Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus Yeshua the Messiah and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective here is Gideon Levitan.

Gideon Levytam: The study of Hebrews chapter 12 but then notice he continued. He doesn't only say let us lay aside every weight but he continued and he says and the sin which does so easily beset us. You know brothers and sisters I tell you it doesn't take too long for sin to be set us. It's a battle that you and I are going through every day in our thoughts in our mind in our desires. You see we sin because we are sinners. We have a sin nature. Sin is so easily beset us. Of course here the thought I would like to suggest this sin here is the sin of unbelief.

When it's come to first century Hebrew believers in a Messiah that particular sin that he is speaking about is the sin of unbelief. They had the inclination to not believe what God said about Yeshua the Messiah that he is the answer but not only the savior but we are to follow after him and not to go back into the rituals that only pointed to him. That was the sin of those Hebrews of first century but we can broad this and take beyond that. It's sin and sins that does so easily beset us. Don't you feel sometime it doesn't take too long.

It doesn't take too much to do wrong to dishonor the Lord to hate to lust to covet and on and on to be angry, to talk wrong, to to think evil about somebody else, to do things, to go places we shouldn't go. It doesn't take too long. We never needed to be trained to do wrong. We by nature doing wrong we need the help of God to do the right things in the power of the spirit of God. That's the reality of the life of the believer. Paul said it in Romans 11 the things I want to do that I don't do.

The things I don't want to do that I do. And he face and he says all wretched man that I am. And here the right to say speaking to the Hebrews of first century look we have such a cloud of witnesses in the past. Look at the history of your brethren, the nation of Israel, the believers who mount from Abraham so on and he says now look inside yourself Hebrew believers and he's also speaking to us and he says let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us. Now he continue and he says lay it aside and you know to put it aside mean that we need to ask the Lord's help.

Lord how can I be released from this thing that cause me to be bound to it and limits me with my enjoyment of the things of the Lord. We need to ask the Lord to help us to lay it aside. We cannot even do it on our own. He tell them to lay it aside but to lay it aside with the help of the Lord Jesus the Messiah with the help of the Holy Spirit of God. lay it aside. And then when you lay these aside he says he continue and he tell them and let us run the race or run with patience the race that is set before us.

We are in a race. We are to run and to run, to consistently run, continually and it's a race and a running that need a lot of patience. Patience with each other, patience with the people around us, patience with the trials and tribulation that coming across in our life. And you remember what the Bible tell us in the book of Roman the tribulation works patience. When we have problems sometime problems are being brought upon us in order that we will learn patience and stay closer to the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Not every trouble that we have we should say I don't want it.

Sometime the trouble that God brings across in our own life there is a reason for that because God ultimately said that this trouble will keep us stay closer to him, keep us depending upon him. But let us run he says. Let us run the race with patience, the race that is set before us. We are in a race. We will all finish the race but how we going to finish the race? Are we going to finish the race in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. I want to read a verse for you in first Corinthians chapter nine.

Look what the same thought that we have in first Corinthians chapter nine in verse 23. The apostle Paul is writing to the Corinthians and he's saying to them in verse 23 and this I do for the gospel's sake that I might be partakers thereof with you. Know you not that they which run in a race run all but one received the prize. So run that you may obtain. And every man that strive for mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run not as uncertainly.

So fight I not as one that beateth the air but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I preach to others I myself should be disapproved or as it says here a cast away. Notice what Paul is saying to the Corinthians. He's saying to them I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. How many time brothers and sisters we have fail in having our bodies put under subjection. How many times we do not succeed to control ourselves to put ourselves in subjection to the Lord and to be those that by the grace of God succeeding with the help of the spirit of God to do the right things.

How many times we do the wrong things and they become a weight and sins that creep it says so easily and set us. And so we are encouraged in verse one A and one B. First of all look at the cloud of witnesses verse one A. And then secondly look within yourself and run. Take the weight, take the sins which does so easily beset us. I don't need to look at you and you don't need to look at me. We know within ourselves that sin easily beset us and cause us to fall, to stumble and not to grow spiritually.

And there are weights that exist in our own life that cause us to be heavy and not light so we can run the race that is set before us. We all are in a race. We all going to get to the end of it. The entrance into the presence of the Lord is because of what Yeshua have done for us. But how do we run this race? Are we running the race in a way that is pleasing the Lord? Are we honoring the Lord? And when we don't thank God for first John 1 9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us for all our sinfulness and make us righteous, set us right again before the Lord.

So look back at the history of Israel and the history of these men of faith. Look present within yourself at your spiritual state and your spiritual condition. Set aside, put away the weights, put away the sins that so easily beset us and run that race. Now when we run that race now he is telling us in verses two, three and four who we are to look at. We looked at the past we look at ourselves but now he's telling them to fix their eyes upon the person of Yeshua the Messiah. Notice verses two, three and four he's now telling them to look at the person of Yeshua the Messiah.

Look at how beautiful verses. Looking unto Yeshua the author and the finisher of faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame. And he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him that endure such contradictions of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. And you know what he does? He does something that we all need to bear in mind. We are not only to look back at others thank God for that.

And we do get encouragement from others that have walked with God. We are not only to look within ourselves and our own state and our own condition and say Lord help me with the many weights that cause me to slow down and the many sins we does so easily beset me. Then he said to them look off from yourself and look to the Lord and look to Yeshua. And you know it's so precious to look at the Lord because when you look at the Lord you look at a perfect man but never disobeyed, never sinned, always please the Father.

A man that we can look at and get encouragement for our heart. A man that came to this world to give his life for us. A man, the son of God who became a man, the Messiah of Israel and the savior of this world looking to him. You notice by the way he doesn't say look at the son of God but he give us the name Jesus, Yeshua we call him in Hebrew. Looking unto Yeshua he talks about his humanity here. He's occupied here with the humanity of the person of the Messiah Yeshua who gave his life for these Hebrews and he gave his life for us as well.

And you see what he does here he's wanting them to look to him. And notice he's telling them here in these verses. You know the Lord Jesus is the supreme example. If you want to see a man that please the Father, that never sinned, never deviated from God we cannot look back to the history of our own people Israel. We cannot look within at our own condition and our own state but we got to look at him, the one that have completely the perfect example that we can ever see in this world. Now you might say and many people say well he was the son of God, he was sinless and therefore he was perfect but we are not.

Yes we know that. Of course he was perfect. He was the son of God. What he suffered and what he have gone through here is sufficient enough to encourage the heart of the believer to give us a charging of our own hearts and conscience to continue to follow after God. Look what he's saying about him here. First of all he is telling them that he is the author or the leader or the captain of faith. Look what he says verse two looking unto Yeshua the author they found there or in another words you can say here he is the leader of faith.

If there is anyone that lived the life of faith in this world in its full sense is that man Yeshua from that set. He is the leader. You remember we studied earlier in Hebrews chapter two and we call him the captain of our salvation. You remember what he said Hebrews two and verse 10 for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons into glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. You know he became the captain, the leader, the founder, the author of faith.

You know when we think about him as the one that have been the author he's the one that have experienced so much suffering by the hand of men here in this world. And he has suffered here in this world. He had been rejected and persecuted. He had been despised and look what he says here. He was the author of faith. He was the one the originator of faith. What is faith? Faith is trusting and following God and being faithful. That's what he was. He was faithful. You remember what said my meat and my drink is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.

But he's not only the author, he's also the finisher because it says here in verse two looking unto Yeshua not only the author but also the finisher of our faith. Actually it should be the finisher of faith. He started and he ended. He is the one that the perfecto of faith and faithfulness. Oh how many time we think of ourselves and being so unfaithful to the Lord. In many areas sin that creeps into our life. He is the one that was the author and the finisher, the originator and the perfecto of faith. Again beloved he's not talking about the son of God in his divine nature.

He's talking about Yeshua, looking unto Yeshua, his humanity he set before us right now. Looking unto Yeshua, the author and the finisher of our faith and now he's continuing he's telling them look he's giving the example here. Look what he have done. Look the perfect example. It says in verse two who for the joy that was set before him endure the cross despising the shame and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. You notice this expression for the joy that was set before him. I was thinking about this this morning.

What was the joy that was set before Yeshua the Messiah? You know what was the joy? The joy that was set before the Lord Jesus the Messiah is to honor God with respect to sin and to bring many sons unto glory. You know what we read in the Hebrew prophet Isaiah in chapter 53 we read about the person of Yeshua the Messiah that was going to come. It says there in Isaiah 53 it says there in verse 11 he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. What was the travail of his soul that he going to be satisfied about?

You know when he gone to the cross after he live a life here on this world and he went to give his life a ransom for many. What was it for? It was for us. It for for those Hebrews to whom he was writing to save us, to redeem us. That was the joy that was set before him. He looked to the future and he says wow I'm here on earth for the purpose of redeeming the sinful people, the sinful nations, bringing individuals, a company of believers to be right with God. The joy that was set before him and so who were for the joy that was set before him Isaiah 53 11 and 12.

What did he do? He endure the cross. He despised the shame and he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. He as we read here he endured the suffering on the cross. He despised the shame that he have experienced here in this world. And he end up sting at the right hand of the majesty on high. You know when you look at those three statement endure the cross, despising the shame think of the shame that he had to go through in his lifetime. They spit at him. They mocked him. They rejected him.

And if you would come today men will do just the same. They will despise him and reject him and will do the very same thing in his life. And then it says here that he also endure the cross. Not only that he despised the shame in life but he endure the cross means that he received the judgment from God that you and I deserve to be receiving. And then thirdly after he died and he took upon himself the judgment of God he was set down on the right hand of the throne of God. He was resurrected and God have placed him in his right hand at his right hand.

Isn't it wonderful to see how God had been satisfied with Yeshua the Messiah and that's what the writer is telling the Hebrews to look to him. We cannot look at each other even. We cannot look at ourselves because we often getting disappointed and discouraged but when we look at him we see the beauty of the person of the Lord and that encourages us to continue to follow after Yeshua the Messiah and therefore it does encourages us to move on and to live for him in this world. And so that's what they needed. These believers needed to admit the weights that they have, the sin that so easily be set them but not only to look there now to look to the Lord.

Looking unto Yeshua the author and the finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endure the cross despising the shame and he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. There's another verse in Isaiah 53 that I want to read that we read about the Lord Jesus. Look at it despising the shame. Listen verse three. He's despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows that have been acquainted with grief. And that's what he's saying to those Hebrews. He says you have grief look at Jesus. You have sorrows in your life look at Yeshua.

You are being despised by your brethren, by your people, by your nation. Look at Yeshua. He was the one that the Bible tells us about him and he's the one that have already died and gone to heaven. He's the one that we read about him that he's despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow which have been acquainted with grief. Do you have grief in your life? Look unto Yeshua. That's what he's saying to us. And dear brothers and sisters how precious it is for us to do so. That will help us to run that race.

We cannot run the race without looking at the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. He the one the object, he's the one that can help us. And you know when sin come in we can always turn to him in confession and tell you to him. He knows that. Repentance towards God and ask him to restore us and to give us the strength to continue on because we cannot continue on unless we get the strength and the help from him. So here in verse three now he says look consider Jesus. You notice it's still occupying the believers with him.

He says consider him that endure such contradiction of sinners against himself. Now the Hebrews of first century to whom he wrote they had contradiction against him. Their own family and people said to them how can you follow this Jesus, this Yeshua from Nazareth? How can you say that he's the Messiah? If he was the Messiah why we don't have peace? Why we don't have shalom? Why we don't have our nation restore? Why is it? And yet those first century believers were saved because they did believe in the Messiah. They have accepted him as the Messiah and the Lord and their savior but they had to make a choice.

They cannot follow him but also go off a sacrifices in the temple. They going to follow him and go through all that which only pointed to him. They have to recognize that that is done for the season. And he's the one that they have to focus upon and to follow after. And you and I the same thing. When we get contradictions against us, people who seek to slow us down from our spiritual progress we need to look to Jesus to consider what he had to face in his own life. Consider him that endure such contradiction of sinners.

You notice how many time the word endurance here mentioned and patience mentioned. Verse one run with patience. Verse two the joy that was set for him he endure the cross. Verse three consider him that endure this. It's an endurance, it's patience. That's what we are being trained through trials, tribulation, works about patience in our life. If you don't have trouble in your life you will never learn patience. You will never learn endurance. It's not an easy road though we love it to be easy road. I you know we sometime wish we get saved and that we know that our sins forgiven and everything going to be easy, smooth.

Our family are fine, our children are fine, our health is fine, our finances are fine, everything is fine and easy road and nobody contradict us, everybody accept us, everybody loves us but it doesn't work this way. It's not so. The reality is there is constant contradiction, constant counteract, constant struggles which constantly teach us to depend upon the Lord. And then patient we develop endurance and patience in our lives. And so that's what he's telling them here. And then you notice what he said in verse three B, the second half of verse three lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind.

See you notice that? You see when we get constant pressure and constant discouragement and contradiction against us there is an inclination to get wearied. We wearied in our mind. Ah what's the use? What's the point to all this? I cannot bear this anymore. I cannot take it anymore and I cannot handle this anymore. I'm sick and tired from all these problems that I have. And then you can get wearied as it says here and faint, tired. And weak then you can see so I'm not going to read my Bible. I'm not going to pray anymore.

There's no use. Seems like I'm praying and praying and praying and there's no answer. And then I'm not go to the meetings with other believers. I'm not going to seek to live for the Lord and represent him. And then we can get very quickly fainted in our mind. That's what he's telling them. You got to look at the Lord. You got to consider what he have gone through and what he have done for you so you will be encouraged to continue on and not get fainted, tired. That's what we need to do. You know this is a responsibility that we have towards each other.

You know it's not enough for us to only think of ourselves but when we see a brother or sister that discouraged how do we treat that brother? You know the people need to be encouraged. We cannot only put people down. We need to lift people up. That's a job that we all have the responsibility that we all have. We need to encourage each other in the things of the Lord. That's what we need to do and that's what God had to say to Israel and to remind Israel in the past, to remind them the fact that they need to continue on, not to get tired to that extent that they are not moving on for him.

And he told them in the prophet as well he spoke to Israel and he said sometime you getting wearied and tired. You remember what he said? Why sayest thou oh Jacob and speakest thou oh Israel my way are hidden from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God?

Guest (Male): You have been listening to the Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levitan. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry write to Holy Scriptures and Israel Box 1411 Niagara on the Lake Ontario L0S 1J0 or visit our website at Holy Scriptures and Israel.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program visit Holy Scriptures and Israel.com.

God bless you. Shalom Shalom.