Finally, be motivated to endure like Christ for your own strength and peace of mind. Hebrews 12:3 says, “For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” This refers back to verse 2, telling us how Jesus endured the cross. It says that Jesus endured “such contradiction,” that is, all the hatred, opposition, gainsaying, and contempt of sinners against Himself. The word contradiction here is the same word used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, when the rebellious Israelites argued with Moses. In the midst of such rebels—priests, scribes, and soldiers who spoke out against Him—Jesus had to suffer.
Jesus endured such contradiction of sinners because of His great love for them. We are moved when someone surrenders his life for a friend, but Jesus gave His life for enemies (Rom. 5:10) such as you and me, who are prone to talk back to God and to argue about His ways. By nature, we do not surrender and receive what He has done, but rebel against it; but when God penetrates our hearts with His saving grace, we are made willing to receive His gospel grace. We, too, will have to suffer contradiction and hostility from those around us, for all who are in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. We will never endure the magnitude of Christ’s contradiction of sinners, but if we walk as He walked, we will certainly encounter the contradiction of sinners against us. But all of this has a purpose.
Our text concludes: “lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” So many times we faint and grow weary. We don’t seem to have the energy to keep going. We are too tired to read, pray, and meditate upon the Word of God. Instead of running, we walk, crawl, or worse yet, stop moving toward God altogether.
Do you feel weary and fainthearted now? Remember, God knows your every circumstance. He knows all about your weariness and weakness from the contradiction of sinners against you. He will not condemn you, but neither does He want you to remain in that condition. He says, “Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (v. 3). “Consider Him!”—that’s what you are called to do. If you would endure in the race, consider Jesus’ endurance in the race. Jesus is the best antidote for weariness and fainting while you are running the Christian race.
When you are afflicted, look to Jesus. Study the prophecies about Him, but especially the gospels and the epistles that most fully reveal His example and teaching. Consider how He endured affliction, and you will learn from Him how to endure as well.
Are you contemplating Christ as you seek to endure in the Christian race? If not, you will faint and will be overtaken by sin. You will fall and repeatedly backslide as long as you will not consider Him. Pray for grace to look to Christ on a daily basis in every area of your life as you battle against hindrances and sin and strive for righteousness.
Dear young people, it can be so tempting to give up your fight against sin. “I’ll just give in once,” you say, “because all my friends are committing this sin, and I don’t want to be different. I don’t want to come across as too holy.” In the end, you lose the energy to say no to sin one more time, to stand up one more time for what is right and good. But dear friends, consider Christ; He did not give in even once. He walked the road to Golgotha without hesitancy. Look to Him, so that you might walk as He walked.
And when you do fall, as fall you shall, time and time again, fly to Christ. Fly to Him a thousand times. Do not try to hide from God. Once when my son was a small boy, I was going to punish him severely for a serious moral infraction. But before I could do that, he ran to me as soon as he saw me, hugged me, and with tears dripping down my neck, pleaded for my forgiveness. That is how we should run to God.
As parents, office-bearers, or employees, we often feel like we are going to faint. We are weary and preoccupied with obligations in every sphere of life. We don’t seem to have time or take time to be holy. Our prayers and Bible readings are pitifully short and shallow. “Consider Him”—the great office-bearer who endured the cross. Let your energy and endurance derive from Him.
Do not put your heart in this world. This world will soon end. As Spurgeon said, “If you had got all the world you would have got nothing after your coffin lid was shut but grave dust in your mouth.”
Dear friends, look to Jesus now; look to Him to persevere in seeking Him. If you say, “Lord, I have prayed so long and been to church so manytimes, and I am still not saved, so I will stop using the means of grace”— you will go from bad to worse. Stop trying to persevere in your own strength. Look to Jesus for perseverance and endurance. Remember, He endured the cross to save sinners such as you and me. He now invites you to come to Him just as you are. If you do not come to Him, you are despising His endurance and His shame—and do you dare to do that? Keep pleading the Word of God; Jesus is faithful and will fulfill His own Word.
We are called to look every day to Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. So consider Him, refocus on Him, cling to Him. Meditate upon His suffering and upon His victory as the Son of God at the Father’s right hand. Let His grace strengthen you from day to day. Inspired by the example of Christ and encouraged by the accomplishment of the saints, your weariness will be banished and your faintness of mind will be dispelled. In their place, your faith, courage, and strength will be renewed, and by grace, you will walk as He walked.
Oh, to be able to say with Paul as the time of our departure draws near: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7-8). Then, on the last day, you will meet Him as He is, and He will say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant…enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matt. 25:21). You’ve endured the race, looking to Jesus.
Jesus will then be all in all in the sin-free land of Beulah. There will be no more sin, no more temptation, no more tears or pain or cross-bearing, but only glory in Emmanuel’s land. You will forever walk as the Lord Jesus walks, enjoying Him, basking in His smile, bathing in His love, feasting in His presence. Your soul and body will be absolutely perfect. Jesus Christ will delight in you as His perfect bride, and you will be able to say to Him, “Finally Lord, I am what I always wanted to be from the moment I was born again, for now I can serve Thee with a perfect eye, a perfect body, and a perfect soul.”
When former President Gerald Ford was buried in his hometown of Grand Rapids last week, the newspapers were filled with pictures of some of the tens of thousands of people that lined the streets and paid their last respects. The most common sign they displayed said simply, “Welcome home!” That, dear believer, is what your Savior will one day say to you. “Welcome home. Welcome to the eternal joy set before you—the joy of walking perfectly as Jesus walked, eternity without end.”
I close with a prayer of John Calvin: “Grant, almighty God, that as Thou art graciously pleased daily to set before us Thy certain and sure will, we may open our eyes and ears and raise all our thoughts to that which not only reveals to us what is right, but also confirms us in a sound mind, so that we may go on in the race of true religion and never turn aside, whatever Satan and his demons may devise against us; but that we may stand firm and persevere, until, having finished our warfare, we shall at length come unto that blessed rest which has been prepared for us in heaven by Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Excerpt from
Walking as He Walked
By Joel Beeke
