December 15

Read: Hebrews 12:1-2

Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Looking Unto Jesus

The last element in this capsule of Christian perfection is (4) the way that Jesus is made the Beginning and the End of the sanctified life. To live this life of holiness is to live as Jesus lived -­ to live the way He asks us to five.”

This is the truth that our Lord himself taught about the work of the Holy Spirit in us. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own authority… he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he win take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:13-15, R.S.V.).

The word in our text that is translated finisher is the word for perfect. The verse has therefore been rendered, “Let us run with patient endurance the race that lies before us, simply fixing our gaze upon Jesus, the Leader and Perfecter of faith” (Weymouth). We have no perfection that He has not given to us. We do God’s will in ways that are fully pleasing to Him only as we follow our Lord’s example, in entire sanctification we seek to live lives fully surrendered to God. But it is in Jesus alone that we see complete dependence on God, implicit trust, what it is, what it costs, and what it results in.

When the spirit of Jesus captures and controls our spirits, we are thereby set apart for the service of God….

When to me my Lord shall come, Sin forever shall depart; Jesus takes up all the room In a believing heart.