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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.
Let Us Run!
Series Hebrews
Entering the 12th chapter, we are encouraged to see our Christian life as a race for God's glory! So we are to look unto Jesus and lay aside everything that would slow us down. Let us run the heavenly race!
| Sermon ID | 81324410372111 |
| Duration | 40:12 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Hebrews 12:1-2 |
| Language | English |
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