THE FORWARD WALK – PART THREE
“THE WALK OF VICTORY – LOOK TO JESUS!”
HEBREWS 12:1-2 - ©LARRY L. THOMPSON (2003)
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. [2] Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
INTRODUCTION:
Hebrews 12:1-2 may appear to be an unusual Easter text for this Resurrection Sunday but this scripture actually gives a complete outline of the Gospel and perhaps best explains what EASTER IS ALL ABOUT. In verse two we see the "Who, What, Why, and Where" concerning Jesus Christ our Lord and Risen Savior. Hebrews 12:2 focuses our attention on Jesus and explains; WHO HE IS, WHAT HE DID, WHY HE DID IT, AND WHERE HE IS TODAY.
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Let’s begin this Easter Sunday by understanding our need to “Look to Jesus” in order that we might experience the FORWARD WALK OF VICTORY! I want you to close your eyes for just a moment and allow me to ask you one question: What is the greatest fear you face on this Easter Sunday? ANSWER:____________________
You see for many today it is difficult to be overwhelmed with war in Iraq when you are facing war in your own marriage and you know something and someone will be destroyed if there is no victory.
It is impossible for you be concerned about the potential outbreak of the SARS disease when your medical specialists have said you are facing a terminal illness.
Few would have listed the national economy as their greatest fear when you have just been laid off from your job and are concerned about where your next paycheck will come from.
Some of you would never think of saying your fear is another terrorist strike that would take away the lives of friends and loved ones when you are fighting the terrorist called loneliness as you feel you have no friends.
Whatever it was that you either wrote down as your greatest fear facing you this Easter morning or that you identified in your mind I want you to know that I have some really GOOD NEWS FOR YOU TODAY. I will share with you this morning how you can take the FORWARD WALK OF VICTORY.
The secret to this FORWARD WALK TO VICTORY is found in three simple words… LOOK TO JESUS!
I. LOOK TO JESUS BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS (Heb. 12:2a)
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”
The text identifies him as the “The author and perfecter of our faith.” Jesus Christ is the CREATOR, SUSTAINER and COMPLETER of our life. Rev. 22:13: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
A. He is the AUTHOR of our Faith: Hebrews 11 gives references to a great cloud of witnesses this is, in part, the Old Testament saints that looked to Jesus before He was incarnated and ever came to earth in the humility of wrapping Himself in humanity. At this time in the Old Testament He was with the Father. He had given the promise to Abraham before that the need for a Savior was revealed in the garden. It was Jesus that the God of Heaven had promised to bless all nations of the earth. He is the Author and Creator of your life.
Here’s a simple question. If this watch breaks is my first inclination to get a screwdriver open it up and have hundreds of little pieces fall to the floor and then begin to put it back together in its proper place? The obvious answer is NO! You would take it back to the WATCH MAKER…However, if everything falls apart in our marriage many will go to people who have never had a successful marriage or who have had multiple marriages for our advice…then we wonder why we can’t find the happiness for which we are searching? The Answer is Look to Jesus because He is the Author of our Faith!
B. He is the PERFECTER of our Faith. In John 17:4 Jesus said that He had finished the work that the Father had sent Him to do. John 19:30 while on the cross he said, “It is Finished.” With those words He closed the book on faith. He did not close faith; He finished the glorious work of perfecting our Salvation and all that is left for us to do is to “be FAITH” trust and accept this work of grace. The tragedy is that so many of us want to PERFECT our eternal life with our own goodness. We look to ourselves for that perfection and the look is in vain. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God…there is none righteous, no not one.” So, Look to Jesus for He alone, is the one who can provide you the FORWARD WALK OF VICTORY THIS EASTER SUNDAY for HE ALONE is the AUTHOR and Perfecter of your life.
II. LOOK TO JESUS BECAUSE OF WHAT HE HAS DONE (12:2c)
“…endured the cross, scorning its shame…”
The CROSS is the, “what He has done” in our text. It is willing sacrifice of His life, His blood that is critical to our FORWARD WALK OF VICTORY. Jesus endured the Cross and He scorned the shame of the Cross in order that we might enjoy victory in this life and victory at the time of our death and victory after our death throughout all eternity.
A. He ENDURED the Cross. It is important that we take both a theological and a historical perspective when we consider the magnitude of WHAT HE DID when he endured the Cross.
Crucifixion was a feared and shameful form of execution. The victim was forced to carry his cross along the longest possible route to the crucifixion site as a warning to bystanders. There were several shapes for crosses and several different methods of crucifixion. Jesus was nailed to the cross; condemned men were sometimes tied to their crosses with ropes. In either case, death came by suffocation as the person lost strength and the weight of the body made breathing more and more difficult.
Crucifixion was the Roman penalty for rebellion. Only slaves or those who were not Roman citizens could be crucified. If Jesus died by crucifixion, he would die the death of a rebel and slave, not of the king he claimed to be. This is just what the Jewish religious leaders wanted, and the reason they whipped the mob into a frenzy. In addition, crucifixion would put the responsibility for killing Jesus on the Romans, and thus the crowds could not blame the religious leaders.
The Roman citizen was exempt from this form of death, it being considered the death reserved for that of a slave (Cicero In Verrem i. 5, 66; Quint. viii.4). The punishment was for such crimes as treason, desertion in the face of the enemy, robbery, piracy, assassination, or murder. It continued in vogue in the Roman empire till the day of Constantine, when it was abolished on the principle that it was an insult to Christianity. The Romans crucifixion was considered by all as the most vicious and was preceded by scourging, undoubtedly to hasten impending death. The victim then was required to bare his own cross, or at least the upright beam, to the place of execution. He was forced to carry the cross through the city to add to pain of insult and humiliation. When he was nailed to the cross, at least in Judea, a stupefying drink was given him to deaden the agony. The number of nails used seems to have been indeterminate. A tablet, on which the feet rested or on which the body was partly supported, seems to have been a part of the cross to keep the wounds from tearing through the transfixed members (Iren., Adv. haer., ii.42). The suffering of death by crucifixion was intense, especially in hot climates. Severe local inflammation, coupled with the bleeding of the jagged wounds, produced traumatic fever, which was aggravated the exposure to the heat of the sun, the strained body experienced insufferable thirst. The swelled about the rough nails and the torn lacerated tendons and nerves caused excruciating agony. The arteries of the head and stomach were so surcharged with blood and a terrific throbbing headache ensued. The mind was confused and filled with anxiety and fear. victim of crucifixion literally died a thousand deaths. Josephus continued, “the rigors of the attending convulsions would tear at the wounds and add to the burden of pain, till at last the bodily forces were exhausted and the victim sank to unconsciousness and death. The sufferings were so frightful that "even among the raging passions of war pity was sometimes excited" (BJ, V, xi, 1). The length of this agony was wholly determined by the constitution of the victim, but death rarely ensued before thirty-six hours had elapsed. Death was sometimes hastened by breaking the legs of the victims and by a hard blow delivered under the armpit before crucifixion.
The sudden death of Christ evidently was a matter of astonishment (Mark 15:44). The peculiar symptoms mentioned by John (19:34) would seem to point to a rupture of the heart, of which the Savior died, independent of the cross itself, or perhaps hastened by its agony.
B. He received the SHAME of the cross, to us we see no shame in the cross of Jesus. We see the glory. But Deuteronomy tells us that cursed is the man that hangs on a tree. The cross prior to the Roman Empire was nothing more than a pole with a cross member close to the top that prevented the body that was thrust onto it from sliding to the ground. It is very probable that the gallows, which Haman built for Mordcia in the book of Ester, are of this type. The Romans modified the use of the cross by tying or nailing the hands and feet to the cross to lengthen the amount of torture. The cross was reserved for the most deprised criminals. Yet Jesus endured the cross despising the shame at the same time.
III. LOOK TO JESUS BECAUSE OF WHY HE WENT TO THE CROSS “…who for the joy set before him endured the cross.”
A. He did it to fulfill the work the Father had sent Him to complete. In obeying the Father, Jesus was the sacrifice. As God provided the lamb for Abraham and his house, God also provided the Lamb for the whole world. The only way the sins of man can be covered is by the shedding of blood, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
B. Jesus endured the cross because He loved us. He loved us enough to die for us.
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Illustration of Jennifer’s Birth: “The Joy Set Before Him”
IV. LOOK TO JESUS BECAUSE OF WHERE HE IS TODAY
“…and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The WHERE of the text is the Right Hand of the throne of God. It is in the presence of God that Jesus dwells. There He makes intercession for us. It is there that He waits the day that he will come again to take us home. It is there that He will present us to the Father spotless and blameless.
A. The Throne of God in essence is found in his Right Hand: the right hand is the place of honor. All through scripture it is the right hand of God that represents the
Power
Provision
Protection
Peace
In other words…what ever you need you will find in the RIGHT HAND OF GOD. WHATEVER YOU NEED YOU WILL FIND IN JESUS.
B. The stone was rolled away not so that Jesus could get out to go to the right hand of the Father but so we could get in. We need to get inside the tomb, see the tomb is empty and know that just as Jesus experienced the FORWARD WALK OF VICTORY that we too can have this same victory…not simply in eternity but while we are walking through this life on our way to eternity.
Conclusion:
I want you to consider that you suddenly find yourself in a coliseum. You are standing on the floor of this great arena and you are all alone with thousands of stands all around you. Suddenly a door opens and people begin to enter.
Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Daniel, Jonah David, Jonathan, Elijah, Nehemiah, Hosea, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Barnabas, Timothy…your loved ones who are in heaven today because of Jesus. Remember the verse: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
Suddenly you realize that there is a contest that is about to take place and you are the center of attention. The door opens at the other end of the arena and spotlight hits your opponent and you realize it is the very fear you identified at the first of this message and it is walking toward you right now. You have been here before and you have lost before. You engage the battle and once again you feel the disgrace of losing but this time someone yells from the stands, “Look to Jesus!” Then you hear another, “Look to Jesus” and another, “Look to Jesus” and before the long the entire cloud of witnesses is calling to you, encouraging you to look and you lift you eyes and by faith you call out, “LORD JESUS SAVE ME!” He stands for you as He did for Stephen and for the first time you are filled with His power, His presence, His peace, His provision and His victory. It is your choice today. Look to Jesus.
