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to
be joyous, but grievous.
Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the feasible fruit of
righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down,
and the feeble knees, and make straight paths
for your feet, lest that which is lame
be turned out of the way, but let
it rather be healed.
Now farther down the chapter, verse 28 says,
Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be
moved, let us have grace whereby we may
serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.
For our God is a consuming fire.
Now we know that God will bless the
reading of his precious word.
It's always good when we read the scriptures,
that we want to know what it really
means to take things in their context.
And when I was a lot younger, I
had a brother from England used to come
over, Mr. Fred Condig, who was a giant
in the scriptures, and he used to kind
of drill it into us.
First, interpretation, then application.
So we're going to try and give the
interpretation first of all, and of course we
need to apply it to ourselves.
Now I don't want to go a lot
into the background.
I've done this a few times recently speaking
at other parts of this book.
But what helped me years ago was to
find out that the book of Hebrews can
be likened unto the Pentateuch.
That is the first five books of the
Bible.
And you likely would know if you read
it, that chapter one and chapter two down
to the end of verse four would be
the Genesis section of the book.
That's a seed plot of the Bible.
It goes way back before the worlds were,
and it brings us right down to the
present time.
The Holy Spirit and the angels, our ministering
spirits, sent forth to them, there shall be
ears of salvation.
When we come to chapter two and verse
five, right into chapter four and verse eleven,
we have the Exodus part of the book.
And that corresponds and speaks a lot about
Moses and Aaron and so on.
And of course, the main thrust of the
book would be the book of Leviticus.
It would correspond to the book of Leviticus,
and especially to the day of atonement, right
from chapter four, sixteen is it, right through
to the end of chapter ten.
Then we have the numbers part, and we
have that in chapter eleven, where you have
all those worthies, the men and women, that
are traveling through this world by faith.
When we come to the last part of
the book, of course, that would have to
correspond to the book of Deuteronomy.
And that's what we want to speak a
little bit about, because these people are moving
toward their inheritance.
And that's what the book of Deuteronomy was,
and it was written by Moses, and it
was written for those who were going to
enter the land.
So there was an inheritance that God is
bringing the children of Israel into, and of
course, is going to bring us into that
inheritance as well.
Or maybe it has already.
So the thought is that here are people,
or Jews, that were written to the Hebrews.
Some of them were saved, some were considering
salvation, and they're drawing back.
So what we have here is, there's a
race.
We began the conference this morning by the
paths, walking in the right path, but now
we're in a race.
And each one of us is part of
that race.
We're not racing against one another.
It's not a contest or a competition, but
we're all going toward that inheritance.
And for these people to whom the book
was written, some of them were going back.
Instead of going forward, they were going back,
and they were going back into Judaism.
The race was too difficult.
There were so many things in the race
that they didn't seem to be able to
overcome.
So the writer is trying to encourage them,
and I want to encourage God's people as
well, to keep on running in the race.
Now, it's not likely that any of us
here are going to go back into Judaism.
I don't think there are any Jews here
right now.
But you know, we can go back into
Christendom, because if we read this book carefully,
we'll find out when we come to the
next chapter that we're called to go outside
the camp.
And while the camp here was Judaism, and
2 Corinthians 6, we're called to come out
of the idolatry, and today you have Christendom,
generally speaking, as a mixture of both.
So that you wouldn't want to go back
to a place, would you, where they're still
wearing the priestly robes, and things like that,
and they have the music, and things that
really pertain to Judaism.
And that's what you would do if you
ever had thoughts of leaving God's assembly.
But we've been encouraged to keep on going
on for God.
And the greatest encouragement here, of course, for
these Jews would be the encouragement from the
past.
And that's why he said we're accomplished about
with such a great cloud of witnesses.
A cloud is one thing, and I think
it's because the one thing he's speaking about
here is faith.
We need faith to continue for God.
God has the best for us.
And while these people were maybe wavering, he
said, you know, faith was always involved, even
in the Old Testament.
And if you read down to chapter 11,
you'll find all these men and women of
faith.
And, you know, they all continued for God.
It wasn't easy.
Just you look at them, and look at
the trials they faced.
For instance, think even of Abraham.
There's seven trials, at least, that I counted
in his life.
And they didn't do too well in a
couple of them, but God didn't give them
the greatest trial at the beginning.
That was at the end, when he said,
take now thy son Isaac.
And they were going to offer Isaac.
That was a tremendous thing that God was
asking, but he had faith.
And he's asking these people to come out.
And Judah has come out from the old
systems, the old covenant.
It's not going to be easy.
But he said, you keep going on.
You look at these men.
It's not the fact that they're looking at
us.
We're in the race.
How are you doing in the race?
This is a marathon.
I don't think I would do too good
in a regular marathon.
I used to be able to run when
I was younger.
I used to tell my grandkids, I could
run a half hour in 20 minutes.
They're still trying to figure that out.
But anyhow, this is a different race.
This is a marathon.
There's other races in the word of God.
There's a relay race, isn't there?
When Paul said, I'm passing on the baton.
I'm passing it to Timothy.
And he's passing it on to others.
So it's good to know the word of
God in a way where we can pass
it on.
And we really know why we're doing things,
not just doing them, as we've been reminded
by Rote, but really having an exercise.
So he said, there's a great cloud there
in the stadium.
The race is almost over.
We don't have long to go.
The Lord's coming.
And if the Lord doesn't come, some of
us may not have very long to go
either.
But we're still in the race, and we're
in the stadium, and we need to be
encouraged.
And it's not that these people are cheering
us on like they would be in a
marathon today, but we're looking at them.
And we're remembering the greatness of these people
and what they suffered.
Some of them lived in the dens and
the caves, and the word says, of whom
the world was not worthy.
The world didn't want them.
But they were so great, these people, the
world wasn't worthy of them.
So he's encouraging us by what took place
in the past.
But then the next thing he speaks about
is endurance in the present.
And they said, we run with patience or
endurance the race that is set before us,
looking on to Jesus.
He's the one that would move these people
away from Judaism.
He's the one that made the one sacrifice
for sins and is forever sat down.
He's the one that endured more than them
all.
Oh, you say, did he?
Yes.
He endured at the hand of the Jews
too.
The Jews were all against him when he
was here, at least the vast majority were
against him.
But he kept on living for God.
And he was a great example.
Isn't that what it's telling us?
The pioneer, the author, and the finisher of
faith.
It's just telling us that he's the one
that we look on to, the leader, the
one who lived a perfect life of faith.
So he said, get your eye on him.
Get your eye on the goal, not on
one another.
Not on yourself.
It's not all about you.
It's not all about me.
It's all about him.
And he's the one that would move these
people away from Judaism.
He's the one that has won our hearts.
And he will lead us outside the camp,
bearing his reproach.
And I know reproach doesn't sound too good,
does it?
But you know, you ask Moses, Moses, what's
reproach?
Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches and
all the treasures of Egypt.
He said, it's treasure.
It's something that's really wonderful.
And you need to keep on enduring, because
we're getting closer to the end of the
race.
So what do we have then, the next
thing?
Well, we have the encouragement for the race,
endurance in the present, and we have education
in God's school.
You know, the things that have happened to
these people were they're educated in God's school.
If you ever read, I hope you do,
and read commentaries, it will be a help
to you.
There's a commentary by J.B. Stoney, one
of the old brethren.
There's 13 volumes of his ministry.
The ones I have are little brown cases.
But the best one of all is chapter
13.
Thirteen's not a good number, but that's the
best one.
It's called Discipline in the School of God.
So it's a wonderful thing to know that
God is educating us.
Even though these people were suffering, they were
losing their jobs, and families were nothing more
to do with them, and so on.
But he said, keep on.
It doesn't matter what is happening.
Keep on living for God.
The race will soon be run.
Don't fail in the end.
Keep on running.
Now, maybe we're not being persecuted as they
were.
But there are many things that come into
our lives, and I've been interested in this
recently.
So many of the Lord's people that we
know have been laid aside.
And some with illnesses that are sometimes deemed
incurable.
And you wonder, why do all these things
happen?
Why would you lose a partner in life?
And it would be very easy for us
to say, why me?
Who do we think we are better than
anybody else?
Why not?
We should be thinking.
And if a loved one is ill, you
say, why does that happen to my family?
Why not?
We learn from these things that are allowed
to come into our lives.
But we must know that people suffer today.
Peter talks about testimonial suffering.
Just because you're part of a testimony, that's
why they suffer.
And if we are living like part of
a, if we are a testimony for God,
well, there's going to be trials.
In the book of James, there's a person
laid aside.
There's a man in chapter 5.
And what's wrong with him?
Why is he suffering?
Well, I would take it as governmental suffering.
If a man has done something wrong.
But that doesn't mean that everybody that's suffering
has done something wrong.
And then you have educational here.
It's part of our growing up.
And you say, well, how can I be
educated if a loved one's taken?
What good could ever come out of that?
Well, I'll tell you what it should do.
And we know a little bit from experience.
It draws us closer to the Lord.
That's what it's all about.
Get our eye on him.
I was reading a book, and a man
was likening it to a point of a
compass.
And he said, Paul had a compass.
And no matter what direction he was going,
it always pointed toward Christ.
Everything in his life was for the propagation
of the gospel of Christ.
And how did he learn?
Well, you know, he had a thorn in
the flesh.
So he knew what that was.
And that was preventative.
So sometimes things come into our lives that
are preventative.
And my grace is sufficient for me.
He prayed thrice, but it wasn't removed.
And sometimes we can pray about things in
our lives or our families, and they're not
removed.
You know, one of the greatest things we
need to learn in the word of God,
or maybe I should say that I need
to learn, is the grace of acceptance.
Things are allowed to come into our lives
that we do not understand.
But we need to accept them.
Who's the greatest example of that?
Our blessed Lord himself.
He's rejected by those in Capernaum and Bethsaida
and Chorazin.
Matthew chapter 11.
What does he do when he's rejected by
those people?
What would you have done?
Oh, what I would have done, I would
have probably said, Father, here I am.
You sent me down here to this nation,
and they don't want me.
They're rejecting me.
But the Lord prayed.
Do you know what he prayed?
I thank thee, O righteous Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these
things from the wise and the prudent, and
revealed them unto babes, even so it seemeth
good in my sight.
And then you could wonder, well, how could
that be good?
What good could that...
Well, you know, if the nation hadn't rejected
him, the church wouldn't have been brought in.
There wouldn't have been any...
Well, first of all, the kingdom in chapter
13 of Matthew.
And then the church in the wide aspect,
16.
Local assembly in chapter 18.
So all these things we may not understand,
but in some way, they're all for our
good.
You're always closer to the Lord.
Of course, in 1 Corinthians you have 11.
You have...
I call it plumeria.
They're not discerning the Lord's body, and so
on.
But I just want to impress this upon
us.
If someone you know, or yourself, if you
have these difficulties or problems, we all have
them in one way or another.
Remember this.
Keep on running in the race.
Don't let these things distract you.
Family can pull you down.
And others can pull you down.
And today, the most important thing, I believe,
for believers, is to keep themselves right with
God.
And that's a big enough work, but we
have a big enough job.
But get our eye on him.
Remember, the race will soon be run.
And the glory shines before us.
And that's what he's telling us here.
So this will be a great encouragement.
In fact, that's the next point I have
here.
It's the evidence of sonship.
He said, the Lord...
It's the sons that he feels with.
You say, well, I don't like all of
this.
It's not easy to endure these things.
Well, just remember this.
That's a good proof that you belong to
him.
If you're being disciplined, just like your father
or mother disciplined you when you were a
child.
I have to admit, my father never ever
laid a hand on me when I was
a child.
My mother half murdered me.
I don't know if she did it in
love, but she seemed to love it.
But I didn't love her that much.
But my father just spoke to us.
And that brought tears to our eyes.
And he just spoke.
Well, we need to be disciplined.
And then it draws closer to the Lord.
That's the whole point.
That's what Peter brings up in 1 Peter
2.
1 Peter, I mean, also.
In 1 Peter.
It's suffering.
What about those that are causing us to
suffer?
Well, that would be 2 Peter, wouldn't it?
I'll take care of them.
You just keep on going on for God.
Don't let anything stop you.
Keep on.
So that's the evidence of sonship.
And if you're a son, what does that
mean?
What does it mean to be a son?
Well, there's just one thing I want to
say about it right now.
It means you have an inheritance.
So keep on.
This is written.
Remember the Deuteronomy partner going into the land.
It might be difficult in the wilderness.
But keep your eye on what.
And, you know, he goes on to tell
them, you can enjoy these things now.
You know what happened in the wilderness?
Well, the grapes of Eskol were brought into
the wilderness.
Why would God ever do that?
Well, spies brought them back to show them
what great a place of going into.
You ever think about heaven?
You don't know very much about it.
You don't know.
If you want to know more about it,
get to know more about the Lord.
That's the important thing in heaven.
He's there.
I know we're going to recognize one another
in heaven.
I'm convinced of that.
I've told this often.
There's only one person I ever met.
It was a man in South Africa.
Ronnie Benner.
I can't give you his name because he's
gone now.
He believed you wouldn't know each other in
heaven.
Do you know why?
Find out why.
Like me, he'd been married before.
He didn't want his first wife to know
about the second one.
But we don't have to worry about things
like that in heaven.
It's all together a different sphere.
How can we enter into it?
We can't.
But these bodies are finite bodies.
We need a body suited to heaven.
And we're going to get one.
I have thought a lot about the dead
being raised.
Little children die.
People die with one leg.
Others could be eaten by a cannibal.
What's going to happen?
I don't understand it at all.
But I know there's a resurrection coming.
And the person just isn't the body.
The person is the whole thing.
And it's the same person that was in
the grave that's coming out.
But someday it's going to be marvelous.
We know a little more about these things.
God has it all worked out.
There's nothing too difficult for him.
So he's just admonishing us now.
Keep on.
We're sons and we're daughters.
And sonship means we're fully grown.
We should be enjoying the things of God.
And get our eye on him.
Then what's the next thing?
Well, it says, wherefore, verse 12, lift up
the hands which hang down, and the feeble
knees, and make straight paths for your feet.
Lest that which is lame be turned out
of the way, but rather let it be
healed.
I thought here that this is an example
to others.
We're the heirs of sonship.
Are we living in the light of that?
Am I an example to others?
Well, I will tell you I am.
Either a good example or a bad example.
But we should be good examples.
It's wonderful to be in a fellowship.
And in a fellowship we've been reminded about
this so much at the conference.
The love that we have for one another.
Well, we love those that are going on
for God.
But what about the ones that aren't?
We love them too, don't we?
God loves me not because of what I
am, but in spite of what I am.
And we should love one another.
And there's a fellowship that we enjoy, and
the world can't understand it.
When I came to the United States, I
wasn't saved.
And one of my good friends, probably was
anyhow, over in Ireland, he said, You need
to join a Masonic.
If you're really going to get along, you
need to be a Mason.
I thought about it, but I was never
taught things like that.
I always knew what was right and what
was wrong.
When I was younger, I went to denominational
places.
And you could never have convinced me that
they were right, because I was taught the
truth.
We should teach our children the truth.
I'm sure we do.
But that's so important, to have a family
altar.
And to gather the children around.
It's not easy today with so many things
going on all at once, and schools, and
so on.
But we should teach them the truth of
God.
And when the time comes, after God saved
my wife and I, first wife and I
the same day, we sat down and said,
Now what comes next?
Well, I knew what should come next for
me was to be baptized.
I hope that you're saved and you're not
baptized.
You think about these things.
See, what God wants you to do, that's
what we did.
I'm not saying I knew all about it
when I was baptized, but I knew that's
what the Lord wanted me to do.
I've learned a lot since then.
I was more involved in it than I
ever learned.
Where are we going to go?
There was a great denominational church where they
really preached the gospel.
Because I was there one time.
Before I was saved, they had a choir.
And I like singing.
I like choiring.
They had the choir leader.
He blew a trumpet.
They called him Gabriel, but that wasn't his
real name.
Anyhow, he chanted a horn.
And I was pretty good at it.
But I couldn't go there.
Because I knew enough to know it wasn't
in the Word of God.
And that's what we're going to enjoy and
go on in the Word of God.
It's the only important thing.
God has the best for his people.
And we can't go where there's one-man
ministry, because I knew enough that in the
stories in the Bible, there was no such
thing in the Word of God.
Isn't it too bad that some aren't continuing
in the race?
They're falling out of the race.
I'm not saying, not saying, but I'm applying
it this way.
We're all going towards an inheritance that God
has given us.
Something he wants us to enjoy and measure
now.
I started off talking about the grapes of
Eschol.
And how all that grape fruit was brought
out into the wilderness to encourage the hearts,
to stimulate them.
What about all the grapes?
That speaks of joy.
Where are you getting your joy from?
The Nazarite didn't get his joy from the
things of earth.
The Qur'an speaks of joy.
You keep away from the joy that's in
the world.
There's something far greater.
And that's living for God.
And those grapes that were brought out, if
you had been like me, you'd have wanted
at least one of them.
And I'll tell you, you never taste grapes
like it in all your life.
You say, my, what a place we're going
into.
A place of joy.
So there might be problems in this life,
but we're going to a place where there's
joy.
The Jews were all occupied with the outward
thing, weren't they?
Most of them.
What about the water purification?
I could only make them pure on the
outside.
What did they say?
The groom.
I was kept a good wine until now.
Please, we need to read our Bible carefully.
And it doesn't have to be too carefully,
because I've heard this misquoted more than quoted
correctly.
Kept the good wine to the last.
Where did you get that from?
I don't think that's even in the ESV.
Or any translation.
Kept the good wine until now.
There's no last, it's a joy.
And then we're joy.
It's not the water of purification.
We're really entering into these things.
We know them.
But do we really know them?
Then remind that we only know what we
put into practice.
So may the Lord help us to realize
there is an inheritance.
And not only grapes.
There's pomegranates.
And if you know what they are, they're
little seeds.
And you can eat them.
Don't do what I did.
I put them on top of ice cream,
and pushed them in, and ended up with
a shirt.
A beautiful red garbage shirt.
Fortunately, I know they won't like me to
say this, but she's an expert at taking
out stains.
I don't know how she learned all this.
Speaks of fruitfulness.
My, it's going to be wonderful.
It's not just going to be sitting in
heaven, twiddling her thumbs.
It's going to be serving Him.
The figs they brought out.
What do figs think of sweetness?
My, I tell you, we need to eat
more figs.
It wouldn't be good for me as a
diabetic, but we need more sweetness in our
lives.
Sometimes I wonder, we're just paddling on the
edge of the ocean, instead of enjoying the
things that God has brought us into.
My, that's wonderful.
And to think of the Lord's people.
I don't know if I've ever even heard.
And how they had a prayer for one
another.
And, you know, when they took up that
gift that Brother was telling us about, and
they took it to Jerusalem.
And, you know, in Jerusalem, when they were
saved, they all had one thing in common.
And that saints were poor.
And now God's cementing the whole relationship between
Jew and Gentile.
It's really marvelous the way God works.
I was thinking of Brother Murray was speaking
too.
You know, my mind goes all over the
place.
But I was listening.
You know, read your Bible.
Read it consecutively.
Hear Stephen at Stone.
The parable is sent to the servant back.
We will not have this man to reign
over us.
What happens in the next chapter?
A man goes up to Jerusalem.
What does he find?
Nothing.
God has finished with that.
You go to the next chapter.
What do you have?
You have a man that God's raising up
to rule the Gentiles.
That's marvelous, isn't it?
Really, we need to get into it more
and get more of it into us.
So, anyhow, we're an example to others.
And the assembly that you're a part of
should be an example to other assemblies.
Think of Thessalonica.
Again, think of their sufferings.
And the word of God sounded out from
them.
We're speaking of Ghana and Alpena, but the
silver trumpets of beaten work.
That's what Paul was a silver trumpet of.
Beaten work.
He had suffered so much, but there was
no uncertain sound.
And the saints of Thessalonica were the same.
Suffering, but enduring it and spreading out with
the gospel.
My, I think, and I include myself, I
think of Jacob.
Do you know what he did?
He was a Teniel.
He woke up and said, God is in
this place, and he was sleeping.
Maybe that's what we're doing.
Maybe we need to be wakened up.
To be brought into a greater enjoyment of
these things.
But I'm going to stop.
And the reason is that there's much more
to say here.
But we come down to the end of
the chapter.
It says, we're for receiving a kingdom.
And that means that we have received the
kingdom from the hand of another.
They tell us the verb, and it started
with the gospel.
A kingdom.
They were looking for, but they didn't know
too much about what was going to take
place in the land.
But anyhow, the Jews of this was written
to, they were waiting for a kingdom.
For the Romans to be overthrown and the
nation would be ahead of the nations.
Only thing is, he left Calvary out.
The price of redemption.
But he said, you're in a kingdom now,
is what he's saying here.
We're going into the land.
But we can enjoy these things now.
I wonder, do I realize we're subject in
God's kingdom.
Are we enjoying the things?
I'll tell you, the glory shines before.
You cannot linger here.
So may the Lord help us to enter
into these things in a way, maybe we
all know them.
But we need to be stirred up, don't
we?
And we can take this encouragement from the
past.
Go into chapter 11.
Beautiful.
There's not one mention of sin.
There's sins in their licorice that I remember
no more.
Far as the east is from the west,
so far have we removed our transgressions from
us.
And here they are.
But what characterizes these people?
They're characterized by faith.
They have faith's power in these men and
women.
Here we have faith's pathway.
And I think the next chapter we end
up with faith's priorities.
We're men and women of faith.
We're in the race.
And it's almost over.
And we need to keep on running.
For our own benefit and our own blessing.
And to be an encouragement for others.
May the Lord help us to encourage one
another.
It's easy to bring one another down.
I haven't found to get to criticism in
my Bible yet.
Although some people think it's more blessed to
give than to receive.
And it refers to a brother's brother.
May the Lord help us to be men
and women of faith.
And keep on running.
No matter what the problem is.
I should have really taken time.
They despise not thou that shakest near the
Lord.
Neither faint nor be yoked at him.
Don't despise it when God deals with you.
We don't know the reason.
But God will show you the reason.
Don't take it too lightly.
But don't take it too heavily.
Don't be bowed down by it.
Because it's going to bring in a peaceful,
free and righteous man.
So may the Lord help us to get
our eye on the Lord.
That one who is finished in perfection.
In spite of all the difficulties.
Even the cross itself.
Obedience.
Faith in God.
And a great example for you and for
me.