Enduring to the End

Introduction:

Passage:

Main Idea: The Christian life is marked by endurance.

Introduction:

Transition: And so, we get to chapter 12 and look at the next piece of the puzzle. READ 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, 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.

Main Idea: The Christian life is marked by endurance.

Significant Words:

Word Study #1: Endurance

ὑπομονή (hypomonē), Noun, means to stand behind, stand firm in, hold fast.

Ø Explanation: Have you ever ran more than just a couple miles? I try to run often. Normally two to two.5 miles at a time.

Ø ¼ mile. ½ mile. 1 mile.

Ø However, I do have a motivation. I have a hope. That running and working out keeps my body able to keep up with three little ones the way it should. That running and working out fights’ depression and lethargy. That running and working out inspires me and teaches me discipline. So, because I have this motivation, this want, this goal, I endure the hard days. Maybe even missing my goal! I rejoice when I overcome.

This is the picture that our author has in mind when he speaks of running a race. One who has trained, signed up, and is running for his reward.

The word race does not connotate a passive luxury, it is grueling, demanding, and in need of the most discipline and determination.

We could even go a little further and describe this as a relay race. There was a forerunner, Christ, and others that have gone before you, the saints, and now it’s your turn to run. But what else does the bible say about endurance? Come with me to to see Jesus’ words.

ENDURANCE

· Jesus’ Words/ : Enduring [suffering] gains eternal life.

· John’s Words/ & 14:12: ^^Same sufferings as mentioned above^^

· Contextual Words/ : Enduring [suffering] accomplishes God’s will and receives the promised peace in this life and the next

· Paul’s Words/ : Here we find the cycle of a Christian’s life. If we did not endure suffering, the cycle would be broken, or stopped. It would be a mark of illegitimate faith, or weak faith.

Summary – So, a Christian’s life is MARKED by endurance. Note that we are not running against each other as Christians[2]. We are all running the same race, looking forward to the same goal. We must know that we are running against Satan. Satan and his minions will do anything they can to stop you from pressing forward delighting in the Glory of God. Including but not limited to using any distraction, any whisper, any person, including your own mind, to turn your eyes away from Christ.

So, how do we endure?

1. Observation #1: Recall the example of the saints (v1a)

- Explanation: What better way to know how to act than looking to examples. Chapter 11 gives us great examples of faith. But we are to even exceed those.

- . Specifically verse 40

- Illustration: 9-time gold medalist, Carl Lewis is one of the greatest runners of all time. He earned four track and field goal medals in 1984 at the age of 23. What drove Carl Lewis to such a zeal that he would endure such heavy training to win? He wanted to be better than the 1936 four gold medalist, Jesse Owens.

Jeffrey Marx, who helped Lewis write the books "Inside Track" and "One More Victory Lap," credits a certain zeal for reaching the Olympic zenith: "Carl was a huge goal setter. He would write goals and put them on the wall. That's unusual for anyone, but especially for a kid at such a young age.

"Carl was probably the most locked-in young athlete in the history of any sport. He had a tremendous ability to block out other things and zero in on where he wanted to go. He was unbelievably focused on his hopes, dreams and desires."[3]

To endure in the race, we must learn from those who ran before us. Setting goals, learning from their triumphs AND their failures.

2. Observation #2: Remove the hurdles (v1b)

- Explanation: Endurance requires activity. Here we have two things we must be active to remove. Weight is equal to something that holds us down by distracting us and dampening our enthusiasm. Something that is unnecessary. Most of the time it is a habit that we say, “what’s wrong with this”? When we should be asking, “does it help us run”?

Sin is our disobedience to God. There is a definite article in front of the word sin, which translates to “the sin”[4]. Probably meaning a lack of faith. Every time we doubt God our feet are tied up. Our race is jeopardized, and our cycle of Christlike living is hindered.

- Supporting Scripture: – We are able to be led astray from our faith by distraction and hardened by sin.

- Illustration: The Olympic runners practically run without anything on. They have for centuries. Checking weight is also daily routine for runners. The runner cannot afford anything that might slow them down or hinder their speed!

We must remove that which keeps us from running. Always being willing to comb our lives of the worthless.

Without a removable of weight and sin, you will collapse with exhaustion.

3. Observation #3: Remain focused on Christ (v2a-b)

- Explanation: If there were a picture or an example, we should look to on how to run the race well, we look foremost at Jesus Christ!

- Supporting Scripture: Go back to the beginning of the argument of Better Than. Back to & 2. , he isn’t just a good example, he is the exact imprint of the Glory of God. told us that He is our salvation because he was perfect through suffering. &9, He was God’s son, but learned obedience through suffering and was made perfect! And he gives us energy to run for he perfects our faith!

- Illustration: What would happen if carl Lewis were to fix his gaze on his feet? What if he were to fix his gaze on the crowd?

The cloud of witnesses is not our focus, our own bodies are not our focus, Christ is our focus.

He is our author and our perfecter. He is our strength.

4. Observation #4: Remember why you are running (v2 c-e)

- Explanation: Heaven was not Christ’s reward. Christ ran for the Joy set before him of glorifying his father, he ran to sit next to the father as he accomplished His will.

- Supporting Scripture: – The Glory of God is what Jesus ran to do. Even in dying, it was to Glorify God by accomplishing his will!

- Illustration: Carl Lewis had a goal he wanted to hit. But even by himself he knew his body was feeble, endurance was going to be key.

o “As Lewis glittered in track and field, he gutted out a particular hindrance. "Longevity. That was the main issue," Lewis, 55, told IBD. "It was crucial to stay around long enough to win the medals."[5]

If you do not endure, you evade…

As Christians, we must run with the same goal as Christ. We must not run merely for Heaven. If we have given our life to Christ, we have already gained that! God has given you work to do in which he desires you to glorify Him. You do not have all the time in the world to finish it. So, Run! If you are running merely for heaven, merely to escape the fire that is never quenched, your faith is weak. Your endurance will never last. If you are running to appease your guilty conscience you run selfishly. We run only to Glorify God. This race is NOT about US. This race is about God our Holy Heavenly Father.

Conclusion: Christ will return for what he has won.

Christ will return for what he has won.

- He will blot out His enemies from the face of the earth.

- He will reconcile those who finish the race with God

and they will receive their reward.

Whether this happens before or after our race is over, just as sure as Christ’s coming was, so is his second coming. He is the King of Kings who has sat down at the right hand of the father, awaiting His second coming, the time of judgment, the time of reaping. Sitting down, jogging, or being a mere spectator of the race results in a loss. A loss of God’s glory. The lake of fire is reserved for those outside of the race. But we are not like those who shrink back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and preserve their souls (). In any amount of suffering, we must be marked and compelled by endurance to continue running…

Invitation: I urge you today to put your hope in Christ. Delight and take refuge in your creator. For if you are not with him, you are against him. Today, make a commitment to begin the race. Obviously, there will be times in life when the weights will slow us down and when the sin which clings so tightly will impede our running. These things will trouble our fellow Christians, mar our witness, and grieve our Lord. But we must not stay there! We must look to Christ who gives grace and is the only one that can forgive sin and empower you once again to run with full speed. Know that you CAN endure, because HE HAS endured. If you have been jogging or have sat down, Get up! The God of grace is begging you! For, we know that we do not run perfectly, but as Paul declares in “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”

[1] MacArthur 372

[2] MacArthur 374.

[3] https://www.investors.com/news/management/leaders-and-success/carl-lewis-struck-gold-in-his-long-olympic-run/

[4] MacArthur 377

[5] Ibid