Hebrews 12:1-2

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

Hebrews 12:1–2

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

As Christians, we are called daily to walk with Jesus. We are called daily to live for Jesus. The trouble is, we cannot walk with Jesus or live for Jesus when our eyes are not on Jesus.

For the most part, the church in the world today is not focused on Jesus. We are doing our own thing! A church not focused on Jesus will have no power or purpose, no vision or victory, and no peace or progress. It is an urgent matter that the church take our eyes away from ourselves and the world, and turn our eyes on Jesus.

?The writer of Hebrews challenged the people to free themselves from this world and follow Christ. Living for Jesus means we must be focused upon Him and remain faithful to Him.

This great passage of Scripture reveals some directions about turning our eyes upon Jesus.

I. We are to learn from the Saints. (vs. 1a)

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”

The first direction the writer of Hebrews gives us is to learn from the saints. Whenever we see a “therefore” in the Bible, we need to ask ourselves what it is there for. Chapter 11 of Hebrews is known as the “Hall of Faith.” The Bible tells of the men and women of faith who had lived their lives to please God. The writer is therefore making a reference to all those men and women of God who came before and set a godly example for us.

We can learn from the saints of God to turn our eyes upon Jesus. Through faith they subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, and stopped the mouths of lions. They quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, and out of their weakness they were made strong. They became valiant in battle, and turned to flight the armies of invaders. Women received back their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, stoned, sawn in two, tempted, and slain with the sword. They wandered in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted and tormented. Yet, all of these had obtained a good testimony through their faith.

We can learn from the saints because we are surrounded “by so great a cloud of witnesses.”

This pictures a great host that has gone on before us. The word “witnesses” does not mean “spectators.”

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “These people are not witnessing what we are doing; rather, they are bearing witness to us , that God can see us through, God bore witness to them and they are bearing witness now to us.”

Those who have gone on before are not watching the saints—they are worshipping the Savior. Their lives testify to us that we too, can remain faithful to Jesus and be fruitful for Jesus.

“Those witnesses are encouragers to us, who come along after them.

They encourage us, because of their experience of living successfully for the Lord. If they can do it, we can do it.”

We can learn from the saints of God who have gone on before us? We can learn to turn our eyes upon Jesus from those who have been faithful to Jesus.

The writer of Hebrews directs us to learn from the saints. Next, we see

II. We are to leave all sin. (vs. 1b)

(A.) By removing all transgression from us.

“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us”

The writer of Hebrews did not exclude himself from focusing on and being faithful to Jesus. He included himself in his exhortation.

To leave all sin, we must remove all transgression from us. Anything and everything that hinders our spiritual progress needs to be removed. We are to lay aside all that hinders us from doing God’s will. Lay aside means to put off, cast off from one’s self, or to free yourself from. This is something that we must do. God does not lay aside the sin for us. Here we see a graphic picture of repentance. The writer wanted us to picture a runner laying aside a long flowing robe which would hinder his running.

We must lay aside every weight! Weight is a term used by medical writers in Bible times to refer to excess body weight.

I heard about a man who went to the doctor and told his doctor that he had back trouble. After the doctor examined him, the doctor said to the man, “No, you don’t have back trouble, you have front trouble. You have excess weight up front, and if you lose it, your back will feel better.”

What weights are we carrying around? The word “weight” denotes anything that would hinder our progress. John Phillips wrote, “Legitimate things can become weights to hold us back—love of home and family, love of country, love of comfort and ease, contentment with job, security at work. These legitimate things can become weights to hold us back in the race.”

Weights are anything weigh us down, divert our attention, sap our energy, or dampen our enthusiasm for the things of God. The problem is not in what the weight is, but in what the weight does. Weights in themselves are neutral. They are neither good nor bad, but when they steal our focus and our desire to do the will of God, then they become sin.

Good things can become weights that hinder us from doing God’s will. What are some of the weights that you need to lay aside? Some weights could be:

• Sports—when a love for sports consumes us, our time and our treasures, then they become sin.

• Business—when we own a business, we are to use that business for the glory of God. When the business hinders us from service to the King, we need to lay it aside.

• Jobs—love of money will cause us to work ourselves to death, and never accomplish the will of God.

• Family—our love for family can become a weight that will hinder us from running and finishing the race.

• Friends—certain friends can have a negative influence. When they mock and make fun, they become a weight keeping you from running faithfully for Jesus.

• Possessions—these can hinder us from either giving to God’s work or leaving to follow God’s call.

What are some of your weights that you need to lay aside? We are to remove all weights and sin from us. It is very easy to be ensnared by the love of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. However, to follow Jesus we must lay aside all sin. 1 Peter 2:1–2 instructs us, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.” We are to leave all sin by removing it from us.

Jimmy Draper wrote, “The weight refers to things that draw us aside. Sin is the rebellion and violation of the laws of God. We lay aside dead weights by committing them to the Lord in dedication to His service. We lay aside our sin by confessing it, by bringing it up to God, by yielding it up to Him.”

There are always some folks in every church who need to lay aside some weights and the sin which have so easily ensnared them! The writer of Hebrews directs us to leave all sin by removing all transgression from us.

Next, he directs us to leave all sin:

(B.) By running the track before us. (vs. 1c)

“And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”

Again the writer of Hebrews includes himself in the exhortation. “Let us” means that none are left out. All are called to run the race and to run it with endurance.

Endurance is steady determination to keep going. It means going on even when everything in you wants to give up.

The Christian life is pictured as a race. It is not a sprint, but it is a marathon. We are to press on and persevere. To run the track set before us, we must first leave all sin.

Some of us are not running in the race. We have given up on serving the Lord, and are a weight to the rest of the church. John MacArthur wrote, “

A lot of Christians not only are not running themselves but are keeping others from running. They are figuratively sitting on the track, and those who are running have to hurdle them. Often the workers in the church have to keep jumping over or running around the non-workers.

The devil does not put all encumbrances in the way. Sometimes we do his work for him.”

When we are not running and living for Jesus, we are doing the work of the devil.

Race (is the Greek word from which we get our English word “agony.” It pictures an athletic contest. The Christian life is not a passive spectator religion. The Christian life is an active, submissive and obedient life to Jesus and for Jesus.

Great Fact: We are to give ourselves with total commitment and complete abandonment to running the race with all our energy.

We cannot run the race with endurance without daily spending time with Jesus, and we cannot daily spend time with Jesus if we have not removed all the weight and sin that is hindering us.

Henry Blackaby said, “Too often, we would prefer a road map of our future rather than a relationship with the Way. It often seems easier to follow a plan than to cultivate a relationship. We need to run with all that we are and give our best for our Master.

During a Nascar race, the drivers have to make several pit stops so that they can finish the race. Pit stops occur when there is a caution lap, or when the cars are low on fuel. It is impossible for the drivers to finish the race on one tank of fuel. So it is with us. During the Christian life, there will be cautions of unexpected trials, persecutions, sickness, toil, snares, death, discouragement, and despair.

There will also be times where we are running low on fuel and need a spiritual pit stop. We are daily bombarded with the pressures and cares of life, as well as attacks from Satan and the demons of hell. We need daily pit stops where we get alone with Jesus and spend time with Him. We cannot run to win when we are not running, and we cannot run if we are out of fuel.

Great Bible Truth: When a believer becomes stationary, he soon becomes stagnant.

Andrew Murray wrote, “Day by day, our separation from the world and sin, our giving up of every weight and every sin, must be renewed. Day by day, our desire and our will to live wholly for God must be reaffirmed. Day by day, we must wait on God afresh, to receive grace with all our heart and all our strength; with undivided purpose and in the boldness of faith, still to run in the race for God.”

We are to run the race that the Lord Jesus has set before us. We are not to give up, but to go on. We are not to back down, but to press on. We are to finish the race that the Lord has set before us.

When we faithfully run the race, God will be well pleased with us.

The writer directs us to learn from the saints, to leave all sin, and lastly we see:

III. We are to look to the Savior. (vs. 2)

(A.) Because of His power, (vs. 2a)

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith”

The writer of Hebrews tells us to leave all our sin and look to the Savior. Look means to look away from all else and look only to Jesus. Look means to trust! Looking (aphorao) means to look away from all else and look to that which fills the heart. It means to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on one thing. Some translations use the words, “fixing our eyes on Jesus.” We are to set our eyes on Him and not remove them from Him.

We are to look to Jesus because of His power. He is the author and finisher of our faith. Jesus is our perfect example.

Author is a word meaning one who stands at the head of the long procession of those who believe. The word refers to a leader. This word suggests that He is a pace or two ahead of us throughout the race.

Finisher is a word meaning one who has manifested faith in its complete form. The New American Standard Bible uses the term “Perfecter.” This refers to the one who carries it through to completion. We are to look to Jesus because He is both the originator of our faith and the one who completes our faith.

We are to look to the Savior because of His power. Next, we see we are to look to Him:

(B.) Because of His passion. (vs. 2b)

“Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame”

The writer of Hebrews brings our focus and memory back to Calvary. We are to look to Jesus because He suffered for us to save us. This should all the more give us incentive to live a godly life and run the race with endurance.

A Good Word: We are to endure the course because He endured the cross.

His passion for us ought to inspire and motivate us to live all out for Jesus. Jesus gets joy when people repent and trust in Him as Lord and Savior. Jerry Vines said, “Jesus saw that by His death He would have the joy of seeing you and me coming to know Him. Jesus had us in mind when He died.”

Jesus endured the suffering of the cross while despising the shame of the cross.

The cross was the most shameful of all deaths. Those who died on the cross were placed there as an example to the rest. Those who were hung on a tree were cursed. The passion of Jesus Christ helps us stay focused and faithful in the race that is set before us.

Through death into life everlasting,

He passed, and we follow Him there,

Over us sin no more hath dominion—

For more than conquerors we are!

We are to look to the Savior because of His power, because of His passion, and:

(C.) Because of His position. (vs. 2c)

“And has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus has all authority in Heaven and on earth. From His position, He intercedes for us, keeps watch over us, protects us, corrects us, and directs us. Jesus died on the old rugged cross, was buried in a borrowed tomb, rose on the third day, and 40 days later, ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The right hand of the throne of God pictures the place of power. His present position pictures His past victory!

Kenneth Wuest wrote, “Has sat down is in the present tense in the Greek text, the idea being that He, after His work of providing a salvation was finished, sat down, and remains seated.”

We are to look to Jesus in His path on earth and on His throne in glory.

We must turn our eyes upon Jesus if we are going to run this race and please our Father in heaven.

Illustration

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He is the foundation of our faith—the faithful Rock who never moves and never changes in His love for believers. We can be sure that if we set our eyes upon Him, our path will be straight.

We are directed to learn from the saints, leave all sin and look to the Savior.

God is calling for us to follow and turn our eyes upon Jesus! Would you today commit your life to live the rest of your days all out for Jesus? Jesus is calling for us to follow Him, be faithful to Him and bear fruit for Him!