I’d Rather Have Jesus
Hebrews Chapter Twelve
Scripture Reading; Heb 12:1-2
Introduction:
1. In Chapter Eleven, Paul showed us through the Old Testament saints, that faithfulness justifies us.
2. Now in Chapter Twelve, he begins by reminding us of these saints and shows us how Christ’ faithfulness is so much better than anyone else.
3. The Author of Hebrews in now going to give us a reason for continued faith in Jesus the Christ.
I. Christian Compeller (1-4)
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it’s been found difficult and not tried.
G.K. Chesterton, quoted in Swindoll, Hand Me Another Brick, Thomas Nelson, 1978, p. 128.
i. Christian Race (1)
Hebrews 12:1 KJV
(1) Wherefore seeing we also are 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.
1. “cloud of witnesses”
a. This cloud of witnesses is the Old Testament saint mentioned in chapter eleven.
b. Their testimony showed that God was pleased by them.
c. They pleased God by their faith in him
2. “sin which doth so easily beset us”
a. The sin that is being addressed in this passage is the sin of unbelief in God’s son.
b. This sin easily entangles us (NASV), and so demonstrates the idea of one being crippled in his unbelief because he can no longer run the race.
c. “The word translated “encumbrance” is ogkon which originally meant “crooked” or “hooked,” and then came to mean something attached or suspended by a hook, hence “weight” (KJV). Some have supposed the athletic metaphor is to training when excess weight is gotten off. Others urge that it is n9ot training but the race itself, and that the figure behind the language is the taking off of the excess clothes (actually, Greek runners ran naked) that might slow the runner causing him to be defeated.” Reese. New Testament Epistles, Hebrews. p.216.
3. “run… the race”
a. The sin of unbelief is the Christians greatest obstacle on the race track.
b. Our life as a Christian is compared to that of an athlete who battles the constant threat of unbelief.
c. The runner must not allow himself to become distracted.
ii. Christian Example (2)
For many years Monterey, a California coast town, was a pelican’s paradise. As the fishermen cleaned their fish, they flung the offal to the pelicans. The birds grew fat, lazy, and contented. Eventually, however the offal was utilized, and there were no longer snacks for the pelicans. When the change came the pelicans made no effort to fish for themselves. They waited around and grew gaunt and thin. Many starved to death. They had forgotten how to fish for themselves. The problem was solved by importing new pelicans from the south, birds accustomed to foraging for themselves. They were placed among their starving cousins, and the newcomers immediately started catching fish. Before long, the hungry pelicans followed suit, and the famine was ended.
Bits & Pieces, June 23, 1994, p. 17.
Hebrews 12:2 KJV
(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 is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
1. “looking unto Jesus”
a. The Greek word for “looking” (KJV) or “fixing” (NASV) is Aphorao, ἀφοράω, and means “to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something”. Wuest. Word Studies in the Greek New Testament. Vol. II. p.214.
b. The moment we take our eyes off the finish line and fix them on the crowd of spectators (witnesses) our pace will begin to slacken.
2. “author and finisher of our faith”
a. The Greek word for “author” is archēgos, ἀρχηγός , and really is a compound of ago “to lead” and arche, “the first”.
b. The word would be better translated “the chief leader”. (Wuest)
c. He is “the chief leader” of faith in comparison to those saints of old found in chapter eleven.
d. He has finished the race and is our highest example of faith, and better than any of the examples in chapter eleven..
3. “throne of God”
a. This speaks of the princely qualification of Jesus.
b. He has sat down showing the completion of his work, or in this case his race.
iii. Christian Inspiration (3-4)
Hebrews 12:3-4 KJV
(3) For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
(4) Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
1. “him that endured”
a. Jesus had to endure until his work was finished.
b. Verse two tells us that this endurance brought joy to our Lord.
c. He would have the same type of joy that a soldier might have when paying the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.
2. “lest ye be wearied”
a. We ought to always remember the saving work of Jesus and his subsequent suffering unto death.
b. Marathon runners all understand the concept of running into a wall.
i. This wall is proverbial in the since that the runner has exhausted his will to continue, but must persist to achieve the prize.
ii. Many never make it past this wall and unfortunately collapse never finishing the race and never knowing the joy of the prize.
c. This word weary carries the idea of fatigue due to a prolonged effort.
3. “striving against sin”
a. Paul is letting his readers know that more persecutions were sure to come and the knowledge of this should not cause them to abandon Jesus.
b. Barne’s suggest that we are now changing from the image of a runner to that of a boxer.
c. “Boxing was among the contests held in memorial of Achilles’ slain friend Patroclus, toward the end of the Trojan war. It was in commemoration of Patroclus that the Greeks later introduced boxing (pygme / pygmachia) to the Olympic Games in 688 BC. Participants trained on punching bags (called a korykos). Fighters wore leather straps (called himantes) over their hands (leaving the fingers free), wrists, and sometimes breast, to protect themselves from injury.” Wikipedia.
d. The idea is that a boxer’s nose might be bloodied, or a cut might present itself above the eye, this was, however, no reason to stop the fight.
i. “Resisting unto blood” showed courage, and the ability not to yield.
ii. A champion never gives up.
II. Christian Correction (5-11)
i. Christian Chastisement (5-8)
The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don’t want to do, in order to achieve what they’ve always wanted to be.
Tom Landry.
Hebrews 12:5-8 KJV
(5) 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:
(6) For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
(7) If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
(8) But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
1. “have forgotten”
a. These Hebrew Christians had forgotten the words of the proverbs.
b. If they paid closer attention to Proverbs 3:11-12 they would be better suited to endure persecution for Christ sake.
2. “endure chastening”
Lanny Bassham, Olympic gold-medalist in small-bore rifle competition, tells what concentration does for his marksmanship: "Our sport is controlled non-movement. We are shooting from 50 meters--over half a football field--at a bull’s eye three- quarters the size of a dime. If the angle of error at the point of the barrel is more than .005 of a millimeter (that is five one-thousandths), you drop into the next circle and lose a point. So we have to learn how to make everything stop. I stop my breathing. I stop my digestion by not eating for 12 hours before the competition. I train by running to keep my pulse around 60, so I have a full second between beats--I have gotten it lower, but found that the stroke-volume increased so much that each beat really jolted me. You do all of this and you have the technical control. But you have to have some years of experience in reading conditions: the wind, the mirage. Then you have the other 80% of the problems--the mind.
Sports Illustrated, August 2, 1976, pp. 31-35, quoted in How to Profit from Bible Reading, I. L. Jensen, Moody Press, p. 80.
a. God trains his children asking them to undergo suffering.
b. When trials come, this is discipline.
c. The word here chastisement (KJV) is better translated discipline (NASV), is paideuō, παιδεύω, and means “to train up a child, that is, educate, or (by implication) discipline (by punishment): - chasten (-ise), instruct, learn, teach.” Strong’s.
3. “without chastisement”
a. “Sometimes children who are the subject of parental discipline envy those who escape such discipline. Christians would be making a big mistake in their thinking if they thought it better to be without any opposition or persecution (discipline). The contrast between what is said here in verse 8 and what is said in verse 9 shows that the “discipline” in view here in verse 8 is that which comes from the hand of God (cf. verse 5).” Reese. p. 221.
b. Unlike the first century, we have become too permissive, and because of this, new Christians have a great deal of trouble with true discipline from the Lord.
c. Fathers have lost their ability to perform there true God given roles.
ii. Christian Children (9-10)
Hebrews 12:9-10 KJV
(9) 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?
(10) 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.
1. “fathers of our flesh”
a. Our earthly fathers corrected us.
b. We rely on fathers to be the head of their families.
2. “gave them reverence”
a. I learned at a very young age to respect my father.
b. When he corrected me it was for my own good.
c. Our fathers instill in us their beliefs and values, so that we will practice the same when we get older.
3. “might be partakers of his holiness”
a. God teaches us holiness because he is holy
iii. Christian Complaints (11)
Hebrews 12:11 KJV
(11) 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.
1. “no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous”
a. No one likes to be corrected.
2. “grievous”
a. This word speaks of grief, and pain.
b. Without pain, there is no chastisement.
c. Our training is fulfilled when we learn to respond appropriately to God’s discipline.
3. “it yeildeth peaceable fruit”
a. Righteousness is the fruit produced from Gods discipline.
b. Do we respond in bitterness when we are corrected?
III. Christian Conduct (12-21)
i. Christian Healing (12-13)
Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace.
Oswald Chambers in Run Today’s Race.
Hebrews 12:12-13 KJV
(12) Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
(13) And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
1. “lift up”
a. The word “wherefore” insinuates “since it is expected that God’s sons will be disciplined.”
b. Lift up you hands and receive God’s blessing, always looking forward to heaven.
c. Get up, you will need resolve and grit to get be delivered.
2. “make straight”
Isaiah 35:1-10 KJV
(1) The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
(2) It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
(3) Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
(4) Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
(5) Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
(6) Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
(7) And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
(8) And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
(9) No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
(10) And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
3. “be healed”
a. The proper response to God’s disciple is healing.
b. We as Christians must see persecution as a training program to teach us the way home.
c. Just as those Hebrews in Babylonian captivity longed to go home, the day is soon on its way.
ii. Christian Holiness (14)
A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine.
D.L. Moody.
Hebrews 12:14 KJV
(14) Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
1. “peace”
a. If we fail to pursue peace with all men then our faith will suffer.
b. The New Testament is continually exhorting us to pursue peace.
Matthew 5:9 KJV
(9) Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Romans 12:18 KJV
(18) If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
2. “holiness”
a. The Christian must pursue sanctification.
3. “see the Lord”
a. The only way to see the lord is to pursue peace and be sanctified always.
b. These are not one time events, but are processes.
iii. Christian Hopelessness (15-21)
Hebrews 12:15-21 KJV
(15) Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
(16) Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
(17) For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
(18) For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
(19) And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
(20) (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
(21) And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
1. “fail of the grace of God”
a. When one abandons Jesus, he forfeits any further blessing from God.
b. He rejects the grace of God.
2. “root of bitterness”
a. This is the picture of a plant that has sprung up from a root but has no borne bitter fruit.
b. This is probably an allusion to Moses’ condemnation of idolatry where he compares the idolater to a root that bears gall and wormwood.
Deuteronomy 29:16-21 KJV
(16) (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by;
(17) And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:)
(18) Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;
(19) And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
(20) The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.
(21) And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:
c. Paul has used Old Testament language in this book to warn of the terrible consequences of abandoning Jesus.
Hebrews 3:12 KJV
(12) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
3. “Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau”
a. Fornication is translated in the NASV as immoral.
b. Profane is also translated as Godless.
c. What is being seen here is a person who is only concerned with the carnal.
4. “mount that might be touched”
a. Mount Sinai is the mountain under consideration here and is symbolic of the law.
b. The commands given at this mountain were too strong to bear.
c. Moses said “I am full of fear and trembling”
IV. Christian Contentment (22-29)
i. Christian Award (22-23)
Hebrews 12:22-23 KJV
(22) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
(23) To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
1. “mount Sion”
a. “ye are come” siginifies that these readers had already come to Mt. Zion, which is a Mt in Jerusalem.
b. This is the spiritual Mt. Zion eg. Heaven eg. the Church redeemed.
c. The Heavenly Jerusalem will come down and it will be occupied by innumerable angels, and the general assembly.
Revelation 21:10 KJV
(10) And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
2. “church of the firstborn”
a. Christians enjoy the right of the first born son.
3. “spirits of just men made perfect”
a. These are Old Testament saints.
b. These saints have a place in the order of heaven because they have been perfected by the blood of Christ.
ii. Christian Atonement (24-27)
Hebrews 12:24-27 KJV
(24) And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
(25) See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
(26) Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
(27) And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
1. “Jesus the mediator”
a. Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant.
Hebrews 8:6 KJV
(6) But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
Hebrews 9:15-17 KJV
(15) And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
(16) For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
(17) For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
b. Christ sprinkled his blood to validate the inauguration of the New Covenant.
Hebrews 9:18-23 KJV
(18) Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
(19) For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
(20) Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
(21) Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
(22) And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
(23) It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
1 Peter 1:2 KJV
(2) Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
2. “refuse not him”
a. Jesus is the one being spoken of here.
b. If these Hebrew Christians refused Jesus, they would suffer the same fate as those who refused God in the Old Testament.
3. “voice then shook the earth”
a. When the Law was delievered on Mt. Sinai, an earthquake that shook the earth followed.
b. Paul now referss his readers tho Haggai 2:6-9 and mentions the shaken that was prophecied and has now come.
c. God shook the earth (Mosaic Law) that is the temporal things to make way for the heavenly (New Covenant)
iii. Christian Assurance (28-29)
Hebrews 12:28-29 KJV
(28) Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
(29) For our God is a consuming fire.
1. “kingdom”
a. An unshakable kingdom.
b. The Jewish law was a temporary thing that needed to be shaken or removed.
c. The Kingdom of Christ is unshakable.
2. “let us have grace”
a. “let us show gratitude” (NASV)
b. We should be grateful that we stand on Mt. Zion.
3. “consuming fire”
a. We should serve God and be fearful and have awe for him.
b. If we should slip God is a consuming fire.
Normally the flight from Nassau to Miami took Walter Wyatt, Jr., only sixty-five minutes. But on December 5, 1986, he attempted it after thieves had looted the navigational equipment in his Beechcraft. With only a compass and a hand-held radio, Walter flew into skies blackened by storm clouds.
When his compass began to gyrate, Walter concluded he was headed in the wrong direction. He flew his plane below the clouds, hoping to spot something, but soon he knew he was lost. He put out a mayday call, which brought a Coast Guard Falcon search plane to lead him to an emergency landing strip only six miles away. Suddenly Wyatt’s right engine coughed its last and died. The fuel tank had run dry. Around 8 p.m. Wyatt could do little more than glide the plane into the water.
Wyatt survived the crash, but his plane disappeared quickly, leaving him bobbing on the water in a leaky life vest. With blood on his forehead, Wyatt floated on his back. Suddenly he felt a hard bump against his body. A shark had found him. Wyatt kicked the intruder and wondered if he would survive the night. He managed to stay afloat for the next ten hours. In the morning, Wyatt saw no airplanes, but in the water a dorsal fin was headed for him. Twisting, he felt the hide of a shark brush against him. In a moment, two more bull sharks sliced through the water toward him. Again he kicked the sharks, and they veered away, but he was nearing exhaustion. Then he heard the sound of a distant aircraft. When it was within a half mile, he waved his orange vest. The pilot radioed the Cape York, which was twelve minutes away: "Get moving, cutter! There’s a shark targeting this guy!" As the Cape York pulled alongside Wyatt, a Jacob’s ladder was dropped over the side. Wyatt climbed wearily out of the water and onto the ship, where he fell to his knees and kissed the deck. He’d been saved. He didn’t need encouragement or better techniques. Nothing less than outside intervention could have rescued him from sure death. How much we are like Walter Wyatt.
Peter Michelmore, Reader’s Digest, October, 1987.
Conclusion:
1. Paul has given us a great deal to consider in this little chapter.
2. He has taught us to be content, and showed us the proper conduct of a Christian during trials and tribulations.
3. He has also given us a hope and assurance of heaven.
Several years ago a man and his wife were found frozen to death in their car. A blizzard had dumped tons of snow in the area, burying their vehicle. Before she died, the woman scribbled a note on a piece of paper and stuffed it in the glove compartment. The note read: "I don’t want to die this way." Tragically, less than six feet from their icy grave was a stranded bus, whose festive passengers remained warm throughout the night.
Today in the Word, October, 1990, p. 28.
