The Gathering Surf City

Today we're only covering
three verses.

We're in Hebrews.

We are talking about the
object of our faith,

which is Jesus.

It's all about Jesus.

It's always about Jesus.

It's only about Jesus.

So we've been working our way
through Hebrew and Hebrews,

the book of Hebrews.

And as God has revealed,

see, I want to point this out.

God, by inspiration,

has given this word for us
to get a glimpse of him.

He's revealing himself to
us through his word,

Genesis to revelation.

God is revealing himself.

Yeah, the book of revelation
is revelation.

And it says in the beginning it's
the revelation of Jesus Christ.

But all the word of God reveals
to us the word of God.

And so by inspiration to
the writer of Hebrews,

we get this accounting of what God
has done from the beginning.

And now we get up to chapter twelve to
where he starts to sort of draw it

all to the point.

And I'm excited about it.

And so a lot of outlines will
only do verses one and two.

As a point in the outline,

I wanted to go ahead and include
verse three for a reason.

And Scott's last song right here with
the morning glory is perfect for it.

Okay, so as I read,

I want you to consider everything
that we've looked at.

Remember that the book of Hebrews reveals
that Jesus is the son and the

heir. Jesus is the creator
and sustainer.

Jesus is the radiance
of God's glory.

Jesus is the exact expression
of the essence of God.

You see,

Jesus is the,

is the king of kings.

Jesus is the highest priest.

The covenant,

the sacrificial system,

the Old Testament law all
point us to Jesus.

So we've taken eleven chapter,

well, ten and a half chapters
that point.

Then in chapter ten,

we start to see God making his
point through the books.

And then we get chapter eleven,

which it shows us in chapter eleven.

All of the Old Testament faith,

people who lived their
lives by faith,

people who got up in the morning
and did faith things.

All right,

they did things that required their faith
in what God has done and said.

And so they stepped out in faith.

I made a big point of Moses getting
up one morning and deciding not to

use his eyebrow pencil or eyeliner,

whatever it was.

Anyway, the idea that he was no longer
going to live as Pharaoh's

grandson or the son of Pharaoh's daughter
and enjoy the wealth of Egypt

and enjoy the privilege of Egypt
and all that sort of thing.

And he decided on that morning,

whatever morning it was.

I don't know,

maybe it was a Tuesday,

right? Moses got up and went,

okay, not today.

I'm going to to be a slave.

He made a decision one day not to
identify as Pharaoh's grandkid.

Right? So my question lies in the
fact that based on our faith,

based on your faith,

based on my faith.

When we get up in the morning,

what steps do we say?

Because I belong to Jesus.

Because. Because Jesus is.

And as I was asked back
there by Bill,

because Jesus is lord of Lordse,

he is master of my life.

How will I conduct myself today?

What choices will I make?

What attitudes will I hold?

How will my actions point
to my faith in Christ,

my faith in what God has done?

So I titled today's message,

Jesus did it.

I mean,

I didn't do it.

I can't save myself,

can't earn it,

can't make it happen,

don't deserve it.

Some people get offended by that.

Then I say,

you don't deserve salvation.

Cause we think pretty
highly of ourselves.

We think,

you know,

I love telling the joke.

I was a short kid in school,

y'all.

I mean,

peek. I'd been in a booster seat
today until I was in 8th grade.

So on a playground,

picking, right when they're
picking teams,

not me.

I was the little guy at the end.

Go. Okay,

Bobby, come on over here.

I don't know that it warped me because
once I got on the field,

I messed with people.

People don't see you coming when you're
short on the basketball court.

You can get under the basket
and just do this.

And people going up for
layups fall down.

It's not legal and you will
get called for a foul,

but it works.

So we think of ourselves as the one
that God did a good job picking me

for his team.

We think that God was.

That we somehow warranted
God's selection.

Jesus did it.

And so the question is,

why did he do it?

Why did he do it?

Right? I mean,

your Scott went out to.

So he's not hearing this,

but anyway.

Hebrews twelve one three.

This is how it reads.

Therefore, since we also have such a large
cloud of witnesses surrounding

us, let us lay aside every hindrance
and the sin that so easily ensnares

us. Let us run with endurance the
race that lies before us.

Keeping our eyes on Jesus,

the pioneer and perfecter
of our faith.

Author and finisher is the.

Is the traditional translation there
for the joy that lay before him.

He endured the cross,

despising the shame,

and sat down at the right hand
of the throne of God.

For consider him who endured such hostility
from sinners against himself

so that you won't grow
weary and give up.

Let's pray.

God, I thank you for this day.

Day, God,

that you have given for
us to gather a.

To worship,

to celebrate,

to acknowledge God.

What you have accomplished,

what you have done done
on our behalf,

for us,

in us.

And God,

the things you want
to do through us.

And so,

God, as this passage draws us,

these three little verses draw
us down to two words.

Give up.

God, help us not to give up.

Help us not to grow weary.

Help us to press on.

To press on.

To press on.

Father, I thank you that
you have a purpose,

a plan,

a design for your creation.

But, God,

you've got a design for my life.

God, help me to stay so attentive,

to stay so close,

to draw so near with boldness,

that I don't miss what
you set before me.

Thank you,

God, for your love.

Thank you that you love
us most and best.

Help us to love you back.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. So why did he do it?

There are several in
these three verses.

This is why I only did three
verses this morning.

There is a ton in these three verses
that we need to pay attention to.

There's no way I could have done 13 verses
and then dealt with it in 20

to 30 minutes.

Okay, so I want you to
notice something.

For the joy that lay before him,

he endured the cross.

This is in verse two.

For the joy that lay before him,

he endured the cross,

despising the shame,

and sat down at the right hand
of the throne of God.

So I always say this,

and some people get
aggravated by it,

you know,

God the father,

God the Son,

God the Holy Spirit.

That's my best explanation
of what it is.

I have other people who want
to say that's not.

I want to argue about it
and that sort of thing.

And they want.

Well, they've got it figured out.

Some of them.

Some of them have got
God figured out.

And I go,

if you got him figured out,

he ain't God.

I mean,

God is infinite.

I am finite.

And therefore,

for me to have a full understanding
of God is an impossibility.

And yet I can see what
God has revealed,

what he's shown me of himself,

and how I can have an understanding of
that God of the universe who spoke

the whole jungle.

Well, no,

that was Trudy.

But anyway,

who spoke the whole jungle
into existence,

reached down through time and loved
Bobby and called him and named him

and saved him.

And God died for him.

Man.

Did y'all happen to notice Scott
got a little emotional.

When he was singing.

It's in the empty tomb.

It's on the rugged cross.

Why did he do it?

For the joy that lay before him.

That God could look down through the
ages and see my face and your face,

our faces and say,

I can save them.

I can save him.

I can save her for the joy set before
him the salvation that Christ came

to offer.

I can save him.

So why did he do it?

Was it just.

He had to follow God's plan?

He just had to.

If you go back to the garden when you
know poor Malchus's ear gets cut

off, Jesus said,

don't you guys know?

I could call down twelve legions of
angels right now to protect us.

But for the joy that my father
has set before me,

I'm going to the cross,

man. And I look at that.

So here's what I want to ask you.

Ready? Why do we live by faith?

Why do you do it right?

Ever had to sacrifice?

Ever been persecuted?

Ever been through trials,

folks, we've been rocked
around here this week,

just so you know.

We've had some mortars lobbed
into our foxhole,

just so you know.

And so I look around and I go,

okay, God,

why? And God goes,

can't tell you.

Cause a lot of times we can't understand
what it is that God is at work

on. Sometimes we can't understand how
God is moving the pieces for our

good, for his kingdom's good.

You see,

we can look at our lives,

say, that's not good.

And God says,

yeah, but you don't see the good.

I see the conversation that I had this
week about God using our trials

and sufferings to refine us,

to do what ultimately is to transform
us into the image of his son.

If you're going through
trials and suffering,

yay. Isn't that sarcastic of me?

The point's there,

though, folks.

God is transforming us into the image
of his son from one degree of glory

to the next.

And sometimes it hurts for the
joy that lay before him.

He endured the cross,

most brutal form of execution,

probably forever,

I don't know,

despising the shame.

Here he is,

the Lord,

the creator,

the Son,

the heir,

all of those things.

I said it a minute ago,

and he is subjected to the shame,

shame of the Roman Empire and the religious
leaders of his day sat down.

So then let's back up.

Therefore, since we also have such
a large cloud of witnesses.

Now, I've heard this preached that the
folks of heaven are all watching

to see how we do.

I don't think that's the case.

All right.

Just so y'all know,

what it's referring to
is chapter eleven.

Moses, by making a choice,

is a witness to us of what it
means to live by faith.

Moses wasn't a great guy,

y'all.

Moses tried to get out of it.

Moses made every excuse not to be
a leader among God's people.

I stutter.

I can't go talk to Pharaoh.

I just left his house.

He'll kill me because
I killed that guy.

He tried to get out of it.

God said,

all right,

I'll send you a brother,

but you gotta go with him.

Right. Think about Abraham.

By faith.

By faith.

By faith.

We spent all of chapter eleven
talking about by faith,

by faith,

by faith,

by faith.

Right?

All of those by faith statements are
not because those were great men.

It's because they lived out their
faith in what God had done,

what God had accomplished.

And we're called to
do the same thing.

By their witness,

they have witnessed to us what
a life of faith looks like.

And now we gotta do it.

Okay. We walk by faith.

We live by faith,

not by sight.

Right? You see,

that's what the New
Testament tells us.

Let us lay aside every hindrance.

What are the hindrances?

Sin.

This is not like.

Okay, this is a hindrance
and this is a sin.

No hindrances to living by faith.

Our sin.

Okay.

Set aside the sin.

Don't make excuses for sin.

Okay? Set it aside because it
does easily ensnare us.

You know why?

Because we're that kid standing,

standing in the middle of
the living room going,

I want it.

I want what I want when I want it.

Keeping our eyes on Jesus.

Fix your eyes on Jesus,

the author and finisher
of your faith.

Keeping our eyes on Jesus,

the pioneer and perfect.

So what is it that Jesus did?

Jesus suffered.

And what the word says is he suffered
in every way that we suffer.

Right? He endured.

He endured the opposition
of Satan himself.

Right?

He endured all of those things and the
beating and the cross and all of

that.

Why? For the joy that
was set before him.

We fix our eyes on Jesus
because he pioneered.

And this.

The CSB translation uses the
word pioneer and perfecter.

Because he did it.

Jesus did it.

He made his way through sinlessly.

He suffered and died.

He was buried.

He rose again.

He's alive right now.

At the right hand of the father.

See? Right hand of the
throne of Goddesse.

He is the pioneer.

He went into the presence of God.

Remember I described
a couple weeks ago,

passing through the heavens
into heaven.

That translations,

because it's an art form,

not a science,

that when he passed through
the heavens,

that can also be translated
the veil.

He passed through the
heavens into heaven,

because heaven is always
defined as where God is.

See, I know as a kid,

I just look up at the clouds and,

you know,

I'm taught to imagine angels sitting
on clouds with a heart.

And I remember being taught that,

okay, one day you'll be an angel.

And the Bible never says that.

You're not gonna be angels one day.

No, you're gonna be above
the angels one day.

You see the promise of God.

And Jesus went there so that
he could bring us there.

He looked down through
history and said,

I can save him.

I will save them,

man, for the joy that
lay before him.

You see,

the object of our faith is Jesus.

Jesus. Fix your eyes on Jesus.

Keeping your eyes on Jesus.

I said it before,

and this is where the
word comes from.

Remember the Sunday that I said?

When you get up in the morning,

consider Jesus.

When you stop for lunch,

consider Jesus.

When you go to bed at night,

consider Jesus.

Right in between getting up
lunch and going to bed,

consider Jesus.

For consider him who endured such hostility
from sinners against himself

so that you won't grow
weary and give up.

Can I just tell you,

Scott, have you been sitting
there the whole time?

Okay, good.

Thank you.

Man, I thought I,

you know,

you and I are in the
same age category,

so I thought I was starting
to lose it.

Here's the point.

I know people.

I know Christians who,

after a struggle,

throw up their hands and say,

well, I prayed God didn't
do anything.

Why did God let this happen
to me and my family?

Right? Well,

what for?

Consider him who endured such hostility
from sinners against himself.

What did he do?

What did Jesus do to deserve
such hostility?

Right? What did he do to
deserve execution?

Deserve execution,

right? Here's the point.

And I think it's the point.

I'm going to share it as the point.

He chose it for us.

I will suffer for you.

I will suffer in your place.

I will die the death so that
you don't have to,

man. And yet we are so.

Ooh, I'm included.

I'm saying we,

y'all. I'm not saying you.

Y'all will notice when I preach,

and most of the time,

I use an inclusive pronoun in we.

We can be so weak in our faith.

Why? And I see people all
the time I prayed.

Y'all know my answer.

When somebody throws their hands up
and says something like that,

I go,

yay, right?

Because I'm going to lean in.

I didn't give it for this because I
want you to go open your bible,

open your app,

open your whatever,

and read this verse in the next week
because this is where we start next

week. In struggling against sin,

you have not yet resisted to the
point of shedding your blood.

Wow. Isn't that encouraging?

All except one word,

yet you have not yet suffered to the
point of shedding your blood.

I wonder about the folks in the middle
of the struggle that go,

I give up.

Right, folks,

we press on.

Somebody asked me this week,

you know,

everybody, thank y'all all for always
asking about mom and dad.

I say,

guess what?

We press on.

We just press on.

Paul said we press on,

so we press on,

y'all. Alrighty.

Alrighty. Jesus is the author,

the finisher,

the pioneer,

the completion.

He's the one that did it.

And our victory is that
in doing what,

he prevented us from suffering.

He took us with him into the
presence of our creator.

We've got a relationship
with him now.

In the mornings,

I wake up and feel defeated.

Oh, God,

forgive me for feeling defeated.

Oh, God,

forgive me for doubting your love,

our relationship.

Oh, God,

please forgive me for what I said
or what I did or what I thought.

Oh, God,

please forgive me.

See, my encouragement to
you is to stay close,

draw near with boldness.

That's what we were told
in chapter ten.

Draw near.

Don't miss it.

All right.

If you don't know Jesus,

you need Jesus.

He is the object of our faith.

He is the point of why we gather.

If you don't know Jesus,

we want to introduce you to Jesus.

Okay. All right,

let's pray then.

We're going to sing.

Father, thank you for today.

And thank you that you
have loved us first,

most, best,

God, you've done things in our.

In our existence,

in our lives,

for us,

God, that we can't do ourselves.

And so,

God, my prayer is,

is that we would draw near God.

If there's even one person here
who doesn't know Jesus,

we want them to know Jesus.

We want to introduce them.

God, I thank you that you loved us enough
that for the joy of saving me,

Jesus, you died.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

God, help us to draw near
as we sing this song.

If there are those that need Jesus,

let them really draw near.

And I pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.