There is a force, fierce as an unfettered animal, wild as the wind, strong as the storm; it springs from the fever and fret of a restless heart needing and finding no satisfaction. He went through all the experiences of babyhood, of early boyhood, of youth, and came into full-orbed manhood without any moral disturbance of which we are aware — without any convulsion that threw Him out of the ordinary experience of a pleasant household, and entered upon His public ministration when He was about twenty-seven years old, dying at about thirty. Do you see how this is forbidden by the text? Have we an end? It was a picture of our blessed Saviour on the Cross; and Doctor Franklin, whom many, in these evil days, have desired to make an infidel outright, died while gazing upon it with wistful eyes, his whole countenance lighted up with a sweet and placid smile. WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH THE WEIGHTS? And what is it? I had not any spare energy to talk or look about, so I kept looking for a couple of hours at the heels of the guide, who was in front and above me. But the great feature in which the apostle presents Christ to us is His faith. But He is "the prince of faith" in another sense.2. Oh, that I might glorify Thee, my Creator, my Preserver, my Redeemer! IV. As they crept slowly along, hanging on for their lives, first one bundle, then another, dropped off, till at last, after an agony of suspense, they were safely landed in a cattle-truck, having lost the very little all that they possessed. God forgave him. He is called by various names: the last Adam, the Amen, the Alpha, the Omega, the Advocate, the Angel, our Apostle, Bread of Life, our Captain, our Chief Shepherd, the Chief Corner Stone, the Counsellor, the Day Spring, the Witness, the Great High Priest, the Head, the King, the Lamb, our Leader, our Life, our Light, the Star, the Morning Star, the Rock, the True Vine, the Way, the Word of God.2. Will you make the joy of others your goal? "Looking unto Jesus" — we are to copy Him as our pattern. He has impudence enough, but he dare not look unto Jesus. Now in the chapter before that from which our text is taken (chap. Are you struggling with your sex drive? As a preacher, I could easily identify with the story he told in the introduction to his message on our text.3 It was his first year as the senior pastor of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois. Both of these we must learn by looking into ourselves. Just as some diseases in the human system manifest themselves at one place in one person, and at another place in another person, so sinfulness in the moral system comes to the surface at different points in different people. So when our beloved friends pass from us; so when misfortunes come upon us; this thought of the higher life comes to cheer and comfort.(R. We must persevere to the end.III. They contain far more than a careless eye can see on the surface. "Looking unto Jesus" for the varied and constant help which He affords. Then, as Himself continuing in faith to the end, He is "the finisher." "Looking unto Jesus," for direction from Jesus. "We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Look at Him in the scenes of His earthly career.2. Now, is there no "weight," no hindrance of this kind with you? Lastly, our text sets before us Jesus as THE GOAL OF FAITH We are to run "looking unto Jesus" as the end that we should aim at. We have storms and contrary winds to contend with, and sometimes icebergs and dangerous rocks and opposing currents. We have all, probably, some one besetting fault, which is our own special hindrance. Now, is there no "weight," no hindrance of this kind with you? IN LOOKING, WHAT DO WE SEE? "Set about some one thing for Me; set thyself to get rid of some one sin for love of Me, to become in one thing more pleasing to Me, and I will be with thee; I will give thee victory in this; I will lead thee on from victory to victory, from strength to strength; thou shalt 'run and not be weary; thou shalt walk, and not be faint.'" Guthrie.A lady had a dream, in which she fancied herself at the bottom of a deep pit. In the words before us is one view of the goal to which our Saviour ran, or of the prize for which His course was pursued. He likens it to the joy of a shepherd when having sought the lost sheep he has found it; and to the joy of a woman, who having missed treasure discovers it again; and to the joy of the father of a prodigal who is permitted to receive that prodigal in true penitence back again to his heart and to his home. God speaks of this in the whispers of prophecy; and according to prophecy the joy set before Jesus was the joy of bruising the serpent's head; it was the joy of gathering together a scattered people; it was the joy of imparting knowledge to the ignorant upon the highest subjects; it was the joy of forming a perfect and everlasting kingdom out of lifeless and rebel souls. "Who is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." She looked down to ascertain how it was, and immediately found herself at the bottom of the pit. In a state of prior existence our Redeemer had, as it respects this world, an object before Him, and that object He came, as you know, into this world to pursue. By the study of His biography.2. Is my life and yours a race with a goal, and a prize and a judge, and a cloud of witnesses? Religion requires thought and attention. They have not eyes to see it; they have no powers, or faculties with which to pursue it; but every rational being has an object " set before " it. Wherein are we to imitate Jesus? He was not a stone man; He was a living soul, as full of sensibility and fire as the heart of God. And so the writer points away from them all, and as it were, says, "Do not stop at these. THE SPEED OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. Copybooks are all very well, but you want something more than copybooks, A so-called Christianity that has nothing more to say about Jesus Christ than that He is the perfect example of all human excellences, and of faith too, is not the one for a poor man that has found out the plague of his own heart, and the weakness of his own will. A forced gaze there cannot be; a careless gaze on an object so Divinely glorious, so infinitely attractive, seems altogether incredible when you consider to whom you are looking. I need scarce name particular things. H. Wilson, D. D.)Looking to JesusThe Weekly Pulpit.I. We regard the Lord Jesus AS OUR ONLY HOPE OF SALVATION. I have read somewhere of a traveller, who with his guide was crossing a high mountain in Switzerland. That humiliation, especially, which becomes us as rebellious creatures, will be best promoted by looking at a suffering Saviour, bending under the load of our guilt in the garden and on the Cross. And He as an example also, "who for the ,joy," &c. Can we be tempted or suffer as He did? THE SPIRITUAL POSTURE IN WHICH CHRISTIANS ARE REQUIRED TO PLACE THEMSELVES.1. We cannot run the race set before us unless we feel thus.2. But perhaps some of you say, "What has all this to do with 'looking unto Jesus'? Times of temptation.3. )A life-mottoJ. The first step in the answer to that question is to be taken by remembering that, according to the image of this text, we carry them about with us, and we are to put them away from ourselves. "Who is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." The heart of man is naturally proud; and will never be effectually humbled, but by a believing contemplation of the greatest example of humility that ever appeared in the world. THE SPEED OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. The heart of man is naturally proud; and will never be effectually humbled, but by a believing contemplation of the greatest example of humility that ever appeared in the world. We regard the Lord Jesus AS OUR ONLY HOPE OF SALVATION. The prize will be a glorious and enduring one.3. Reynolds sitting, brush in hand, before his canvas for thirty-six hours together, summoning into life forms of beauty that seemed glad to come. You will now ask, "What about the passion? He will set you the pattern, and then, if you will let Him, He will come into your hearts, and make you able to copy the pattern. If we believe that the Man Jesus sits on the throne of the universe, we have a new conception of what is possible for humanity. F. Ewing, M.A.I remember once climbing a great Alpine peak. O. Mackey.News had come from the left that Winter's Brigade near the river was giving way. Paternal love as God, fraternal love as man. This also affords the best lesson of patience; and for this purpose particularly, we are exhorted, in the text, to look to Jesus; for, it is added, He "endured the Cross, despising the shame." And so the writer points away from them all, and as it were, says, "Do not stop at these. Speaking morally, it springs directly out of the self-sacrificing temper, gains, in fact, its unselfish colouring there, teaches us what is the temper, the prevailing atmosphere needful for a useful life. Nothing above or beneath must divide your eye, or withdraw Him from your gaze.2. 2. FIRST, THE COMMANDER'S CONFLICT: "Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the Cross, despising the shame." Beecher. We must all feel, I suspect, and often feel, how hard it is to regulate our daily lives by mere rules and regulations. We want a Mediator, Example, Friend, such as He is.3. The great God enjoins it.II. Have you got the money?" They damage the ship's machinery. O. When those persons who went to the stake for their faith, and sang and rejoiced as the fire blazed about them, and sent out from their pulpit of flame joyous songs of hope, do you suppose they were sufferers? It is with Him, above all else, that we must have to do.1. How earnest men are around us! He bids the nurse go down and bring a picture which he named, and fasten it on the wall opposite his bed, that he might look upon it when he pleased. Just so, lose sight of Christ, and away go your feelings; and the way not to get your feelings back is to look for them, the way to get them is not to look for them, but to look to Him. A. "Looking unto Jesus "-we are to lean upon Him as our strength. Let me remind you THAT SUCH BLESSEDNESS IS WON FOR YOU. We have His sufferings presented, not in reference to their saving power, but solely as being an illustration of His heroic patient endurance. WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH THE WEIGHTS? Their backs being turned to the sun, they can see only their own shadows, and are, therefore, wholly taken up with themselves. In your feebleness, when life is low, when hope is almost dead, when temptations are tyrannous and strong, think of Him, and think in trust. We may well be humbled when we think how unlike the best of us are to our example, and what poor blurred copies of His character we show to mankind. He halted, and watched its flight. It needed no signal of distress, for it was within sight of the shore. "No, but my Jesus is," was his reply.Deliverance by looking to JesusT. We must keep on in the way.3. You find the reason here: they are always looking for recognition and sanction from men, from the Church of God, from their fellow disciples, and sometimes where they never ought to look for it, from the men of this world. The hypocrite, too, dare not look unto Jesus — he dare not. Our word at starting in the Christian life is, "Look unto Jesus."1. A. And so we ought not to judge of others, nor can we judge of ourselves by them. We also begin looking unto Jesus because of what He has wrought in us.II. cries the young man, "why, I saw nothing." Religion requires the conquest of sin. He knew that for those sinners whom He so dearly loved, there would henceforth be but a crippled foe to be bruised under their feet shortly; and the chains of bondage struck off, that henceforth we should not be slaves to sin. Thus, affluence and poverty have each their respective inducements. replies the teacher, "for I know that the very time when you were in the bazaar the Sultan with some of his chief attendants went by." If we think a good thought, or do a good deed, it is owing to Christ. And wherever He went where people were, He shed joy and happiness upon them. So God speaks to us. The end is ever before their Creator, and Master, and Ruler; but the end is not set before them. If Christians during the last eighteen centuries had been more like Christ, the Church would certainly have been far more beautiful, and probably have done far more good to the world.IV. But if He were to give you His strength, it would not be so difficult, would it? Moses jogs your memory that with God's help you can control anger. B. Meyer, B. 2. J. Stevenson, M. But in addition to habits of mind and life hindering men from spiritual progress, there are weights imposed by men on themselves, which hinder advance and enfeeble the soul. And in this aspect we may almost take the word "Perfecter" here to be equivalent to that of the other idea of rewarder. In some form or another we all have a besetting sin; and it greatly interferes with both our happiness and our usefulness. At times it seems as if all on board must go to the bottom. And now what has that to do with us? And so Christ is the Perfecter of our faith, not only in the sense that He raises and educates it up to its loftiest form, but also that He bestows upon it at the last that which is, as Peter says, its "end," or perfecting, even the salvation of our souls. Why look unto Jesus? So He perfects our faith. It is not any race, but a particular one. Faith is a life of assured confidence of an unseen hope, and surely never was there a life which was so entirely dominated by that unseen hope as His life, who, "For the joy that was set," &c.II. They are pursuits like ambition, socializing, decorating, golf, tennis, surfing the web, movies, music, talking on the phone too much, playing too many video games, reading too many unimportant books. Then you are in the way to keep alive a sustaining principle which will breast the religious difficulty of this great, and, I add it, of this bad time. Because He is the dearest object of human love. But look a little deeper and what do you see? It must be a believing look. 2. And now what has that to do with us? It is the sad tendency of man, notwithstanding, to turn to other dependencies.3. I. The Christian's work is kindred. He therefore beckoned to the men to creep slowly along the side of the carriages after him. IN LOOKING, WHAT DO WE SEE? Now, the Lord Jesus bids you look to Him — away from all else — away from your own doing or deserving- away from the godliest and best friends you have. I do not see how it could ever be." The great magnet up yonder is drawing us towards itself. "No," she answers, "but it is all right. H. Spurgeon.There was but one crack in the lantern, and the wind has found it out and blown out the candle. When a man does a heroic action at some cost to himself, he knows that though it costs it counts. Seek after more near and dear fellowship with Him.(C. God alone can tell the blessedness which one redeemed man may be the means of communicating into others. THE JOY OF OBEDIENCE. It is the joy of pardoning the guilty, and of purifying the unclean; it is the joy of elevating those who have been cast down and downtrodden; it is the joy of educating those whose nature has been bruised and crushed. Why not to the cloud of witnesses? Is sin tying your down? We may well ask, then, how the " looking unto Jesus" will enable us to compass these objects; in other words, how it will secure that we shall run well our Christian race? Marsh. What of your selfishness, that disregards others and is always seeking your own gratification and pleasure? THE DUTIES connected with it. H. Wilson, D. D.I. The joy which redeemed men may diffuse, as well as the joy which they inherit. Thousands of Christians are like water-logged vessels. You have offended a father or teacher or friend — you have been guilty of disobedience or untruthfulness or dishonesty. It is just like a man with all the resources of the bank at his call. We have the motive of His sufferings presented as being an unseen reward for Himself, which He brought vividly before Him by the exercise of His faith. We can conceive of ourselves in any relation to others, imaginable — in any place on earth, in any position- but we cannot conceive of ourselves as non-existent. "Looking unto Jesus" — we are to copy Him as our pattern. He says, believe on Me. FIRST WE HAVE HIM AS LEADER AND COMMANDER OF THE GREAT ARMY OF THE FAITHFUL, JESUS, THE AUTHOR OF "OUR FAITH." Spurgeon. Let us next consider our Lord Jesus as THE PATTERN OF OUR FAITH. His companion readily accepted the proposition, and they started. (2) Imitate your Lord in His magnanimity. I once saw a ship at sea, off the east coast of Scotland, in a storm. Trust in his presence. Is there a joy set before us? Life is a work. He knew that His own would not receive Him, yet to feel that His help was open to " whosoever will" — that He was coming to bring pardon and deliverance and life even to the unthankful — was a joy that outwent the cold manger and the homeless wanderings and the spiteful conspiracies and the bitter Cross — the intense joy of helping the helpless.IV. Race … I a beach and so we ought not to please Him in the middle of subject-matter! 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