“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” Hebrews 12:1a NIV
The great cloud of witnesses, I believe, are the heroes of
the faith of Hebrews 11 who have gone before us. They have set the example for
us of what genuine faith in Jesus Christ should look like. For, their faith
always resulted in action – in obedience to God.
By faith, Noah built the ark God directed him to build which
saved him and his family and many creatures of the earth from the flood. By
faith, Abraham obeyed God and went where God was leading him, even though he
didn’t know where he was going. By faith, Moses led the children of Israel to
freedom from slavery in Egypt, in obedience to God, even though he felt ill
equipped to do so. All of these obeyed God as a result of their faith in God.
Thus, since we have such great examples of the faith to
follow, we should throw off everything that hinders our walks of faith and our
obedience to our Lord, i.e. everything that leads us into sin. And, we should
forsake the sin which so easily entangles and entraps us in its snare. We must
forsake our former lives of living for sin and self, and we must follow our
Lord Jesus in obedience to his will for our lives. For, this is genuine faith
which saves.
“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12:1b-2a NIV
I wish that everyone who professes the name of Jesus would
get this. Jesus didn’t die that horrible death on a cross just to forgive us
our sins and to promise us heaven when we die. He died that we might die with
him to sin and live with him to righteousness. He gave his life up for us on
that cross to transform us, to turn us from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan to God, so that we might receive forgiveness of sins and a place
among those sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ. This is the “GOOD NEWS!”
Not only must we forsake all hindrances to our walks of
faith, and all that leads us into sin, and not only must we throw off the sin
which so easily entraps us, but then we are to run with perseverance the race
marked out for us by God. For, he didn’t save us just so we could go to heaven
when we die. He has a purpose for our lives while we are still on this earth,
and it is for us to live holy lives, pleasing to him, for his glory and praise,
and to do what he says, and to do what he has called us to do for his honor and
glory.
For, he has a reason for each one of us to exist, and it isn’t
for ourselves for our own self-pleasure. It isn’t for us to be self-consumed,
feeling like we have to be entertained all the time. We are here to give him
glory by our lives and to minister his love and grace to others, and to share
with them the hope that they can be delivered out of their slavery to sin and
that they can live at peace with God, with joy, and with purpose and meaning to
their lives.
“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:2b-3 NIV
The joy that was set before Jesus Christ was our salvation
from our slavery to sin and the empowerment he was to give us to live
righteously before him, in purity of heart and devotion to him, all because of
his grace to us. For that purpose, he willingly gave up his life on that cross,
and he willing gave up his reputation, too, and he willingly suffered much
abuse, rejection and persecution so that we could find freedom in him from our
chains to sin.
So, Jesus sets the prime example for us in how to resist
Satan, to flee temptation, to draw near to God, and to endure unjust suffering
for the sake of the gospel of our salvation. So, whether we are being tempted
to sin, or whether we are being faced with much opposition to our walks of
faith, we can find strength in our Lord Jesus to resist Satan, to flee temptation,
and to endure whatever opposition from the enemy we might face and still remain
faithful to our Lord, committed to his service, ready to obey his every word.
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:14-15 NIV
This is another very important matter about the gospel that
we also need to get, for many people these days think that if they just confess
Jesus as Lord with their mouths, and if they just believe in his death and
resurrection, that they will be saved.
I realize Rom. 10:9-10 states this, but we have to read that
passage in the whole of Romans, for Romans teaches us, too, the same thing as
Hebrews teaches us, and that is that without holiness will not see the Lord. If
we don’t die with Christ to sin, we will die in our sins. We will not have
eternal life with God if we live according to our sinful flesh (Rom. 8:1-17).
A Bitter Root
There are two particular sin issues that the Lord is leading
me today to talk about, and this first one has to do with bitterness. And,
bitterness comes from unresolved anger, irritation and frustration. There are
far too many people today who call themselves Christians who have all kinds of
bitterness stored up inside of them just waiting to explode when triggered.
They may think that they are controlling their anger by
stuffing it down inside them, and by using human methods of anger management or
behavioral modification to keep it under wraps. But, those can only work so
far, for if the anger is unresolved, and it is stuffed down inside your heart,
and you are hiding it inside, thinking you are managing it, it is bound to
surface at some time or another. But, even if it doesn’t surface, it will
impact your attitudes, behaviors and your relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Lord is giving me a picture today of this hidden anger
that is stuffed down inside one’s heart, and that is like a container of balled
up socks. For, socks are hits, punches, whacks that you feel inside, which you
try to suppress, but they will come out in how you talk to people, how you
treat people, in particular the ones you are bitter against. For, it is out of
our hearts that our mouths speak, and it is out of our hearts that all sorts of
evil are acted out in our lives. And, some of that stems from bitterness.
For, in reality, when we have all this bitterness stored up
inside us, we are really angry with God, and so when we behave wickedly, we are
rebelling against God out of anger that he somehow didn’t do what we thought he
should have done for us. So, we need to forgive God, and we need to forgive all
who we believe offended us, and we need to let go of that bitterness and trust
God with our lives and treat others with love, instead.
See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done. Hebrews 12:16-17 NIV
This is the second sin issue the Lord is leading me to talk
about today. And, what he is showing me is that many people who call themselves
Christians are living in sexual immorality because they feel at liberty to do
so. They feel they have free license to sin now that they are under grace. But,
the grace they feel they have is a false grace, for it is a shortened version
of God’s grace, and it is inadequate to save anyone from their slavery to sin
and to set them on the right path of living for purity and righteousness.
So, because they have put their hope and faith in a
cheapened version of God’s true grace, they feel at liberty to break through
God’s moral barriers and restraints that he set for us to adhere to. And,
instead of listening to what the scriptures teach on this subject, they are
listening to feel good messages which tickle itching ears which convince them
that they can live in immorality and that God’s grace covers it all. But, that
is a lie.
So, their fat bellies (their insatiable appetites for the
lust of the flesh) rule their lives, and instead of following the grace of God
which teaches us to say “NO!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts, they indulge in
what is unholy, impure, and immoral, because they are listening to a false
gospel of men which is variable and multi-influenced and bent.
So, God is confronting all who profess his name to reject
the cheap grace gospel message, which comes up short of delivering them from
their sins, and he is telling them that they need to put on the true gospel of
our salvation which delivers from slavery to sin and which empowers us to walk
righteously before our God. For, if we walk according to our flesh, we are
going to die in our sins, not live with Christ for eternity (Gal. 6:7-8).
It’s All You
Lyrics by Tosin Iyawo
Ogaga & Sue Love
Music by Sue Love @
Original Works
Vocals by Tosin Iyawo
Ogaga
May 31, 2019
You are the reason I want to dance.
You are the reason I want to sing.
You are the reason, expressing myself,
I serve You in all the ways You lead me.
You are the reason my heart gives You praise.
You are the reason that I am alive.
I bring out Your best moves
Just so I do embrace You;
Sing out loud as You lead just to please You.
Let myself follow You. I don’t care who watches me.
All I want to do is to make You smile.
Let every fiber of me bring You praise.
Your love has lifted my feet to dance.
Your faithfulness leaves me singing for joy.
You, Jesus, are the reason, it’s all You.
Your grace gives me life.
*full lyrics used by
permission of the lyricists
Tosin singing:
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