Hebrews chapter 12, our focus will be on the first few verses that begin this chapter. And, uh, as I mentioned earlier, hopefully a good encouragement and preparation of heart for this week. All of my life in one way or another, as probably in the case of most of you, As this time of year rolls around, there are special observances held to reflect upon the passion of Jesus Christ. and to celebrate as well his resurrection. We have been doing a Good Friday service for a few years and it's been a wonderful tradition that's been developing. And actually as I grew up in Latin America, they did that same sort of thing only in an even more extended way. We have the men who come on Friday each give us a five-minute devotional over a saying of Christ and when I grew up we would have these kinds of services during the day on Good Friday and they would cover the seven sayings but they would be like whole sermons And so it was quite a lengthy time as they had the opportunity to develop that, maybe not a full-length sermon, but more like a sermon. It was really quite an extended opportunity to reflect upon the death of our Lord. And this was in contrast to the way that the Roman Catholics in the town would mark Good Friday. They would actually have a procession through the downtown area. They would dress up in Roman and Jewish garb, and there would be people dressed up like the disciples and some like the Roman soldiers, and even a few carrying a full-size cross down the middle of the town and setting up in the square right outside of the Roman Catholic Church. Uh, they didn't go as far as some do like in the Philippines to actually, uh, hang somebody on the cross. But apart from that, they really were trying to recreate, uh, the event and the spirit and the emotion of what took place. Of course, the sad thing is that their whole purpose for doing that sort of thing went in the opposite direction of the whole point. As they were thinking, many of them, that somehow by going through this exercise they were somehow earning favor with God, contributing to their standing with Him, helping somehow their relationship with the Lord. That is not at all what we want to do this week. We are celebrating an accomplished work to which you and I can add nothing. And we are simply marking by these observances our inability to declare ourselves righteous and how we are entirely dependent on what took place during those days, those final days in the life of Jesus. We go through this year by year, Passion Week, Good Friday, Resurrection Sunday. Why do we do this? And you can also ask the question as to why the Bible itself seems to do this so regularly. I think I've pointed this out before. We're right now in the Gospel of Luke. And we're about halfway through, so probably by this time next year, maybe, it will coincide that during Passion Week, we're in those accounts toward the end of the book that have to do with the death and the resurrection of Christ. But the fact is that all of the Gospels have significant portions of the text of the stories devoted to the final week of Jesus. And it depends which gospel you're looking at, but the percentage of the text devoted to one week in the life of Christ runs anywhere from 21% to 38% of these books. And the thing about it is, is that there's so much repetition. In other words, if you just start reading your New Testament, you are going to encounter substantial spans of chapters telling you the same basic story four times over in a lot of verses and a lot of chapters. Why would the Lord devote such a great percentage of His Word to those events? I can think of several reasons. And some of this reflects the original purpose of those books and the audiences that they were designed to help. There's just a lot that goes on in terms of developing and substantiating the historical basis of Christianity. And we're seeing that in Luke, right, as we're talking about Theophilus so often. and that these things were put together for him as apparently a kind of a discipleship tool to deepen his confidence that these things really happened and how exactly they happened and how it all fit together. And certainly would have that kind of ministry in reaching unbelievers as well from an apologetic standpoint to express and to defend the historicity, the real life historicity of the events that are at the foundation of our faith. That would be one reason to have so much of the Bible devoted to this topic. We can think about this as well, that that one week, if you set it side by side with the rest of the events in the Bible, it really does represent the culmination of all the history of redemption up to that point in time. This is what the entire Old Testament was laying the foundation for was preparing for through all of its systems of laws and the national structure of the nation of Israel and its religious observances and the sacrifices in the tabernacle in the temple everything was building up. and with all of that buildup you are not satisfied as a reader if the culmination is told in very brief terms and you don't get a lot of information god records to great lengths his faithfulness to all of the promises and all of the types that he had been setting forth from beginning and it is not the case only that it is the culmination of just a big story reading a story about things that happen This relates to us as well because we are reading here the accomplishment of our salvation. And it is crucial for people to know what happened in order for them to be reconciled to God. It is crucial for people to understand the events and the significance of the events and the lead up to the events and the outcome of the events. It's not just a great story of the past. This is the way that salvation becomes available to everybody. And so it stands to reason that so much of the New Testament is devoted to recounting that story. Now a lot of that would have a special significance for unbelievers, but what about those of us who are already saved, who are very familiar with these stories? And sometimes we're so familiar with them that as soon as somebody begins to read a portion of these, even though we've never tried to memorize them, they've just become so ingrained in our mind that we can almost repeat them back and we can trace the different events that led up to the cross and the different accounts of the resurrection. Why should we keep coming back to these things whether it's in reading the gospels or in celebrating these events year after year and the reality is that every time we gather together on the Lord's Day it is connected with the same thing and it's about celebrating the resurrection. Why so much focus on events that took place within a few days of time, 2000 years ago, and we keep coming back to them over and over. What could be the reason? Why would we focus so much on it? I think we find an important reason, a foundational reason in the passage that we're looking at this morning in Hebrews 12. And let me read for us verses one to two again. I'll also pick up verse three. The writer says, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and sin, which cling so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus. the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. The reason I bring that up is because all these stories about the events of the Passion Week are tools to do the very thing this passage is talking about. There are ways, there are ways in which we are able to look to Jesus and look at verse 3 to consider Him. It talks about considering Him, particularly in the hostility that He faced. So what is that talking about? What was His hostility? What did it look like? What did He experience from sinners? Well, you've got huge swaths of the Bible that are given to you, among other things, so that you will have material about that to be able to consider him and what this passage is urging you to do. Now, why would you do that? Why would you want to consider him? Why would you want to look to him? What is this all about? And all of that has got to be connected with what it says in verse one, that this is about us as believers running with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus. That's all one thought. This is about running with endurance. And the looking to Jesus has everything to do with the running with endurance. It's not simply a theological information to get into your brain. This is somehow going to help you to run your race with endurance. In fact, verse two, looking to Jesus is telling you how you would be able to run this race with endurance. is explaining to you what it is you are able to do that will strengthen you and enable you to keep running your race as a believer with endurance. In fact, you could begin verse two by supplying the little preposition, by. And read it this way, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. How do I do that? Well, you do that by looking to Jesus, later explained as well as by considering him in verse three. And so that is our message this morning, enduring by looking to Jesus. Enduring by looking to Jesus. And that is one of the reasons why we keep coming back to this week after week, year after year. It's because it is the means by which we gain the resources we need to keep going. It is the method God has appointed to enable us to endure looking to Jesus. I think we understand the importance of endurance for any venture in life. Just the perseverance that keeps going despite discouragements despite setbacks, despite failures from time to time, if you are intent on reaching any goal, not the least of which is your walk with God and your sanctification, remaining faithful to the Lord to the end of your life, endurance is vital. It is at the heart of the whole process. no matter how much truth you know, and no matter how far you've gone so far in your Christian experience, and no matter how much maturity you've developed, if you don't keep going, if you don't have from within, by the working of God in your heart, the ability to keep moving forward, all of that in the past and all of the truth you've amassed will be for naught. Endurance is vital to reaching the goal of sanctification. Somebody said, a hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver for five minutes longer. And we're not talking here about skill. We're not talking here about intelligence. We're not talking here about courage, necessarily. We're talking about just continuing longer till you actually finish the race. I was at a meeting earlier this week for Gospel Fellowship Association missions and one of the men that was speaking was somebody that I had as a teacher and that I've long looked up to and who's been in a key position of leadership at Bob Jones University and is retiring in a few weeks. And he was reflecting on that and he was also thinking about the future as he's transitioning from his role to a new role with the mission. And he shared something that then actually last night at an event that was Uh, really intended to thank him for his ministry along with some others. He was, he was reflecting on the same things and made the same comment. Actually, a lot of, you know, him, his name is Bruce McAllister. I know he's been a great friend and mentor to Tony Stamiel in the past. And I've talked to Bruce about coming here to preach for us, hopefully toward the beginning of next year, just to update us on his work. He's been here before, and I know he'd be a great blessing to us. But he was talking about, I don't know, 40 some years that he's wrapping up in one ministry and moving on to another. And he says, as he thinks about the last part of his life and this new ministry, he's a preacher, so he had a three-point alliterated outline. And you probably just, if you know him, you can hear him saying these words. He says, to the end of my life, I want to be fervent, I want to be faithful, and I want to be fruitful. Here's a man who wants to endure to the end, not to give up or slacken up, even as somebody now in his 60s whose the bulk of his life is in the past. Endurance. That's what we're talking about. Really, if you look around this room and you had the opportunity to talk to the people sitting around you, to know fully the history of their lives and the present circumstances that they are dealing with, what they have had to endure, and what they are now enduring, it might actually change your attitude and your perspective toward them. If you had all the information. and knew what it is that they have endured through and what they're even now striving to persevere through. It could be any number of things. It could be their family background and experiences that they had as a child. It could be present tensions in their family. It could be other difficult relationships where they are striving to respond in a Christ-like way amidst all kinds of pressures. It could be financial strain, physical limitations or burdens, emotional turmoil, the weight of some heavy work or ministry responsibility. It could be just the faithful fighting against sins that are a special temptation to them. It could be that at an earlier stage in life, they made some very poor choices. And there have been long-term consequences of those choices that they have just had to accept in the providence of God. And they're striving to stay faithful to the Lord and endure under those circumstances that are really of their own making. But the point is they are enduring. And actually, I imagine that there are people sitting around you this morning and it took a good bit of endurance for them to even show up in church today. You have no idea all that went on, maybe, for them to make it through another week and have enough strength to come to this place to fellowship and to worship. And you and I regularly, like every day, like every moment, stand in need of this thing called endurance. Think back on this past week. Did you feel like quitting about some aspect of your life? That was the struggle and the feeling that these people who first read this letter were experiencing. In fact, they were so much under pressure as Hebrew believers, Hebrew followers of Jesus, so much under pressure from their background and from their family and from their Jewish community that they felt like giving up on Christ altogether. And this book is nothing but a big, long exhortation to keep going. That's what this is about. In fact, he kind of summarizes it back in chapter 10 when he says at verse 36, you have need of endurance. Many times, maybe not in those words, I have preached that to myself or I have told my children or somebody else, keep in the fight. Don't give up. You have need of endurance. That's in the Bible. So that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. Hebrews 10 36. Now anybody can get up here and say, keep going, be faithful, endure, persevere, buck up, keep going. Don't give up. Don't quit. Sometimes we need people to talk just very straightforwardly and exhorting us that way. But this is not this book, just a pep talk. He doesn't just command them to endure. He gives them truth that they need to internalize to strengthen them to endure. He motivates them. He inspires them. And this book is filled with motivation. Some of them are negative as he warns them about the tragic consequences that they would suffer if they don't endure for Christ. Some of them are looking ahead and promising them reward about what they would receive in the future if they endure the promises, the promises of God. Some of them are just, look around and look at the past and be encouraged by other people who were just like you, who felt like quitting just like you, who faced very similar circumstances, but they weren't able to keep trusting and keep putting one foot in front of the other and they endured. And that's what chapter 11 is about. And now in chapter 12. He gets to the ultimate motivation and the ultimate source of endurance, which is Christ himself. And as I said, you could translate verse two, that we run with endurance specifically by looking to Jesus. That word look is interesting. It's not the normal word just for casting your eye on something. But it actually has a little preposition attached to it that you could translate this way. Look away from in order to look to Jesus. It's a dual action. It is choosing to turn your gaze away from something. And there's that part to the definition and towards something to concentrate on it. And it speaks to the fact that in order to concentrate sufficiently on Christ, you have to block other things out of your mind. Your mind can only be concentrating on so many things. At any point in time, and you have to, I have to deliberately push out other subjects, even as I'm looking to Christ, there's a negative and there is the positive. We have to look away from the temptation to give up. We may have to look away from sin, which clings so closely, as verse one mentioned. We may have to look away from people who are pressuring us to believe something else or to live some other way. We may have to look away from obstacles that make it very hard to keep going forward. We may have to look away from actual persecution like some of these people were facing. And even though you can't change your circumstances, you can change what you're dwelling on, what your mind is fixed on, what you're meditating upon. And he says part of this business of enduring by looking to Christ is choosing to look away to him and at the same time from other possible subjects. It's kind of like when you take a picture and these smartphones today have all kinds of features where you can edit or give certain kinds of shots. And this would be like the setting where you're able to focus in on somebody's face and everything in the background is blurred. It's still there. It didn't go away. You're aware that it's there. Even those blurbs you could probably still make out, that's a tree, that's a flower, that's a house. But it's out of focus, it's there. But you're not dwelling on it. That's like what this is talking about. We're not gonna lose the awareness that there are these pressures and temptations and people and circumstances. They're never gonna go away, we can't just wish them away by not thinking about them. They're there, they're real, we can't escape them. Point is, what are you gonna choose hone in on and to concentrate on so that these things in your own inner man actually are able to fade into the background and not have this oppressive influence on you that's holding you back from enduring. That's the sort of thing we're talking about. Now, there's actually another word. That is used here to speak of the same thing. It's a little different word and it's what it says in verse three, consider him who endured from sinners, such hostility against himself. And that's a word that's kind of borrowed from the accounting realm. It has to do with reckoning or taking things into account, spelling things out, like enlist and really, and really tabulating certain realities about Jesus. So it clarifies, this is not talking about your physical eyes. This is not some kind of out-of-the-body experience where you're able to go back 2,000 years and somehow witness personally what happened to Jesus. This is a mental calculation based on the revelation of Christ in the scriptures whereby you are actually leading your mind along a certain path. taking an accounting of specific realities regarding Jesus Christ. And you say, what are these specific things that I'm supposed to look to or consider? Well, this one passage isn't going to give you the whole answer to that, but it does give you some possible answers in terms of the name and the titles of Jesus that are used in verse two. So he says, looking to Jesus, you say, well, Jesus, in what sense or what about him? Well, just stop for a moment. Do you ever do this with, with a verse of scripture and just literally stop at every single word and ponder the role of the individual words. and it is not by mistake or just by coincidence that in this particular book he doesn't say look to christ though he could have said that he actually says look to jesus and somebody who's wanting to actually do this will ask questions like well why did he choose jesus instead of christ or lord or savior or something else there was a reason he chose the personal name our Savior, Jesus. That is the name particularly attached to the humanity of our Savior. And Hebrews has had a lot to say about his humanity, that even though he is equal to God and possesses the fullness of God's attributes, chapter 1, Nevertheless, chapter two, because the children humans share in flesh and blood, he also likewise took part of the same so that he could do what God cannot do. And that is die. And so that through death, he might deliver those who lived all their lives under the bondage and fear of death, uh, under Satan's sway. He's making a point here. Even by bringing the name Jesus, you say that has got to mean something. That is the name associated with Jesus is a man. God became one of us. He partook of flesh and blood. He adopted a genuine human nature and he voluntarily subjected himself to everything that goes along with being a human being. all of his deprivations and its physical limitations and its exposure to temptation and sin, he knew what weakness is. And he learned obedience through the things that he suffered. Now ponder that. This is how you endure. Stop this week and think. God didn't stay up there and just bark out commands from heaven and condemn me or even say, I love you from this detached position. He became one of you and underwent the very kinds of experiences that you are fighting against. He endured as a genuine human being. Let that reality minister something to your heart. This is how you endure by pondering the reality of the humanity Christ but it doesn't stop there he says look to Jesus the founder or the author of our faith an author sounds like somebody who sat down to write a book and so he originated the faith and that is there, but really there is more to this particular word. It's not the normal word for author. It has to do with somebody who doesn't just begin something, but he, he, he charged the path by going through it himself. First of all, we call that person a pioneer. We call that kind of person a trailblazer. You might even say that he is a prototype. of the new creation that God is working in us. As a man, he was the first to walk through this and have victory. In other words, he didn't just tell us what to do or lay out the path you've got to endure. He actually went through it himself. He pioneered all the way through the whole thing. He ran it ahead of us. And he didn't just start it and go through it. The next word is that he actually finished the course that was laid out for him. Because it says he is the founder and he is the perfecter or the completer or the consummator of our faith. He successfully accomplished what the father called him to do. He thoroughly finished his course. And he did all of those things, the founder and perfecter. He did all those things with reference to faith. And here's something that you might not associate with Jesus. Again, we think of him and his glory and his deity, but he was a genuine human being as well. And do you realize that as a human being, he had to exercise faith, just like you and I do. There were things that he had to accept that God would do for him in the future that he was not experiencing or necessarily even feeling at the moment of going through these experiences. Jesus had to display endurance, yes, but endurance in faith, in trust in the promises of God. In fact, back in Hebrews 2.13, the author quotes Isaiah 8.17, and uses the words of Isaiah to speak of the spirit of Christ. And these are the words, I will put my trust in him that is in God. Jesus had to exercise faith too. He had to get this faith from somewhere. It had to have some grounding. And so it required that he would meditate on the scriptures. It was expressed in a life of prayer day by day. It was expressed as well in believing the promises of God instead of the false promises of sin and Satan. So faith was required for temptation. And at every point, believing that God's plan was best and would work in the end, he made the choice to submit to the father's plan. All that he did. At every stage of his of his incarnation and his life as a human being of facing temptation and trial and ultimately going to the cross, it all required that he demonstrate faith. The very thing that you and I are called to do. And this is something of what it means to describe. Our Savior, this is what it means to look to him is to dwell on. He's Jesus. He is the pioneer and the completer of my faith. That's enough to get you through another week of dealing with whatever you're dealing with. If you and I will truly approach the Lord and strive to look at him in those kinds of ways. It is not merely that Jesus is our example, according to this passage. It is not only that he is our inspiration. You could say that about all the people in chapter 11. They're examples. They're an inspiration. But in calling Jesus these particular titles, what it's saying is that he is also our enabler. That just as he successfully made it through, you and I, as we draw on his resources through meditation, through prayer, doing the very things he did, we will receive from him the power, the energy that we need to keep moving forward. It's like he's saying, I have gone before you. I have crossed the finish line. If you will just focus on that and trust that just as I did it, I can enable you to finish as well. You will succeed. I have all the resources you need to succeed. I can guide you through this. I can give you power. I have completed this thing. I can help you complete this as well. Everything I've said there for the last 10 or 15 minutes, what is that? Where did all that come from? I didn't make it up. I didn't invent this. I put together those notes by doing what this passage said, by looking to Jesus and trying to figure out what is this all about? What does this mean? How does this work? Who is he? What do all these titles mean? And there is a lot more that could be added to flesh out what it means to look to Jesus. In fact, the author says more. We're not done with this verse yet. All of that was foundational about his identity and his name and his titles. The author is going to give us now trues about what Jesus actually did in real life. that we ought to dwell on as well and that are also helps for endurance. And at first it says about Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him, who for the joy that was set before him. What is that talking about? Well, you can, you can meditate on that just as much as I, as I did to come up with this. I put it in these terms as kind of a first step in the experience of Jesus that he focused. He focused particularly on something in the future. He focused specifically on joy, the joy that was set before him. And here again is something that maybe you and I don't associate with Christ. Just like we don't think of him maybe as somebody who had to believe the promises of God. We may not think of him as somebody who experienced joy. And it wasn't joy in terms of earthly circumstances. It wasn't joy in the present even, though I'm sure he enjoyed being with his disciples and ministering and that sort of thing. That's not what it's talking about here. That wasn't the sort of core or source of his joy. It was something that was still future. In other words, by dwelling on a future experience of joy, he is able to kind of grab from the future something that he can bring back to the present that's going to feed his faith to keep him going. That's the idea, who for the joy that was set before him. Now, what was this joy? You know, there again, if you're reading a passage like this, you're trying to do what this passage says, that's a question you ought to ask. What does that mean? What is the joy that was set before him? Is there any scripture that sheds light on it to explain that? What was it in the future that he was anticipating that God had decreed for him and that sustained him through the sometimes joyless experiences of the present? Well, I came up with at least two things. I'm sure you could think of some other joys that Jesus experienced. One is, actually quoted a couple chapters earlier in Hebrews in that Shepherd 10 verse 8, and it's drawing from Psalm 40 to speak about the experience of Christ. And it's this statement, I delight to do your will, oh my God. That's an expression of joy, delight, pleasure. And the point is, he was not delighting in the actual pain of the experience. That was a crushing and overwhelming thing. But his joy was, I am doing the will of God, and at the end of this, God's going to be pleased. He's going to tell me, well done, good and faithful servant. In fact, he already said it in principle when I was baptized and throughout my ministry, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, not just because he's my son, but because he is so trusting and submissive to me in the most excruciating of circumstances. And I am pleased with that. And Jesus says, God's pleased with me. And he's going to be further pleased with me as a father. And that brings me joy. I'm going to borrow some of that from out there and bring it into the present. in order to help me to endure. And then there is this other joy that was anticipated in Isaiah 53. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. There's another joy kind of term. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. And the passage goes on to explain that this is about a spiritual descendancy or offspring that's going to come to life as a result of Jesus undergoing this anguish and this bearing of their iniquities. He looks ahead and sees by faith the millions of people out of every tribe and tongue and nation. who will one day be rescued from the clutches of Satan and delivered from slavery and guilt of sin and restored to God for all eternity because he was undergoing the suffering. He focused on that. His mind wasn't focused primarily on the present experience, but on the outcome of all of this. And that brought him joy. It brought him joy. Let this minister to you. It brought him joy to be aware. That today you and I would be sitting here. And I would be talking about these things and the hearts of believers would rise up in delight to hear the truth of the gospel. This is what's coming from what I am suffering. It brings him joy to look ahead. To the consummation of the plan of God in the salvation of people. And what a humbling thought. Given all that you know about yourself. and all of your failures to persevere, and your three steps forward and two steps backward even this week, Jesus delighted to think about you as one of his believers and followers. And to see how God throughout the course of your life would gradually be perfecting you and growing you, sometimes through failure, enabling you to persevere till you reach the other side and you're fully conformed to his image. That brought him sufficient joy to help him endure what he endured. So he focused, and because of that, he endured, right? That's the rest of the verse. It goes on to say, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. And the cross there stands for the whole complex of suffering that he faced in order to accomplish our redemption. He didn't just face it in a brief moment. He remained under the crushing burden of it until the wrath of God was satisfied. And maybe this week you can just dwell on that word. He endured the cross. What was all involved in that? There was physical and emotional suffering. There was social suffering. There was spiritual suffering. I've got some things written out here to fill that out. We're running out of time. You fill it out. You read. Sit down this week and just take the Gospel of Luke or some other gospel and just carefully read through the accounts. Little by little, a little bit each day. Of what all was involved in the cross, everything leading up to it in these categories, make a list, dwell on it. This is what the author is urging us to do. He endured the cross. And it comes to the end of the verse. And it says that he despised the shame. He made little of all the negative parts. You and I have a hard time doing that. It's like our minds. If they're going to dwell on anything, we have this default to dwell on the hard parts. On the painful parts on the negative parts. And that's that's what we have to discipline ourselves to look away from to look to Jesus. He looked at the shame. You imagine being hung there naked or almost naked for hours in front of these mocking people. That was a shameful event. You can hardly think of anything more humiliating, socially, on top of all the other parts. And he despises it. It means he thought little. This is going to pass quickly. I'm not going to dwell on how hard it is. It's hard. I'm not going to minimize it, but that's not going to be my focus. The really big thing that's going on here is not the shame. The really big thing is the seed that's coming and the joyful outcome. That's what I'm going to direct my thoughts toward. And at the end, we find this other statement that he is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. He triumphed. As the outcome of all of these events. And that is an allusion to the resurrection and the Ascension and the enthronement of Christ. It is drawing from Psalm 110. Lord willing, we'll come back to that theme next week. And the way that it is worded, it emphasizes that this is a permanent thing. Literally, it says that he has been seated at the right hand of the throne of God. The point is he is still there. He took up his residence in that throne and he hasn't left since. That is how successful he was in running the race. He got to the end and he's never going to have to run that race anymore. He has completed it. To this day, nobody has been able to remove him from that throne. He is at rest from all that he had to endure. And from that vantage point. By his spirit, he is ministering to us what we need to arrive at that triumph one day as well. And Hebrews has a lot to say. Here's another thing you can dwell on. I'm just kind of throwing out a bunch of ideas. Here's what you need to be doing this week. Read through the book of Hebrews if you want. And it makes other comments about Jesus being seated. What is he doing there? Now, what does that have to do with your life and how is he ministering to you from that position of exaltation? That would be another way you could look to Jesus this week. And again, to put words in the mouth of Christ, just fleshing out what is said here. It's like he is from that vantage point assuring us, I focused on the joyful prize before me. Faith in the promises of God helps me to endure unimaginable pain. And I am talking to you from the other side, the side of victory. And I am urging you to keep moving forward yourself. And I am extending to you from this position of victory in a throne, all the grace and all the strength and all the energy and all the wisdom that you need to persevere. You just look to me, this is not some kind of mystical experience. This is the product of faith filled meditation on the accomplishments of Jesus. He focused, he endured, he triumphed. And from that position, he is able to give us all that we need to endure as well. I don't know how you're feeling this week about your circumstance. I was thinking about different categories of people. From the youngest age, children, I recognize. It's a hard thing to just keep doing what your parents say and remain submitted to their authority during this stage of life. It's a hard thing. And 18 years is a long time or however many years. It's a long time to keep yourself subjected to somebody who is themselves fallen. As you get old, it is a hard thing to look at your peers and say, I'm not going to live in fear of you and let you shape my values and my actions. My Lord is Christ. It's not my friends. He is the basis for my decisions. And it's a hard thing to do. I mean, it's maybe not too hard to do it one time. But to go back to school another day and another day and another day and just keep doing it faithfully for as long as you're there, it's a hard thing. And you think through every other stage of life, it's a hard thing as a young adult to remain morally pure and to resist pornography and illicit relationships. And again, not to just do that one time, but to do it every day and stay in that battle and not give in. It's a hard thing. It's a hard thing to stay faithful to the Lord when you're afflicted with some kind of physical problem that's not going to go away. And any one of us could get by just by bucking it up for a couple days. But when this is a long-term issue that It's just going to be with you for the rest of your life or some long season. It's a hard thing to just keep going. And you can fill in the blank with whatever it is that's the hard thing for you to just keep doing day after day. Continuing to minister to people, to give the gospel, to try to disciple people, even when they're not responding. And to do it again, not just once or twice, but just keep doing it day after day after day. Whatever it is that's difficult for you to persevere through. The author of Hebrews says there is a way to keep going. It's not by just ratcheting up your will. It's not by all the self-help advice that the world gives you. It's not by your own ingenuity and skill and just kind of your own, from the depths of your being, just sort of pulling it out there to keep going. It is by looking to Jesus. And I pray that for myself and for you this week we would do that very thing. And that among all the other effects that there would be this week in reflecting upon the work of Christ for us, this would be one of the great outcomes that we would be strengthened to persevere in the fight in the race of faith.