Hebrews 12:1-4 "Run the Race"

Hebrews 12:1-4 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary, fainting in heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.”

Prayer for illumination:

Introduction

On 30 May 2021 Pator Frank gave a message entitled “Strong People Don’t Need to Fear Drifting Away. In the sermon he gave pragmatic examples of what it looks like when a Chrsitian, or in some cases, when someone who THINKS they are a Christian may stray and drift from the course of faith and into a pattern of sin. The Difference between these two is, a true Christian will repent and be restored whole the psudo-Christian will only prove through their non-repentance that they never were saved to begin with.

It was after that message that I orginally gave the curent sermon on Hebrews 12:1-4 and what it means to endure, stay on course, and to run the race.

Let us revisit this pasage tonight and look at how we can continue to endure and run our race in the faith.

Context of Hebrews

Author unkown - Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Apollos, Luke, Phillip, Pricialla, Aquila, and Clement of Rome (among others) have all been suggested as the author or Hebrews.

Who wrote it is not as important as who it is written to.

JMAC argues for three distict audiences within the origial context: True Belivers, Unbleievers who were intellectually convinced of the Gospel, and unbelivers who were atrracted to but undecided on the Gospel…but all three groups were an overwhelming if not entirerly Jewish audience.

The believing Jews of these three groups would have been suffering persecution and rejection by fellow Jews.

Heb 10:32-34 “But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and afflictions, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you also showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted with joy the seizure of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and lasting possession.”

Heb 12:4 “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.”

The Unbleivers were intellectly persuaded by spiritually uncommitted.

Heb 2:1-3 “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every trespass and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? That salvation, first spoken by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard,”

Heb 6:4-6 “For in the case of those once having been enlightened and having tasted of the heavenly gift and having become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and having fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

Heb 10:26-29 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy by the mouth of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as defiled the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”

Heb 12:15-17 “seeing to it that no one falls short of the grace of God; that no ROOT OF BITTERNESS SPRINGING UP CAUSES TROUBLE, and by it many be defiled; that also there be no sexually immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”

The last group has almost entire chapter dedicated to them and their unbelief. Chapter 9 especially adresses this in;

Heb 9:11 “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,”

Heb 9:14-15 “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the trespasses that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

Heb 9:27-28 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

This is the context behind the orginal audience, which helps paint a picture for us in what the author had in mind. However, we can always understand the principle behind Scripture and generalize it for what it means for us today.

The Cloud of Witnessess

Heb 12:1 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

“therefore” - what is therefore there for?

Let’s go back to Chapter 11!

Heb 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

“faith” - our current attitude of living in light of the Hope we have in Christ

**read Heb 11, skip through but hit all of the names and the last few verses**

Much like a musical climax after the prolonged crescendo, we arrive full force into chapter 12 and are blasted in the face with this great admonishment!

If we remeber who the author is writing to, establishing the faith of the OT saints is paramount in his revelation of Christ and the work of Christ. This initiatites the reader’s response to Christ’s work and gives us the motivation and understanding that we have something better, the Son of God revealed and risen!

To each group that we mentioned in the beggining we see different facets of this truth:

Group 1 - gives them comfort that they are not alone in their earthly struggles, others have gone before and suffereed persecution having not yet recived the promise.

Group 2 - this preamble shows the spiritual application of their intellectual ascent, faith will complete what they already know

Group 3 - to take their “religion” and apply Christ as Messiah; this is also done in chapter 9 or even as Stephan does in Acts 7; one of the greatest examples of this is whem Jesus does this Himself on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-35

What the cloud of witnesses is not:

Not the dead looking down on us

Too many unbiblical ideas out there of what the dead are doing

“Absent from the body, present with Christ”

They are not “looking down on us and smiling”

Not showing up in our yards as a cardnial to remind us about them

The dead in Christ are worshipping the Savior

I would not want to them to turn away from His face to look at me...

What it is?

It is the OT saints that have testified to their life of faith with their lives

The word “witness” here is implying a “testimony” ot someone who has witnessed something. It speaks to the testimony that the OT saints have given in their lives, not what they are doing now as we run our own race.

What are their purpose?

Shows us and the originl audience that the patriarchs and OT heros were all saved by faith and hoped in the promise that had not yet been revealed

How much more should those who have had the promised revealed be ready to follow?

1 John 1:1 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—”

They show the faithfulness of God to His elect and covanent peoples through trials and persecution

It shows that earthly comfort and personal safety is not the goal...

Heb 11:36-40 “and others experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”

We should also keep in mind that, as belivers we also have the Word and Spirit of God as a part of our own “cloud of witnessess”

The Race

Preparing For the Race

How do we prepare for a race?

clothing? climate? duration? intensity?

To prepare for this race we have to be light and agile. Nothing weighing us down.

Heb 12:1 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

“laying aside every weight and sin...”

in the orginal context wecan see here the weight of the law and the sin of unbellief...

Every sin! Anything that creates for us a slippery slope that may lead us into sin. Think precaution, not legalism…think holiness, think John Owen “be killing sin or it will be killing you” think RC Sproul “sin is cosmic treason against God” think Paul Washer “sin is pouring vomit into your mouth”

Running the race

endurace - this describes how we need to run; in the NT it describes the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings

Heb 10:36 “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.”

Paitience - must be a characteristic and fruit of the Spirit that we have readily in our lives; the Gospel may take time to work and grow

Matt 13:1-9 “On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach. And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. “And others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. “But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. “And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. “And others fell on the good soil and were yielding a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. “He who has ears, let him hear.””

Matt 13:18-23 ““Hear then the parable of the sower. “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. “And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. “And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.””

Martin Lloyd Jones “The gospel is the power of God. It does not depend upon me or my faithfulness. If it did we would all be lost. It is God’s power to save and to keep, to jusitfy and to sanctify and to glorify; to take us right into heaven itself. The gospel works and will work until all that God has purposed by its means shall have been complete.”

This does not mean we get to be lazy, to rest on our laurals, to take a spiritual nap…we are still RUNNING, but delibertaly and with God’s plan in mind

We must understand that we still have a responsibilty to look at and examine our faith to see if it is genuine:

Philippians 2:12-13 “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

2 Cor 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”

James 2:14-26 “What use is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself. But someone will say, “You have faith; and I have works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS COUNTED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he…”

Gal 5:16-26 “But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you do not do the things that you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in step w…”

But yet we see so many around us failing the test and falling out of the race. Those who “deconstruct and compromise with the world.” Those who consider perseverance to be more than they can take and would rather give up their run in order to pursue other things.

Kevin Max - ex-vangelical

Marty Sampson - Hillsong worship leader and song writer, no longer a Christian

Francis Chan - Prosperity Gospel influence

Ravi Zacharius

Joshua Harris - author of “I kissed dating goodybye”

Beth Moore - embraced heresy

Rick Warren

And before we get an attitude of being “all holier than the list of people Scott just named” let’s remember that everyone on this list was once a highly respected and knowledgable leader in the Christian community…it could be any one of us! But for grace of God go I...

RC “No true belivier ever loses his salvation. To be sure, Christians fall and finally. We persevere not because of our strength but becuase of God’s grace that preserves us.”

The endurance that is displayed is ultimatly not our own, it is God’s gift to us.

Remeber that the race is “set before us”

-predestined / God has a plan for our sanctification!

Rom 8:28-30 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.”

Philipp 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Nothing can keep us from God

Rom 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

there is a path, a route, a track; there is a finish line! And it is all set up by God the Father, it has been paid for by God the Son, and it is sustained for us and in us by God the Spirit.

We do not determine the race, we either run it in obidience or we fall away in unbelif, there is no middle ground, we are either saved and we persevere or we are lost and fall away.

Fixing our eyes

We not only called to get rid of things, but also to take on the view of the Savior

We are called to give up sin and gain Christ!

In good running form you keep your head in a nuetral posistion, slighly elevated with your eyes on the horizon, the helps keep your airway open and body posture correct.

Running our Christian race we are to keep our eyes on Christ. We do this because He is the Author and Perfector pf our faith and the entire reason we can run in the first place.

Sometimes we loo around at other things. Even things that may seem “good” are no comparrison to the One who keeps us in the race.

This goes back to the idea of endurace, every single day we need to look at and focus on Christ. In every aspect of our lives.

looking at Christ and kiling sin

looking at Christ and praying

looking at Christ and being in the Word

looking at Chrsit and loving our spouse

looking at Christ and honoring our parents

looking at Christ and being humble and contrite

This is a marathon, not a sprint!

And to help us understand our own gaze we are told what Christ looked to...

For the joy

Heb 12:2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus endured so He could have the joy of accomplishing the Father’s will, how many of us see accomplishing the will of God as a joy? Normally, we do it begrudgingly at best. We can see it as a chore. A duty. A hindreance to other pleasures and enjoyments. But if do not see it as joy, we need to once again chech our hearts and see where we really stand.

Christ did it for joy (and love too, we must remeber that). But this is why we must consider Him.

Consider Him

Consider what He endured

Such a hosility of sinners...

Consider what He endured it for

The elect of God in obidience to the Father’s plan

Consider why His example can help us in our race

So that you will not grow weary fainting in heart - we have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood

Heb 12:4 “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.”

Christ led a sinless life and shed His blood in His own fight against sin

VotM - “We were bought with a price; we are not our own. We are not just free; we are free in Him and freed to do His will. We are His living sacrafices, and as such we make two commitments; We dont merely say “yes” to God, but we say “yes” period, we prepare ourselves to follow Him to any end.

So What?

We are not meant to cross the finish line alive, pending the return of Christ. We are called and meant to fling ourselves across the ribbon and into the arms of Christ.

2 Tim 4:7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”