Open your Bibles to the 12th chapter, the letter to the Hebrews. Have you ever considered, have you ever thought about what is the foundation of our faith? Has that thought ever pondered in your brain? What is the foundation of our, because I gotta tell you, our faith is a bloody faith. It's a bloody faith. There's suffering, there's anguish, and there's blood. That is the foundation of our faith. You know why? Because Jesus is the foundation of our faith. And in order for him to atone for your sin, the cup that he drank, man, it was an awful, terrible, bloody cup. Why did it have to be that way? Have you ever spent time thinking about that? Have you ever wondered why does it have to be that way? I mean, God could have saved us any way he chose. Why did he choose this way? Well, the ultimate answer to that question is pretty simple. It was God's will, right? And that covers it. It's God's will. It was His plan from eternity. But yet under that umbrella answer, we can find all kinds of theological reasons why it had to be so. And of those many reasons, we can point to our passage tonight and see where it gives us evidence of one of them. One of the reasons that Jesus had to suffer as he did becomes clear tonight. And that is in suffering as he did, in shedding his blood to defeat sin on our behalf, Jesus now stands as our greatest example on how to endure. Let's keep this race analogy going for just a minute. Jesus is the finish line. And by keeping our eyes on Him, by remembering all that He did for us, all that He endured, well, that gives us the courage and the stamina and the confidence to keep running. That's the message of our passage this evening. Let's go ahead and read it. It's the first three verses of Hebrews chapter 12. since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame. and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Father, what an incredible passage before us this evening. We just pray that you would bless this time, that you would bless this speaker, that you would speak through me. Do not allow my frailties and my failures to come through tonight, Father. We just pray that you would speak through me in the Holy Spirit and that we could illuminate this and that we can understand it, and that your spirit would apply it to our lives. We thank you and we praise you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Now this is our third week on these three verses. And I know you're out there and you're thinking, yes, we know it's the third week on these three verses. Well, we've had to spend some time here because we've been looking at these three verses from different facets. There's a lot here. These three verses are so incredibly helpful to us and they can be. You know, there's times when we face uncertainty and we face struggles when we try to live upright in a crooked world. And these three verses truly come into play when those times are bearing down on us. Now, our first attempt was to focus on the race analogy. We discovered seven different ways in which the Christian life really is very much like a race. Then we turned, the last time we were together, and we examined the things that hold us back, the things that slow us down, and in some cases, the things that keep us from running the race at all. We concentrated on the difference between encumbrance and the sin. Do you recall what that was? We learned that an encumbrance is an external thing, something that pushes against us. It could be many different things. It could be your family. It could be your career. It could be time or a lack thereof. That's just to name a few. For every person walking around, there's a different opportunity for there to be an encumbrance bearing down on their life. So an encumbrance works from the outside, and what it does is it puts an obstacle in our way. While the sin, well, that's internal. We realize that the internal, man, that is so much more difficult to overcome. So much more difficult to overcome. You see, we can run away from an encumbrance. If it's our schedule, we change it. If it's time, we make it. Can't run away from your sin. That's inside of us. This is the very thing that Paul was wrestling with in Romans chapter seven, that he does the things he doesn't wanna do, that he doesn't do the things he wants to do. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who can save me from the body of this death? He lamented that struggle with sin. Can't run away from it. You gotta deal with it. You gotta face it, and you gotta deal with it. But then we went a little further and we said, you know what, the writer isn't really talking about all sin here. He's not talking about all sin. He's talking about one in particular sin. In his mind, there was one sin that crossed the spectrum to everyone that was paying attention to his letter. That sin was doubt. Not fully trusting God. Not believing God to be fully in control. You see, when we doubt God's ability to accomplish something on our behalf, when we do that, well, it's pretty easy at that point to trick ourselves into disobedience. We trick ourselves into not doing what He's called us to do. It entangles us. It entangles us. The Greek word means to encircle on all sides. To encircle on all sides. And that's what doubt does. Doubt encircles us. When we know that God is calling us to do a certain thing, but we are afraid and we have doubt, we pause. We shrink back. It freezes us, it paralyzes us, it encircles us, it pins us down, and it keeps us from moving. And the only way, our writer is saying, the only way to deal with that is to keep moving, to run with endurance, to have inward fortitude, to be steadfast, to be unshakable in our quest to serve God. Well, okay. But how? How can we do this? Because this is much easier said than done. And certainly for the Jews who were reading this letter, the ones to whom it was written, it was much easier said than done. I mean, they had grown cold, do you remember? They'd grown cold. They'd grown dull of hearing. They were wavering in their faith. They were ready to throw in the towel. They wanted to go back to their old life. They wanted to go back to the temple, back to the sacrifices. Well, you know, in reality, I've known many Christians through the years who meet the same criteria. I mean, man, they were on fire for the Lord, on fire for the Lord. Something happens in their life and it all changes. They grow cold. At some point they stopped living for Jesus and they started to slip back into their old ways. Have you ever known anybody like that? Maybe it's you. Maybe someone here tonight feels that way. There's some encumbrances out there and they're just growing bigger and bigger. The world is just pressing in on you and you can't stay focused on the things of God. Or maybe it's doubt. Maybe you're going through something. And you've looked, but you just can't see God in it. You don't think anything can help. Not even the one who made all things. The one who's in control of all things. You doubt. Well, my friends, the heart of our passage That's where it comes into play. It can be of such great encouragement in times like this because it reminds us, hey listen, we're not alone in this race. We're not the first person to ever run this race. We're not the first person to ever have these struggles. We're not the first person to ever have a difficult time. We have before us a great cloud of witnesses. And they set the standard for living in faith, far greater than we could. And you know, they did it through hardships. It was no easy road for them. Now, let's just take a moment and deal with this cloud of witnesses. Let's figure out exactly what this means. I really think that if we were to poll every believer we know, I think the far and away majority would say that the cloud of witnesses, well, you know, they're the ones that passed before, and they're up in heaven, and they're looking down on us, and boy, they're just cheering us on. It's as though the race that we're running is really taking place in this huge stadium, and Abraham's over here, and Moses is over there, and Elijah's over here, and even our dear loved ones that have passed the scene. They're up there, you know, and they're just all sitting in the stands, and they're watching, and they're waiting, and they're hoping we succeed. Believe it or not, that's the most popular view of what cloud of witnesses means. But it's not what it means. It's not even close to what it means. In fact, it means the opposite. What do you mean by that? It means the opposite. You see, the heroes of the faith that our writer had written about in chapter 11, the ones to whom our writer has dedicated an entire chapter of how their faith excelled. The tremendous faith that they had. They're not watching us. They're not watching you. They're focused on God. They're in heaven and they're worshiping the lamb. They're not focused on you. But you know, it's us that must pay attention to them. We have to be watching them. We have to be paying attention to the way they lived, how they performed. And you know what happens when we do? When we pay attention, to all of the wonderful heroes of faith in this wonderful Bible that God has given us. When we learn from what they did, you know what happens? We gain confidence in what God can do for us. Because we see Him in action. If He'll do that for them, then He'll do it for us. We gain confidence in God. Now let's pay attention to the word witness in this passage, because it doesn't mean eyewitness. It doesn't mean someone who's watching. Really what it means is that it's someone who points to something. It's from the Greek word martus. It's where we get our word martyr. It's where we get our word martyr. It means one who reports an occurrence. You know, we think of a martyr as someone who's willing to die for Christ, right? Someone who dies for Christ and they're a martyr. And that's true. But the real meaning of a Christian martyr is one who testifies of the Savior even in death. even in death, they point to Christ through their life and through their death. So we could just as easily read verse one here as, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of martyrs surrounding us, or since we have so great a cloud of examples surrounding us. Examples and sacrificial faith, unbelievable faith, undeniable faith. In other words, if they endured for their faith, then you can endure with your faith. When it gets hard, remember their strength. And that will help you to overcome your weakness. Do you see that? Our writer is pointing back to chapter 11 in order to say, let us live as they lived. Let us overcome the same way they overcame. In order for us to live as they lived, and in order for us to overcome as they overcame, we gotta do a few things. We have to do a few things. Things that they did. We have to lay aside all of our encumbrances, and we have to lay aside and deal with our doubt. We gotta follow their example. We gotta trust the Lord, especially when it seems impossible. Now, notice I didn't say even when it seems impossible. Especially when it seems impossible. That's when we need them the most, isn't it? When it doesn't seem possible, and you just can't see God in your problem, and you don't know how He's gonna solve it, that's when we cling to the Bible even more. Especially when it seems impossible. Gotta trust God. Man, we gotta have that conviction of the fulfillment of what has not yet, but will come to pass. Think for a moment of some of the greatest athletes that we've ever known. Think of the great ones. I mean, the ones that the world admires the most. The ones who excel in competition. Have you ever noticed they've got a common thing? The more fierce the competition, the better they perform. When they're going against the best, they're at their best. The other athletes push them to succeed. Push them to dig deeper. Push harder. Stay more focused. And that is the essence of what our writer is saying here. Don't settle for mediocre. Strive for excellence. Dig deep. Push hard. Stay focused. And use the examples of the great men and women of faith Use them as your competition. Allow their success to fuel your success. That's what verse one is trying to teach us. And then we come to verse two, and the focus changes dramatically, dramatically. All eyes are now on one man, one hero, one undisputed champion. All eyes turn to Jesus Christ. Let's read verse 2 again. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Now, the key to understanding this verse, really, is to notice the shift back to faith. You see, when we were in verse 1, it talked about us. The things that slow us down. The forces that work against us. It's about the mechanics of running the race. It's about the fortitude that we need. It's about the importance of the race itself. Really, it's the how we run. The things that we must do in order to run the race to victory. But here in verse two, we shift away from the how and we're turning back to the why. We're turning back to the why. Why do we even run this race? Why do we train our bodies for this brutal test of endurance? Why do we do it? Do you recall what the word for race, the word in verse one, the word race, do you remember what that was? Agon. It's the word from which we get agony. Agony the Christian life is called here an agony So why do we even run it at all? And the answer to that why is because of faith Because we believe because we trust God. It is our faith which propels us, which stirs us. It is the Holy Spirit within us, you see, that causes us to grow and mature and serve the Lord. Beloved, without faith, who would even want to run the race? Who would want to endure? Without faith, there would be no reason to struggle the way that we do sometimes. Without faith, man, we could be walking the broad path. We could be having fun, partying, and just doing whatever we want. Things would get so much easier. But we can't do that. Our faith refuses to allow us to settle. Our faith is why we run. Our faith is why we win. I promise you this, we're going to win. We've already won. There's no chance that we lose. For those of us who are born again, the outcome of the race has already been determined. We win. How do I know that? Well, what's Paul tell us in Philippians? It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. You see, we're not alone in this race. God is the wind that pushes us. He's the fuel that maintains us. He's the force that ensures our victory. Paul also says in 2 Timothy, he says, I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted in him until that day. I ask you, if God is guarding the things that we trust him for, how can we go wrong? How can we go wrong? How can we get off course? And if that's not good enough, if that doesn't convince you, let's go back to Philippians where Paul says, for I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. God began the work and God will perfect the work. The win is ours because it's God who secures the victory. Jesus gets in on it too. He tells us in Revelation, he who overcomes, I will grant him to sit down with me on my throne. As I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. So then in order to sit down with Christ, the way he sat down, we must overcome. We must win the race. We got to endure to the end. But because Jesus in our passage, because he is the author and he is the perfecter of our faith. He's the one who overcomes for us. That's exactly what the Apostle John was saying in his first epistle when he wrote, who's the one that overcomes the world? Who is it? Who is the one that overcomes the world? But he who believes. Jesus is the Son of God If you believe in Jesus You overcome It's our faith which overcomes the world it's our faith which wins the race and That faith is given by Christ. Doesn't it say here that he's the author? Christ authored our faith And he guarantees victory through that faith. It says he's the perfecter, does it not? He's the perfecter. So we must then therefore fix our eyes on him. What does Jesus fix his eyes on? What did he fix his eyes on while he was here? What was he focused on? for three and a half years, and what did he stare at intently from upon the cross? What was Jesus focused on? What it tells us right here. The joy set before him. What do you think that joy was? What do you think that joy was? Some say it's us. It's his redeemed. It's the fact that we're gonna be with him in heaven. That was his joy. Well, that's part of it. But that is not the joy set before him. That doesn't tell the whole story. Others would say that it's, man, it's his glorious return to heaven where he will once again sit upon his throne. Well, that's closer. That's closer, but it's still not the answer. No, my friends, the joy set before our Lord Jesus Christ, the joy that caused him to despise the shame and the humiliation that he endured in this life and on the cross, the joy that so comforted and thrilled Jesus. You ready? It was the exaltation that he would be given upon full completion of God's will. Did you catch that? I'll say it again. The joy that thrilled Christ was the exaltation that he would be given in the fulfillment of God's will. You see, it was not God's will that Jesus would return to heaven as a member of the Trinity only. That wasn't God's will. It wasn't God's will that they be reunited in the same manner, exactly as they were before. Now stick with me, if you think I'm going off the rails, stick with me. It's not God's will that Jesus would merely be restored to the fullness of Godhood. You see, God's will was that Jesus would return to him as the perfection of humanity. That he would come home as the conquering God-man. That in returning to where he was before, Jesus would bear the image of man. just as man will bear the image of Christ. That in accomplishing redemption, Jesus would usher in a full reconciliation to his father's children, to his brothers and sisters. That we should all be together for all eternity. That is God's will. And that's the joy that was set before him. And my friends, that is what he accomplished at Calvary. That's why Jesus endured the cross. That's why he despised the shame so that you and I could reign with him so that you and I could enter into that same joy. That's why Jesus ran the race. Why do you run your race? Why do you run it? What is the reward you seek? God has set that race before you. We learned that back in verse one. We also learned that it requires a lot from us. We got to lay aside our encumbrances. We got to lay aside our doubt and our sin. It requires endurance. It requires hard work and suffering and agony. So what is it that you fixed your eyes on? What is it? What's the joy? What's the joy in your life? What do you look forward to? And if you say it's the glories of heaven, then I say to you, heaven is already yours. So it can't be that. Paul tells us in Colossians that we've already been raised up with Christ. He tells us in Philippians that we're already citizens of heaven. No, the joy that we seek is greater than heaven. We run the race set before us for the very same reason as Jesus. We run so that we too will receive the exaltation of fulfilling God's will and accomplishing that which he has given us to do. We run so that we can glorify God, not ourselves. This isn't about us getting to heaven. This is about us going to heaven with a trail of glory. to bestow upon our God. You know, it's a sorry Christian indeed who dares not to serve the Lord with his life. One who sits around on the merits of their own redemption. One who holds it so close that they don't want to share it with those around. That is a sad, sorry Christian. It's a pitiful life to clutch to your salvation and consider it merely personal. And never realize the blessings of a life lived in community with other saints. To not share your life with others, to not open the door of your soul and experience the love and fulfillment of being vulnerable. Christ died, my friends, not only that we may be saved, but that we may be one, and one with Him, and one with the Father. The true reward in heaven is not that we're simply there, but that we glorify our God and our Maker. That we exalt in him as he exalts in us, that we hear those words so dear. Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy. Of your master. Do you want to hear those words? We want to glorify God. That's how we hear those words. And that joy, man, that can begin right now. It can begin right here on earth, right now in your own life. You can glorify God by allowing His attributes to shine through you in such a way that God is glorified. You can honor your God by obeying His will in everything you do. but you can only do it if you're running the race. You can only do it if you lay aside those encumbrances. You can only do it if you trust God in all things, and if you refuse to allow doubt to entangle you. You say, well, listen, that's all well and good, but man, it's hard. It is hard to always be running. To always push through. Man, you don't even know what I'm going through. How can you say that to me? All right, I understand that. I get that. But what did Christ go through? Do your struggles compare to that? Verse three. For consider him. who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself. Why? So that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Now the word in verse three that I wanna zero in on is the word consider. You see it right there? The second word in the verse. Consider, it's a, man, it's a very interesting word. Analogizami. Isn't that an interesting word? Analogizami. What does that remind you of? What word do you hear in there? Analogizami. Can you hear the word analyze in there? Analogizami. Analyze. That's what the word means. That's much stronger than what we think of consider, isn't it? I mean, when we consider something, we sort of give it a passing notice. But to analyze something, man, that's to just jump in, to unpack it, dig into it, turn it all around so you can see all the different sides, so that you know why it does what it does. And that is exactly what our writer's telling us to do. It's not enough to just bring Christ to mind when we're in our hard times. It's not enough to just, Look at a picture. That's not enough. It's not enough to just put a picture of him in our minds. That doesn't do it. That's not what he's saying. We got to analyze him. We got to do our best to fully grasp the reasons why he did what he did, why he willingly suffered the way he suffered. How do we do that? How do we dig into Christ? How do we unpack it? How do we turn it on all of its side? How do we do it? You guessed it. Can't get away from it. Got to study. Gotta study the word. We gotta read and we gotta study the word. We gotta analyze the Bible. The more we know this book, the more we know who Jesus is, the more we know what he did for us and why. Now here's the really neat part. There's a payoff. A really neat part here. The more you read, the more you understand. I'm gonna say that's obvious, right? The more you read, the more you understand. But listen, I'm not there yet. And the more you understand, the more you see Christ, and the more you see Christ, the closer you wanna be. He attracts you. And the more you wanna be near Him, guess what happens? You begin to identify with Him. You begin to think like Him. You begin to talk like Him. You begin to act like Him. We're told in the Bible that we are to be conformed into the image of Christ. That's how we do it. And beloved, this is when you realize When you start becoming conformed to the image of Christ, that is when you realize that you can indeed run this race! I can do it! Because God does it with me. You realize that because of what He did, You are now free from the grip of death and Satan. And in his strength, we gain new strength. We can now mount up with wings like eagles. We can now run and not get tired. We can walk and not become weary. So get out there. Fix your eyes upon Jesus. Consider Him. And run your race. Run it for victory. Let's pray. Oh Father, so much to consider in these three verses. So much that applies to every day of our life, to the good days and to the bad days and to the so-so days that need to shed our encumbrances, to not allow anything outside of us to keep us from running, that need to face doubt and to defeat it, to come to that place where we fully trust you. And especially when we don't see, especially in those times when we cannot see how you can do it, we trust you because we know that you will. Father, we need Jesus for that. We need to stay focused. We need to consider, to analyze our Lord. How he did what he did, and why. And Father, as that presses upon our heart, as the Holy Spirit pushes that deeper and deeper into us, we desire to be like him. And then, and then we pick up the pace and we run with gusto. And that finish line becomes seen. And it gets closer and closer. Father, let us glorify you with our lives. Let us honor your name in the world in which we live. Let us live an upright life in this crooked world. Not that we can receive the praise. Let us live it in such a way that everyone knows it's you. In Jesus' name we pray.