Untitled Sermon

Let’s look at this first phrase. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” At first glance, that be sound really confusing, especially if you try to picture it in your head. In terms of who the witnesses are, many people believe that this is referring to their loved ones who have passed on and gone to heaven. It has a sort of “feel good” emotion to it because as you run your race here in the world, they’re watching over you every step of the way. But unfortunately, as good as that may sound, I don’t believe that is the right answer because of the word “therefore.” What this word tells us is that there is something before these verses that informs our passage today. So in order to make sense of who these witnesses actually are, we are going to need to go back to chapter 11.

If you aren’t very familiar with Hebrews 11, you should know that it also goes by the name the “Hall of faith.” You know how there’s a hall of fame for the football players of the past or baseball or whatever? Well, the “hall of faith” it referred to as that today because it outlines some of the greatest people of faith in the Old Testament. In total, there are 16 people mentioned by name, and even more are alluded to. You have people like Abraham who was 100 years before he had a child but kept faith in the promises of God. You have Joseph mentioned because of his faith in the plans of the Lord when he was treated unjustly. You have Rahab who hid the spies and so on. And the entire reason that this was written was to show the current Jewish audience what their ancient ancestors were like so that they may be spurred on to be the same way. The author wanted to drive home the truth that, as God was faithful to those before you who suffered, he will be faithful to you in your suffering.

In fact, the faithfulness of God and the promises of God were shown to this Hebrew audience even more explicitly than the heroes of faith because, while the Old Testament heroes were required to have faith in a Messiah that was coming, but had not yet arrived, these Jews live post-resurrection. Remember, that these Old Testament people still lived under the sacrificial system, meaning they had to sacrifice animals to atone for sin over and over and over again, but these Jews didn’t have to cling to a prophecy that had not come to completion because at this point, it has! They knew of the coming of Jesus and that he died for their sins. They knew that he defeated sin and deaths power through his resurrection from the grave, and because of the world-changing truth, their hearts should be strengthened to press on, even in the midst of much suffering.

So now we know who the witnesses are, they’re the Old Testament heroes of faith. And that makes way more sense now when we read “therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” So what this means is “because the Lord kept his promises to your Old Covenant ancestors and were direct witnesses and receivers of His faithfulness, you can endure trial.”

I wonder if that’s a practice you make in your own life. How often do you read your bible and see testimonies of the Lord’s faithfulness, or how often to you see the Lord at work in the hearts and lives of your brothers and sisters in Christ and find comfort that He will do the same to you? It makes sense to do that, doesn’t it? Because if you’re both Christians, what makes you think that he would keep his promises to your friend but that he wouldn’t do the same thing for you? I think sometimes we get caught up in the details of how faithfulness is shown to people. Because the reality is that something fantastic can happen to one of our friends or family members, and our first inside reaction is “how come God didn’t do that for me?” The truth is that God is not going to show is faithfulness to his children in all of the same ways, and if it were for your greatest good that you get what your friend got, then you would get that too. We cannot rely on how the Lord will be faithful to us, but we can rely on the promise that He will remain faithful to the end. Look at the next phrase.

“Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely and let us run…”

Notice the word “also.” That was put them intentionally to show that these Jews needed to follow the example that was set by their ancestors. In order for them to run properly they needed to be free from weight and from sin. And I don’t think this is a concept that’s too hard to understand. During a race that is meant to spur one on to holiness, sin in your life is going to be a massive problem. But that really isn’t the question here. If you are a Christian here this morning, then you know that sin is going to deter you from holiness. It is a stumbling block. It is a trap. Being aware of that isn’t the problem, the problem that we face in this area is that we would rather run slow in order to hold on to that one sin in our lives that we hold close to our hearts. And if you’re wondering which sin that is for you, it’s probably the first one you thought of when I just said that.

We can say all day Christians should strive to be sinless and godly. We know the concept, but when it comes to the practice of laying it aside, we simply don’t want to. And do you know what’s so dangerous about that? Because sin grows so gradually in our lives, we don’t realize that we are being weighed down more and more every second we hold onto that sin.

Have you ever had something like a battery-power car with a little controller thing that allowed you to drive it around the yard or on your driveway or something? Well what happens over time as you use the batteries, they are going to start slowly dying and slow down the car, but you really don’t notice how slow the car got until you change the batteries and the car goes so much faster because it has full power again.

This is what sin does to us. It slows us down little by little, to the point where we don’t even necessarily feel it. Friends, do you love your sin? If you love your sin and have not repented from it, it will kill you. You know what sin is doing as it clings closely to you? It’s wrapping its serpent-like body around you slowly constricting you until any hint of spiritual life in you is gone, or to keep with the flow of the text, the weight of sin will grow heavier and heavier until it crushes you. Let me be clear. I am not saying that you can lose salvation, but what I am saying is that repeatedly indulging in sin unbothered may be a sign that you are not saved, and friend, if this is you, I would urge you to repent and turn to Jesus Christ who died on the cross to save sinners like you and me. Lay aside your sin and run to Him.

Only when the weight of sin has been thrown off our shoulders by the grace and mercy of Jesus are we going to be able to run. Does this mean that it will be easy? Absolutely not. But what it does mean is that we will be able to more clearly see and love Jesus inspite of the suffering we endure. The more you love your sin, the more you hate Jesus, but on the other hand, those who hate and despise their sin the most are those who are closest to Him. Lay aside you sin and RUN!