Download Gospel Gleanings, “…especially the parchments”

Gospel Gleanings, “…especially the parchments”
Volume 34, Number 3
January 15, 2017
Faithful Witnesses
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, and let us run with patience the race that is set
before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews
12:1-2)
In non-Biblical thinking, you will occasionally
hear someone suggest that all the dead saints in
heaven peer down and actually observe our present
conduct, in effect cheering us on in our pilgrimage.
Given the staggering, faltering, and often failing
efforts of believers in this life to hold steadfastly to
their faith, one must wonder. How could these
saints in glory observe so much failure and remain
wholly consumed in joyful contentment with the
Lord in heaven? Wouldn’t they experience a strong
sense of pained disappointment that you and I fall
short of our faith? The idea flies far better in
emotional thinking than in Biblical support. It is no
more Biblical than the superstitious idea that we
become angels when we die. Scripture teaches that
the Lord created angels from the beginning. When
we die and enter glory, we can look forward to
something far better than being an angel. In the
lesson of Lazarus and the rich man, we observe
Lazarus, not becoming an angel at his death, but
carried by the angels “…into Abraham’s bosom.”
(Luke 16:22) In first century Jewish terms, heaven
for the child of grace after death was described by
this term, “Abraham’s bosom.” In effect, they
believed that they would go into a place of intimate
fellowship with the Lord and with all of His
redeemed children from past ages.
The word translated “witnesses” in this passage
was translated from a word that refers to someone
who has factual information that they can testify to,
as a “Witness” in a trial. The first word in the
passage, “Wherefore,” takes us back to Chapter 11.
We read about a number of Old Testament saints
who walked by faith when it would have been so
very easy for them to have faltered. In fact, if you
study the lives of any of the named Old Testament
personalities in Hebrews 11, you will discover that
they at times did falter, but their conduct in the
events listed was marked by faith. And they testify
or “Witness” to us in the named narrative of their
lives to the Lord’s faithfulness and kind grace. In the
unique scheme of divine grace, their appearance in
Hebrews 11, along with their life story in the Old
Testament, puts them on the “Witness stand,”
testifying to us of the Lord’s faithfulness to His
people in their trials. No trial, no adversary,
however intimidating or powerful, internal to our
mind or external in the world around us, can
withstand our God and His “Faithful” care of us as
we deal with those issues and adversaries. Our
task is to tackle our problems by faith and not by
our own private preferences or pride, “I’ll deal with it
by myself.” That is their consistent testimony, the
“Witness,” of every Old Testament person named in
Hebrews 11. In Hebrews 11, the Lord takes us into
the courtroom of faith in history, as it were, and
calls these Old Testament saints forward one at a
time to “Bear witness.” They “Testify” to us of the
power and unquestioned adequacy of our God and
of that miraculous link that He gives us to
communicate His blessings to us, “Faith.” Their
actual “Testimony” is not from heaven, but from the
documented lives they lived in which they faced
every trial in their lives and stood fast by faith. The
emotional idea of a heavenly cheering section gets
it all wrong. They don’t look out of heaven to see
us. Nor in this setting do we look into heaven to see
them. We actually look back into their lives when
they lived here in an age far less fulfilled than our
age, and show us by their lives the faithfulness of
God as they faithfully faced their trials “By faith.” By
Scripture’s faithful record, we now have the actual
details of Jesus’ coming, sufferings, death,
resurrection, and yes, victorious ascension. They
had these truths in prophecy, but not yet in fulfilled
historical fact. Thus, as is recorded in Hebrews
11:40b, “…that they without us should not be made
perfect.” Their faith is fullfilled, “made perfect” in us
because we now see their faith fulfilled in Jesus.
“Preacher, you just don’t understand. I’ve faced
black trials that you can’t imagine.” Contrary to the
protest, I do understand that point. No two believers
ever live identical lives. Each of us has faced our
own unique ordeals that may well have pushed us
to the edge. That your “Edge” occurred in one way
and mine in another does not in any way make one
believer’s trial any more fierce than another’s. So
long as we focus on ourselves and our belief that
our trial is worse than someone else’s, we shall
falter and stumble in our faith. The testimony of faith
in Hebrews 11 is not a contest of whose trial was
worse than someone else’s. If we believe the
Hebrews 11 testimony, we learn that our first goal in
whatever our trial may be is to keep our heart’s and
faith’s focus on the Lord of our faith and not obsess
on the trial itself. While I cannot at all identify with
your trial that is different from mine, I direct you to
our Lord who is greater than any trial that any saint
who ever lived faced. In Hebrews 11, we have a
small sampling of people from the pages of the Old
Testament who faced a broad variety of trials,
including cruel martyrdom for their faith, and their
testimony consistently speaks to the same truth.
Our God, the object of our faith, is greater than any
trial we shall ever face. So whatever your trial is, I
can comfortably direct you to our Lord and Savior. I
may not grasp the full weight of your trial, but He
does—and more.
In the end, our study passage takes us into the
courtroom to hear the final and ultimate witness of
faith, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He takes the
witness stand and reminds us of everything that He
faced, endured, and overcame to redeem us from
our sins and to give us an inheritance of eternal joy
in His family. And He endured it all and overcame it.
When you and I face our deep and painful trials, by
all means think about each of those Old Testament
“Witnesses,” but above all, reflect on the faith
“Testimony” of Jesus Himself. “Look” off (From
your troubles) and away “…unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith.” As you read the verses
following, you are encouraged to reflect on just how
deep and dark the chasm of trial was for Jesus, but
He endured it all. As the “Author and finisher” of our
faith, he set the greatest example of faith ever for
us. Even when we stumble and fall under His loving
chastening, His faith-example urges us to
overcome, to endure faithfully and to hold
steadfastly to fellowship with Him and with His
people in faith till the dark trials pass by. In the
closing lesson of Hebrews 10 we see Jewish
Christians discouraged and ready to turn away, to
go back to the synagogue because of their fierce
persecution. Paul first urges them by both example
and Biblical principle to stay the course, to not
forsake the assembly of the church, a body of
believers who, though they may not face the same
trials of family and countrymen that these believers
face, deal with their own trials, and can collectively
join with them and encourage them in their struggle
and in their faith walk. He then leads them through
Hebrews 11 and reminds them of a large
community of believers from the pages of the Old
Testament who faced, endured, and overcame their
trials “By faith.” He punctuates this “Faith witness”
by the example of the Lord Jesus Himself.
…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which doth so easily beset us. Every sin, even the
obvious sin of unbelief in this context, does not
appear as it really is, black and contradictory to our
Lord. Satan has a way of dressing sin up for us and
making it look ever so acceptable, even desirable.
(Genesis 3:6) We sometimes almost obsess over
which sin in our life is our one and only besetting
sin. Forget the idea. Whatever sin Satan can dress
up at the moment and in your immediate situation
or weakness will be your besetting sin of that
moment. On another day and in another setting, he
will just as easily dress up a different sin to appeal
to your mind and thereby beset you with it. One of
the most besetting of sins in our prideful culture
today likely is the sin that urges us to rationalize
trying to deal with our trial all alone, not unlike these
discouraged Jewish believers to whom this letter
was first written. “Man up! Dig deeper. Get it under
control.” Jesus encouraged Peter that He had
prayed for Peter, so when Peter realized the
strength of the Lord in his life, what did Jesus tell
him to do. “Strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22:32)
Is it then a real besetting sin to try to tackle all our
problems privately on our own? And Scripture
resoundingly says, “Yes.” Think about the constant
parade of movies that promote this idea. They have
one theme in common, a super-human hero who
tackles the problems—and the bad guys—all alone,
and wins. Think about names such as Rambo,
Indiana Jones, Crocodile Dundee (Yes, I’m dating
myself), or Batman, or Superman, or Luke
Skywalker. True—and Biblical—victory occurs in
our spiritual lives when we tightly and faithfully join
with our brothers and sister in the faith, and we
jointly reach out to our Lord for help, guidance, and
the wisdom and power to overcome. Satan loves
the “Lone wolf” pilgrim. He easily picks them off like
a skilled sharpshooter at close range. Scripture
never teaches us to isolate ourselves and go off on
our own to conquer our problems. It rather teaches
us a better way.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves
unto God, as those that are alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God. (Romans 6:13)
The “Rambo” go-it-alone mindset doesn’t
consult with or listen to anyone about anything. “I
have to do this by myself.” The Bible way begins by
seeing the Lord as the “Captain of our salvation,”
and teaches us to yield to Him, becoming a
member of His army, not a lone wolf. We jointly
overcome to the extent we submit or “Yield” to Him
in facing our trials.
How do we practice this strategy in our own
personal trials? First, make time for the Lord and for
His people by faithfully attending the gatherings of
the church. Secondly, do not attend, stick to
yourself, and run out the door the minute you hear
the last “Amen.” Spend personal “Fellowship” time
with the people. Get to know them. Allow them to
get to know you. Never sit alone in a church
service. Sit with another brother or sister. Become
part of that body of people who jointly serve the
Lord and each other. That is all part of the
“Yielding” required by the Romans 6 passage.
When we isolate ourselves from other believers,
we will fall prey to the old spiritual hymn’s thought,
“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. Nobody
knows my sorrow.” You’ll obsess about yourself and
your troubles, allowing them to become greater
than you—and, in your discouraged mind, even
greater than your Lord. Spend more time with Him
and with His people, and you’ll develop the habit of
looking to Him—what our study passage directs us
to do—and less time looking at your troubles or
yourselves.
Read the four Gospel books of the New
Testament. Did Jesus have a smooth, “Easy-street”
experience in His life? How does this lesson
describe His time on earth? He overcame it all and
gave us an example to imitate in our own troubles.
“Look off and away from your troubles to Jesus, the
Author and Finisher of your faith.” Follow Him and
His example. Invest your life and heart in Him and
in His people. Instead of asking what the church
can do for you, try asking what you can do for the
church and the people in it. Jesus did all that He did
for others. That is our noble example for victory.
And the more each of us gets out of our own bubble
and truly invests ourselves in serving the Lord by
serving His people, the smaller our problems will
become. It is not weak faith that asks for help in
times of deep trial. It is Biblical, a key trait of the
Biblical “Community of faith.” How may I help you
today?
Little Zion Primitive Baptist Church
16434 Woodruff
Bellflower, California
Worship service each Sunday
Joseph R. Holder
10:30 A. M.
Pastor