Please turn in your Bibles to Hebrews and the chapter we're going to deal with, chapter 12. And so let's look into Hebrews chapter 12. I'm going to read today actually only the first 13 verses of Hebrews chapter 12. So Hebrews 12 is the passage and the first 13 verses we are going to read together and make some remarks and see what the Lord is teaching us here from this very interesting chapter. So Hebrews 12:1. The writer is writing: Wherefore, sin, we also are compassed about with so great cloud of witnesses. 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 us.

Looking unto Yeshua, the author and the 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, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, my son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him, for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and he scourges every son whom he receiveth.

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye illegitimate children, or bastards, as it says here, 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 peaceable 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.

And I stop. Thirteen verses in Hebrews chapter 12 now take us to another area in which the writer was appealing to the first century Hebrew believers. We just finished the 11th chapter of Hebrews. The 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews was a wonderful chapter that we have gone through, and we have dealt with the many men, many people, many men and women of faith who trusted God, followed after God, even in crucial and critical times in their life, in spite of difficulties that they have been facing in their lives. And the writer wrote about the need of faith, and he said to them what faith is all about.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things which were not seen. And we have looked over, beautiful chapter, 11th chapter, we looked over the people of faith. The Hebrew individuals that he wrote this book to needed to look and to be remembered of what God has done through these men and women in the past, and how they trusted God, and they followed God, and they had faith in God in spite of difficult times. Now he continued, and you notice that chapter 12 is very much linked with chapter 11, not only because it comes in that order, but also because he is basing what he is saying right now in this chapter about what he has already said in the 11th chapter.

And so actually, in chapter 12, the theme of chapter 12, number one is, let us stay running. Let us continue running. This is number one. Secondly, let us remember that we belong to a heavenly city, to another city, the city of Jerusalem, the heavenly city, which the Lord is preparing for his people. And so really, chapter 12 deals with two things. The believers, those Hebrews, and you and I, running a race. And there is a race in which we are running. And the important is to continue running the race and to finish it in a way that is pleasing to God. That's the first 13 verses. Then from verse 14 to the end, we learn not only that we are to run the race, we are also to learn that we belong to another city.

We are citizens of heaven. We are citizens of this city called the New Jerusalem in chapter 12. Now, we are not going to talk about citizenship now. We are going to talk about running a race. Now, every one of us, probably in the past when we were younger, we were in school and we were many times going with our schoolmates to competitions, whether it is running, whether it is throwing things far, whether it is jumping. We were in races when we were young in school. We remember that. We were in various parts of an athletic group and we were participating in athletics, in races. The life of the believer is also, we learn here, is a real race.

The life of the believer is not only that the person who accepted the Messiah, became a child of God, received forgiveness of sins, but also we are really in a race. We are really being challenged, they were being challenged by the writer, the Hebrew believers of first century, to be challenged that they should continue on and move forward in spite of opposition and difficult times that they were facing. And you know, brothers and sisters, I spoke many times about that. These Hebrew Christians, these Hebrew believers did suffer persecution. They suffered from their people, they have been rejected and despised, they have lost perhaps parts of their lands, they have lost a place in the temple, and they were wondering what should we do?

Should we go and continue to offer sacrifices or not? What should we do? Should we follow the Messiah? Because our people as a nation, Israel, have not yet accepted the Messiah. What should we do? And they were inclined to kind of neglect following the Lord. And so he gave them a chapter, chapter 11, about the people of faith that follow God, and he's now appealing to them directly. After showing them the history, now he's speaking to them personally, just like he will speak to you and I today. And so the lesson that he's teaching them, he's dwelling upon a race, a race about running, running. It's like running and running and running and continue running in spite of obstacles that are existing for us.

There are obstacles that are coming, but he wanted them to continue to run and to follow the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. So what does he do here? In verses 1 to 13 is the race that the Hebrews are found themselves in, but he gives them two things. Verses 1 to 4, he says, you know what? First of all, look unto the Lord Jesus, the Messiah himself. Look at him, and notice what he does here in this chapter. He began in verse 1a. In the first verse, he's saying to them now, look at this, and I'm reading verse 1a. He's telling them, look at the ones that have been witnesses to the truth of God, and they continue to follow the Lord.

He said in verse 1, wherefore, seeing we are also compassed about with so great clouds of witnesses. He's actually taking them back to chapter 11. He said, wherefore, the wherefore in verse 1 of chapter 12 connect us with the chapter before. Therefore, in view of what I have just written to you about those many godly men and women in past history of Israel. Wherefore, seeing that we also are compassed about with such great cloud of witnesses. He says, look at those witnesses. You are surrounded by witnesses which I have just given to you from the past history of the nation of Israel. He began, as we have discussed it, from the beginning, from Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham.

And he continued on talking about Sarah and then Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses and so on. He went even on to say, speak about Joshua and Rahab and Gideon, Barak, Shimshon, Yiftach, David, Samuel and all the prophets. He said, look at the cloud of witnesses that we have. We just talked about it, he said. Seeing that we are compassed about with so great cloud of people who witness to the truth that follow God. You and I maybe not relate to it as much as those Hebrews in first century. But you and I can relate to other godly men and women that were part of our lives.

Maybe you had a man and a woman, a brother or a sister in your lives, in my life, that have left an impact upon us. I remember Mr. Ostrowski, a Jewish believer in the past that had been an impact on my life. And I can remember others, people that have been an example. Do you think they didn't have problems? Do you think they haven't been facing persecution and rejection and all these things? They have been facing with those problems, but they went ahead and they moved on. And they continue to follow the Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah. Here he says, look back at the ones that gave us witness.

Now, when it says here, wherefore, seeing that we are compassed about so great cloud of witnesses. You know, some people think that those believers in the past, it's like they are in heaven and looking down upon us and kind of checking us and seeing how we are walking with the Lord. That is not the thought here. That is not like we have people that are watching us and it's just that we need to look back at them and see their walk with the Lord, like we described it in chapter 11. Look at what Moses have done. Look at what Jacob have done. Look at what Isaac have done.

By the grace of God, with the help of the Lord. That's what you and I need to do. We need to look back and look at other men and women that have been an influence upon our life, that have walked with the Lord. They stumbled. They made mistakes. They failed. But they also continue on. They got up. They confessed their sins and they moved on to continue to follow the Lord. And so he's, first of all, directing them to the past, to chapter 11, the whole chapter. He says, these are the cloud of witnesses and how they have been a witness and they are witnesses to us.

You know, when we're facing rejection here, we're facing people who do not understand why we believe in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. And some of us, our own family, who do not understand how we follow Yeshua, the Messiah, and why we believe on him. The apostle, the writer to the Hebrews tells them, look at these men and women of God who follow the Lord, who follow God and follow the scriptures. Now he's moving on. Not only that he says, looking at them in verse 1a, then he's telling them, now look inside yourself. Look at your state and your condition. Look at your own condition. And you know, brothers and sisters, listen, when we want to follow the Lord, when we desire to follow the Lord, we discover that there are many things that hinder us from following the Lord.

He's telling them in verse 1b, 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 us. Now look what he says. Now look what he says. Not only to look back at the cloud of witnesses that he had just written about in chapter 11. But then he tells them, look within yourself. Do you have, and notice he says, do you have weights and sin which cause us to stumble and slow down our spiritual progress? You know, when a runner runs in a race, before he gets to the race, when he or she practice, they put an additional weight on their bodies so their body will be heavier.

So when they run, they carry additional weight upon them. But when the actual race coming, they take all these weights from them, whether it is on their hands or on their feet, and then it's easier to run the race. You are able, or they were able to run faster, more accurate, more precise, more fast, because they took the weight away from them. Well, look at this, what he's saying to them. Lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us. What kind of weights you and I may have that hinder us from continuing the race? What kind of weight those Hebrew believers of first century had that hindered them from continuing the race to follow after the Lord Jesus and to be victorious?

Now, we're not running the race to get saved. They were already saved. They were already children of God. But the race is not in order to get saved, but because a person is a child of God, now the race continues. And the race starts and continues on until the day that we are going to meet the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. And so he tells him, let us lay aside every weight. What kind of weights you and I might have? You know, weights, things that hinder us. Maybe we sometimes hear a brother speak about, you know, maybe we are occupied with certain things we are not supposed to be occupied.

Maybe things that are hindering us. Maybe instead of spending time reading the scriptures, we spend time doing something. And instead of spending time praying and visiting believers, we are occupied with other things that take away from our spiritual energy. Those are weights, things that are dishonoring to the Lord, things that are not needful in our life that cause us to slow down with a spiritual progress. But it's not only weight. You know, when I look at weight, it's things that can be even good things. They are not necessarily sinful. It's just that are things that we have and do and come into our lives that are making us spiritually heavy and not light, not able to run.

These are things that we can say indifferent. But then notice, he continues. He doesn't only say, let us lay aside every weight. But he continues. And he says, and the sin which does so easily beset us. You know, brothers and sisters, I tell you, it doesn't take too long for sin to beset us. It's a battle that you and I are going through every day in our thoughts, in our mind, in our desires. You see, we sin because we are sinners. We have a sin nature. Sin is so easily beset us. Of course, here the thought I would like to suggest, this sin, here is the sin of unbelief.

When it's come to first century Hebrew believers in the Messiah, that particular sin that he's speaking about is a sin of unbelief. They had the inclination to not believe what God said about Yeshua the Messiah, that he is the answer, but not only the Savior, but we are to follow after him and not to go back into the rituals that only pointed to him. That was the sin of those Hebrews of first century, but we can broad this and take beyond that. It's sin and sins that does so easily beset us. Don't you feel sometimes? It doesn't take too long. It doesn't take too much to do wrong, to dishonor the Lord, to hate, to lust, to covet, and on and on to be angry, to talk wrong, to think evil about somebody else, to do things, to go places we shouldn't go.

It doesn't take too long. It doesn't take too long. We never needed to be trained to do wrong. We, by nature doing wrong, we need the help of God to do the right things in the power of the Spirit of God. That's the reality of the life of the believer. Paul said it in Romans 11. The things I want to do, that's I don't do. The things I don't want to do, that's I do. And he faces and he says, "Oh, wretched man that I am." And here the writers say, speaking to the Hebrews of first century, "Look, we have such a cloud of witnesses in the past.

Look at the history of your brethren, the nation of Israel, the believers who were among from Abraham and so on." And he says, "Now look inside yourself, Hebrew believers." And he's also speaking to us. And he says, "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us." Now, he continues and he says, "Lay it aside." And you know, to put it aside means that we need to ask the Lord's help. "Lord, how can I be released from this thing that caused me to be bound to it and limits me with my enjoyment of the things of the Lord?" We need to ask the Lord to help us to lay it aside.

We cannot even do it on our own. He tells them to lay it aside, but to lay it aside with the help of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, with the help of the Holy Spirit of God. Lay it aside. And then, when you lay these aside, he says, he continues and he tells them, "And let us run the race or run with patience the race that is set before us." We are in a race. We are to run and to run, to consistently run, continually. And it's a race and a running that needs a lot of patience. Patience with each other. Patience with the people around us.

Patience with the trials and tribulation that are coming across in our life. And you remember what the Bible tells us in the book of Romans, that tribulation walks patience. When we have problems, sometimes problems are being brought upon us in order that we will learn patience and stay closer to the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Not every trouble that we have, we should say, I don't want it. Sometimes the trouble that God brings across in our own life, there is a reason for that, because God ultimately said that this trouble will keep us staying closer to him. Keep us depending upon him. But let us run, he said.

Let us run the race with patience, the race that is set before us. We are in a race. We will all finish the race. But how are we going to finish the race? Are we going to finish the race in a way that is pleasing to the Lord? I want to read a verse for you in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Look what the same thought that we have in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 23. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partakers thereof with you. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all? But one receive the prize. So run that ye may obtain.

And every man that strive for mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. But we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I preach to others, I myself should be disapproved. Or as it says here, a castaway. Notice what Paul is saying to the Corinthians. He's saying to them, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. How many times, brothers and sisters, we have failed in having our bodies put under subjection?

How many times we do not succeed to control ourselves, to put ourselves in subjection to the Lord, and to be those that by the grace of God, succeeding with the help of the Spirit of God, to do the right things? How many times do we do the wrong things and they become a weight and sins that creep and so easily upset us? And so, we encourage in verse 1a and 1b, first of all, look at the cloud of witnesses, verse 1a. And then secondly, look within yourself and run, take the weight, take the sins, which does so easily beset us. I don't need to look at you and you don't need to look at me.

We know within ourselves that sin easily beset us and cause us to fall, to stumble and not to grow spiritually. And there are weights that exist in our own life that cause us to be heavy and not light so we can run the race that is set before us. We all are in a race. We are all going to get to the end of it. The entrance into the presence of the Lord is because of what Yeshua has done for us. But how do we run this race? Are we running the race in a way that is pleasing the Lord? Are we honoring the Lord?

And when we don't, thank God for 1st John 1:9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us for all our sinfulness and make us righteous, set us bright again before the Lord. So, look back at the history of Israel and the history of these men of faith. Look present within yourself at your spiritual state and your spiritual condition. Set aside, put away the weights, put away the sins that so easily beset us and run that race. Now, when we run that race, now He is telling us in verses 2, 3 and 4 who we are to look at. We looked at the past, we look at ourselves, but now He is telling them to fix their eyes upon the person of Yeshua the Messiah.

Notice verses 2, 3 and 4. He is now telling them to look at the person of Yeshua the Messiah. Look how beautiful verses. "Looking unto Yeshua, the author and the finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him, that and do such contradictions of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." You know what He does? He does something that we all need to bear in mind. We are not only to look back at others, thank God for that, and we do get encouragement from others that have walked with God.

We are not only to look within ourselves and our own state and our own condition and say, "Lord help me with the many weights that caused me to slow down and the many sins which does so easily beset me." Then He said to them, "Look off from yourself, and look to the Lord, and look to Yeshua." And you know it is so precious to look at the Lord. Because when you look at the Lord, you look at a perfect man, that never disobeyed, never sinned, always pleased the Father. A man that we can look at and get encouragement for our heart. A man that came to this world to give His life for us.

A man, the Son of God who became a man. The Messiah of Israel and the Savior of this world. Looking to Him. You notice, by the way, He doesn't say, "Look at the Son of God." But He gives us the name, Jesus, Yeshua. We call Him in Hebrew. Looking unto Yeshua. He talks about His humanity here. He is occupied here with the humanity of the person of the Messiah, Yeshua, who gave His life for these Hebrews. And He gave His life for us as well. And you see what He does here? He is wanting them to look to Him. And notice, He is telling them here in these verses.

You know, the Lord Jesus is the supreme example. If you want to see a man that pleased the Father. That never sinned, never deviated from God. We cannot look back to the history of our own people Israel. We cannot look within at our own condition and our own state. But we gotta look at Him, the one that have completely the perfect example that we can ever see in this world. Now, you might say, and many people say, "Well, He was the Son of God. He was sinless. And therefore, He was perfect." But we are not. Yes, we know that. Of course, He was perfect. He was the Son of God.

What He suffered and what He has gone through here is sufficient enough to encourage the heart of the believer to give us a charging of our own hearts and conscience to continue to follow after God. Look what He is saying about Him here. First of all, He is telling them that He is the author or the leader or the captain of faith. Look what He says. First of all, He is looking unto Yeshua, the author, the founder, or in another word, you can say here, He is the leader of faith. If there is anyone that lived the life of faith in this world in its full sense, it's that man, Yeshua from Nazareth.

He is the leader. Remember, we studied earlier in Hebrews chapter 2, and we call Him the captain of our salvation. You remember what He said, Hebrews 2 and verse 10, "For it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons into glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering." You know, He became the captain, the leader, the founder, the author of faith. You know, when we think about Him as the one that had been the author, He is the one that had experienced so much suffering by the hand of men here in this world. And He has suffered.

Here in this world, He had been rejected and persecuted. He had been despised. And look what He says here. He was the author of faith. He was the one, the originator of faith. What is faith? Faith is trusting and following God and being faithful. That's what He was. He was faithful. You remember what He said, "My meat and my drink is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." But He's not only the author, He's also the finisher. Because it says here in verse 2, looking unto Yeshua, not only the author, but also the finisher of our faith. Actually, it should be the finisher of faith.

He started and He ended. He is the one that the perfecter of faith and faithfulness. Oh, how many times we think of ourselves being so unfaithful to the Lord. In many areas, sin that creeps into our life. He is the one that was the author and the finisher, the originator and the perfecter of faith. Again, beloved, He's not talking about the Son of God in His divine nature. He's talking about Yeshua. Looking unto Yeshua. His humanity is set before us right now. Looking unto Yeshua, the author and the finisher of our faith. And now He's continuing. He's telling them, look. He's giving the example here.

Look what He has done. Look at the perfect example. It says in 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." You notice this expression? "For the joy that was set before Him." I was thinking about this this morning. What was the joy that was set before Yeshua, the Messiah? You know what was the joy? The joy that was set before the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, is to honor God with respect to sin and to bring many sons unto glory. You know what we read in the Hebrew prophet Isaiah in chapter 53?

When we read about the person of Yeshua, the Messiah that was going to come. It says there in Isaiah 53, it says there in verse 11: "He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied." What was the travail of his soul that He's going to be satisfied about? You know, when He had gone to the cross, after He lived a life here in this world, and He went to give His life a ransom for many, what was it for? It was for us. It was for those Hebrews to whom He was writing. To save us. To redeem us. That was the joy that was set before Him.

He looked to the future and He says, "Wow, I'm healed on earth for the purpose of redeeming a sinful people, a sinful nation, bringing individuals, a company of believers to be right with God." The joy that was set before Him. And so who were for the joy that was set before Him, Isaiah 53:11-12. What did He do? He endured the cross. He despised the shame. And He sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. He, as we read here, He endured the suffering on the cross. He despised the shame that He had experienced here in this world. And He ended up sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

You know, when you look at those three statements. Endure the cross. Despising the shame. Think of the shame that He had to go through in His lifetime. They spitted Him. They mocked Him. They rejected Him. And if He would come today, men will do just the same. They will despise Him and reject Him and will do the very same thing in His life. And then it says here that He also endured the cross. Not only that He despised the shame in life, but He endured the cross. Means that He received the judgment from God that you and I deserve to be receiving. And then thirdly, after He died and He took upon Himself the judgment of God, He was set down on the right hand of the throne of God.

He was resurrected and God had placed Him in His right hand, at His right hand. Isn't it wonderful to see how God had been satisfied with Yeshua the Messiah? And that's what the writer is telling the Hebrews to look to Him. We cannot look at each other even. We cannot look at ourselves. Because we are often getting disappointed and discouraged. But when we look at Him, we see the beauty of the person of the Lord. And that encourages us to continue to follow after Yeshua the Messiah. And therefore, it does encourage us to move on and to live for Him in this world. And so, that's what they needed.

These believers needed to admit the weights that they have. The sin that's so easy to beset them. But not only to look there, now to look to the Lord. Looking unto Yeshua, the author and the finisher of our faith. For the joy that was set before Him. He endured the cross, despising the shame. And He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. There's another verse in Isaiah 53 that I want to read. That we read about the Lord Jesus. Look at it, despising the shame. Listen, verse 3. He is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows that have been acquainted with grief.

And that's what He's saying to those Hebrews. He says, you have grief? Look at Jesus. You have sorrows in your life? Look at Yeshua. You are being despised by your brethren, by your people, by your nation? Look at Yeshua. Look at Yeshua. He was the one that the Bible tells us about Him. And He's the one that has already died and gone to heaven. He's the one that we read about Him, that He's despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrow which has been acquainted with grief. Do you have grief in your life? Look unto Yeshua. That's what He's saying to us. And dear brothers and sisters, how precious it is for us to do so.

That would help us to run that race. We cannot run the race without looking at the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. He's the one, the object. He's the one that can help us. And you know, when sin comes in, we can always turn to Him in confession and tell it to Him. He knows that. Repentance towards God and ask Him to restore us and to give us the strength to continue on. Because we cannot continue on unless we get the strength and the help from Him. And so we are in verse 3 now. He says, look, consider Jesus. You know that He's still occupying the believers with Him.

He says, consider Him that and do such contradiction of sinners against Himself. Now, the Hebrews of first century to whom He wrote, they had contradiction against Him. Their own family and people said to them, how can you follow this Jesus, this Yeshua from Nazareth? How can you say that He is the Messiah? If He was the Messiah, why we don't have peace? Why we don't have Shalom? Why we don't have a nation restored? Why is it? And yet those first century believers were saved because they did believe in the Messiah. They had accepted Him as the Messiah and the Lord and their Savior, but they had to make a choice.

They cannot follow Him, but also go offer sacrifices at the temple. They cannot follow Him and go through all that which only pointed to Him. They have to recognize that that He is done for the season. And He is the one that they are to focus upon and to follow after. And you and I the same thing. When we get contradictions against us, people who seek to slow us down from our spiritual progress, we need to look to Jesus to consider what He had to face in His own life. Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners. You notice how many times the word endurance here mentioned and patience mentioned?

Verse 1, run with patience. Verse 2, the joy that was said for Him, He endured the cross. Verse 3, consider Him that endured. It's an endurance. It's patience. That's what we are being trained through trials. Tribulation works about patience in our life. If you don't have trouble in your life, you will never learn patience. You will never learn endurance. It's not an easy road, though we love it to be an easy road. You know, we sometimes wish we get saved. And that we know that our sins are forgiven. And everything is going to be easy and smooth. Our families are fine. Our children are fine. Our health is fine.

Our finances are fine. Everything is fine. Easy road. Nobody contradicts us. Everybody accepts us. Everybody loves us. But it doesn't work this way. It's not so. The reality is there is constant contradiction. Constant counteract. Constant struggles. Which constantly teach us to depend upon the Lord. And then patience. We develop endurance and patience in our lives. And so that's what He's telling them here. And then you notice what He said. In verse 3. The second half of verse 3. Lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. You see, notice that? You see, when we get constant pressure. And constant discouragement. And contradiction against us. There is an inclination to get wearied.

Wearied in our mind. Ah, what's the use? What's the point to all this? I cannot bear this anymore. I cannot take it anymore. And I cannot handle this anymore. I'm sick and tired from all these problems that I have. And then you can get wearied. As it says here. And faint and tired. And weak. And then you can say. So I'm not going to read my Bible. I'm not going to pray anymore. It's no use. Seems like I'm praying and praying and praying. And there's no answer. And then I'm not going to the meetings with other believers. I'm not going to seek to live for the Lord.

And represent Him. And then we can get very quickly fainted in our mind. That's what He's telling them. You've got to look at the Lord. You've got to consider what He has gone through. And what He has done for you. So you will be encouraged to continue on. And not get faint and tired. That's what we need to do. You know this is a responsibility that we have towards each other. You know it's not enough for us to only think of ourselves. But when we see a brother or sister that is discouraged. How do we treat that brother? You know the people need to be encouraged.

We cannot only put people down. We need to lift people up. That's a job that we all have. The responsibility that we all have. We need to encourage each other in the things of the Lord. That's what we need to do. And that's what God had to say to Israel. And to remind Israel in the past. To remind them the fact that they need to continue on. Not to get tired to that extent that they are not moving on for Him. And He told them in the prophet as well. He spoke to Israel. And He said sometimes you're getting weary and tired. You remember what He said?

Why sayest thou O Jacob? And speakest thou O Israel my way are hidden from the Lord? And my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, He fainteth not? Neither is weary. There is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint. And to them that have no strength He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be wearied. And the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait about the Lord shall redo their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

They shall run, heal the race, and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. See, He was saying to Israel what He's saying to these Hebrew believers of first century. And what He's saying to you and I. We need to look to the Lord to get the help to continue on running. You know I think we just came back from Belarus. And I think of the believers there. You know with all the problems that they had. It's so nice to see those that turn to the Lord and take it and turn their eyes to the person of Yeshua. Know all the problems that they have.

And they have problems. They have financial problems. They have health problems. Age problems. They live in a country that don't have the liberties that you and I have. And yet to see those that are still trusting the Lord. It's so encouraging. Now, if you ask me. If I ask you and I prefer to live in a more comfortable country. Where we have many more liberties. And much more that we can express ourselves. Freedom to meet. No problem with the government and so on. In that sense. At least so far. But. That's what we get encouragement from others. An example. That they continue on. Looking unto Yeshua.

He is the one that we can look and get encouragement from. He is the one that we should be occupied with. And He is the one that He is the example. The supreme example that we have. Natami passing by. But I still want to move on over the next verses that we have. Not only that we are to look unto the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And we are to be encouraged by Him. Looking unto Him. But now. In verses 5 to 9. He gives them another encouraging thing. To those believers. The second encouragement thing that He gives them there. To those Hebrew believers of first century. Is to be assured.

When you have been rejected. Persecuted. Going through trial. Never forget that God loves you. Never forget the love of God. You know. When we go through problems. We often say. God doesn't love me. God doesn't care. Had He really cared. He would take away the problem that I have. That's how we think. But let me tell you. Brothers and sisters. Doesn't matter what a believer goes through. God's love. Towards us. Is so high. We can never measure. The love of God. We think of the verse in John 3:16. For God so loved the world. But then look even closer. We read in Ephesians. The Messiah loved the church.

And gave Himself. For earth. We think of the prophet Jeremiah. Speak of the love of God for Israel. I have loved you. God said. With an everlasting love. We can never say. That God doesn't love us. We often don't love God. But we can never say. That God doesn't love us. And that's what He's reminding them now. In verses 5. All the way. To verse 13. In verses 5 to 9. First of all. You want to. Show them the assurance. Of the love of God. Towards them. Look what He said. First of all. In verses 5 and 6. He's saying to them. Had He forgotten the exaltation. Which speaketh unto you.

As unto children. Did you forget this exaltation? My son. Despise thou not. The chastening of the Lord. Nor faint. When you. Rebuke of him. For whom the Lord loveth. He chasteneth. And he scourges every son. Whom he receives. He receives. You see. He first of all. Show them. The love of God. And in verses 5 and 6. He's directing them. To the word. Of God. Earlier. We read. Proverbs. Chapter 3. Specifically. There's verses 11. And so on. And taking them. To the Bible. To the word of God. To the Hebrew scriptures. And he's telling them. What did you forget? You Hebrew believers. Did you forget. What the Bible teaches us?

How can you forget? He's telling them. Do you forget. The exhortation. Which speaks unto you. As you children. My son. Despise not. The chastening. Of the Lord. Nor faint. When you. Rebuke of him. Whom the Lord. Love. He chastened. And he scourges. Every son. That he receives. You know. Sometimes. When we are. Disciplined. By God. It's a proof. Of his love. Towards us. Because. He loves us. So much. And he. Want to. Discipline. Us. So we will live. A life. That will be. Good for us. And honoring. For him. You know. We are parents. We haven't been. Always. Successful. In our parenting. But. Why. Did we.

Spank. Our children. Why. We. Discipline. Our children. Because. We love them. Or. Because. We hate them. We love them. So much. We want. The best. For them. They don't. Understand. Us.

he chases and he scourges every son every daughter that he receives that's what he does God thank God for the discipline of God we sometimes shrink from that we don't want that but the discipline of God is in order to have his children living a life that is pleasing to him an encouragement from the writer to Hebrews was look to the word of God what does this scripture say God loves us whom the Lord loveth he chastened us and he scourged every son that he received you know you and I when we have accepted Yeshua the Messiah we became sons the daughters of the father and so he deal with us now as children and

he scourged us and he disciplined us because he does love us and care for us that's what the Hebrews needed to remember because they were discouraged and they sought all this you know God could have take this and avoid all the exercise that they have gone through and he could have taken them to heaven right away this morning I was talking with Naina she was crying because we were telling her story about somebody's parents that died the little boy's parents that died and the question that she asked and she cried so why didn't God stop them the terrorists or whoever did what they did why didn't he stop them and I said you know well

God knows everything he allowed this to happen well then we thought he says you know everything starred in the garden of Eden well why didn't God stop Adam and Eve from doing what they have done and so on and you know we have those questions like the little kids why God well we don't have all the answer but the fact that God loves his children never changes whom the Lord loves he chastens he scourges every son the daughter that he received that's the encouragement from the scriptures now continue verse 7 quickly verse 7 8 9 and 10 not only encouragement from the word of God but look from your own experience as an individual look

it says in verse 7 if you endure chastening God deals with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasten is not but if he be without chastisement discipline training were of all our partakers he says then you are illegitimate children you are not really the children you are not sons verse 9 furthermore we have had fathers of our own flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits and live for they verily for a few days chasing us after their own pleasure but he for a prophet that we might be partakes of his holiness you notice that

he says now look at your own individual lessons from your own life you had a father i had a father with parents grandparents and so on and he said to them in this verse 7 look god deal with you like children adult children if he doesn't deal with us like children then we are really not his own children if he doesn't discipline us when we are wrong then we really don't belong to him you never need to go to discipline your neighbor's children they're not your own you are only disciplining your own children and sometimes as it says here in the next verse that they furthermore we had fathers of our flesh which corrected us

and we gave the reverence you know we still think our moms and dads that have disciplined us and trained us and taught us we honored them we give them reverence we didn't always like what they did we didn't always like to be disciplined but we gave them reverence he says much more he said we should be rather be subjected to the father of spirit and live it should be so much more appreciate what the lord is doing in our life how he trained us and to be thankful to him for that they our own parents disciplined us for a few days after their own pleasure many times our own parents did not discipline us correctly

they have corrected us from anger like we have many times have done so for our own pleasure because we didn't like something but god discipline us as it says here in a way that he's totally right and he says here in our verse 10 but he for our prophets he discipline us for profit because he want us to be partakers of his holiness a god is a holy god and we are sinful by nature if he does not discipline us we will never be living a life that is sanctified set apart for him a life that is holy for him because sin is so easy beside us and we each one of us know our

very own hearts in our very own state and finally here as he's speaking about the race that we are running the third way now he's speaking about the need of fruit in our life and so these are the last verse 11 12 and 13 he is now telling them now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby you know what he says he says you know no discipline a certain time that we receive it it doesn't seem to be joyous we are not enjoying we're not saying god give me discipline punish me more and more we don't

say that to god right what we do say we do not like it but you know he says nevertheless after we are being disciplined it yields peaceable fruit of righteousness when we've been disciplined by the lord it yields fruit for god you know you can see when people walk with the lord those that do walk with the lord you can see that their life have been changed for the glory of the lord because they have allowed god to deal with them they didn't run away from all the discipline they confessed their sins before the lord they've been rebuked by him and they have had to do it and they have had to judge it but

then you can see what a fruit for god coming in their lives why because they have allowed god to deal with them and they have confessed it and took the discipline from the lord and learned from the lesson and then eventually they brought honor for the lord and you notice it says here to those which are exercised thereby you know there are those who are not exercised thereby there are those who say i'm not you know children that just don't want to listen to their mom and dad i'm not going to listen to what my mom and dad telling me i'm the captain of my life i'm going to do what i want it's my

will it's my life i don't care what god think about me i'm going to do my own thing my parents are not important what they say i have my life to live it's my life well there will never be fruit of holiness in their lives never why because they haven't submitted to the authority of their parents when we are not submitting to the authority of god there will never be peaceable fruit of righteousness in our lives why because we are not exercised thereby it doesn't appeal to our hearts it doesn't speak to us we are not subjecting ourselves to the will of god and that's what he's saying to those that are exercised thereby wherefore

now he's saying to them in verse 12 lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees you know the knees and the hands are getting feeble and coming down because of tired from the walk there's problems in life sin creeps in and the discipline needed rejection contradiction and all these things that are part of the life of the believer coming to our life and we are so tired and the feet as it says here the feet in verse 12 feeble feet feet speaks of walking hands speak of doing the hands are hanging down the feet are feeble what's the use he says lift up the hands which hang down lift up the knees

that the feeble knees lift them up now and get encouraged look to the lord face the face of the beauty of the lord of the person of the lord jesus look to him allow god to deal with you confess your sins set aside the ways the sin which is so easy to set it aside so you can run the race and be a victorious believer he says in verse 13 and make straight the path of your feet make it straight walk in a straight way pleasing to the lord make it straight and then look at this last expression less that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed

what does that mean that which is lame that which is lame has to do with the ones that are weak in faith in other words what he's saying to the hebrew believers he says you i'm exhorting you he says make straight path for yourself lift up the hands which are down and lift up the feet which are feeble make straight path for yourself because you want to be an influence on those that are weak in faith and they are going to be turning out of the way discouraged but rather let them be healed encourage them be the one that is setting and be an example for those in the vision that's the part beloved that

we have here and let us run he said let us run the race with patience with patience with endurance and looking unto yeshua the author and a finisher of our faith that's the first half of hebrews chapter 12 the race that the hebrews were in the race that you and i are in every day of our lives may the lord help us to run that race with the help of the lord recognizing our weakness and our needs of him not in our own strength but in the strength of the lord can we say amen to that