Amen. We come back to Hebrews, but we're in a different chapter now. We are in chapter 12 of the letter to the Hebrews and we Come to this realizing that while it's a different chapter, it's the same letter. And oftentimes we artificially divide up these letters, separating out the chapters. We talk about that a lot because while the divisions were added later and for our benefit in terms of finding where we're at and being on the same page, we can sometimes forget that this is one letter, right, that we were meant to, or I guess the, the Hebrew Christians were meant to receive and to read as one letter and its content does flow and we'll see that this morning. But it's a call to remember that it's building upon something. It's building upon the argument we've been looking at for quite some time and that of course is the argument of the need for faith. And in fact the entire argument of Hebrews is about continuing to be steadfast in the faith. That's an image that's given, right? Stand fast, stand still, stand strong in the faith. Don't be shaken, don't be moved, don't retreat. The author is going to change imagery a little bit today to something that would have been understood in the Greco-Roman world very easily. But we'll see that in just a moment. But again, it's a call to remember that God's people are the ones who stand by faith, who believe and trust the revelation that He has given and the promises that He has given. And they stand and believe even when it's hard. know part of what's in the background of what's going on in this letter is it's gotten hard right it's gotten difficult to remain a believer in the cultural conditions that these believers find themselves in and so it might be preferable to just slink back to the synagogue and just go back over there and worship and go back under the old forms that we had in the Old Testament so to speak for these believers Maybe within this lifetime, right? They were at one time, I guess they would have been in the synagogue. So it's just going back to what they formerly knew. And the author again says time and again, you can't do it. That to go back. to this previous form of worship and form of, in a sense, denying Jesus by going back and saying, Moses and the Sinai covenant is all that we need to worship God properly. He makes it akin to apostasy, to turning away from the faith, to denying Christ. And we've dealt with that for now something like three years. But it's certainly the argument as we come to the end of chapter 10, he's laying out the danger of doing this. the danger of leaving, and that what they really need to do is press on in faith, in faith and by faith. And that that's how God's people have always stood in the challenges that they face. And we walk through all those. We don't need to do it again this morning. They're examples throughout the history of the church, or even Old Testament Israel, where we can look and see these examples that are given to us of people who were in difficult challenges, probably more difficult than what these Hebrew Christians are facing, and they stood through them by faith. They trusted God, they trusted His promises, and they persevered by faith. Now that formula right there of believing the promise and persevering through difficulty is at the heart of the text we're gonna look at today. And so as we do that today, I want us to look at three points, and then I'm going to read our text again. And these points are the race that we are running, secondly, the difficulties we are expecting, and third, the glories we are receiving. So let's read this text one more time and be thinking about it. Therefore we also, 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 endurance the race that is set before us, looking into Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Now, brothers and sisters, as we tackle this text and even as we're turning to our first point this morning, I want us to remember something, which is the author of Hebrews is recalling things he's been saying throughout this entire letter. He made a very big deal early on about Christ's story did not end in a tomb. He arose, but it didn't even end there. We often say Christ died and rose again. And that's shorthand, isn't it? For what he actually accomplished in dying. Well, first coming in the incarnation and living a sinless life and then dying and then rising again and then ascending to the glories of heaven to sit at his father's right hand, enthroned as our king and priest. All of that is part of the story of soteriology, right? If you, according to the author of Hebrews, leave any part of that out, it's not complete. If Christ died and then rose again and just walks around the earth, is He our Messianic King? No, he needs to rule and reign now. And so he ascends and the Father places him as king and priest at his right hand. And Hebrews goes into the, if you will, sacrificial aspects of even the heavenly ministry in the heavenly tabernacle, which we spent some time on and said that oftentimes these things are misunderstood, but are incredibly important to the argument of Hebrews that salvation had to happen in this way. So when he says here today that Christ has sat down at the right hand, he's just calling you to remember the very things he's been saying throughout this letter. Now coming first to our point that there's a race that we are running, that's clearly the picture that he gives. We've been talking about faith and we've been talking about standing. We've been talking about ships and coming into harbor and shipwrecks and all kinds of stuff as imagery all along the way. And now he comes to an image that would be very familiar to anybody in the Greco-Roman world. And by the way, we'd argue very familiar to us today, right? One of the things that you can easily use as an analogy is sports. I mean, I shouldn't say everybody's a sports fan, but many people are sports fans. Maybe the sports vary, but people have things that they are interested in. I did a sermon years ago on just Paul's sports references throughout all of his writings. They're just a huge number of references. And Paul clearly either was a sport fan or realized that you could use sports to get across meaning to people. And I guess there are ways in which we try to do those things today. But Paul clearly then, in tying what he's already said into where he's going, he wants to go to sports to make an analogy. Now I mentioned earlier that we shouldn't imagine that the 12th chapter is separated from the 11th chapter. We see that immediately, don't we? Because the very first word of this text is therefore. And anybody who's ever had like a Bible college or seminary class knows that their exposition professors will always say, whenever you see a therefore, go back to what's before it and see what it's there for, right? And so this is a common way of teaching that there's a therefore. It clearly is tying into what's already been said. And so we recognize the importance of this. that it builds upon these examples of the faith, it builds upon their story and what they were teaching us. And notice, if you will, that in doing this, he says, therefore we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Now it's interesting for a moment to consider this, even if we weren't given right after this the example of a race that's being run, you might begin to think about being surrounded and almost have the imagery of an amphitheater or a coliseum of some kind in which the ancient games were played, much like our stadiums today, really. But in this case, he tells us it's in service to a picture of a race. And Paul is asking you to think for a moment, or excuse me, the author of Hebrews, which may be Paul, is asking you to consider for a moment the imagery here, if you will, of a stadium and of a race that's being run. And this is, again, not alien to what we see in the New Testament. It's often used. And notice he says that we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. And since this is tied back to the previous chapter, we don't really have to wrestle with who this is. These are these saints that are being spoken about, these saints who had faith and persevered through difficult times. And they are in the stands, if you will, surrounding us. Now, oftentimes this is preached as they are in the stands rooting for us, right, cheering for us and encouraging us. But that isn't what it says. I mean, we can see where that imagery comes from if you're thinking about the analogy to a great race in a stadium and there being people surrounding us that they're in the position of fans. But there are words in Greek for that, and that's not the word that this author uses. He uses martyrion, which comes from the word martyr or witness. We know this word. We often think of martyr today as someone who has suffered and died for the faith. But it originally meant a witness, right? That's literally what it means, a witness, one who has a testimony to share. So often Christians died proclaiming their faith in the early days that it took on that additional shade of meaning of suffering for your testimony and ultimately dying for your testimony. But it just says that they are witnesses. They are there as witnesses. They are not there cheering us so much as they are there testifying to us. And there is a difference there. They're reminding us as examples of what it means to be faithful. What's interesting about that is the great John Brown says that if you go back and study the Olympic games or the games that took place at that time that Paul would have assuredly gone to. I mean, Paul was in Corinth and the Corinthian games was the second most popular games in the Greco-Roman world. But you think for a moment, they didn't do it like we do now. If you watch the Olympics now, and we'll have the Olympics here in a few months, when you have the Olympics, there's an event, and somebody wins the event, and somebody gets the silver and the bronze, and they award it within 30 minutes, right? They'll bring out the podiums, and they'll put you up there, and they'll play the gold medal winner's national anthem, and you're awarded your medal right then. But in the Greco-Roman world, they didn't do it that way. They had games all morning and all afternoon, And if you achieve the victory and were waiting for a medal, they were awarded at night, then you took a place in the stands, an honored position in the stands, waiting for the medal to be awarded as a victor, as an honored guest at that point of the running. And John Brown says, this is the image that's being given to us. in the context that the author is using, this is the imagery, that these Old Testament saints are those who overcame, those who succeeded, those who stood, those who have been honored, who have a testimony given to them, a testimony that resounds and speaks to what faith accomplishes. And now they have honored spots in the stadium as we come now to our time to run the race. And so they're not there going, go, go. They're there sitting there as victors, as medal recipients themselves, as honored guests, as those who, by their presence and by their testimony, show us what we are called to be. And so again, the active role they play is not cheering, but testifying to us how to run the race and how to finish in victory by faith. And so they tell us that if anything, we should run by faith as they have done, as this author is telling them to do. And in fact, the author immediately applies it to us, well, to his audience immediately, and then by extension to us through the collected word of God. He says, let us run. They've run their race. They remain faithful. They reach the end. And this is imagery we see often in the Scriptures. Paul at the end of his life says, I have finished my course. I have finished my race. Now it's just for the reward to be given. And even those rewards will cast at the feet of Christ, right? They're glorious things, and we'll talk about that again in a moment. But again, the idea is they finished their race. They now sit in these honored positions as we look back upon them. They are honorable because they have served well and are an example to us. But now it's our call to run. Not to some Christians, but to all Christians this command is given. I thought about this morning. We should have set this out today. We've had this out on our literature table many times, The Heavenly Footman by John Bunyan. It'll be out there next week, I promise. But that's what this entire message is about. We are given a command to run, to run the race. Let us be heavenly footmen. Let us run after the heavenly prize. Let us be those that are eager to run and run steadfastly. Let us run this race because it's the race that's set before us. We must run, and we must be men and women who run for the glories of heaven. When you think about this for a minute, it then matters why we use running as an example. Why are sports such a good metaphor for these things? Well, that brings us to our second point this morning, that we should expect difficulties. We should expect difficulties. You know, part of running a race, being an athlete, even for those of us who are not athletes, we realize it takes a lot of dedication, doesn't it? I mean, I think I've given the example back in the past. We're going to go to First Corinthians in a moment. But I've given the example in the past that if you want to be an Olympic athlete, you're probably not eating at Olive Garden every night, right? You're probably not dining on fettuccine Alfredo every night. That's not the way you become a champion. And you're probably not sitting on the couch watching TV endless hours. Right? You're training. You're steadfast and moderate in all things and we'll come back to that in just a moment. But again, if you're going to be an elite runner, if we're going to use the example of running, and by the way, the New Testament uses many imageries, right? We do not wrestle with flesh and blood. Immediately people think about wrestling, which was the most popular sport in the ancient world. He says in 1 Corinthians, I'm not as one beating the air. What is he talking about? Air boxing, right? Boxing the air. He says, I'm training for a real combat, a real fight. Again, there are many references like this made, but why running? Running isn't easy. Right? Running is an end to which you must devote yourself. Nobody wakes up one morning and stumbles into a U.S. trials and says, hey, I think I'm going to just try to run this marathon. They're like, do you run? No, I've never done it before. But I don't know, I just got a good feeling this morning, you know. You're going to find out it's not going to go so well. I remember a few years ago, Ricky was playing soccer. The coach came over and said, we don't have enough kids here. We may need to get you out there. And I said, listen, for about 70 seconds, I'll be the best player on the field. And then about 70 seconds later, you're going to carry me off the field. And we just realized this. You have to train. You have to prepare yourself. And that's what the imagery is. If you're going to run the race, you've got to be prepared. You've got to put yourself in the life of one who's going to run the race. And so again, as we think about this, it's obvious, isn't it? If we're going to be in the Christian life, We have to consider how we live that life. We've got to count the cost. We've got to think about the process we're called into. Jesus said, count the cost, right? Before you build a tower, you want to count the cost. Before you go to war, you want to count the cost. We need to consider these things. What are we being called to? If we're going to run the race, we realize, first of all, that nobody's going to do that apart from being born again by the Spirit of God. Right? So again, that is a necessity. If we're going to run the Christian life, we have to be Christians, right? And that means something important. But it also means that that same spirit who gives us life is going to be sanctifying us. One of the things that we realize that we're called to in the Christian life is sanctification. And that is done by a work of the Spirit in our hearts. It's a cooperative ministry, right? As he convicts us of sin and gives us the ability to recognize those things that we need to repent of and go to war against, then we're called to do it. We're called to do it. In fact, the author of this chapter tells us this. He says that there are many things that we have to do if we want to run well. Well, what does he say? First of all, we must lay aside every weight. Now, this is just so simple to understand. If you see a guy warming up for a race and he's got ankle weights on, right? You'll see often guys will warm up with ankle weights. What do you expect? You expect him to take those off before he comes to the starting block, right? Because if he's wearing those ankle weights, maybe they're just two pounds each. But I can guarantee you he will not be the fastest man on that track if he keeps them on. If you see somebody going up to a race and they're wearing a 40-pound weight vest, or they're going to go play basketball in a competitive event and they're wearing a weight vest, they're not going to do very well. It's just a simple idea. You're not going to run a race carrying weights. You're going to try to get as much weight off of you as you can. Because running the race, you need to do everything that you can to get rid of anything that would hold you back, slow you down, weigh you down. So immediately we get this idea that we must remove these weights. They're not conducive to speed. And the Christians to whom this letter is being written don't just have ankle weights on them. They don't just have a chest weight or a vest weight upon them. They have a yoke upon them. And that's what this author is warning them about. You remember at the Jerusalem Council, Peter says, we don't want to expect the Gentiles to take upon themselves a yoke that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. And the author of Hebrews is telling them, you're going back under the Sinai covenant. That's what you're arguing to do. You're arguing to go back under the law. And the thing is, you can't bear that weight. That weight will not allow you to run the race. In fact, we recognize you won't even be in the race if you're wearing a yoke. You're gonna be disqualified before you even get to the starting block. So my friends, the author here is warning them that the Christian must remove all these weights that would slow us down. I think we can turn to the parable of the sower to see the things that Jesus say will wreck what seems to be a good start. The cares of the world, right? And things like that, that those are things that will slow us down. And in fact, this author goes on to say it's not just those things that would weigh us down, but he also says the sin that binds us or captures us, so to speak, the sin that is encompassing us and slowing us down, we've got to battle those things. That's at the heart of sanctification, isn't it? Paul says it in multiple places, that we must be at war against sin. We must mortify sin in the flesh. So again, that's not possible without the Spirit's help. But the Spirit makes us aware of those sins that we need to battle. That's what the scriptures tell us. Paul tells us then, be at war against sin. Sin will wreck the race. It will wreck the race. You will not be running as one who strives to achieve the prize. And Paul clearly in 1 Corinthians tells us that we ought to be running as if to gain the prize. not just satisfied to be on the starting block, not just satisfied to get a few yards down the track. In fact, I would say the parable of Sower warns us heavily about such a run. We ought to be those striving to win the prize. So we need to lay aside every weight and the sin that would stop us. And again, we need to recognize all this is important because the letter to the Hebrews is arguing that the weight they're dealing with is tatamount to apostasy. apostasy. And my friends, I don't know how we can put that more sternly. This is a danger to them. I think to us we realize as believers the practicality of the message here. We need to be at war against sin. We need to be getting rid of anything that would distract us, anything that would inhibit our ability to run this race. And we need to realize that we can't go back as the Hebrew Christians that this is written to do. I mentioned earlier the heavenly footman. There's a warning in this book about trying to go back in the race. And I want to read what Bunyan said. He said, In the next place, what then will become of them that sometimes since were running post haste to heaven, insomuch that they seem to outstrip many, but now are running at fast back again. He says, do you think those will ever come tither? What, to run back again? Back again to sin, to the world, to the devil? Back again to the lust of the flesh? Oh, it had been better for them not to have known the way to righteousness, than after they have known it to turn, to turn back again from the holy commandment. These men shall not only be damned for sin, but professing to all the world that sin is better than Christ. For the man that runs back again, he doth as good as say, I have tried Christ, and I have tried sin, and I do not find so much profit in Christ as in sin." My friends, I think the author of Hebrews is very much arguing something similar here. That you cannot turn back to what was a shadow, what was acceptable to the people of Israel because it was given to them as a covenant. but which the author of Hebrews tells you, a covenant that has passed away, a covenant that is no longer binding on the people of God, because there is a better covenant offered to the people of God in Christ's blood, a better covenant with a better mediator, a better sacrifice, a better covenant. And so my friends, as the author of Hebrews is warning us how we should run the race, I want us to think for a moment about what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9. He says when trying to think about the Christian life, do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." Now there are certain points of discontinuity in the argument here, because this is to the Corinthians and not to the people that the author of Hebrews is writing to, but there are some points of continuity, points of overlap that we can think about. When Paul's thinking about the Christian life, he says, wait a minute, who can I think of as a good example of what it means? He says, you guys have seen the Olympian, the athletes that are training down at the track. What would you notice about them? They don't just live however they want, right? They live within the calling of a runner, meaning they are temperate in all things. I gave the example earlier about Fettuccine Alfredo. We recognize that. I said many years ago, I saw an interview with an athlete, and they asked the athlete, what's your favorite breakfast is? And they said bacon and pancakes. And the interviewer thought to ask, and I'm glad they did, when was the last time you had that breakfast? And I think it was three years ago. They said three years ago, I had that breakfast. Now, you can just look at me and say, I'm not living that lifestyle. But I wake up and I say, I want pancakes and bacon. I go get pancakes and bacon, right? And they say, wait a minute, that will interfere with my goal. That could devastate my ability. And when you're at that top level, Right? It's not about just wide decisions. It's those specific decisions that can make the difference. If you want to be the best in the world at something, it is the difference between I decided not to train for a week and somebody else who didn't take time off. Right? Or maybe I didn't watch my diet as closely as the other athlete did. Whatever it is, my friends, we recognize that at that level, you have to be temperate in all things. You have to manage all aspects of what you're trying to do. And we could think of examples besides sports. Maybe there are certain callings in which the difficulty is great, right? Whether it be going to school or whatever it may be, where you really have to dedicate yourself to a purpose. Well, here Paul says, look, they're tempered in all things. And they do it, what? To obtain a perishable crown. What did you receive in those days? A laurel, right? A wreath laurel you put upon your head. How long did that last before it either turned brown or began to fall apart? What it really was about was glory, wasn't it? You received glory. You received glory as the greatest Olympian of that year or that four or five years. There's some debate in the ancient world if they did it every four years or five years. We do four years today. But whatever the case, there's a glory to that. There was a glory to being the greatest athlete. And that glory wasn't just for you, was it? That glory was for your nation or your city state that you were representing in the Greek world. It was for the king of your city or the ruler of your city. And we see it that way today, right? Generally, Americans root for American Olympians. Right? Chinese root for Chinese Olympians. We recognize that there is some glory to say our nation has the best athletes, right? It's kind of like a form of war in which nobody has to die. But again, in ancient world, it was the same way. It was the same way. And when you think about this for a moment, he's saying there is a glory and they fight for that glory. They strive for that glory. They want that glory. And yet anyone here give me a list of Olympic winners from the first century. or go back even before that, give me references for who won. And maybe for some of us in our own culture, we think, who won the Olympics four years ago? Who won the Olympics eight years ago, or 12 years ago, or 16 years ago? Maybe you remember some of those big winners that were cultural phenomenons. But outside of that, most of them kind of melt away, don't they? We forget. It was glorious and important for a moment, like the laurel they receive. Great for a moment, but it doesn't last. Paul says the prize we're running for is not perishable. It's imperishable. It's everlasting. It's something that doesn't fade away. And the glory that we are running for is not just a glory that we receive, although we do receive glory in it. We'll talk about that. But it's also a glory that renounces the kingdom and primarily to our King Christ. We are running for His glory. And Paul says that glory never fades. never fades, but is everlasting. And so my friends, when we think about this for a moment, we realize that what we're being told is the Christian life is going to have bumps in the road. We say it often, but it's worth remembering. Christ didn't say, if the storms of life come, he says, when the storms of life come. In this world, you will have tribulation. He said in another place, but rejoice for I've overcome the world. Trial and tribulation is normal. Difficulty is normal. It's life. In fact, I quote this often too, but Bunyan wrote in Pilgrim's Progress, those things which have happened to me are that which is common to all pilgrims. That's how we have to look at these bumps in life, isn't it? We don't want to go through them, but they're common. We go through bumps, we go through trials, and God works through those things for our good. It's one of the amazing things that you think of in life, those valleys that we have to journey through and sometimes struggle through. We often come through those valleys and look back and say, God did a great work in my life during that time. He sanctified me through that valley. I wouldn't have chosen to ever go through that valley, but praise God, coming through that valley, He brought me through and did something in terms of sanctification. So my friends, we realize this, that we are in a race and it's not a short race, but it's a marathon. That's the idea of running with endurance. See, the Bible tells us over and over, it's easy to get a good start and fade away. It's those who persevere to the end that will be saved. And that's not about some work that we do. It's simply about true people who are born again by the Spirit of God will be sanctified. He who began a good work in us will see it through to the day of completion. So the evidence is finishing the race. So run with endurance the race set before you. And I very quickly want to go to our third point here, the glories that we are receiving. So Paul reminds us in Corinthians they receive a temporary fading glory. And they'll do whatever it takes to achieve it. You think about it for a moment. You think about being on a Super Bowl team or winning Wimbledon or something. In 100 years, who will care? I mean, it's the biggest thing in the world to you in that moment. I mean, who wouldn't love to say I'm a former Wimbledon champion, or US Open golf champion, or whatever your sport is? That's huge. And you would have dedicated yourself probably for decades to achieve it. And yet 100 years from now, no one may remember at all your name. Or they'll just see you as a reference in a book. Oh, I've got a history of golf and some guy named Rick Powell won the US Open back in 2024. That didn't happen, just in case you're wondering. But again, it's not real anymore, right? Nobody cares. We even talked about the trophies that we accumulate in life. And whatever they are, our kids might care about. But your grandkids, they begin to say, hey, where's that dumpster at? You know, certainly your great grandkids, they're not keeping your trophies. Those great achievements that you strove for will not matter. Like this world, they're passing away. Paul says, let's run for a better prize. Let's run for a glorious prize that does not fade. And so what do we need to do? Is our attention to be turned to those witnesses who are testifying to us? No. He says, let us look upon Jesus. What we need to do is keep our eyes upon Jesus. In fact, that word that he's using there for looking to, it actually carries the meaning of looking away from something toward it. It's kind of a complicated word, but he's saying turn away from everything else and look to Jesus. Don't even look at those witnesses any longer. Let's focus upon Jesus and let's run. And why should we run the race with a focus on Jesus? Because it's all about him. The author says he's the author and finisher of our faith. And these words are interesting. The first word, archaigon, it means something like author, originator, the beginning, in this case, of our faith. He's the one through whom it all started. If Christ doesn't die for his people, there is no race to run. We are yet without hope. But it also says that he is the finisher. And the word that Paul uses there is a form of the word telos, which we've talked about that word often, right? The telos. That the telos of the law is Christ Jesus. The end, the aim, the goal, the completion of it. What is the law of being made complete? The coming of Christ. It was always pointing to Christ and therefore you could say the aim, if you will, of our faith is Jesus. That's true in a sense, but what he's really saying here is the one who brings it to completion is Jesus. It starts with Him and He's the one who brings it to completion. It's kind of like that Alpha and Omega statement, right? He's the beginning and He's the end. And he's also everything in between to the believer. And so my friends, as he's speaking about this, he's saying, run, realizing who Christ is, run for his glory, run with your eyes upon Christ. Remember who he is. And that means we must begin with Christ. I think Bunyan has a great picture in Pilgrim's Progress of those who jump over the wall to get in to the pathway to the celestial city. They never make it there. Why? Only those who enter by the narrow gate, who enter in by Christ, only they will reach the celestial city. But my friends, all of it is to Christ's glory. All of it. And he says there that he endured the cross. I want to just say this very quickly. He endured the cross for the joy set before him. You know, when we talk about enduring the cross, we often think about the physical pain involved, and that is certainly an element of it. The crucifixion was invented, right, as a cruel method, as a way of causing other people to think again about committing crimes. They would line the roads with crosses. The Persians were excellent at this. And they would hang people, and they would linger for days suffocating upon the cross and bleeding and being ripped in their hands and their feet. And it was awful. And people would see that and say, no, I do not want to commit crimes here in Persia. And the Romans said, this is a very effective method. It's so brutal that it'll be useful. But we often think about the brutality of it without recognizing the thing that was most associated with the cross was shame. Roman citizens did not die on crosses. They would not put a Roman citizen, no matter how egregious his crimes, upon a cross because a Roman citizen is more noble than the shame of the cross. No, that's for criminals and that's for people of low regard. It's not for Romans. It's not for Romans. And Christ came and went to a cross that says he became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Why does Paul say even the death of the cross? Because Christ came and died in the most painful and shameful way possible. And why? Because he came to bear our shame and our punishment, the wrath that we were due. He came to bear those things. And we recognize that that is what the Bible says. that He went to the cross because the cross is a place of cursing. He bore our curse. The Old Testament says that anyone who dies upon the tree is cursed. Jesus took our curse. And we might ask ourselves for a moment, why would Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, why would He come into this world? And why would He go to the cross? Not just dying, but dying the death of the cross. And the author of Hebrews tells us He did it for the joy that was set before Him. the joy of fulfilling all the promises that God had made, the covenant that was made before time began, that in doing this, that the people of God would be reconciled to God, that His kingdom would be a kingdom of those people of God. And my friends, for that joy, He endured the cross, endured the shame of the cross, endured the pain of the cross. I don't think it's a coincidence that this author is putting this right here for us. For we're called also to endure whatever we may go through for joy. Something we don't often think about. I'm not the best at this, I can tell you. The sanctification struggle is going on for me, but where they're struggling, I usually bemoan it a little bit and complain about it. I'm trying to learn not to. To recognize that God is working through all these things to shape us and to do a work that we don't always understand. We don't always understand. If we had more time this morning, we might think about what Paul says to this end in Romans. But again, we should recognize that what we see with Paul is, yes, there are moments. We see in Acts, for instance, when Paul is arrested at Caesarea that he seems to be down. And the Lord comes and visits him in the night and encourages him, as you have stood before me here, you also will stand before me in Rome. What a blessing, what a encouragement, what a grace that the Lord showed to Paul there. But we recognize you don't find Paul that often like that. Paul even in jail says, hey, let's organize a worship service. Let's start singing some hymns and spiritual songs. But Paul was a man, like we are, like human beings, like we are. We realize sometimes that's difficult, but if we have the right perspective, we can run with joy even through trials and tribulations. The guy training for the Olympic marathon, it's not easy every day. I'm sure there's days he gets up and thinks, I don't want to run today. Or he goes to a birthday party for a family member, and they've got cake there, and he thinks, man, I'd like to eat a bite of that. But he has to say, no, I'm not going to do that. In the Christian life, there are things that we have to say that's not for us. It may be difficult sometimes. There are things that we need to say, as Paul does, that all things are lawful, but not everything is beneficial, not everything is helpful. There are things that we have Christian freedom to do that we might say, it's not best for me to do that thing. And that means sometimes there's going to be struggles for us. And then there's sometimes that we encounter trial and tribulation as these believers are. And even then we're called to remember the joy that is set before us in our path. I want to run this race and one day I too will see the celestial city in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. The reason we try to get people to read that Many of you know that there was a time where everybody read that book. I mean, it was one of the most widely read books that there was. Most people had a Bible, and second, they had Pilgrim's Progress. If you had a third book, it was Fox's Book of Martyrs. But I think it was Derek Thomas who said that in a seminary class now, he asked, how many of you have read Pilgrim's Progress? And he said, maybe a hand goes up, maybe a hand. My friends, what that book shows over and over again, when Pilgrim comes into lulls, and that happens in life, he comes into trials and difficulties in life, he keeps his eyes upon Jesus. And He keeps His eyes upon that great reward that we have because of Jesus, that one day He too will reach the celestial city and the glories of the King. And my friends, we too are being urged to keep our eyes upon Christ and remember the joy that's set before us as well and to run the race with endurance that's set before us.