Are You Seeking the Pleasures to Come?

(Hebrews 12:2)



I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.

To know Jesus is to love God with your whole soul

And to do the things that please Him.


It is to love your neighbor as you love yourself

And to do what you know will help them,

Especially, to know and serve the Lord.


It is to resist every temptation to the contrary.

It is to be zealous for Gods honor and glory

And not for your own,

Except as that honor comes from God for being zealous for Him.


B. Preview.

This leads us nicely into what well be considering this morning:

If you know Jesus, you will seek for that joy/pleasure God will give you above.


Jesus didnt set His heart on the things of this world.

They really werent attractive to Him

We saw that in His resisting the devils temptations.

He knew they were only temporary at best

And that they could destroy you at worst.

2

He set His affection on the things above

On the things that last/that are eternal

Thats what He wanted,

And so that He might gain them,

He endured the cross,

Not minding the shame it would bring,

And He gained the joy of having them

The reward His Father promised Him.


The Lord has promised to reward you as well,

With a reward that will also bring you great joy and pleasure.

But you can only gain it in the way Jesus did:

You must pick up your cross and follow Him;

And you must be willing to endure the shame your cross will bring.

That is what you will do if you know Jesus.


II. Sermon.
A. Jesus set His heart on the reward His Father promised Him and the joy that would
bring: The author to the Hebrews says, Jesus, for the joy set before Him endured
the cross. Is that what your heart is fixed on?

Jesus didnt fix His heart on this world,

His heart was fixed instead on honoring His Father:

He wanted to please the One who sent Him into the world

By doing what He sent Him to do.

That was a reward in itself, because it fulfilled His greatest desire.

3
When you can do what you really want in your heart to do, its very fulfilling.

Jesus did and it brought Him joy.


He didnt fix His heart on gaining the things of this world

Thats not what He wanted

What He wanted was to save those the Father gave Him

Everyone who would put their trust in Him.

He wanted to gain them and thats what He did.

He laid down His life for them He saved them.

And that brought Him joy.


And He didnt set His heart on the honor of this world

He wanted the honor the Father promised Him:

To be crowned King and Lord over all,

To be given the name above every name,

To have every knee bow to Him.

This is what the Father gave Him, and it brought Him joy.


The point is: Knowing these things were before Him,

Filled His heart with purpose,

And gave Him the strength to do what He came to do.

He wanted these rewards and so He went after them.


What are you after?

What is your motivation, the purpose behind what you do?

4
What is the carrot dangling in front of your nose?


Is it the world?

Is it fame, money, power, that youre seeking?

What has control of your life?

If its the world, youll never be able to do what Jesus did.

If youre going to follow Him, theres a cost

And that cost includes giving up the world.

John says, Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of
the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the
Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but
the one who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:15-17).


You need a better motive the one the Lord holds out to you.

The honor/reward God has promised you if you will serve Him.

Paul writes, God will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who
by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality,
eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth,
but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation (Rom. 2:6-8).

You really have to want these things if youre ever going to be able to pay the price
you must pay to receive them.

What is that price? The same Jesus had to pay: the cross.

B. Jesus had to endure the cross to receive His reward/joy: Are you willing to endure
the cross the Father has appointed for you to receive yours?

Jesus, to receive His reward, had to do several things none of which were easy:


He first had to humble Himself to become a man

The infinite and eternal Creator of the universe became one of His creatures:

5
He had to make an infinite stoop to be conceived and born of a Virgin.

That was incredible by itself, but consider:

He didnt come in the likeness of perfect humanity,

But in that of sinful humanity.

Paul writes, For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God
did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for
sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be
fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit (Rom. 8:3-4).


When He came, He didnt live among perfect people,

But among sinful people for over 33 years.

He didnt live in a palace which would have been suitable

But lived in very poor circumstances.


He didnt even get to live out His years, but had to die in very uncomfortable
circumstances:

He was betrayed into the hands of the wicked,

Condemned, humiliated, tortured, and crucified.

He suffered Gods wrath in the place of His people,

The very thought of which made Him sweat blood (Luke 22:44).


Why was He willing to do all of this?

Because He loved His Father and wanted to honor Him.

Because He loved you and wanted to save you from hell.

And because He wanted the honor/joy the Father promised Him.


He was willing to suffer the cross to gain that reward/joy.
6

Are you willing to suffer the cross to gain yours?


He doesnt expect you to go to a literal cross,

And be crucified as His Son was

That was His work and His work alone

But He does have a cross for you to bear.

Jesus said, If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up
his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but
whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he
gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in
exchange for his soul? (Matt. 16:24-26).


Are you willing to bear the cross?

Are you willing to deny yourself:

The things you might want apart from Christ?

The things that are wrong/sinful?

The things of this world?

The things that arent part of His will for you?


Are you willing to count yourself dead to yourself

And follow the example Jesus gave you?

Are you willing to obey His commands?

To have His mind, His heart, His purpose?


This isnt easy to do: Jesus says its like tearing off parts of your body (Matt. 18:8-
9).

But its something you must do if you would enter heaven.

7
Its something youll want to do, if His Spirit is in your soul.

And its something you will do, if you really want what God has promised.


C. Finally, because of the joy that would be His, Jesus didnt even mind the shame the
cross brought Him: Are you ashamed of what your cross costs you?

When we look at the cross, we usually see it as something wonderful:

Jesus died on it, so that we could live.

But you need to remember, in His day, it wasnt wonderful, but shameful:

To be crucified in the Roman mind, meant you were a criminal.

To the Jew, it meant you were accursed.

Paul writes, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse
for us for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Gal. 3:13).

To both the Romans and the Jews, Jesus deserved to die.


But did Jesus care what they thought? No, He didnt!

The word despise in this context means He thought nothing of it.

He disregarded it altogether because of the reward He would have:

Of honoring His Father,

Of saving you,

Of receiving a kingdom,

And having you as part of it throughout all eternity.


Is it a popular thing to be a Christian today? No!

If you disagree with what the world thinks and does,

If you choose not to sin with the world, but to do whats right,

If you consider worthless what they value,
8

If you follow Jesus example and openly love Him with your whole soul,

If you love others as yourself as He calls you to do,

People will hate you, think youre a freak, call you intolerant,

They might even put you into prison, as they have Saeed Abedini.


Are you willing to pay this price? Even gladly, as Jesus did?

Are you willing to set aside your reputation?

To be thought less by others?

Even to be hated by them, for Jesus?

How can you?

Youll only be able to, if you really want the reward.


Jesus endured the cross,

Thought nothing of the shame,

And gained His reward,

Because He really wanted it.


What do you want this morning?

Jesus says, if its this world, youll lose your soul.

But if, for the sake of the honor and glory and eternal life the Father has promised,

Youre willing to give it all up, take up your cross, and follow Jesus,

You will gain heaven.


If thats not where your heart is this morning, then come to Jesus.

Turn from your sins and trust in Him.
9

If you do, He will give you the help you need

To deny yourself and this world,

To pick up your cross and follow Him all the way there. Amen.


http://www.graceopcmodesto.org