Looking Unto JESUS

Looking Unto JESUS

Hebrews 12:2  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.  3  For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 

With the weight and sin snare broken we find our victory in Jesus.  “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”. What sweet words of encouragement!  Turning our eyes upon Jesus and considering the cross is the sure path to participating in victory.  When one turns their attention fully to the work of the cross it brings refreshing and a turning from weariness.  The greatness of the sacrifice is greater than the measure of your discouraged soul.

1 Peter 2:21  For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:  22  "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth";  23  who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;  24  who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.  25  For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Jesus' great example was a total trust in God the Father.  Jesus Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we having died to sins, might live for righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed. 

As the revelation of the greatness of the sacrifice grows so does the victory in every day life.  The stripes of Jesus is the power for our healing.  His perfect body hanging on the tree became the power of our reconciliation with God.

John 5:24  "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

At faith in Jesus Christ there is a supernatural exchange we died to sin and gain His righteousness.  We pass from death unto life and shall not be condemn!   The greatest example of this is the thief on the cross moving from not believing to believing.  That day he went to be with Jesus in paradise.

Ephesians 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,  15  having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,

Remember we are considering Jesus!  By His blood we have been brought near.  He Himself is our peace.  The scriptures are replete with what Jesus Himself did at the cross.  It was in the flesh of Jesus Christ that enmity was ended!  The hostility is over because of the greatness of the single sacrifice of Jesus Christ! 

Colossians 2:13  And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,  14  having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  15  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

That which was contrary to us Jesus took out of the way.  The handwriting that was against us is now nailed to the cross.  The depth of the forgiveness is to the degree that all trespasses have been wiped out.  The work of the devil was destroyed by the work of the cross.  Consider Jesus…

1 Corinthians 1:17  For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.  18  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

It is only in the power of the cross we find victory.  We can preach the wrong thing and make the power of the cross of Jesus Christ of no effect; in fact many churches do.  The cross of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation.

1 Corinthians 1:23  but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24  but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

When we quit preaching Jesus Christ crucified we have left the very wisdom of God.  Victory is found when the object of our faith is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 

1 Corinthians 2:2  For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

What a proclamation the apostle Paul made; the imperative truth is Jesus Christ and Him crucified!  We need to never leave the message of the cross it is what brings us to salvation and it is the keeping power of our salvation.

Galatians 6:14  But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.

The only boast a believer can have is the boast of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Hebrews 12:4  You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.  5  And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;

The weights and sin that ensnares are broken by looking to the cross of Jesus.  Have you ever considered that you have not resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin?  The sacrifice of Jesus is so great that it should leave your heart open to the correction and rebuke of God.  He has made you a son; a wise son is open to the chastening and rebuke of the Lord.

Romans 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  8:3  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,

God’s correction begins by revelation of His goodness.  It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance.  The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death.  We the believer are not bound to walk in sin because of the greatness of the sacrifice and the liberty that it brings from the law of sin and death.

Hebrews 12:6  For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives."  7  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?  8  But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.  9  Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

If you can walk in sin and not know the correction of God it is because you are not a son of God.  Paul admonished people to examine themselves and see if they are truly in the faith.  Submitting the correction of God is the way to victory!  He is the Father of all who have surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ.  We get connected to God Spirit to spirit and submitting to our Father’s corrections yield a great harvest in our lives.

Hebrews 12:10  For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.  11  Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

When God corrects us it brings us to partake of His holiness.  It yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  God does a perfected work in our spirit but our soul and body have to be renewed and changed.  There is a training that every believer should long to partake in.  The rebuke and correction of God is for our healing and increase.  God has your best interest at heart.  Keep looking to Jesus.