Hebrews 12:1-2 - Look to Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
As we come to our Scripture today, I imagine walking down a hallway of paintings of the saints of old. Looking to our right and left, we see figures like Noah, Moses, Gideon, Samson, and David - countless Old Testament believers down this Hall of Faith that we just discussed as we went through Hebrews 11.
Coming to the end of this hall though, there is Someone much greater. The other saints of old become almost impossible to see because of the amazing glory at the end of this hallway. That is because we now come to Jesus Christ - Whose glory far outshines anyone and everyone.
At the end of this Hall of Faith lies the Hallmark of Faith.
A hallmark is something that certifies the standard of purity.
Jesus is certainly that hallmark. Fully pure. Fully perfect. Fully authentic.
Whereas this Hall of Faith was filled with imperfect people who did great things for God, Jesus is perfect and is God-made-flesh.
This entire Hall of Faith now all looks to where the spotlight is at the end of the hall - namely on Christ.
And they bear witness to us to do the same.
Join me as we read Hebrews 12:1-2…
Read Full Scripture:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Prayer
Today we will see three important aspects of how we are to live our lives as believers. The first is…
I. We Must Look to Jesus in Light of This Compelling Crowd (1a)
I. We Must Look to Jesus in Light of This Compelling Crowd (1a)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…
What great cloud of witnesses does the author mean here? This is where a chapter break can confuse readers. We know that chapters and verses were added much later – likely around the 16th century. This great cloud of witnesses is mentioned in Hebrews 11 in the “By Faith” or “Hall of Faith” chapter that we referenced already.
Last week, we also discussed mile markers in Scripture that encourage us to keep going and endure in our race called the Christian life. These saints of old have borne witness to the faithfulness of God.
We know that the Lord will help us finish our race because He helped them finish their races as well!
Some have believed that this cloud of witnesses are spectators watching us run our races. However, in context, we actually see that the author is, instead, encouraging us to look at them. We are to see how God has helped them finished their race. Yet, our ultimate focus here is not on these saints of old - but instead on their Lord who empowered them to complete the race as we will see in verse 2.
This compelling crowd of believers who have finished their races before us testify and bear witness to the faithfulness of God. We can have faith because we know that God has empowered these people to finish their races!
The Christian race is a hard one. Jesus tells us this clearly in John 16:33:
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Tribulation means severe suffering, affliction, difficulty, and distress. This race is not for the faint of heart! It is a difficult race. But it is a fulfilling race.
As we focus on running, we must look to Jesus in light of others as well. These saints of old should inspire us. This is one of the reasons why the church is so important.
We can easily become discouraged. However, something that can raise our spirits is hearing how the Lord is working or has worked in another believer's life. Hearing how God is working in others strengthens our faith and resolve to continue running harder and faster after Christ.
Can you think of a time where someone spurred you along in your race?
Perhaps you were at a point of fatigue. You were struggling and someone was brought into your life that fulfilled Hebrews 10:24:
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
This brother or sister in the faith stirred you up or spurred you on. Their encouragement got you picking up your pace, focusing harder on Christ, and running with purpose.
As we run our race today, may we remember those who have borne witness to the amazing work of Christ in their lives. May we also continue to surround ourselves with those today in our church who are spurring us on to continue looking to Jesus as well. This is why we are not to neglect meeting together as Hebrews 10:25 tells us. We need to be encouraged by others and need to encourage others ourselves as we run our races.
Next we see that…
Scripture References: Hebrews 11, John 16:33, Hebrews 10:24-25
II. We Must Look to Jesus While We Run Our Own Challenging Course (1b,c)
II. We Must Look to Jesus While We Run Our Own Challenging Course (1b,c)
… let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
The remainder of verse 1 is packed with wonderful lessons for us as we run this race. As we go through this, we come to three main ways that we are to run our race.
The Three Ways in Which We Must Run Are:
1 - We Must Run with Vigilance (the race that is set before us)
Vigilance means keeping careful watch. We must keep careful watch over the race that we have been called to run.
Before getting into the first part of this verse, look at the end. There is a race that is set before us. This means that our race has been marked out before us or laid out before us.
When an earthly race is being designed, there are markers that are placed to tell runners which way to go. The race is marked out and the runners are to follow the markers in order to get to the finish line.
We are shown here that God has sovereignly marked out each of our races.
In fact, listen to Acts 17:26
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
We learn here that we are born in the exact place and at the exact time that God has sovereignly ordained for our lives.
In fact, there is a reason that you are here today. This is one of those mile markers in your life to remind you of the goodness of Jesus. One of those markers that reminds you to look to Jesus as you run.
And understanding this, we know that each believer’s race is marked out differently, yet sovereignly by God. Each one of us has our own challenges and difficulties as well as our own encouragements along the way.
Our job is run the race that God has marked out before us.
So often people like to look at someone else’s race and want to run it instead. Brothers and sisters, be faithful in the race God has marked out for you.
May we spend less time saying what we would do in someone else’s race and more time running our own races carefully watching with all vigilance!
This also brings us to an important point about running well.
The race of the Christian life isn’t a competition with other believers. We aren’t trying to outrun the people in the lanes beside us. This can be where the running metaphor falls a little short. In an earthly race, many runners focus on the back of the head of the runner in front of them. They do this in order to seek to match and then beat their stride in order to pass them.
In our race, we will see in verse two that our job is to focus on Christ alone as we run - we are to look to Christ as we have repeated already. Our competition is not with other believers. Instead, our competition is against sin. We run not by our works or effort but fueled by the Holy Spirit. We run focused on Christ as we fight against sin and against the enemy of our souls.
And as we run this race, we are given some great advice on how to run efficiently, which brings us to our second way in which we must run…
2 - We Must Run Without Hindrance (let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely)
When runners train to run, many wear ankle weights. As they walk throughout their day and do low impact workouts, these ankle weights strengthen their legs and core. Then when the time for the race comes, they throw off these weights and feel much lighter.
No serious runner would ever think about keeping these ankle weights on during a race! Why? Because they slow you down significantly!
The author tells us to lay aside every weight. This first reference doesn’t necessary refer to sinful things. These weights may be things that are not inherently sinful. It may be a hobby, a program that you participate in, a place you like to go, or even a group of people that you like to hang out with. The examples are somewhat endless. However, when you look at how you spend your time in these situations - the question becomes:
Is this use of my time hindering my race?
I am not talking about an occasional vacation or occasional leisure time. But I am talking about regular use of our time in things that do not help us run better. Regular use of our time that is not making us more holy - not equipping us with perseverance - not encouraging us to run with more purpose - not opening up doors for Gospel conversations and ministry opportunities.
We need to take an inventory of our time and be sure that we are using it wisely for Christ. May we not waste our lives.
However, there are hindrances that are overtly sinful. There are weights of sin that can cling so closely. (see picture)
This is a great imagery for sin. It may feel like a weight on our backs. It may also feel like a vest tightening around our chest and restricting our breathing. Sin enslaves all who follow it. There is a reason the Bible compares sin to slavery (Titus 3:3, Hebrews 2:14-15).
The people of this world may feel like they are directing the affairs of their own lives. They may state that they don’t want to submit to God because they want to be their own god. However, they remain slaves to sin and slaves of their father the devil. They are deceived into thinking that they are living without any bondage - all the while being shackled to sin.
Sin is parasitic. It always overpromises and underdelivers. It always takes but never gives.
Older versions refer to this as a besetting sin. A besetting sin is one that seems to more easily ensnare you. Each of us have different besetting sins.
What is your besetting sin, my friends?
What is the sin that trips you up the most? Maybe there is even more than one. Common ones include pride, lust, entertainment addiction, phone addiction, materialism, your speech, sports addiction, gambling, slothfulness, worldliness, among others.
Each of these besetting sins takes our eyes off of our Savior and keeps us from running our race properly.
May today be the day that you cast off the sin that clings so closely - the day that you cast off every weight - even the things that aren’t inherently evil - and run your race in faith and with your focus solely on Jesus.
And finally…
3 - We Must Run with Endurance (let us run with endurance)
Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Again, we discussed this imagery last week as well.
How do we run? We run with endurance.
What is endurance?
It means to continue moving forward despite whatever difficulties might arise. It is the ability to withstand hardship and adversity.
Theologian Joel Beeke through his study counted some 96 times that the author of Hebrews encourages believers to persevere and endure.
Brothers and sisters - how do we know if we have endurance? We must be tested.
God allows the trials of our lives to help train us up in endurance.
Listen to Romans 5:3-5:
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Listen to this order… Suffering --> Endurance --> Character --> Hope
Why does God allow suffering? So that we can exercise endurance. Why does God cause us to have to endure? So that He can grow us in character? Why does God encourage godly character? Because this leads to hope which as we learned in Hebrews 11:1, leads to faith:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Faith comes from having an assured hope. It is a sure hope because Jesus is our living hope (1 Peter 1:3). That is what we are celebrating today! The resurrection of Jesus Christ who lived the perfect life that we could not live, died on the cross, and rose three days later.
We can endure because we know that Jesus endured on the cross as we will see in verse 2.
Before getting to our final point and getting to verse two, there is something really important we need to know about this race.
Salvation is not the gift at the end of the race - it is the ticket that gets you into the race. Instead, the end of the race brings us into the rewards that God has in store for us.
We run not for salvation. We run because we are saved!
For some of you here, you might not really understand anything about what it means to be a Christian. You aren’t even in the race yet. You may be trying to figure out why you can’t even seem to get out of the starting block without falling to your face.
This is because the Christian life is impossible for one who is not born again - not a new creation - not saved.
May today be the day that you fully repent, or turn from your sin, and truly place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Jesus requires an ‘all in’ commitment. This isn’t just a head knowledge - it requires a saving knowledge - a complete dedication to Christ alone. Our life must fully be His. We are to turn away from sin and turn to Christ.
Are you willing to cast aside the sins that cling so closely and take on the righteousness of Christ. He promises that if you repent and trust in Him that He will take your sin and nail it to cross and clothe you in His own righteousness.
Is there something in your life that is clinging to you or something you are clinging to that is preventing you from coming to Jesus today?
Ask the Lord to cast it away from you. Ask Him to save you and deliver you.
Friend, you cannot clean yourself up before coming to Christ. You can’t fix your life. Your only hope is to fall down in humility, repent of your sins, and ask Jesus to save you. He will take care of the hard work of sanctifying you - or making you more like Himself - cleaning up the sinfulness of your life. But first, you need to trust in Him and turn from your sin.
If you are ready to do that today, please talk with me after the service. I would love to discuss what it means to follow Jesus.
For those of you are in Christ and are in the race already: Is there something slowing you down in your run?
Is there a besetting sin in your life that is keeping you from running well?
Ask the Lord to remove it far from you. Ask Him to give you a greater heart for Him. Ask that He help you love Him more than all of the things of this earth.
May the things of this earth grow strangely dim as you focus your eyes solely on Him.
Which brings us to our last point…
Scripture References: Acts 17:26, Titus 3:3, Hebrews 2:14-15, Romans 5:3-5, Hebrews 11:1, 1 Peter 1:3
III. We Must Look to Jesus as We Are Captivated by Christ (2)
III. We Must Look to Jesus as We Are Captivated by Christ (2)
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Running this race requires us to look to the One Who blazed the trail for the rest of us - namely Jesus Christ.
The author describes the race that Jesus ran on earth with four overarching descriptors.
1 - The Resume of His Race
We are told that Jesus is the founder and perfector of our faith.
The word founder here can also mean pioneer, author, or champion. In Hebrews 2:10 this same Greek word was used to describe Jesus as the founder of our salvation. And now we see that He is also the founder of our faith.
When we put these two words together - founder and perfector - we see that our faith comes from Him as a free gift as we see in Ephesians 2:8-9, and that He is the One Who brings it to perfection - or completion - in the end as well.
He has founded our faith, and He has finished our faith. In other words, He is the reason we are in the race, and He will carry us to the finish line.
Jesus brings a resume of perfection. When we come to Christ in repentance and faith, we are given His imputed righteousness - meaning that He credits His righteousness to our account.
We are given His resume, and He takes our rap sheet.
Praise God for His wonderful grace and mercy.
Next we are told why He ran…
2 - The Reason for His Race
Jesus ran for the joy that was set before Him.
What joy was this?
First and foremost, He ran for the glory of His Heavenly Father. We are told that everything He did was for His Father. Listen to Jesus praying to the Father…
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
Next we know that He ran for the glory that was going to be revealed to Him. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (Philippians 2:11).
Lastly, we know that there is joy because He is bringing all of those who are His into eternal glory with Him.
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
Jesus says that no one will be plucked out of the Father’s nor His hand (John 10:28-29). He will deliver all of those who are His unto eternal life.
Note this last cause of joy for our Savior. He completed His race because of joy that He would have from saving you! Friends, if you have not done so yet - come to Jesus in faith and repentance. Turn from your sin and trust in Him for salvation. Increase His joy by coming to Him in faith.
Luke 15:10 states:
Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
All heaven rejoices at the salvation of a sinner who repents and trusts in Jesus Christ. May His goodness and kindness lead you to repentance (Romans 2:4).
Next we are told of…
3 - The Rigor of His Race
Here we see this word endured again. We were told to endure as we continue running our race. But Jesus endured the most difficult race anyone has or will ever run. He has endured the cross.
Part of following Christ means taking up our own crosses (Luke 9:23). However, the cross Jesus bore was far heavier and greater than anything anyone has ever borne before.
We can’t imagine the physical pain He bore. After significant beatings followed by 40-1 lashings, He was forced to carry the cross beam on His macerated back. He was then nailed to a cross with nails through his hands and his feet.
And then there was the mental pain. As He hung there, He was shamed by those who watched - mocking Him, cursing Him.
Finally, He suffered spiritual agony as the Father poured out all of the wrath that we deserved on Him. The punishment that we deserved for our sin was all placed upon Jesus Who died in our place.
And Jesus willingly took all of this. We are told that He did it despising the shame.
What does it mean that He despised its shame?
It means He completely disregarded all of the shame. He counted it as nothing when compared to the glory to be revealed. He seems to treat His suffering lightly like Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18:
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Jesus was able to endure the rigors of His race because He was looking toward eternity. We must run our race in the same way - knowing that as hard as some of the legs of our races may be - it all pales in comparison to the race Jesus ran - and it all pales in comparison to our eternal life to come.
And finally we come to…
4 - The Result of His Race
Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. This is the final time that we will see Psalm 110:1 quoted in the book of Hebrews. It is quoted some 22 times in the New Testament with five of these being in the book of Hebrews alone. It is the most often Scripture of the Old Testament quoted in the New Testament.
The right hand is a place of authority and favor. 90% of people are right-handed. Thus to be on the right hand is considered a place of power and honor.
Jesus ran the perfect race. He never stumbled, never tripped, never fell. His stride was perfect. His timing was perfect.
And because of His perfect race, we are able to be made perfect in eternity by His gracious saving and sanctifying work in our lives.
Praise Jesus for finishing well.
Scripture References: Hebrews 2:10, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 17:4, Philippians 2:11, John 6:39, John 10:28-29, Luke 15:10, Romans 2:4, Luke 9:23, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Psalm 110:1
Conclusion:
As we come to a close, I want to finish with a story about two plowmen of old who were plowing with oxen.
At the completion of their plowing, the farm owner came out to evaluate their work (see the picture).
As he looked at the first man’s plowing job (the one on the left), it was completely crooked. It was a mess. The farm owner asked the man what he focused on as he was plowing. The man said he just watched his own furrows. He followed what he had done before. In other words, he followed his own way.
The farm owner then looked at the second man’s work. It was perfectly straight. He asked the man how he was able to keep his lines straight and the man replied - I saw that straight tree line at the edge of the field and continued to follow it.
Friends, we need to be like this man who looked at the right place in order to run his race.
Where do we look? We are to look to Jesus. Like the saints of old who kept their gaze toward Christ, we must keep our gaze there as well. As we run our challenging course, we must remain captivated by Christ.
As we leave this place today, be sure that you have looked toward Jesus in faith and trust and repentance first of all. If you haven’t made that decision yet, talk with me after the service, spend some time in prayer during this last song. Be sure that today you make the most important decision in your life - namely to follow Jesus. I will be up here if you need to pray with me during this last song as well.
And for those of us who are in Christ - be sure that you continually look toward Jesus. Don’t look at the world - don’t look at yourself - look toward Christ.
