Call to Commitment

  

(An expository study of the book of Hebrews)

 

Chapter 12, part 1

 1. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2. looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

4. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

 

Patient endurance

 Therefore, chapter 12 begins, sending us back to the last verse of chapter 11: “God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us”… therefore… We are part of this great plan of God, surrounded by Old Testament people, who were carried by faith. The witnesses are figurative, not literally looking down upon the church in the 21^st Century. However, we have just witnessed their race in chapter 11. We are inspired by the faith, of which they testify, and that leads us also, states the writer, to rid ourselves, not only of the sin, to which we are so vulnerable, but also of weights caused by legitimate things. John Wesley includes “the sin of our (physical) constitution, the sin of our education, the sin of our profession.” If it is our passion to finish this race, we are to remove everything that keeps us from that, which is most important… our particular race of faith towards the eternal reward. We must just press on, when everything in our constitution cries for rest and relief.

 Let us run, not with speed, but with patient endurance, because we are running a marathon. I am learning that this is a very important part of Christian living. John wrote of it in Revelation 1:9. The same Greek word expresses it: “I, John, both your brother and companion in the… patience of Jesus Christ.”  There was a need for patient endurance, exiled on the Isle of Patmos, and there was a need for endurance against the opposing forces in Asia Minor. We have too many sprinters in the church, who wear out after a short dash.

 We learned of Moses in the last chapter, who “endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (11:27). Moses ran for 80 years; first of all, for 40 years of trials, keeping his father-in-law’s sheep and then for 40 years, leading Israel through the desert. He had his eyes fixed on the invisible Jesus and that gave him the faith that carried him over those many years. Paul wrote in Romans 15:4: “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” 

 As Moses, we must gaze fixedly on the author and the finisher of faith (Our is not in the original and neither is the article the. They should not be in the text). If a believer turns to the world, he will be left without hope. If he looks to the church, he will find much to discourage him and if he looks inside himself, a mountain of evidence will arise to condemn him. The secret of endurance is to look unto Jesus without distraction from any other direction. Looking to Jesus gives us courage to patiently press on: There is no disappointment in Him. 

 

 An expository study of the book of Hebrews

Chapter 11, Part II:   

 21. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

22. By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.

23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.

24. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

25. choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,

26. esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

27. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

28. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

 

Faith saw the invisible One

 In verse 20, we saw God turn the will of Isaac, so that he performed the Lord’s purpose by faith. I am insisting that God gives faith in order to accomplish His purposes through people on the earth. Jacob learned that lesson well and when it came time to bless the sons of Joseph, he did it against Joseph’s expectations. 

 

(An expositional study of the book of Hebrews)

  (an expository study of the book of Hebrews)

Chapter 10

 1. For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

2. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

3. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

4. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

5. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a Body You have prepared for Me.

6. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.

7. Then I said, ‘Behold I have come – in the volume of the book it is written of Me – to do Your will, O God.’”

8. Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law),

9. then He said, “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.

10. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 

The eternal will of God

 New Testament teaching is very clear concerning God’s intentions in giving the ceremonial law and to go beyond God’s intentions is folly. God gave the law for a shadow to foresee an image, which is to come. The law has no abiding substance. It points to a reality to come, which will do an effective and eternal work for those who approach (1).

 When Jesus offered the Samaritan woman living water, so that she would never again thirst, she expressed her weariness in taking the daily walk to the well. It was, perhaps, ¼ mile, after which she would return with the full jar: “Sir, give me this water, that I may not… come here to draw.” There is drudgery in work that must be repeated continually, but God does a work that is perfect and doesn’t ever need to be repeated.  The people came and the priests offered sacrifices continually, while the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies every year. They never found relief for their wounded conscience. The work was unending, until Jesus came (2).

 I promised last September that there would be two articles accompanying the first, titled "How Deep the Love of God". I had combined these three messages in a series called "Food for Sheep." After a few months delay, here is the second article.

(re-posted from July 12, 2015)

In the article entitled, How Deep the Father’s Love for Us, I tried to show the depth of His love basically through the apostle John’s statement, “Jesus knowing that His Hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1). We noticed that the Greek phrase “to the end” implied something more than an end to a time element, in which he expressed His love. In fact, it described the unending extent of His love, which had no limits.

 

John’s comment is given along with his account of the last supper, particularly the washing of the disciples’ feet, which took place, for whatever reason, on Thursday night before Passover. Jesus’ crucifixion is less than 24 hours away and He is crucified as the lambs are being slain for the Passover meal. At the completion of the article, I mentioned that we would take up two more verses of Scripture, Luke 22:15 and Revelation 3:20.  So now we return to that evening, just as the Passover supper is to begin, when Jesus states:

 

“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”   Luke 22:15