Bible Lesson 211
EYES TO SEE (HEBREWS 12:1-2)
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance 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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
“How does the Christian lay aside indwelling sin and its particular workings of unbelief? By putting off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust; and by heeding the exhortation of Romans 6:11-12, which tells us to ?Reckon ourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” A.W. Pink
We are all aware of how precious our sight is to us in our everyday lives. Most of us never really appreciate our eyes because we are born with them normally and as long as they function for us we are unconcerned; however, this month we want to make sure that we are utilizing God’s gift of sight in the proper way. When was the last time that we stopped and entered the holy place of prayer and actually thanked God for our eyes and the ability to see’ Probability most of us have not done that; but that does not mean that we should not begin our study this month by recognizing that our eyes are gifts from God and we need to always be aware and thankful for them.
Our eyes are special, but there is more to our understanding of our eyes than just the placement and color, etc. of our eyes. Many of us have eyes but we cannot see much further than the end of our noses. We look at something and we see it but our understanding is never equipped by what we see. We can use the scripture for this lesson and prove that statement to ourselves.
Our scripture which comes from Hebrews 12:1-2, exhorts us to look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Have you done that’ When you looked to Jesus, what did you discern, what did you learn about this Jesus Christ who was fully man and fully God’ Then the question becomes what did you see other than Jesus when you looked to Him’ There are numerous things that you will see as you continue your look to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. First you will focus on Him who was in the beginning with God and was God.
He was in the beginning with God. We know that Jesus Christ is also known as the second person of the Trinity (Father, Son, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit). Jesus Christ as God had no beginning and will have no end, He is eternal. Yet He voluntarily gave up heaven for a time and came to this sin sick world, through the womb of a Young Jewish virgin who had never known a man.
His birth was supernatural, and He delivered naturally, and lived and grew up in a family consisting of Mary, Joseph her husband, who was not Jesus Christ’s father but served as the head of the family. Jesus Christ grew up through childhood into the fulfillment of mission which was to point out the error of the religion of that time and to die to redeem those who would obey Him. (Hebrews 5:8-9).
His mission ended by His being betrayed and falsely accused, tried before a Roman court and finally nailed to a cross, and suspended between heaven where He had come from and earth which was where he came to serve and suffer. He was dead, and buried in a borrowed tomb; but on the third day He arose and walked the earth for 40 days in His resurrected body, and then ascended back into heaven from where He had come. His shed blood and His death was sufficient to quench the wrath of God against the sins of those who would believe, and we know that because of the resurrection, if God had not been satisfied then the stone would still be covering his grave site.
Now I have said all of that to give you an idea of what this looking unto Jesus is about. We all look at thousands of things every day, and we turn away and soon forget what we looked at: many of us even look to Jesus and turn away and never again look back. But that one who will be call, justified, and glorified’..conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, because of that faith that is the gift of God; will always have their eyes focused upon Jesus. They have seen the light and have come into the light because they do the truth in God. (John 3:21). We must be careful what we hear, what we see, what we believe, what we become involved in and we must never allow our eyes to be drawn away from God and His Word and Will.
Some have become so involved with their faith, which is no faith at all, (faith is a gift of God), that they have allowed the devil to draw our eyes off the Author and Finisher of our faith. These are people who were drawn to what they thought was salvation, by some emotional sermon or plea for them to join the church, they thought they were saved, and the church was quick to assure them that they were; but they were like the seed that the sower dropped on the pathway (Matthew 13:4), and they soon became ship wrecks of false faith. God begins saving faith and He will finish it. (Philippians 1:6). The fear of God, and if we really know who God is, we will fear Him; because He can destroy both body and soul in hell fire. (Matthew 10:28). Certainly God is Love, but His is sovereign over His love just as He is sovereign over everything and everyone in heaven and earth. God loves those who love Him enough to obey His commandments (John 14:15, 21-24).
We, at least most of us begin things in order to see them completed, some will take the time and do all that is necessary in order to complete what we begin; but there are many who simple cannot wait to be done with it so that they can move on. That would be like the one who is told in our scripture today that they are to look ‘look unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith’; they would be in the starting blocks and poised to run, but break out before the starting gun is fired. That kind of person will not make it with God because everything that we do because of faith has to be in God’s will, in God’s way and for God’s glory. It seems that we have been taught or at least we have learned some way, that being a Christian is a choice that we make, or an opportunity to advance our standing, or simply something that so many have over the decades done. So our eyes, like the eyes of Eve in the Garden, begin to seek out that forbidden fruit that must have looked so good to Eve.
Once she set her eyes on it, she and the devil began to evaluate its fruit. It was surely lovely to look at, with its God given beauty and its fruit so plump and juicy looking. Satan as the serpent influenced Eve to even see that tree would even make a person wise, so she took the fruit and ate of it, and then she caused Adam to eat of it. What could be so bad about that’ What was bad about it, was that God had specified that particular tree (The Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil), was forbidden to them, and God told them that the day they ate of it, they would die. Did they die’ Yes they did, they died immediately, the death of that Spirit that could commune with God. They were cut off from God and driven out of the Garden and bared from ever coming back. They also began the progressive death of their physical bodies. They would have lived forever, and so would we, if they had not failed God. It is always interesting to note that in that Garden was another tree, which was the Tree of Life. If they had eaten of that tree they would have lived for ever; but they chose the forbidden fruit, and now we have all been subjected to physical death. God placed Cherubim with flaming sword to keep them out, least they reenter and eat of the Tree of Life, and always live in sin.
What happens when we hear some truth mixed with some error mixed in, like many in our congregations, and those who see some T.V. preacher, or those who read some of today’s self-help ‘Christian’ book, are treated to in so many cases in this society. God knew that this would be a problem and so over and over again He warns us about those who are false prophets (false preachers) (Matthew 7:15, 21-23; Matthew 24:5, 24-28; 1st John 4:1; Revelation 16:13-15). The question now becomes how can we know what is truth and what is false, as far as the Way and Will of God is to be known’ The answer is simple, we know the Word of God from study of the Word or from hearing it from faithful (Not false preachers, pastors, evangelist, or teachers).If you know the Word of God, you know that faith and that means saving faith which will connect us to God, comes as a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). We also know it comes as a seed of faith, which enlightens the eyes of those who are extended the Grace of God, and it can be built upon by study of The Bible (Romans 10:17). There is not a formula for salvation, but it seems that we can see a process that is involved as we follow God’s inspired Word, in search of a right standing before God. We must first understand that what we are before God saves us is far from being acceptable with man or God. We are sinners and God indicts us all in Romans 3:23, where read, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Now, understand that God works in the process to for those who are the elect, a work that conditions the heart and mind and soul of the sinner to see and understand his position and condition before God, God’s Grace is shed on the supplicant and God calls them with an effectual call on the life of that person, God then allows repentance of sin, and the casting of the sinner on the person and work of Jesus Christ for not only forgiveness, but acceptance, and the rebirth of that person, who is then adopted into the family of God. Remember that I said that this is not a formula that you can fulfill and be saved, but a vague account of some of the process that occurs whenever God turns a sinner into a saint. This is all of God, not of the sinner. God as I said before conditions the heart mind and soul of the person being saved and they follow after the Holy Spirit, who comes to inhabit every saved person, to guide and teach them about Christ.
The Saved person becomes a new creature, with the old things (things of Adam), who failed us; and all things are become new (things of Jesus Christ), who is the only One who can save us. This New Creature is ‘In Christ’ and now lives in the flesh, by the faith in the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him. (Galatians 2:20). This one’s eyes are stayed on Christ for love and for life and for righteousness. Salvation has been in some way painted as being at the end of an aisle in a church you attend, a shaking of the preacher’s hand and joining that particular congregation, but that is not true. Salvation comes in God’s time, in God’s place, and only from God. That is the reason that being ‘In Christ’ is so important (Ephesians 2:10; 2nd Corinthians 5:17).
Please remember this’..(1)We are all born into the flesh, dead in trespass and sin, unacceptable to, and under the wrath of God, and candidates for hell. (2) We are sinners without help or hope unless God interdicts our lives and grants us grace. (3)The Judgement of God is certain and everyone will stand and be judged on what they did about Jesus, and their works. (4) If you are not able to accept that position and condition before God, He has nothing for you but to say in the judgment’.”Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23). (5) Your only chance to seek God’s forgiveness and Grace is while you are alive on the earth. There will be no second chances. (Hebrews 3:7-11). Only those with Spiritual eyes will ever see God, so open your eyes and look to Jesus! Think on these things and read your Bible.
Until next time,
may God bless and keep you
This is Bro. Bob