He Endured
Notes
Transcript
Thank you for joining us tonight as we consider the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ for us. Let’s open the Word for a few moments together. The theme of our two concerts this Easter is “For the Joy Set Before Him,” which is taken from Hebrews 12:1-2. If you don’t know your Bible well, or even if you do, the significance of that simple phrase may be lost on you. So in an effort to make plain the power and t ruth of this amazing yet simple phrase, I’d like to walk us all through the whole sentence found in that passage, Hebrews 12:1-2, with a special emphasis on the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. So if you have your Bibles, please turn there now as I read the text aloud and begin with prayer. Hebrews 12:1-2
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.
Pray.
Overview
As we come to this long sentence in Hebrews 12:1-2, we see that the main subject-verb relationship is “Let us run with endurance the race set before us.” If we were to break down the structure of the surrounding material, which is all about this long-distance race that is the life of enduring faith, we might find these three elements, all of which are written as parallel phrases that support the main idea of running the race (read all three):
i) The Predecessors of our Race v1a
i) The Predecessors of our Race v1a
“Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”
“Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”
This references Hebrews 11, where we find the famous “hall of faith.” These are people from the beginning of history who trusted God’s word all the way to the end of their lives. Scan the text, reading the “by faith’s.” Look at what happened to all these people: Hebrews 11:35-38
Some were tortured… Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
ii) The Process of our Race v1b
ii) The Process of our Race v1b
“Lay[ing] aside every weight and sin which clings so closely”
“Lay[ing] aside every weight and sin which clings so closely”
The writer of Hebrews is contending that his readers must choose between their old sinful life, tied to this world; or the new one they’ve been called to endure for Jesus’ sake, one that’s defined by a heavenly perspective, that has a heavenly reward (12:2). That involves a commitment to holiness. And the perfect example of this is found in Jesus, to whom the author of Hebrews directs their attention next:
iii) The Perfecter of our Race v2
iii) The Perfecter of our Race v2
“Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...”
“Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...”
Read remainder of v2. Jesus started the Race, and He has finished it. He believed His Father’s words, came to do God’s will: John 6:38,
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
Because Jesus perfectly lived the life of faith, He is the very best example we could follow. Just as Jesus is “seated at the right hand of the throne of God” awaiting the kingdom promised to Him, so we have a reward awaiting us: that we will rule and reign with Him.
Transition:
So as we come to this text tonight and as we consider our theme for our Easter services this year, “For the Joy Set Before Him,” I’d like to ask a question only answered in Jesus:
What kind of faith is acceptable to God? How can we be in a right relationship with Him? Or, in the words of Hebrews 12:1-2,
What is enduring faith?
What is enduring faith?
Everyone believes in something or someone. But does it matter what or who we believe in, as long as we’re sincere? If we change our mind later, is that okay? According to Hebrews 12, the only kind of faith that matters is one that endures… one that imitates Jesus.
Before we can reach the finish line, we have to understand first what it means to enter the race. The resurrection of Christ that we celebrate on Easter Sunday doesn’t make any sense if we don’t consider why he had to suffer and die in the first place. His ascension to heaven means nothing if He didn’t first humble Himself and descend to our broken world. The promise of a future kingdom is meaningless if Jesus didn’t earn it for Himself and for us. So let’s look at this passage again and observe three characteristics of enduring faith that Jesus exemplifies perfectly for us, and let’s ask ourselves: do I have this kind of trust in God?
Let’s look at the first characteristic of enduring faith:
I. Enduring Faith Deals with Sin. v1
I. Enduring Faith Deals with Sin. v1
Imagine for a moment that you are watching a long-distance runner line up for a marathon. For my part, I don’t know if I would ever be so adventurous—I became a father about six months ago, so I’m actively working on a dad-bod so I can look the part. But just imagine this with me for a moment. You see this person show up for the marathon, get that piece of paper with his/her number on it and tape it to their shirt, fill up that water bottle, etc. They’ve got everything just right to ensure they have an ideal performance in the race.
Now imagine another runner comes up right behind them in the lineup, except this person has their training weights on. You know what I’m talking about? Those ankle weights and weight vests that long-distance runners sometimes use to build muscle tone? Yeah, imagine this other person is strapping those weights to their ankles and torso. What’s the first runner gonna say when they see this person weighed down with all this extra stuff?
This is what the author of Hebrews is saying when he says we must lay aside sin and every other distraction in our life. The life of faith is like a marathon, and if you’re a believer, you’re already running it. And there is plenty weighing each of us down:
secret sin struggles that cause shame, prompting us to hide our real faults from others;
addictions to work, sex, approval, power, pleasure, or anything else that doesn’t last;
even just disproportionate desires that threaten to unseat God from his primary place in our hearts.
These are all ankle weights in the life of a Christian. We have to set them aside if we want to run unhindered. If we really want to get to the finish line, we’ll dump the dead weight. Christian, what’s slowing you down? Are the muscles of your faith working overtime to compensate for your sinful choices? Has church become more of a band-aid for your blistering soul or a simple and refreshing reminder of where the finish line lies? Are you following the example of Jesus? Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Christian, are you denying your sinful passions and desires in light of future reward?
I recognize some of you here tonight may not have even reached the starting line in the marathon of faith. You haven’t even been qualified for the race yet. You don’t have a number to slap on your chest. Friend, there’s something you need to understand about the kind of faith this passage is talking about. You can’t even get to the starting line on your own. You see, in order to enter the race, you have to be righteous. A person who believes in Jesus is a righteous person. As Habakkuk 2:4 says,
...the righteous shall live by his faith.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Okay, so to have a right relationship with God, you have to be righteous. “Sure,” you say, “I’ve got faith. I believe God exists, I’m seeking Him in my life. I’m a good person. Righteous, even.” Here’s the problem with that. You and I and everybody else start out in life opposed to God. Our default setting is to wear so many ankle weights that it’s impossible to even walk. Look what the Apostle Paul writes about every single one of us, quoting the Old Testament in Romans 3:
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
As Paul describes us in Ephesians 2:1,
And you were dead in [your] trespasses and sins...
Have you ever seen a dead body run a marathon? I sure haven’t. Friend, unless God intervenes for you and me, we are dead bodies. There’s not even a spiritual pulse.
“How did it get this way, Dan? How can you say I’m opposed to God? I’m a pretty good person. I have a relationship with God. I pray! I give money to people in need and volunteer my time! I’m a great dad, and I have the dad-bod to prove it! I even go to Good Friday concerts sometimes!”
Sorry friend, but none of that matters. Here’s what the Bible says:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Sin separates us from God and causes spiritual death.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned...
Sin is lawlessness; it is rebellion against God’s perfect rule in our life. All it takes is one white lie, one lustful thought, one word of gossip, one approval-seeking gesture—and we fail the test.
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
For the wages of sin is death...
Wages are payment owed for work done. If God didn’t reward sin with eternal, hell-fire judgment, he’d be an unjust Judge over his universe. What kind of King doesn’t punish those who break his law?
So if we’re all dead bodies in desperate need of resurrection; we need to start to deal with sin. If you want into this race, God has to qualify you. You can’t sharpie a number onto your chest and fake it ‘til you make it. Friend, whatever it is that’s weighing you down:
maybe you’re angry with God because of the loss of someone close to you;
maybe you’re skeptical that giving up sin is really worth it;
or maybe you wonder if you’re beyond God’s power to change you...
You need to drop that weighted vest and recognize the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ. You see,
....The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you are hopeless about the future tonight, Jesus Christ has already fulfilled the hope waiting for you now.
If you are angry about injustice in your life tonight, Jesus Christ has already taken the full penalty of all of it and will one day make it right—including the injustices you have committed yourself.
If you are fearful He will leave you behind, Jesus Christ has promised, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Jesus has already done business with sin and death. He took on Himself your sins and mine on the cross of Calvary, bearing the full weight of ALL our consequences, representing us perfectly to God and paying the price of justice for us. And the free gift God now offers to each and every one of us because of Jesus is the life that Jesus now enjoys because of his victory over sin and death—He is seated at the right hand of His Father. Do you want that kind of life...eternal life? Yes, running the marathon of faith means we have to leave behind sin and Satan… but isn’t it better to look forward to the finish line than to play possum before the start?
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Friend, if you want to take part in the future glory of Jesus Christ (more on that this Sunday), you have to have the kind of faith that endures. You have to first deal with sin. You have to deal with it positionally—you have to know God personally by trusting in the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ alone to save you from your sins—and then you have to deal with it progressively—you have to kill sin and eliminate distractions every day, bit by bit. Confess and forsake your sin, then start following Jesus. He’s already run the race without any mistakes, and he can show you the way.
So… Once we start the race, that’s the hard part done, right? We’re all good at that point, right? Just a few steps and then the ribbon? No… It doesn’t quite work that way. There’s a reason the author of Hebrews uses the word “αγων” as “the race”—that’s where we get our English word “agony.”
There’s something you should understand about enduring faith: There are no shortcuts, and it will hurt. But someone with real trust in God’s promises considers the suffering worth it.
II. Enduring Faith Despises Shame and Suffering. v2a
II. Enduring Faith Despises Shame and Suffering. v2a
I use the word “despise” here the same way as the author of Hebrews: “to esteem lightly, to consider insignificant.”
You’ve heard tonight all the ways Jesus suffered and bore the ridicule of those who hated him. You heard a little about the beatings, the horrible shame and mockery of the Romans, and the ultimate punishment for a man who didn’t deserve it at all—public execution by extended cardiovascular and muscular torture on a Roman cross. If you don’t know, death by crucifixion is considered among historians to be one of the worst possible ways to go. Victims were often left for days struggling against the metal spikes driven through their ankles and wrists in order to push their bodies up enough to catch a breath, which caused excruciating pain to sear through their legs and arms, forcing them to succumb to their own weight again. Jesus had been beaten twice already by the time he was forced to carry the rough-hewn wooden cross out to Golgotha, one of which was the Roman scourging, which consisted of 39 heavy lashes with a whip, called a flagrum, which contained jagged bits of metal and bone in order to tear out muscle and skin and render internal organs unprotected from the elements. He was so beaten beyond recognition that they had to force a visitor, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross on his behalf. A conservative estimate states that Jesus lost so much blood that he went into hypovolemic shock, which caused him to collapse on the road to Golgotha and prompted him to ask for something to drink as his body made a feeble attempt to replenish his blood stores while open wounds in his back stained the wood upon which he would later die.
Jesus underwent all this suffering unjustly. He did not deserve it in the slightest.
Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit...
Jesus was willing to obey the will of God, to do whatever was asked of him by his Father, knowing full-well the suffering it would entail. He prayed just the night before he died: Luke 22:42
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
Do we have that same attitude? Does our so-called faith stand up to hardship? What would it take to get you to bend on your commitment to God? Does someone just have to get under your skin for your true colors to show?
I read a news article once about some social media influencers who had been making videos about how they were preparing for the marathon, getting all kinds of engagement online, all that. They even took a few clips of them before, during, and after the marathon, celebrating with their medals at the end.
It was found out sometime after the race that they had made use of certain “advantages” in the race. You see, their GPS data revealed that, for the vast majority of the race, they were traveling more than twice their normal running speed; and at one point, their history showed that they had even gone half a mile off the marathon course and pinged a visit at a local Starbucks.
Their fans were appalled to find out about their golf cart. They didn’t actually run the race, just a few miles separated by long, relaxing breaks with an electric fan in their faces as they passed all the people doing the real thing.
Their medals were later revoked, and they were asked to return them.
None of us will probably ever face the kind of suffering Jesus went through. But make no mistake: there are no shortcuts either. If you want to run the race of faith, there will be suffering. Just like a marathon runner, you have to bring your flesh into subjection and keep going. Christian, don’t give up. If you’re a believer here tonight, let me offer you some encouragement: Jesus will carry you through. If he can endure the cross for you, surely he will equip you to handle the “light, momentary afflictions” that beset us in this life. Think about what’s beyond the finish line. More on that in a second.
If you haven’t yet decided to look at Jesus and follow His example, consider what He says in Matthew 16:24:
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Don’t start following Jesus if you’re not yet prepared to suffer greatly for following Him. Whether you decide to follow Him or not, remember: He considered you worth suffering for every step of the way.
Let’s bring this home.
III. Enduring Faith Delights in Salvation. v2b
III. Enduring Faith Delights in Salvation. v2b
Now I don’t want to steal Pastor Jon’s thunder here too much, but a sermon about the Gospel is never complete without future joy. And we simply can’t wait until Sunday to find out at least a little bit what that entails. You see, the story about Jesus’ victory over death, Satan, and sin is far from over. So let’s ask ourselves the all-important question that we haven’t yet answered tonight: what motivated Jesus to endure all of this? Why’d He do it? Yes, He wanted to be obedient to His Father; yes, He wanted to redeem us from sin; but what does the author of Hebrews say was running through Jesus’ mind as the nails were running through his wrists?
He wanted to finish the race. He wanted to complete the faith, to demonstrate beyond doubt that we can trust Him, that our future is secure in Him. He wanted to sit down, His work finished, at the right hand of His Father, until God turns over His rule of the universe to His Son Jesus
And if you’re a believer, and you’ve read about the end times, you know just how excited and motivating that can be. Even though it may come out as begging for the finish line to arrive, you know deep down in your soul that what God has promised will come to pass. So
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,
Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
We are
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Have you lost sight of this, believer? Have Satan’s temptations to despair caused you to forfeit your future joy? Don’t you know it could be over any second, that Jesus could arrive to take you home any minute? Get up and keep running! He did it; with His power, so can you.
Friend, maybe you’re visiting with us tonight because someone invited you to join us. Maybe God brought you here after you found us online. Look at camera Maybe you’re watching this recording because someone sent it to you or thought of you during this service. Or maybe you’ve been coming here for awhile and this is all just now finally making sense. Are you absolutely certain that what lies beyond the finish line of your life is eternal joy and a fulfilled hope of life with God forever? On what is your hope built? On your own performance and training? Don’t forget—without Jesus, you’re just a corpse. No, friend, look to Jesus. He already did it all. He’s sitting at the right hand of His Father, all the work is done. You have to come to Him to get qualified, or you’ll have no hope of enduring to the end. You need the grace of Jesus to overcome temptation. You need the forgiveness of Jesus to be free from sin’s power. You need the joy of Jesus to endure suffering and shame. You need the perspective of Jesus to make it to the finish line. Don’t leave here tonight without settling this matter once and for all.
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”
Will Jesus greet you at the finish line with “well done, good and faithful servant”? or will He turn away, saying, “I never knew you; depart from me, you worker of iniquity”? Do you have the kind of faith that parts with sin, pulls through suffering, and presses for joy?
Do you have enduring faith?
Do you have enduring faith?
PRAY.
