Sermon Tone Analysis

Proposition: We receive faith as a free gift so that we may follow in obedience and love for the glory of God through all the earth.

Introduction

Introduction

Who here likes to run?

What is wrong with you people?

There are people out there who will spontaneously combust unless they are able to get out and run a bajillion miles per day and to them I say.

What is wrong with you?

So a little trivia for you, how long is a marathon race?

You know that because you’ll see all the stickers on the back of cars.

But do you know why it is 26.2 miles?

Legend has it that a Greek soldier ran from the town of Marathon to Athens, which measures out to 26.2 miles, to report a victory over the invading Persians.

This is before any sort of telegram system or anything like that.

Nobody was snapchatting the battlefield saying, “we out here and we won this piece.”

So they sent a runner, he storms into a great hall in Athens to report their victory and right as he arrives, he drops dead… you know why? BECAUSE NO ONE IS MEANT TO RUN THAT FAR!!!

There’s nothing chasing you.

I mean I could probably run as much and as fast as you if I were being chased by a clown or a yellow jacket or something.

Guys and girls, I’m not afraid of much but I have to tell you, clowns and anything that can sting you… that does it for me.

So under those circumstances, I’ll peel outta here like Forrest Gump looking for Jenny.

I’ve tried running to get in better shape, and I’ve even gotten to the point where I thought to myself, “you know, I’m not half bad at this.

I hate it.

But I’m not half bad at this.”

But that’s all until I met the likes of one Robert Post over there.

If you didn’t know Robert is the Flash.

You’ll see him running throughout town in his little spandex suit.

But My first day here, Robert asked me if I liked to run.

I told him that I’ve tried in the past and that I’m not halfway bad at it.

So like a great friend he invited me out for a run.

I accepted his invitation and met him out that evening on the greenway.

I looked at him… I looked at me… and told him, “you know you run faster than me, right?”

He said, “aw man, we’re just out here chatting and getting a sweat in anyways, come on.”

So we start, and we chat, 1 mile.

We run some more, chat some more, 2 miles.

We start branching up into 3 miles and Robert is chatting with his buddy a bit, I am getting a bit winded at this point.

He tries to ask me a question and I just barely stumble through my answer as I gasp for dear life.

We finally hit our halfway point where we’ll turn back and run back to our cars at Kroger, and in the blink of an eye Robert and his friend just dust me.

You need endurance to be a runner.

You need to be able to fight through pain.

Now I don’t quite have what it takes to hang with the likes of Robert Post on the greenway, but we do need endurance to run through the course of this life.

And that is exactly what we read about in

CIT: Guys, if there is one thing that I want you to pull from tonight it is that God has provided for you and me, and all of His people a way to endure all trial and all struggle through the work that has already been done for us through Jesus.

12 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnessesf surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.

Let us run with enduranceg the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus,B the source and perfecterC of our faith.

For the joy that lay before him,D he endured the cross, despising the shame,h and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

f ,,

g ;

12 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.

Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.

For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

B Or us, looking to Jesus

CIT: Guys, if there is one thing that I want you to pull from tonight it is that God has provided for you and me, and all of His people a way to endure all trial and all struggle through the work that has already been done for us through Jesus.

C Or the founder and completer, or pioneer and perfecter

D Or who instead of the joy lying before him

Proposition: We’ve been given Jesus to help us endure.

We have faith in Him and upon receiving that gift of faith that means 3 things for you and me.

First, we are made right with God through faith in Jesus alone.

That faith, by nature compels us outward.

And lastly that Jesus is the finisher of our faith.

h ; ;

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

vv. - Right standing with God is by faith alone.

Forefathers of the Faith - “Therefore”

Salvation by grace through faith.

Even the capacity to believe in God is only possible because God reveals himself through creation, through the testimony of everyone who has gone before us, but most importantly through Scripture!

Exposition

We see here in verse 1, right off the bat, there’s that beautiful conjunction, whenever we see a therefore we must as what is it, “__________.”

That’s right.

We’ve expounded upon what it the writer of Hebrews is talking about here as we’ve spoken about these Old Testament heroes, like Noah, like Abraham, like Moses, like Rahab and so on and so forth.

We see that Noah, despite no waters in sight took God at His Word, had faith, and built an Arc so that God might preserve and once again flourish a people for Himself.

We see Abraham, despite barrenness and being led out of his native land took God at His Word, had faith and obeyed.

We see that Moses encountered a burning bush, heard the word of God, trusted it and leaned into faith as he led the hebrews out of the captivity of Egypt.

And by faith Rahab, an “outsider,” aided God’s people so that they wouldn’t be captured and killed.

Over and over again we see that yes the Old Testament is absolutely littered with heroes, these forefathers of the faith, of whom we would do well to study and admire, but much more we should absolutely be dumbfounded with how God made a way over and over again for people who over and over again wandered and came back, wandered and came back, wandered and came back.

This is the Hall of faith but we would do well to better see it as a Hall of Fame of faith in how God has remained faithful and continues to remain faithful to this day, unto many people who waver.

Abraham doubted.

Noah stumbled, Moses sinned.

So why are all of these figures worthy of mention in the “Hall of Faith” as it were?

Illustration

Illustration

If you ask me, they have about as much standing in this “Hall of Fame” as Barry Bonds in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

If you didn’t know, Barry Bonds is the all time home-run leader in Major League baseball.

However after he retired it was found out that he was an avid user of steroids.

No doubt what he accomplished was amazing, but there is also no doubt that he cheated and he lied.

While each of these figures of the faith no doubt performed great and mighty things for God, the reason for their inclusion is not because of how phenomenal they are, but how phenomenal God is in His work through them.

I know I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, God has a habit of working through messy, messy people to accomplish His awesome work.

Application

So what does this mean for you and me?

It means that no matter what mess you’re tangled up in, no matter what sort of past we’re dealing with, God chooses to reach out into our lives, work in our hearts and work through our bodies to shine his glory to all the earth.

You struggle, that’s ok.

You doubt, thats ok.

You are never too far gone or out of the reach of God’s gracious and loving embrace.

Transition

So how do we respond to such grace and love?

v.1 - Faith by nature reaches out.

A great cloud of witnesses… - People are watching.

Children and their parents.

Run the race with endurance.

- 1 Cor 10:13

Illustration - Running with Post

Because of Jesus, we are sustained all through trial.

For God’s glory.