If you have your Bibles, turn to Hebrews chapter 12. I have it divided into four points: looking, discipline, submission, and healing. We’ll read Hebrews chapter 12, beginning with verse one.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 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. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children: ‘My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him, for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves and chastises every child whom he accepts.’ Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children. For what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. Now discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed” (Hebrews 12:1-13).

Looking to Jesus

We see in this text that we’re talking about a race, running the race. In verse one it says, “since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” When it says “therefore,” we go to the chapter before. Hebrews 11 is that hall of faith with Abraham and Moses and Joshua and all the heroes of faith and David. They go into how they conquered by faith, how they won kingdoms, they shut the mouths of lions, all these great people of faith.

Now he’s saying, therefore, since we are surrounded by that, since we have those who have been great examples of faith, “let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,” and it can also be translated “the sin that so easily distracts us,” the sin that so easily gets us off the course for the race that he’s marked us on, for the race that he has set before us.

If you ever try to run a race with things on you, it’ll be a lot more difficult to win. You could take the fastest runner in the world, and if you put 100 pounds of weight on him, I could beat him. He’s not going to go very far with that weight. That’s important in a race. You want to be as unhindered as possible. You want to have the least amount of cares as possible. That’s why you don’t see runners in heavy jackets or three pairs of jeans or boots. They have certain shoes, they have shorts, they have tank tops. They want to have the least amount on them so that they can run the fastest.

In verse two, as my first point for looking, it says, “looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” That word pioneer means chief, the leader, the first, the author, the captain. As we run our race, we’re not to be looking down at our feet. We’re not to be looking off to see what the crowd is doing. It doesn’t even say to necessarily look back at those heroes of faith. It says to look to Jesus, the pioneer, the captain, the first, and the perfecter of our faith. That perfecter means the completer, consummator, the finisher. We’re to look to Him as the alpha and the omega of our faith, the beginning and the ending of our faith.

I think so often when we first come to faith, we first hear the gospel, we hear the good news that Jesus has come to save us, that He offers eternal life as a free gift. The wages of our sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. He has told us that He’s done everything necessary to bring us into a right relationship with God on the cross. He suffered, He died, He rose from the dead to pay that penalty.

So we hear that good news, that glad tidings, that there’s nothing in my hands I can bring, only to Your cross do I cling. We recognize Him as author of our faith, but sometimes when we get running and we have our joy, we have our freedom, what happens to that joy? What happens to that freedom? I believe it’s because we take our eyes off Jesus.

Sometimes we look to ourselves. We can begin our faith trusting in Jesus, trusting in Him and looking to Him. Maybe as we get on our way, we say, “Okay, Lord, I think I got this now.” We don’t necessarily say that consciously. That’s temptation of the flesh or the devil that says, well, now that Jesus has started you on the way, now you need to finish it. Now you need to exert your power, your strength. That’s why God says He’s the author and the finisher, that He who began the good work in you will see it to completion. It’s important that we always are looking to Jesus.

I think also of Stephen, whenever he was being stoned. He was testifying about Jesus, and the leaders of his day hated that. They gnashed their teeth at him and were stoning him. You face being all alone and a whole world against you, ready to stone you. What did he do? He looked up and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and there was a glow about his face. Why? Because Stephen learned to keep his eyes on Jesus, looking unto Jesus.

Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher of two centuries ago, was about 15 years old. He was raised in a God-fearing home. His family were generational pastors. He read all the books. He probably knew more at the age of 15, read more books than we have in our whole lives. He knew the Bible, he read all the great books, and yet he was miserable. If you were to look at him, you’d think, well, he’s a Christian, he’s a good guy, but he went into a church which wasn’t his normal church because of a bad snowstorm. He was just miserable, felt so much guilt before God.

The minister of that church couldn’t even make it, so there was a lay person preacher, and he used a text from Isaiah 45: “Look to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other.” He looked straight at Spurgeon and said, “Young man, you look miserable, and you will always be miserable unless you obey my text. Look away from yourself and look unto Jesus.”

Having our eyes fixed upon Jesus, no matter what emotions come our way, no matter what feelings come our way, no matter what guilt comes our way, and what we do with our guilt is everything. We can say, “Okay, Lord, I’m going to do better tomorrow. I’m resolved. I’m not going to do that tomorrow. I’m going to be a better person.” Again, it’s that transferring your trust, your look, who you look to, that inner confidence of your heart.

Remember in Matthew 14 when the disciples were out on the water and there was a bad storm, and Jesus was walking to them on the water. Peter said, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ And he said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened and, beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.

What would you think Jesus would say to Peter? “Peter, you did good. You started walking on water. When you began to sink, you said, ‘Lord, save me.’ Great job.” Jesus didn’t say that. He said, “You of little faith. Why did you doubt?”

“The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.” John was amazing in that he was okay with his two disciples leaving him and going to Jesus.

I can remember my faith starting out. I was introduced to Jesus through the ministry of Youth Quest, and so Tom was and is my hero, but there’s definitely been a transition where my trust was in Pastor Tom, and there’s been that transition of slowly letting go of the hand and coming over to Jesus.

Faith and looking are two of the same thing. When the Bible says “looking unto Jesus,” what does that mean? Obviously we can’t see Him with our physical eyes yet, but faith or belief and looking are the same thing. They’re twins.

In John 3:15 Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” If you look at that context of Numbers 21, the children of Israel had been brought out of Egypt and were wandering in the wilderness. They complained against the Lord. They thought, “God, You’re treating me bad. You brought us out here to live like this in the wilderness.”

“Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it upon a pole, and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.”

Notice the contrast. Jesus didn’t say “look,” He said “whoever believes.” Those two things are intertwined: looking and believing.

Discipline

Now we come to discipline in verses six and seven. “For the Lord disciplines those whom he loves and chastises every child whom he accepts. Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children.”

We have to remember that whenever God talks about discipline, there’s two things that could be going on. Never assume when someone is suffering that God is chastising them. There’s a difference between discipline and chastising. Discipline, that Greek word, means to instruct, to teach. Remember what Jesus’ disciples said: “Lord, who sinned that this man was born blind?” He said, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this was done to the glory of God.”

Whenever it says to endure trials for the sake of discipline, God could be teaching you something, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve sinned. You definitely don’t want to be in the camp of Job’s friends. When Job had all that suffering put on him, the Lord allowed it because He had a purpose, and all of his friends said, “Well, Job, you must have sinned, because God’s promised blessing and prosperity for those who walk with Him.” God rebuked those friends when He said, “You missed it. That wasn’t what I was doing at all.”

The Lord disciplines those He loves, and He chastises every child whom He receives. Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children. Discipline means to train, to instruct, to teach. Chastise means to scourge. This word was used seven times in the New Testament. All of the other times it’s been used was referring to the scourging of Jesus, referring to Jesus’ suffering and the crucifixion.

There’s one way to respond to discipline or to chastisement: to complain when God’s trying to teach you something. The other response is King David’s response. Remember when King David sinned with Bathsheba, and the Lord told him, “The sword will never depart from your house.” He said, “I’ve forgiven you, I’ve taken away your sin, but the consequence, you still have to live with the consequence.”

Just because God forgives you, it doesn’t mean He takes away a consequence from that. You may have to live with a consequence your whole life, but you are still forgiven, you’re still loved, you’re still cherished. Will you still follow Him even if He doesn’t take away the consequence?

King David’s son Absalom wanted to usurp him as king. He ran King David and his men out, and now David’s in the wilderness. There’s a guy named Shimei who is from the house of Saul, and Shimei is pointing out David’s discipline, saying, “See, David, this is God’s discipline on you for what you did to Saul.” He takes rocks and throws them at David and his men, cursing him.

Abishai, one of David’s leaders, said, “David, I could kill this guy. Just command me.” Our first response, our natural fallen response, would be, “Okay, yeah, just go show him who’s boss.” David doesn’t do that. David said, “My own son seeks my life. How much more may this Benjamite? Let him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look on my distress, and the Lord will repay with good for this cursing of me today.” He’s saying stop. This is part of the Lord’s discipline, and how we respond to this discipline is everything.

I have six children, and there were two of them who were really young, fighting and bickering. I got pretty upset. I typically don’t raise my voice, but I was frustrated. I raised my voice and they saw my displeasure. The first one came back and said, “This isn’t fair, it was the other kid’s fault. This is an injustice.” I just kept working, let them talk about how unfair it was. After they were done, they went back. The other one came out, threw their arms around me and said, “Daddy, I don’t care about the punishment, as long as we’re okay. Whatever happens to me, I don’t care.” That had my heart.

How much more will that have God’s heart when we go through hardship, when we go through discipline, when we go through hard times, to throw our arms around our Father and say, “Lord, whatever happens, I trust You. Whatever happens, I love You, and I trust that this, whether it’s Your active will or permissive will, I put my arms around You, and I just want to be with You.”

Ephesians 6:4 in the Phillips translation says, “Fathers, do not over-correct your children or make it difficult for them to obey the commandment, but bring them up with Christian teaching and Christian discipline.”

Submission

After discipline, what do we do with discipline? Verse nine: “Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live?”

To submit ourselves under Him. We talk about how we’re saved, and we’re saved by transferring our trust that we cannot save ourselves. We transfer our trust to Jesus. We talk about receiving the living, risen Jesus into our hearts as Savior, that He has to save us from our sins. Now we talk about receiving Him as Savior and Lord. What a Lord is, is someone that you’re submissive to, that you’re subject to, that you say, “Lord, I want to come under Your authority.”

Spurgeon’s church was growing. Thousands upon thousands were going. London was ablaze with him. People were meeting the Savior. Then someone in this large church thought it would be funny to call out, “Fire!” Everybody stampeded out. People died. He had to take off for a while. There in the secret place, day in and day out, the only comfort he got was from his Bible.

Finally the comfort came to him when he thought of the French soldiers. Whenever the emperor would stop by, all the French soldiers would lay flat on the ground. They would have legs cut off from battle, arms cut off, they would be lame, they would have all these injuries from the battle. They would raise up their bodies as much as best they could as the emperor came by. He said that’s what he saw, that’s how he got his comfort back: to say, “Lord, whatever happens to me, as long as You are honored, as long as You are praised.”

James 1:2-4 says, “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Healing

Verses 12 and 13: “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”

Isaiah 53 talks about Jesus: “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

What I love about the cross is it puts us all on the same plane, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free. We’re all the same under the cross. There’s no difference between rich and poor. There’s no difference between smart and foolish. There’s no difference between anybody at the cross.

The Bible says one day the books will be opened, that there’s nothing hidden that will not be made known. Everything’s going to be laid open. If this Bible represents a book of my life, from my birth to my death, everything I ever done, and this hand represents Jesus, this is me, this is my life, this is God. This is what separated me from God: my sin.

I can say, “Okay, Lord, I no longer want to live that life,” but it’s still there. I can say, “Lord, I want to turn over a new leaf, start a new life, live fresh. Maybe I’ll move somewhere new, get a new job, start fresh where people don’t know me.” But no matter which way you turn your life or where you go, it’s still laid upon you.

The only way to get rid of that sin, the only way to get rid of that old life: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” We have to see our sin transferred upon Jesus. That’s why it says, “Look to Jesus, trust in Him.”

When it comes my time to go, don’t lie and say, “Oh, he was a good guy, he was a good person, he made it to heaven.” That’s not my hope. I’m not going to say, “Lord, look at my faithful service.” My hope is in nothing what I have done whatsoever. When I get before God, the Bible says every mouth will be stopped, every mouth will be silent. You will have zero excuse before God.

My only hope is, “Lord, it’s only because of the cross, it’s only because of what You’ve done, that You died, that You took every bit of my sin, and that You rose from the dead.” My hope is in nothing else but Him.

There’s a hymn that’s been in my heart called “There’s Room at the Cross,” by Ira Stanfield. Sometimes we may think, well, there’s room for him, or God could save you, but He couldn’t save me. I used to work in a shop grinding tools, and there was this one very rough guy there. I wrote in the dust, “Jesus loves you,” and he looked at it and said, “Jesus may love you, but he tolerates me.”

Yet that’s something we probably all feel at some time or another. We probably all felt like, “Okay, God, I see You love him, but Lord, I really don’t feel Your love for me right now.” The hymn says: “The cross upon which Jesus died is a shelter in which we can hide, and its grace so free is sufficient for me, and deep is its fountain, as wide as the sea. There’s room at the cross for you. There’s room at the cross for you. Though millions have come, there’s still room for one. Yes, there’s room at the cross for you.”

Do you hear Him calling? Do you hear Him saying to you, no matter what you’ve done in your past, no matter what your past is like, no matter how guilty you may feel, there’s room at the cross for you.

You don’t accept us when we come boasting about who we are, saying, “Lord, look what I’ve done. Lord, look at all the good. I don’t cuss, I don’t cheat, I don’t steal. I’m not as bad as so-and-so.” You accept us when we come and we kneel before You and we say, “Lord, I have sinned. Lord, I have fallen short. Lord, I can’t be good enough. I can’t measure up. There’s nothing I could do, but I confess my sin before You. Lord, I do want to repent, and I do want to change, and I do want to look to You, and I do want You to be my Savior. I want You to save me from the wrath to come. Lord, I want You to rescue me and deliver me, and I want to trust in Jesus.”

Not only that, I want to be subject, I want to submit, I want to yield my life, Lord. May You truly heal us, so that we can run the race set before us, that we wouldn’t hobble along the path, we wouldn’t struggle along the path, but Lord, that we would run the race at full speed, looking to Jesus, the author, the finisher, and healer of our faith.