Preached Palm Sunday, April 13, 2014 from Hebrews 12:1-2
Theme: We will not be shaken in our faith by the seeming ‘delay’ of the Lord’s return if we keep certain things in mind.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
This morning, we commemorate our Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem long ago. From the standpoint of those who witnessed His crucifixion a few days later, of course, it didn’t seem like much of a triumph. But it most certainly was a great triumph—considering His resurrection just a few days after His crucifixion! His resurrection guarantees to us that His entry into the city to die for us was a great triumph for us. And we ought to celebrate it!
And I can’t think of a better passage to look to in order to encourage our spirits toward celebration than Hebrews 12:1-2. It’s a passage that we’ve looked at a few times before; but I don’t apologize for our doing so again today. It seems like the perfect passage for Palm Sunday.
Just think of our Lord’s triumphal entry into the city as I read these words to you. The writer of Hebrews says;
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, 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 (Hebrews 12:1-2).
What I love about this passage is that it teaches us how to have a sense of triumph and victory in our own Christian lives. It tells us that Jesus was triumphant—even in what He suffered for us. And it exhorts us to ‘look unto Him’ in the light of that triumph. To the degree that we keep Jesus’ triumph in focus, we will be triumphant in our faith along with Him.
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Now; the reason I am drawn to passage, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is because I have a fear. I wonder if it’s one you share.
As I grow older and become more established in my Christian life, I am afraid of—in time—losing my zeal for what Jesus has done for me. I am afraid of growing weary in my walk with Jesus, of simply settling for mediocrity in my faith, and of ending up growing stagnant. I know for certain that, because of my faith in Jesus, I will go to heaven. But between then and now, I don’t want my Christian faith to degenerate into simply filling time until I get there . I hope that—by God’s enabling grace—I will always be excited and energized about my faith in Christ; and even more so as time goes on. I hope that I will end my days like the apostle Paul. Do you remember what he was able to say at the end of his amazing life? He wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 2:7)? That’s what I want to be able to say. But I know that if I don’t keep focused as I should, I will grow weary and lose my zeal. I won’t keep fighting the fight. I won’t end the race well. I will not have kept the faith as I should. And I don’t want that to happen—either to me or to you.
I believe that this was a concern for the writer of the Book of Hebrews as well. He wrote to Jewish Christians who were suffering greatly for their faith in Jesus Christ. They were growing weary in the struggle. Everywhere they turned, it seemed, they suffered ridicule and persecution for their faith. And not only that, but they also had to struggle with the temptations they felt within—the unrelenting pull of the flesh. We often feel the pressures they felt, don’t we? Let’s not kid ourselves. The Christian life is a struggle. It’s like an endurance race in a great athletic event; and we have to fight everything in us and around us, it seems, to keep running and not surrender to the temptation to quit.
And the writer of Hebrews told his readers what they needed to do to not let that happen. He told them that they needed to keep their eyes on what Jesus has done for them. Just look just slightly ahead of the passage I just read to you a moment ago. In verses 3-4, the writer says,
For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin (Hebrews 12:3-4).
The “Him” that they were to “consider” was Jesus Himself. They had not yet resisted to the point of death. But He did. And to the degree that they keep His sacrifice for them in focus, they would not become weary or discouraged. They would be inspired to keep on going, and keep on growing.
What’s more, look at what the writer of Hebrews had just told them before this morning’s passage. He had written a whole, amazing chapter full of stories about the great heroes of faith from the Old Testament era. We often call Hebrews 11 the Bible’s “Hall of Faith”. It tells us of the prevailing faith of those who believed on the promises of God, and who gave their all because of their trust in those promises. Like Hebrews 11:13 says; “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
When the writer of this letter begins the passage before us—in Hebrews 12:1—he writes, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses . . .” And in saying this, he’s referring to those Old Testament saints—now in glory; sitting in the stands, as it were, of a great heavenly sports arena. They have already tasted of that victory; and they are cheering the rest of us on to finish the race. And it’s as if, in that same spirit, the writer of Hebrews goes on to remind us of the One who has gone before us that most serves as our inspiration and example—Jesus Himself.
Dear brothers and sisters, if your Christian life has become dull and dry to you; or if you are finding yourself losing your zeal for the walk of faith; or even if you are beginning to feel as if the demands and pressures of the Christian life are too much for you, and you are feeling so overwhelmed by the pressures and persecutions of this world that you’re tempted to hide your light under a bushel, and quietly coast along in a mediocre Christian experience, then this passage is for you. In the light of our Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem to die for us, let’s consider carefully what this passage says. Let’s learn to keep our focus on Him and be inspired and encouraged by His great sacrifice for us.
His triumph is our triumph. And to the degree that we keep that triumph in focus, it’s to that degree that we will be excited and energized in our Christian faith.
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So then; let’s consider . . .
1. WHAT IT WAS THAT HE ENDURED FOR THAT TRIUMPH.
In verse two, the writer tells us that “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.” What it was that He endured, of course, was the dreadful and shameful death of the cross. But notice first how we’re told that He endured it “for the joy that was set before Him”.
Have you ever thought about what that “joy that was set before Him” was? I don’t believe that it was the mere experience of joy itself. After all, before He came to be born into this world—and in fact long before the world ever was—He was already experiencing perfect joy before the Father. He didn’t come into this world and suffer on the cross simply so that He would eventually be able to experience a joy and bliss that He already had. Rather, He did this to obtain something else, the possession of which would result in His joy greatly expanded—even more joy than the perfect joy He already had with the Father. And do you know what that “something” was? Are you ready for this? That “something” is you and me—redeemed from our sins, washed clean in His sight, and glorified so that we could have eternal fellowship with Him and enjoy His inheritance with Him forever! Heavenly glory alone would not be joyful enough for Him. He must also have us there to share in it with Him!
That may sound too wonderful to be true. But just before the Lord Jesus went to the cross—just a few days after He made His triumphant entry into the city—Jesus prayed to the Father and told Him what it was that He wanted. And out of all the things that the Lord Jesus could have asked for in His wonderful prayer in John 17, He told the Father this:
“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).
Think of it! What the Lord Jesus desired from the Father in His last great prayer to Him—the great “joy” that was set before Him that made Him willing to leave heaven, come to earth, and endure the cross—was the prospect of redeeming you and me, and having us with Him in heavenly glory forever! O how much He must love us!
And it was this prospect—this “joy that was set before Him”—that moved Him to endure the cross, and to even “despise the shame” of it. There was not only great suffering on the cross; but there was also great shame in being nailed to it. The cross was a despicable way to die. There was not only the mocking and ridicule that Jesus would endure there, as the people surrounded Him and taunted Him; but the cross was—as the Bible tells us—a cursed thing in and of itself. I believe that’s why the apostle Paul said what He said about Jesus’ sacrifice for us in Philippians 2:6-8; that Jesus
being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:6-8).
Do you notice how Paul expressed it? He didn’t just say “death”; but went on to say, “even the death of the cross”—as if to show that the death of the cross was a step beyond mere death itself. The message of the cross, the Bible tells us, is “foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Corinthians 1:18). It’s an embarrassment in the sight of this world—a cause of shame, and a cursed thing. Yet our Lord—knowing full well the shame of the cross—nevertheless loved you and me so much that He “despised” the shame of it and endured it anyway; all so that you and I could be with Him in heavenly glory forever.
And what it was that He sought to obtain in enduring it, He has indeed obtained! He was victorious! He was truly triumphant! Look at what the writer of Hebrews goes on to say about Him; that after having endured the cross for us, He has now “sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”. The “right hand” of the throne of God is the place of highest honor. And I remind you—He already had glory and honor before God long before then. He had already possessed glory with the Father from eternity past; and He was already enjoying perfect love with the Father from the foundation of the world. But He willingly set that glory aside, and willingly suffered the wrath of His heavenly Father for our sins upon Himself, so that He could obtain what He wanted most of all—us in His presence! He set all that heavenly glory aside in order to redeem us and bring us into that eternal fellowship and glory with Him forever. He has “sat down” at the “right hand of the throne of God” because His work is finished, and He has secured our salvation for us, and God the Father has accepted His atonement on our behalf, and He is now forever triumphant!
And dear brothers and sisters; can you think of anything greater than that to encourage the zeal of your Christian life? If we keep our eyes on that, I believe we’ll never cease to be excited about our walk with Jesus!
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So; that’s what Jesus endured in His triumph for us. Let’s go on, then, to consider . . .
2. HOW HIS TRIUMPH NOW RELATES TO US.
The writer of Hebrews puts it this way in verse two; that Jesus is “the author and finisher of our faith”. And let’s begin by being careful how we understand that word “faith”.
If you have a translation of the Bible like the one I’m using, you might find that the word “our” is italicized in the phrase “our faith”. That’s because the translators supplied that word to help make sense of the phrase. But the word “our” is not in the original text. The way it actually reads is that Jesus is the author and perfecter of “the faith”. And that’s important; because I don’t believe that the writer of Hebrews is merely telling us that Jesus is the author and perfecter of our personal experience of faith in Him. There is much that would be true in saying that, of course; because we would not have saving faith—let alone faith at all—if it were not the gracious gift of God to us. But I believe that what the writer means for us to understand is that Jesus is the author and perfecter of “the faith”—that is to say, the content of the absolute, objective truth of the ‘good news’ that saves everyone who believes it. It would be “the faith” in the sense that Jude wrote about it when he said, in Jude 3, that we are to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
And Jesus is the divine “author” or “originator” of that “faith”. I believe He was declaring Himself to be the author of it in John 12; when He rode into the city on that first Palm Sunday. John 12 23-33 is a long passage; but let me share it to you. We’re told that when Jesus came into the city, He said;
“The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die (John 12:23-33).
That’s how our wonderful Savior proved Himself to be the “author” or “originator” of our faith. He brought the saving faith of the gospel about by His willingness to obey the Father, and to surrender Himself to the sacrifice of the cross.
But He didn’t start it, and then leave it for someone else to bring to a completion. He is also the “finisher” or “perfecter” of that faith. He not only died on the cross in obedience to the Father—suffering the wrath of God for our sins in our place; but He was also raised from the dead three days later to prove that the Father is satisfied with His sacrifice for us, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, and He now sits at the right hand of the throne of God and waits for the Father’s permission to return for His people. He Himself will come for us and bring us into the full state of glory for which He died on the cross to accomplish in us.
Jesus is truly our everything! He is not only the author of our salvation but also the perfecter of it! He is our all in all; our Alpha and Omega; our triumphant One! And, dear brothers and sisters, we will only enjoy a full sense of triumph in our Christian faith to the degree we keep our eyes fixed on Him!
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And so, finally, I ask you to notice . . .
3. WHAT WE SHOULD DO IN RESPONSE TO HIS TRIUMPH.
This is where it gets practical. This is where we decide whether or not we will do the things we need to do to keep our zeal for Jesus strong, and keep our Christian faith vital all our lives long. We cannot enjoy a sense of victory in our Christian life—we will not retain a sense of life-long zeal for our faith—if we don’t do what the Bible tells us to do in order to obtain it.
Now; you’ll notice that the writer of Hebrews treats our Christian faith as if it were an athletic race. And just as would be true of a world-class athlete, the writer tells us in verse one, “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us . . .” That’s one of the first things we must do in the light of Jesus’ triumph for us, and of our call to run the race all the way to the finish. We must lay aside everything that hinders us; an especially that particular sin that tends to trip us us.
I could try to tell you what those things are; but it would be different for me than it would be for you. Our enemy, the devil, knows exactly which thing is most suited to trip-up each individual believer. He knows the things that we tend to cling to or that distract us from our devotion to the Lord. For one of us, it may be lust. For another, it may be greed. For yet another, it may be resentment. For another still, it may be pride. For yet another, it might be too much devotion to the affairs of this life.
The apostle Paul put it this way:
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
You and I can’t retain our zeal for the Lord if we are constantly overburdened with temporal matters and are constantly tripping because of our own sins. Check yourself! If you have lost your zeal for the Lord, it may be because you have allowed yourself to become burdened by the things of this world, or brought down repeatedly by a sinful habit. Ask God to help you lay that aside.
Second, notice that the writer of Hebrews tells us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us . . .” In other words, don’t give up. In an athletic race, a runner doesn’t go halfway around the track, get tired, and say, “That’s good enough. I really only wanted to have a chance to run in the race for a while. Now that I can say that I have been a runner, I’ll stop now.” No! A runner runs all the way to the end! He gives it his or her all! And that’s what we must do in our Christian life.
Once again, the apostle Paul—who must have loved sports!—wrote about his own endurance with these words;
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).
Dear brothers and sisters; if you have found that you have grown weary and are beginning to loose your zest for the Christian life, then check your endurance. It may be that you are guilty of only a half-hearted commitment. Renew your commitment to run all the way to the end for your Lord; just as He did for you.
And finally; remember what the writer of Hebrews tells us that we must be doing the whole time long; “looking unto Jesus”. The word that the writer uses is one that means “looking away from one thing in order to concentrate on another thing”. And that must be our habit of life. We must look away from the things of this world that distract us; and look instead—and keep looking—at Jesus; who is “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”.
If we do those things, we will never loose our zeal. We will be diligent and enthusiastic about our Christian life to the very end. We wont be merely ‘working up’ an artificial, man-made ‘zeal’ that will dissipate over time. Our zeal will be unencumbered, undistracted. and positively rooted in something substantial and real and that will never fade away. We will be triumphant; because the unchanging triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ is our triumph.
To the degree that we keep our eyes on Him, we will be triumphant too.