Our scripture passage this evening is taken from Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12. We know that the original authors of the Bible didn't put in chapter and verse divisions. They're very helpful for us. I'm glad someone did that. But sometimes we need to pay attention to a new chapter like in this case. It really shouldn't be a break from chapter 11 to chapter 12. We all remember Hebrews chapter 11. What do we call that chapter? The chapter of the heroes of the faith, remember? And we remember by faith, starting with Abel onward, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, they did many things. And we're going to talk a little bit more about that And so as we read through that report of many in the Old Testament, the author says, therefore, and it's very important how chapter 11 ends, we'll talk about this in just a minute, but the therefore is a continuation. Therefore, in other words, these men and women by faith did something that merits a therefore. And we read therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, that's chapter 11, let us also. The author to the Hebrews wants us also. In union with those who went before, in a certain aspect, and that's what we're talking about tonight, what that aspect is, 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. There's a couple, notice a couple things with translation. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. The weight and sin that clings so closely, another version says ensnares us, and that is the idea. It tangles our feet up, and so we fall. and looking to Jesus author and finisher of our faith or founder and perfecter as the ESV says. Chapter 11 talks about those heroes of the faith and indeed some of them conquered kingdoms and ruled nations However, if you look really at this list of people, for many of them, in the eyes of the world, they would have been called a failure. Starting with Abel, slain by his own brother. Abraham never received in this life, on this earth, the city that he sought. He was a pilgrim all his life. By faith, Moses, 1124, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater than the riches of Egypt. The reproach of Christ was more dear to Moses than comfort in this world. And if you look on towards the end of the chapter, 36, well, 35, others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might do, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others had a trial of mockings and scourging, chains, imprisonment, stone, sawn in two. Jewish tradition says that refers to Isaiah, who wicked Manasseh got fed up with the prophet's call to repentance and had him sawn in two alive. Slain with the sword, wandered about as sheep in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. In the eyes of the world, these people were a failure. But how does the chapter end? They all through faith, look at verse 39. All through faith, what did they obtain? Good testimony. Through faith they obtained good testimony before God. Because the author and perfecter of their faith, the same Jesus Christ, even though Jesus hadn't come yet and they didn't know Him personally in the same sense that we do, Jesus Christ has always been the author and perfecter, He's always been mediator of His people in the shadows of the Old Testament. Today we see more clearly. The author and perfecter of God's people's faith allowed them under terrible circumstances for many to obtain good testimony, because they fulfilled the mission and the calling that their God had given to them. And it ends up by saying, they're now awaiting us. And that's where the author to the Hebrew says, having this cloud of witnesses, he uses the idea of the racetrack of the stadium, And now we run the race with a cloud of witnesses. It's our fans, so to speak. They're in the stands around us. They're watching. Well, I don't really think they're watching. They might be. I don't think that the saints necessarily, they're obviously not omnipresent. They can't watch every Christian, and they're not omniscient, and so it's kind of hard to think that the saints consciously are actually watching us. What is that cloud of witness referred to? It refers to their testimony on the pages of scripture. It doesn't matter if they're not physically present, their testimony is right here. It's as good as if they were watching us. And they have finished their race. They obtained good testimony. And so the author then says, therefore, we too, let us run. And so let's talk about these two verses in chapter 12. And the first thing we need to note is that we do not decide the race. The author says it is set out before us. Who has set it out before us? The same God and Lord who set the race out before all of the saints in the Old Testament. God has set out the racetrack, if you will. God has set out the way that he wants us to run, the place he wants us to run, our calling, our vocation, our mission, if you will. And He has also given us the way that we are to run. Now, that's an eternal problem for us, isn't it? You know, here in the United States and in Costa Rica, there are many religious groups, they call themselves Christian churches, and they're inventing a lot of things that isn't in scripture. You face it here, we have it in Costa Rica, but let's not talk about other people, let's talk about us. What are the subtle ways that we might not want to cooperate? with God's racetrack and God's way. Now, we might never say this out loud, but sometimes Christians might be tempted to say, well, I know I'm not doing great, but God knows my heart. He knows I'm sincere. Well, that's obviously a problem. God does know our heart. Jeremiah 17 says, our heart is deceptive. We are capable of deceiving ourselves thinking that if we're sincere, if we do certain minimal things maybe, then God has to accept the way that I run my race. Well, the author says, the way that God wants us to run the race is the same way that the Old Testament saint, that this cloud of witnesses ran their race. Look at verse one. We must lay aside every weight and the sin that ensnares us. Now these are not the same. Weight We know that athletes today who run or bicycle or any sort of sport that you need to be light, they seek light shoes, lightweight clothing, that's logical. Well, it was always the same. We need to lay aside anything which is weighing us down, which isn't necessarily sin. The author here mentions anything which might become a distraction. It's not necessarily bad. It might be something good. But it has the capability of distracting us. I, many of you know, I have a hobby. I love wood, fine wood. I love to make violins and guitars. 45 years ago, I cut down a rock maple in Battle Creek, Michigan. I cut it all up, I put it in wedges, and I took a lot of it to Costa Rica, and I've made some good violins out of that Michigan maple. I love wood. Costa Rica has true rosewood. They call it cocobolo. I've made some guitars from rosewood. It's beautiful, it's gorgeous. I love to just see it and touch it, smell it. It would be easy for me to be distracted by that hobby that I have. It would be very easy. I'd love nothing more than to go into my shop every day, all day. God calls us to critically analyze our own life because it is very possible that there are things which are actually good, maybe wholesome, and possibly edifying in their proper context, but they can become a snare. They can distract us. And so God, who has set out our pathway, also is telling us the way in which we must run. And one of those things is to analyze our lives. Are there things which are not necessarily sin, but they are distractions? Secondly, sin. We know what sin does. Sin freezes our heart to sensibility to God. It hardens our heart. It hardens our heart to our fellow man. And so it, of course, damages us in our calling, our mission, and our race. And so God not only has has set out the track for us, but he also calls us, tells us the way in which we are to run. And so the author says, let us run with endurance. That's a good translation. Some of the other older versions, do you remember what they used to say? Let us run with, anybody remember? Patience, right? Let us run with patience the track that is set out before us. Endurance is a good translation for those of you who are studying Greek, or like Greek. The term, hupomone, is a crucial term in the New Testament, and even in the Old Testament Septuagint, and we need to talk about that. Because the Christian life has a negative and a positive, just like our Heidelberg Catechism constantly is reminding us. What is true conversion, it is putting off the old man, putting to death the old man, and putting on Jesus Christ. Our Heidelberg Catechism authors were thoroughly, The scriptures were in them, because we find this all the time, where we put off the old man, we put to death the old man, we lay aside every weight and sin which ensnares us, and we put on Jesus Christ. We fill that void with something positive, and here we put off the weight and the sin that ensnares us, and we look to Christ, which permits us to run with hupomone, endurance. Now, this term, as I mentioned, is a key term in the Christian life. But the term patience, which is what many of the translations used to use and the ESV and the New King James Version have made the switch because that concept of patience has somewhat changed in the English language from the King James Version till today. And this is important to talk about because if we just say endurance, we could still be back into a wrong concept of what the Christian life is about. Well, we have to be patient. Well, we must endure. And that's far from what this term means. Sometimes, maybe a person you know not going well in their work, in their marriage, in their life, and you happen to meet them in the store or on the road, and ask them how it's going, and possibly there is a long sigh, maybe eyes are rolled, and we say, well, one must have patience, right? And what are we, expressing when we say that. Essentially, we're saying there's no hope for anything ever to change, and we just had better grin and bear it, because there's no other solution. Now, I think we Christians fall into that category sometimes, and we shouldn't, because this verse, this patience, is the exact opposite. Now I got interested in this term and because the author to the Hebrews uses the Septuagint a lot, I wanted to find out how the Septuagint Jewish translators of the Old Testament used this term. And I'm going to give you some verses. If you're writing them down, you can look them up later. But I'm going to read from the Old Testament some verses that have this term in the Septuagint, the Greek, hupomone, and see if you can detect where how it was translated. Ezra 10.2, Shechaniah son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, we have trespassed against our God and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this. The term is hope. There is hope in Israel. Patience Not on Israel's part. There is hope for Israel because of God's attitude. Another verse, Psalm 9, verse 18. Expectation. Patient, waiting with expectation. Psalm 39, verse 7. Psalm 39, verse 7. Now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Psalm 62, verse 5. 62, verse 5. Wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. And one last one from Jeremiah 17, verse 13, O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be ashamed. You see, this is the sense of the word that the author to the Hebrews uses, hope. Expectation in God who never fails. That's what the author to the Hebrews is calling his people to think about and the way in which we should run. Biblical patience is not hopeless resignation. All to the contrary. It is hopeful expectation, hopeful perseverance. We could translate then, looking to Jesus, the weight and sin which easily ensnares us and let us run with hopeful expectation or with hopeful perseverance. Now, this permits us, according to the author, to the Hebrews, to run. It permits us to run. Since Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith, he ran the race supremely. The Old Testament saints could finish their race ultimately because Jesus Christ would, and in our case has, run the supreme race of Savior. He ran the race, He fulfilled salvation, and has sat down in royal splendor at the right hand of His Father. Now that permits us to run the same way with the strength that Jesus Christ gives to us. Why is it that we feel we've become stagnated in our Christian life? Why do we feel we're not advancing as it were? Well, sometimes we allow distractions. And we know we're distracted. We sense that in our hearts. Other times, there is unconfessed sin in our life, and we know that that damages looking to Jesus. But I believe there is something even worse. It's worse than distractions. It's worse than the common sins that we face. It is a sin, but it's very serious, and that is the dark cloud of doubt. When doubt descends over our soul, it suffocates faith. It suffocates our joy. It strangulates fresh air of life that the Holy Spirit gives us, as the father of lies would suffocate our faith. Now, we know that the Bible knows only two attitudes. We run the race in faith, or if we are not running the race in faith and advancing, we are regressing. It's not true. Really, in the last instance, it's not true that we are stagnated and not moving. We are either advancing or we are regressing. Now, as we look to Jesus, he is the fount of true faith and the fount of what we are calling hopeful perseverance because he has done it. He has fulfilled. He arrived. And there's testimony by the Old Testament saints who arrived because Jesus Christ supremely ran the race and arrived. So people of God, dear friend in Christ, there is hope. There is hope for hopeful endurance, hopeful perseverance for every person who trusts in Christ. This is the difference between Biblical doctrine, what we call Reformed doctrine, and other versions, the versions of Pelagianism, Arminianism, Semi-Pelagianism, all the rest, believe that in some part our finishing the race depends on me being able to muster up enough faith, enough obedience to finish in some some percentage, but as Martin Luther said to Erasmus, even if .1% I had to fulfill, I couldn't save myself because I will eventually fail even in that .1%, and it's true. If Jesus Christ is author, truly author of the faith, And if Jesus Christ is finisher of the faith, people of God, how can we run? No other way but with hopeful perseverance. In Isaiah, a familiar passage to all of us, the prophet, well, God Himself drives it home, Isaiah 40, lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things. Many times God and the authors of the Bible Call us to believe on the evidence of the creation and the power of God manifested in creation. And here God himself is saying, look at the sky, look at the stars. Who brings out their host by number? He calls them by name as if they were his flock of sheep. By the greatness of his might and the strength of his power, not one is missing. Do we need more evidence than the world of God's power? And yet we have even more. We have Jesus Christ's testimony. And this chapter finishes by saying, God gives power to the weak, to those who have no might. He increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary. The young men shall utterly fail. But those who wait on the Lord, shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Praise the Lord. And so we can run with hopeful perseverance. And this means, of course, looking to Jesus Christ as the fount of our joy, of our encouragement, and of our strength. Jesus has, God has given us the way to run, casting aside distractions and sin, setting our eyes on Jesus. We talk about the means of grace, And the means of grace are nothing more than setting our eyes on Jesus. What do we do when we come to worship? This is a meeting of covenant renewal. With whom? With God in Christ. We come and set our eyes on Jesus. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, if all we see is bread and wine, we haven't understood the purpose of the Lord's Supper. It's Jesus. We see Jesus, don't we? The means of grace that God has given to us as we pray, we close our eyes and our hearts, see Jesus, our mediator. So God has given us all the ways necessary to see, to put our eyes on he who is author and finisher of our faith. And so in conclusion, God's call to us isn't complicated, is it? Sometimes we're the ones that complicate matters. The gospel call isn't complicated in the least. What have we learned in these verses? First of all, the faith that God gives to a believer, the faith of which Jesus is author of, has a particular characteristic. It allows me to live, to run my race, to obey, and to fulfill my calling, my mission, with hopeful perseverance. Hopeful perseverance. Now that makes a particular kind of Christian, doesn't it? Do you know any Christians who are pessimists? It seems like they can find something wrong with anything. and it seems like they can't find anything good with anything, that's a tragedy. That's a spiritual tragedy, isn't it? Because if Jesus is author of the faith that is called faith of hopeful perseverance, how is it possible that as we look to the victor Jesus! How is it possible to join that with a negativism, with a pessimism, with a different attitude? If there's any pessimists here tonight, I think your proper response to this passage is to go home and get on your knees and ask forgiveness. Because when we look to Jesus, the victor, And we say, oh, everything's going wrong. What are we saying in the last instance? We're saying, Jesus, you're not doing things right. Things have gotten out of control. We're basically saying Jesus isn't author and finisher. We think we know better. And that's very bad. And you know what? It's very sad. And we don't have to be Christians pessimistic Christians. Jesus is victor. He sat down. And all history is fulfilling His plan. We haven't been sown in two yet, but that man, if it was Isaiah, left us one of the most beautiful prophets of the Old Testament, books of the Old Testament. Isaiah fulfilled his commission and He left us a glorious treasure, dear friend in Christ, and we're going to say to Jesus, things aren't going right? That's terrible. No more pessimists in Christ's church. Amen? Secondly, there is an enemy which is worse than the distractions of this world and common sins that we face, and that is doubt. Now, there is a way that we can measure doubt in our life. We might think, well, I don't doubt. We might think that we don't doubt. But there's a way that you can measure the level of doubt in your life, if there is any, and that is analyzing the pretexts and excuses you might use to not fulfill God's call. When we give an excuse, and we're very good at convincing ourselves that we can't do this, we have to do the other, and of course the devil is very happy to help us, and he whispers in our ear, you know, you really can't do that for this and that reason, and we go, yeah, you're right. When we make excuses in pretext, We are doubting once again that Jesus is author and finisher of salvation, of my salvation, of my race. He who began the good work in us will perfect it to the day of Christ. The faith that Jesus Christ works in our heart, dear friend, is one of hopeful perseverance. And that faith resolves the distractions, the distractions of this world. It resolves it. It allows us to balance the things that we have. It helps us resolve that. That faith confronts sin in our life and takes us to repentance. and the faith that Jesus Christ gives us casts out all doubt that God is working his will in this world, in my life, according to his purposes. Thirdly, and finally, Let us hear the call of the Holy Spirit through the author to the Hebrews when he says, let us run with endurance the race set before us, putting our eyes on Christ. Let us run. Do you feel that you've slowed down in your Christian race? I don't feel the joy I once had, the Christian might say. I don't feel the purpose I once had. That might be symptom that you're distracted, not sinning in the the specific distraction, but too distracted, it might be symptom of unconfessed sin, or it might be a symptom of having allowed satanic pretexts and excuses to suffocate your faith. And so, the call comes to us, putting our eyes on Christ, let us run. It's figurative, of course. My mother of 92 years old doesn't get out anymore. She lives, she still lives in her home and she's still moderately well for a 91-year-old lady, but her race today is prayer. She gets up at five in the morning and she prays for five hours. She's in a race. She has a notebook. She keeps tabs on our ministry. She asks about people by name. This lady is in a race. She's serious about what she's doing. Her eyes are on Christ and she's asking for hopeful perseverance to do her part. I might say the Lord has answered many of those prayers. At each stage of our life, we are all called to run the race in different ways. We're not talking about a physical race. We're in a spiritual race. God has called each of us to do that. In the cloud of witnesses, they ran their race. And they earned good testimony. They earned good testimony. And now, as it were, they're waiting for us. They're in the grandstands. It's our turn to run, dear brother or sister in the Lord. It's our turn to run. And so let us encourage one another. Let us encourage one another this evening. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with hopeful, endurance the race set before us, looking to Jesus, author and finisher of our faith. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for Jesus. Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, the author and the pioneer and the finisher the consummator of faith. And we thank you for those who went before us, O Lord. They are a witness to Jesus Christ and his power. And so we, this evening, Father, before you, we hear your word to run just as they. Grant us, O Father, the hope. Grant us the measure of faith. Help us with the distractions that this world presents us, O Lord, to discern, to lay aside those which are necessary to do so, to combat sin in our life, to dispel all doubt in Jesus. And may he who is author and finisher of our faith be the one to whom we look always. It's in his name that we pray, amen.