Jesus, Author and Finisher

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” Hebrews 12:2a

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

If we will look to Jesus, Jesus will be the author and finisher of our faith. The word “author” in the Greek literally means “example,” “leader,” or “originator.” Jesus is the example of faith, but He’s also the originator of our faith. Faith comes from beholding the Lord Jesus Christ, looking at Him.

You see, all the other heroes of the faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 can cheer us on, but they’re not our chief example.  He is the One who never sinned, who never failed.  His name is Jesus. The more you behold the Lord Jesus Christ, you’re going to find out that He is the author and finisher.

He’s the one who originates the grace. He’s the one who fires the starting gun. He’s the goal toward which we run. He is the coach who runs alongside us and gives us courage and strength to run the race. 

ACTION POINT:

It is Jesus all the way. If you want faith, fix your eyes upon Jesus Christ. Keep “looking unto Jesus.”  Your faith will grow. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Death Claims All

1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him.

2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath.

3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. - Ecclesiastes 9:1-3

How true are these verses!

Men are evil, some claim goodness but our intent is slanted toward love of self.

Life is supposed to be slanted toward the love shown to others.

We claim as a race of people, both good and bad, but there is none good except God.

It is true that some strive to do the right thing while others just want to be as evil as possible.

As long as we are in this mortal body there will be a battle raging against the spiritual self and the carnal self.

We must pray for guidance, study God's word, apply that truth and teach the truth.

We will face many trials.

Then death comes.

22 It is all one; therefore I say, 'He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.' 

23 When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.  - Job 9:22-23

14 The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them.

15 Then I said in my heart, "What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?" And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

16 For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! - Ecclesiastes 2:14-16

Repentance is available while you live, after that comes judgment.

26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'

27 And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house-

28 for I have five brothers-so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.'

29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'

30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'

31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'" - Luke 16:26-31

When The Gospel Isn't Good News

The good news is that Christ came to forgive sinners.

He took your burden of sin and payed your penalty.

The wrath that was yours, He accepted.

This good news comes with another side to it.

Those who don't repent are not forgiven, still in their sin they will perish, forever separated from God and doomed to Hell.

Have no pleasure in unrighteousness!
Pray, repent and share the gospel.

Let this blessed gospel be good news to you and others.

The gospel is an individual gospel.

You are redeemed individually.

We worship corporately but never forget, salvation is for individuals, depending upon individual grace that is given as a gift by Christ through the blood shed on the Cross.
Individual repentance and an individual relationship with Christ.

There must be a realization of sin, knowing you need a Savior, followed by repentance and obedience.

God will indeed set things right in His new kingdom.

Sin and death will be abolished!

Our God does indeed reign!!

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."  - Isaiah 52:7

8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

11 For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

13 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?"

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." 

19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry." 

20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, "I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me." 

21 But of Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people." - Romans 10:8-21

5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering-

6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you,

7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels

8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, - 2 Thessalonians 1:5-9

9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,

10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,

12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. - 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?

25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. - Romans 8:18-25

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." - Mark 10:45

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- - Galatians 3:13

3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. - Romans 8:3-4

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.  - Isaiah 53:3-7

22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. - 1 Peter 2:22-25

Thanks Pastor John!!

Our Most “Besetting” Sin

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“…and the sin which doth so easily beset us...” Hebrews 12:1b

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

In this part of our verse, Paul is no longer talking about good things that might become bad things. Now he’s just talking about bad things.  The word beset means “to tangle you up.”  Can you imagine a person trying to run a race with a long flowing robe entangling him or some rope around his feet?  No, he wants to be free so he can run. 

What is the sin that so easily trips us up? Weights load us down; sin trips us up.  Either one can make you a poor runner and keep you from running the race.

In Hebrews 11 and 12, Paul is talking about faith. The whole race we’re running is the race of faith. Hebrews says we live by faith; therefore, we run by faith.   

Most of us say, “I wish I had better faith, stronger faith.”  Do you know the reason you don’t have more faith than you have?  Sin.  You say, “Now wait a minute, pastor....”  No, friend, the Bible says, “Beware, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.”

ACTION POINT:

Unbelief is not a mental sin; it is a moral sin.  It doesn’t come out of the head; it comes out of the heart.  “Beware, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.” 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Take Off That Overcoat!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us….” Hebrews 12:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

If you’re going to run a race, how do you prepare yourself?  First, you’ve got to lay the weights aside.  Notice athletes. They run in very light clothing. The less weight, the better.  One thing you’ll never see is someone in the Olympics, running in an overcoat.  It’s not going to happen.  They get as light as they possibly can.  You have to lay aside every weight.

The Greek word weight does not mean something that’s sinful.  It just means something that burdens you, that holds you down.  There are some things that are not bad in themselves.  Nothing wrong with an overcoat.  You just don’t wear an overcoat when you’re running a race.  Paul said:  “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient” (1 Corinthians 6:12). Friend, it may be some recreational habit you have.  It may be some cottage in the woods.  It may be some acquaintance, some hobby, too much television or sleep. Paul is saying, “Something may be lawful for me, but if it’s not expedient, if it doesn’t speed me on my course, then I need to leave it alone.”

ACTION POINT:

Ask yourself, “Is there something in my life that’s hindering my walk with Christ?  Something that’s holding me back?  Is there something that is excess baggage?  Something keeping me from being all I ought to be for the Lord Jesus Christ?  Whatever it is, if you want to win the race, lay it aside.  Good things become bad things when they keep you from the best things.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Paying An Extra Price

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, that I might finish my course” Acts 20:24

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you pay a price—some extra time in the morning—to get into the Word of God?  Do you pay the price of being ridiculed because you keep your Bible on your desk in the office or bow your head and thank God for His gracious goodness to you when He gives you a meal?  Are you willing to be different?  Will you finish your course?

When you’re running this race, you’re going to find out that you’re running right against the grain. Don’t get the idea that there’s the broad road and the narrow road, and the narrow road runs alongside the broad road, and over there a bunch of people are going this way, and over here you’re going in the same direction.

No, there’s the broad way, and here you are, right in the middle of it, going the other way. Against the grain. What we believe

starts at a different source

follows a different course

ends at a different conclusion

…and there is a price to pay. 

ACTION POINT:

Frankly, today we don’t like that idea of a “price to pay.”  We say, “Well, I’m saved by grace, and so I’m just going to float on into heaven on flowery beds of ease.”  No.  A disciple is one who follows his master, obeys his master, and there is a price to pay.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Are You Looking For An Easy Way To Serve God?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“…and run with patience the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1c

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The word “patience” here doesn’t mean the ability to thread a needle, but literally means “endurance.”  It means bearing up under some load, some challenge. 

Are you looking for an easy way, a cheap way, a lazy way to serve God?  All honey and no bees? A life of ease?  You just want to say, “O, I’m so happy in Jesus.”  Listen, this business of running this race means that you’re going to be at it with all of your heart. 

You may be on a sick bed or in a wheelchair. But none is excluded. We are to run with endurance.  When you watch someone running, do you notice how intense he is? If you’re in this race, you need to pray over it, you need to weep over it, you need to study over it, you need to work over it. 

ACTION POINT:

This matter of being saved and running the race is a full-time occupation.  God does business with those who mean business. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers