← Back to sermon library

All right, you can turn in your 
Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12. As I mentioned last week, I'm not 
here next Wednesday. There is no Bible study next 
Wednesday evening. That's November the 5th. We just 
finished Ruth last week, so the Lord willing, on November 12th, 
we should start 1 Samuel. Tonight we're going to look at 
a text we have looked at before in our Wednesday night Bible 
study. I know I've also preached it on the Lord's Day. It is specifically 
Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1. It's a call to perseverance. It's a call to endurance in the 
Christian life. Basically, the argument is that 
the people of God in this context, in this particular setting, were 
being tempted to turn back from Christ specifically and to go 
back to the old covenant system. It's written to Hebrews. These 
are Jewish Christians. These Jewish Christians that 
were living prior to the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 would 
no doubt have gotten a lot of pressure from family members, 
from friends, from business associates, persons telling them they ought 
not to forsake the temple, they ought not to forsake the priesthood, 
they ought not to leave off those old covenant ceremonies. Rather, 
they should abandon this Jesus, the Nazarene, and come back to 
Moses. Well, this is why the author 
takes up his pen and he writes to them. And one of the means 
by which he shows them that they ought not to turn away is to 
set forth the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ. He does 
that in the first several chapters. Christ is superior over the prophets, 
over the angels, over Moses himself. Christ's priesthood is superior 
to that of the Levitical priesthood. In fact, Christ inaugurated and 
brought to pass the New Covenant. The New Covenant is superior 
to the Old Covenant. The New Covenant is a better 
covenant built on better promises and it affords a better hope. 
So all of these arguments serve to encourage the people of God 
not to turn back. And then in chapter 11 what he 
does is he sets forth many of the Old Covenant persons that 
demonstrated a life by faith in God Most High. And so the 
author is appealing to them with persons that they were very familiar 
with and knew much concerning. The author is telling them, his 
audience, to be like those Old Covenant saints. that believed 
God. They walked by faith. They were 
justified by faith, and they walked according to faith. So 
that's the bulk of Chapter 11. And then as he gets into Chapter 
12, the focus is still the same, but he expands it a little bit 
further, and he gives the command for the believers to run, to 
run the race that is set before us. And then he gives various 
incentives as to why we ought to do that. In verse 1, it's 
this great cloud of witnesses. That's an incentive for us to 
run the race. Secondly, the example of the 
Lord Jesus Christ in verses 2 to 4. Run with endurance the race 
that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher 
of our faith. In other words, when we live 
the Christian life, when we walk according to the will of God, 
we don't do it in our own strength. We don't do it according to our 
own desires or our own will, but rather we are looking unto 
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And then the third 
incentive as to why the believer ought to run with endurance is 
in verses 5 to 11, the father's purpose for his children. So 
I'll just pick up reading in chapter 12 at verse 1, read to 
verse 11, and then as I said, we'll focus our attention this 
evening on verse 1. 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 
unto 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. For 
consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against 
himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 
You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin, 
and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. 
My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged 
when you are rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, 
and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, 
God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a 
father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, 
of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and 
not sons. Furthermore, we have had human 
fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we 
not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and 
live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best 
to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his 
holiness. Now, no chastening seems to be 
joyful for the present, but painful. excuse me, no chastening seems 
to be joyful for the present but painful. Nevertheless, afterward 
it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who 
have been trained by it. So as we approach this particular 
verse, we want to look first at the believer's race, verse 
one, and then the believer's incentives, verse 1b to verse 
four. Though I think we'll only get 
to that first incentive, that great cloud of witnesses that 
surrounds us. But notice the text. The command 
is given toward the end of verse one, let us run with endurance 
the race that is set before us. That's the emphasis, that's the 
point, that's what the author wants the reader to get. Let 
us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Now we 
must understand that this isn't running a race in order to be 
saved. Remember, as we saw on Sunday, 
we do not do things in order to be saved. Rather, God saves 
us by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, 
and it's from that vantage point that we then enter the race and 
we run with endurance. Our hope is built on nothing 
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Our hope does not depend on our 
ability to run the race. Our hope depends upon the doing 
and the dying and the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ. We 
are justified freely by His grace. Sanctification necessarily follows, 
to be sure, but ultimately our entrance into heaven isn't going 
to be because we were good runners. Our entrance into heaven is going 
to be because Jesus died, and Jesus rose, and God, by His grace, 
justified us freely. We need to make sure we understand 
that. The author is writing to Christians, or those who profess 
saving faith in the Lord Jesus. We would never tell an unbeliever, 
you just need to run with endurance, and then perhaps God may save 
you. Now this comes To Christians, those who've been saved and freed 
from their sins are told to persevere. They're told not to turn back, 
not to apostatize, not to forsake the God who has called them by 
His grace into His marvelous light. So we need to make sure 
we're aware of that. Now let's look at the believer's 
race. First, the duty stated. Let us 
run the race that is set before us. This is a recurring theme, 
as I've already mentioned, in the book of Hebrews. And you 
can turn to these texts. Chapter 2 and verse 1. It's important 
that you understand the context in which Hebrews was written. 
I've already mentioned it. It was written prior to the destruction 
of the temple. There was still a Levitical system, 
there was still a priesthood, there was still sacrifice going 
on. And Jews who were converted under the Lord Jesus Christ were 
getting pressure to forsake Jesus and go back to that temple system. 
And so many times the author emphasizes the need for perseverance. or endurance. And though we may 
find ourselves in a little bit of a different circumstance, 
we don't have a temple, we're not being tempted to go back 
to, but we all have issues and sins and difficulties and trials 
in our lives. So every admonition and every 
call to endurance and perseverance here is equally appropriate for 
us in our current situation. Notice in chapter 2, verse 1, 
therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we 
have heard, lest we drift away. Note the implication. If we don't 
give earnest heed to the things that we've heard, we will drift 
away. What does that tell us about the importance of God's 
Word? What does it tell us about the importance of Bible study, 
the importance of preaching, the importance of listening to 
sermonaudio.com or listening to your iPhone as the man reads 
the passage or your tablet or your computer? or whatever it 
may be. Notice, there's not a lot of 
options here. We must give the more earnest 
heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. You see, 
you're either going forward or you're going backward. Many times, 
Christians want to stagnate. They want to kind of sit in this 
place of, well, I'm not really fired up, but I'm not really 
cold either. I'm just kind of in the middle or in between. 
Well, that's not the way we're supposed to be. We are to give 
them more earnest heed. That means we are to obey. We 
are to do what God's word says. We don't have the option as believers 
in Jesus Christ to say, I've heard what God says, I hear what 
his demands are, I see what his law requires, but you know, I 
really don't want to do those things. That's simply not an 
option for us. We must give the more earnest 
heed to the things we have heard, because if we don't, it is inevitable 
that we will drift away. If we are not seeking to honor 
God, if we are not pursuing those things that God is pleased with, 
We are going backwards, and that is a dangerous place to find 
oneself. Look at chapter 3, verse 12, 
appeals to the wilderness generation. Verse 12, after citing Psalm 
95, verses 9 to 11, he says, Beware, brethren, lest there 
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from 
the living God. What happens when unbelief settles 
in? There is a departure from the 
living God. You see, again, you don't have a little bit of unbelief 
and everything's going to be okay. No, unbelief is a bad thing. It ultimately yields a departure 
or an apostasy from God. Verse 13, but exhort one another 
daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through 
the deceitfulness of sin. Four, we have become partakers 
of Christ, notice, if we hold the beginning of our confidence 
steadfast to the end. Again, the idea that the book 
of Hebrews is presenting is not a works righteousness. It's not 
a if we do this then we'll be saved. The idea is that by grace 
you are saved. And a manifest evidence of this 
is that you will persevere to the end. A manifest evidence 
that you have come to the Lord Jesus Christ is that there will 
be sanctification. there will be fruit. It may not 
be as much as you would like. It may not be as much as your 
neighbor. It may not be as much as somebody in your church, but 
fruit there will be, and there will be an endurance, and there 
will be a perseverance, and there will be a going forward. Now, 
that doesn't preclude the fact that sometimes there's a going 
backwards. Sometimes we fall. Sometimes we stumble. Sometimes 
we have issues. Sometimes we have challenges. 
But by the grace of God, we get back up, his spirit indwells 
us, we persevere and we go forward. This is what the author is emphasizing 
to the people in his generation. Notice in chapter 4 verse 1, 
therefore since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us 
fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. And then 
414, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed 
through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, notice, let us hold 
fast our confession. You confess saving faith in the 
Lord Christ, hold fast to it. Don't let it go. Don't be one 
of these limp-wristed Christians that walks around all feminine 
and sensitive, but rather be a man of God. Be faithful. Be 
earnest. Be those who stand for the Savior. Do not let go of this confession 
of faith. Chapter 10, verse 23. Chapter 
10, verse 23. Notice what the author says. 
Let's just back up to verse 19. This is something of an implication 
of the whole. Specifically, the high priestly 
work of the Lord Jesus Christ that is reported in chapters 
5 through 9. Now notice, chapters 5 to 10, 
18, now he draws implication. Therefore, based on the reality 
that Christ has done this, based on the reality that you're participants 
in the new covenant, based on the reality that you have been 
washed in precious blood, therefore, brethren, having boldness to 
enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living 
way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is 
his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God. 
This is what we have, this is what he's explained in chapters 
5 to 10. And then three commands, or three 
imperatives, or three things are given to us on how we are 
to live. So notice again, verse 19, having 
boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new 
and living way. Someone has once explained this, 
I think Owen, perhaps in his Hebrews commentary, the new and 
living way. New there refers, or the new 
there is freshly slaughtered. It's not the typical word that 
is used for new. It's freshly slaughtered. With 
reference to the bleeding of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's as 
if he was freshly slaughtered. In other words, the reality of 
his sacrifice is such that we live in light of it each and 
every moment. of each and every day. By a new 
and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that 
is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, 
notice verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart in full 
assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil 
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us draw 
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. We are to 
draw near to God based on the priestly work of the Lord Jesus 
and the better promises of the new covenant. What is our benefit? 
What is our duty? What is our responsibility? To 
draw near to God. Isn't that a glorious command? 
Oh, you Christians, you've got all these commands. Yeah, we're 
told to draw near to God. You Christians, you have all 
these commands. Yeah, we're told to rejoice always. 
You Christians have all these commands. Yeah, we're told not 
to murder people. I mean, imagine that. I mean, it's just a caricature. The commandments of God, according 
to the Apostle John, are not burdensome. And in this instance, 
we're to draw near to God, notice, in full assurance of faith. Notice the second imperative 
here, verse 23. Let us hold fast, there it is, 
the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised 
is faithful. Hold fast the confession. Don't 
let it go. Grip it. Hold it. seatbelt onto 
it, whatever you have to do, do not defect, do not depart, 
do not turn away from the living God. Verse 24 is the third imperative, 
or the third command, let us consider one another in order 
to stir up love and good works. Not forsaking the assembling 
of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting 
one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. 
Notice why some would believe that the Apostle Paul wrote this 
epistle. Note the Pauline triad or the 
three virtues that Paul so often indicates in his writings. Faith, 
hope, love. Faith, hope, love. Embedded right 
in the text before us. These are Pauline virtues that 
he sets before his readers and his audience or his hearers all 
the time. Faith, hope, love. But the thing 
I want us to see is the necessity for us to hold fast. Do not let 
go. Notice in chapter 10, verses 
35 and 36. Therefore, do not cast away your 
confidence, which has great reward, for you have need of endurance, 
so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive 
the promise. Some would say, if you believe 
in a sovereign God, you believe in the God whom you preach, on 
Sunday, this God who by grace saves you through faith and that 
not of yourselves, then why these warnings, or why these imperatives, 
or why these commands to endure? Because that's one of the means 
that God's ordained in His sovereignty and in His decree to keep us 
in the path, to keep us on the straight and narrow. I may truly 
never actually believe that my son is going to shoot heroin, 
But I might warn him against shooting heroin because that 
is a means to hopefully keep him on the narrow path so he 
doesn't go out and shoot heroin. You see, God gives us commands 
that are legitimate in his sovereignty according to his plan and purpose 
to hedge us in and to keep us on the straight and narrow. So 
when we get to chapter 12 verse 1, let us run with endurance 
the race that is set before us, it is one of many calls to perseverance 
in the Christian life that the author sets before his hearers. Again, just to compare some other 
Pauline writings, 1 Corinthians 9, 24 to 27, uses the same sort 
of an athletic image. or a metaphor. Do you not know 
that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the 
prize? You know, there's an emphasis 
today, at least in some places in education, and you see it 
sometimes in sports, especially with little kids. Well, it really 
doesn't matter if you win or lose, you know. As long as you 
show up and you breathe and you just stand there wearing your 
uniform, you've done as great as anybody else. Paul doesn't 
think that way. Paul doesn't tell you to enter 
into a race not to win. Paul tells you to run the race 
to win. I'm not saying we mow people 
down and we knock them over and we, you know, step on their heads 
and do whatever it takes. That's not the point. But brethren, 
we need to adopt the winning mentality when it comes to the 
race that we're in. Again, not winning the way the 
world celebrates so that we can get money and accolades and all 
that, but we are in the Christian race. We gonna give up? Are we gonna say no? Are we gonna 
just slide by? Are we gonna just say, forget 
it, I'm gonna coast? No! The Bible doesn't give us 
that. Nowhere in the New Testament 
are you told, you know, just meander about, you know, just 
hopefully you'll fall into heaven after you get to that place. 
Now, 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. Get up in the morning and run 
the race in such a way that you may obtain it. Have no truck 
with sin. If temptation comes, if evil 
solicits, if sinners entice you, take Solomon's advice. Do not 
consent. Proverbs 110, my son, if sinners 
entice you, do not consent. When you want to run the race 
to win, you don't consent. When you want to run the race 
to win, you don't go with wicked men. When you want to run the 
race to win, you guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. 
Notice what he goes on to say, and everyone who competes for 
the prize is temperate in all things. Now, Paul was what in 
his life other than an apostle? Anybody know? How did Paul make 
his shekels? Tent maker, that's right. Where 
do you think he might have gotten some work? At athletic games, 
at athletic competitions. They would certainly need tents, 
wouldn't they? For some sort of cover, if it 
was really hot, you'd need a tent to stand under. If it happened 
to rain, we all know here, it'd be nice to stand under a tent. 
No doubt, Paul was familiar with the athletic games. Something 
similar to the Olympics, though probably not on that same scale, 
to be sure. But notice what he says here. 
He knows what is true. If he was out building a tent 
or putting up a tent and he's watching these athletes, he sees 
how they live. They don't stay out on Friday 
night drinking. to the point of drunkenness. 
They don't eat, you know, two hands jamming everything they 
can find into their mouth. No, look at what he says, and 
everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. They watch their diet, they watch 
their rest, they watch their workouts, they do everything 
they do so that they can finally tune their bodies in order to 
run the race to win. They don't get up at 4 a.m. and 
go running around in the dark and, you know, eat vegetables, 
you know, five times a day and do all the, you know, in bed 
at 8 o'clock and never having any fun so they can go lose races. 
They do those things so they can win. Now note the implication 
that Paul draws in 1 Corinthians 9. Now they do it to obtain a 
perishable crown. You know what you got if you 
won the Olympics then? You got a little wreath, a laurel 
wreath that you'd wear on your head. I don't know if that's 
called a wreath. Maybe it isn't. That thing that's round, it's 
pieces of green stuff that they put on your head and you'd probably 
get front row tickets to the show. Not the movies but, you 
know, the dramas or the plays or the comedies or whatever it 
was. You were a hero. You won. Look what Paul says. 
They do what they do. They're up at 4 a.m. And I'm 
just guessing here, probably athletes don't always get up 
at 4, but they're in bed by 8. They don't get drunk. They don't 
eat, you know, garbage. They're not two-fisting soda 
pop and eating pizza and doing all that stuff. They're regulating 
all these things and they do it for a perishable crown. They 
do it for something that doesn't last. They do it for something 
that isn't going to be here tomorrow. Sure, they made a record. They 
won the gold. They're going to be there for 
at least a time. But the next day, can you tell me anybody 
who's ever won a gold medal, well, maybe Cam Can, passed a 
year ago or two years ago. As good of an accomplishment 
as that might be, it's perishable. Look at what he says. Now they 
do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable. What's his point? They're going 
to get up at four. I'm not saying everybody, don't 
go home and say, Butler said I got to get up at four tomorrow, 
honey. He's going to read my Bible and pray and buffet my 
body. If you want to do that, that's fine. But I'm not saying 
that's it. I'm saying if those men are that disciplined to win 
a perishable crown, Paul's point is we as Christians ought to 
run the race in such a way because we are going after an imperishable 
crown. and then notice how he relates 
his life. 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. Philippians 3, 12 to 14, not 
that I have already attained or am already perfected, but 
I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus 
has also laid hold of me." You see the reference to sovereign 
grace? He doesn't say that I may lay 
hold of that which I deserve because of the way that I'm running 
this race. That's not what he says. I lay 
hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. It's because Christ Jesus has 
laid hold of Paul that Paul now runs in such a way to lay hold 
of the prize. That's grace. It's not works. Paul is never telling anybody 
to run in order to be saved. Paul is always telling people, 
run because you've been saved. And this is conduct fitting to 
the new man in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the emphasis in 
the passage. Notice what he goes on to say. 
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended But one thing 
I do, read Lloyd-Jones on this passage, it's fantastic. One 
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching 
forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the 
goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. If you looked at Paul's life 
on any given day, that's what you saw. Whether he was talking 
to brethren, whether he was in the back of a synagogue, whether 
he was in a prison cell, wherever he was, if he was making tents, 
this is what defined him. Pressing forward. Going forward. Because Christ had laid hold 
of him. And the emphasis in the scripture is that when Christ 
lays hold of a man or a woman, that man or woman runs for Christ. It's a beautiful thing. Back 
in Hebrews 12, notice the obstacles that we need to lay aside. See, 
it's not just let us run with endurance the race that is set 
before us. I mean, that in and of itself 
would require something. You've got to get up early, you've 
got to regulate your diet, you've got to watch your intake, you've 
got to make sure you're in bed early. Yeah, that demands a lot, 
but you know, Our race is fraught with difficulties. Notice what 
the text says, beginning in verse one. 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. See, it's not just a matter of 
run the race with endurance, but, we gotta get rid of this 
stuff. You gotta lay aside this weight. And with reference to this weight, 
not everything that is a weight is necessarily a sin. Not everything 
that is a weight is necessarily a sin. Notice there is a distinction. 
Lay aside every weight, one, and the sin which so easily ensnares 
us. There could be something in our 
life that isn't necessarily a sin, but it's a weight, and it keeps 
us from achieving a particular goal. I'll use the obvious reference. If I wanted to be a distance 
runner, I'd have to lose some weight. If I wanted to be a powerlifter, 
I'd have to gain some weight, so it kind of swings both ways. 
But if I wanted to go out and run a marathon, I'm going to 
have to lose some weight. That's just the bottom line. 
You're probably thinking, he probably should anyway, right? But you see, this is the point. 
Not everything is necessarily a sin, but it can prove to be 
a hindrance. Matthew 13, 22, now he who received 
seed among the thorns is he who hears the word. And the cares 
of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and 
he becomes unfruitful. Now, the cares of this world, 
does any of us live carefree? No, certainly we have cares. We have to think about, you know, 
tomorrow I've got babies that need milk. That's a care. But when we are overcome by that 
care, Riches, as we saw in our studies in 1 Timothy chapter 
6, the possession of riches is not necessarily a sin, is it? Just because you're a hard worker, 
God prospers you, and you do well, and you end up with a decent 
bank account, that doesn't necessarily imply sin, or else Paul is wrong 
in 1 Timothy 6. He tells Timothy to command those 
who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, not to 
trust in uncertain riches, but to give to those, be willing 
to share. So you see, riches in and of themselves are not 
necessarily a sin. But if we are choked by that, 
it becomes a weight. It becomes an encumbrance. It 
becomes something that we should put off so that we can run this 
race with endurance. The Christian engaged in this 
race may need to lay aside some things, friends and acquaintances 
with whom he once sinned. You may not be able to put them 
on your back and run with endurance this race because they might 
be, you know, putting horrible things in your mouth. No, you 
can't run like that. You can't run with a big weighted 
vest on you. You've got to take it off. You've 
got to part with those things that bring hindrance to the race 
that you are running. If something doesn't help you 
to God, then get rid of it. If it's not something that promotes 
the things that the apostle enjoins upon us, then get rid of it. 
So those are the weights that weigh us down. But then, there 
is the sin which so easily ensnares us. It's sin that so easily ensnares 
us. Can y'all relate to that? Does 
sin work hard to get its mitts around us? No, not typically. 
It so easily ensnares us. We've got to be on our guard. We've got to be watchful and 
prayerful. Peter, James, and John are with 
the Son of God in the garden and they fall asleep. Jesus says, 
the flesh is willing, or the spirit is willing, but the flesh 
is weak. We need to appreciate that. Exhort 
one another daily while it is called the day, lest you be hardened 
through the deceitfulness of sin. Galatians chapter 6, verse 
1, same sort of emphasis there. We need to make sure that we 
understand our propensity. I hope when you sing 400, you 
don't say, boy, I don't know what this Robert Robinson is 
talking about. I've never felt this. prone to 
wander, prone to leave the God I love, is what Robert Robinson 
writes in number 400. Do you read that and say, wow, 
I don't know anything about that? Or do you go, yeah, unfortunately, 
God, that describes me all too well, prone to wander, prone 
to leave the God I love. Paul the Apostle affirms this 
in his own life in Romans 7. Paul the Apostle affirms this 
in the life of the Christian in Galatians 5. the flesh lusts 
against the spirit, the spirit lusts against the flesh. These 
two are contrary to one another. This is the reality. We have 
an on-board GPS that inclines us to evil. And we need to be 
careful. We need to watch and pray. Galatians 
6.1, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are 
spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering 
yourself lest you also be tempted. Shame on us if we come to a brother 
who's struggling in a particular sin and we do so with pride or 
self-righteousness or some manner of judgmentalism. No, brother, 
let me help you up. I know my own heart, my own inclination, 
and my own propensity to do the very same thing. Let me pick 
you up and carry you for a time. Don't have this spirit of this 
attitude of, well, I don't know how you could ever do that. If 
you know your own heart, you should never say that. We should 
know how somebody can do what they do. I make this illustration 
with kids and their parents and kids. Tell your kid, I don't 
know how you could ever do that. Really? Have you ever read the 
Bible? Have you ever considered anything 
of the doctrine of total depravity and total inability? Where do 
you get off telling your child, I don't know how you could ever 
do such a thing? Brethren, that is hypocrisy. The writers in the scriptures 
acknowledge that sin easily ensnares us, and we need to be on our 
watch. We need to be prayerful. We need to be on guard. Philip 
Hughes commenting here with reference to the Hebrew Christians. One 
of the chief problems with the Hebrew Christians to whom this 
letter is addressed is that they have set out on the race, but 
after a good start, 10, 32 to 34, are now slackening in the 
will to persevere. See, this is where I think the 
big difficulty lies. We can start well. We got to 
finish well. The only way to finish well is 
by keeping well. Right? It's not just about the 
start. It's not just about the finish. It's about that middle 
mile. That's where it really matters. That's where we need 
to be persevering and enduring. We need to take seriously the 
long haul nature of Christianity. Most of us are not going to get 
converted and drop dead. Most of us are not going to get 
converted and then Jesus returned. Most of us are going to get converted 
and have a period of time between conversion and we go home. What is that time called? It's 
time for perseverance, it's time for endurance, it's time for 
running the race. It may not be razzmatazz, it 
may not be exciting, it may be ordinary, it may be humdrum, 
but that's where the battle is fought and won. It's just the 
way it is and the reality of it. So he says, they are now 
slackening in the will to persevere. Their effort is decreasing. Sin is holding them back. They 
need to recover their intensity or purpose to shake off the sluggish 
mood into which they have fallen, to regain their confidence and 
their competitive spirit. Look at chapter five for just 
a moment. Chapter five, specifically at 
verse Verse 12. For though by this time you ought 
to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first 
principles of the oracles of God. And you have come to need 
milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only 
of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a 
babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, 
that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised 
to discern both good and evil. And then he says, therefore, 
leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, 
let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of 
repentance from dead works and of faith toward God and of the 
doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection, 
of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. 
And then dropping down for just a moment, notice what he goes 
on in verse 9. But beloved, that apostasy passage 
has a genuine meaning. That's not our discussion tonight. 
Back down to verse 9. But beloved, we are confident 
of better things concerning you. Yes, things that accompany salvation, 
though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget 
your work and labor of love, which you have shown toward his 
name. in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. 
And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to 
the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become 
sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit 
the promises. Have you ever met somebody that 
says, you know, when I first got saved, we were out witnessing 
and we went this and we did this and we did that. Why did you 
stop? What happened? Why? What? Did Christ change? And I'm not saying that defines 
Christianity. I'm not saying everybody has 
to go out and pass out, you know, 100 tracts a day if that's how 
you started. So therefore, in 35 years, no, 
no, that's not what I'm saying. But you know, it's almost like 
people get content with, here's what we used to do. Now I'm just 
kind of a slug, and I'm going to fall into heaven because God's 
nice. Now God is nice, and you probably 
will fall into heaven because God is nice. But that's not the 
way that we are supposed to live. We are to get to it and not be 
sluggish in our Christian life. Go back to the text in 12.1. 
Notice the manner specified. He says, let us run with endurance 
the race that is set before us. Let's see here. Therefore, we 
also sin, I'm sorry, yeah, there it is, 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. Now, the text doesn't 
say with joy, but the rest of the Bible means with joy. There's an endurance, a joyful 
endurance that is specified in the scripture. We are to endure, 
we are to persevere, but we aren't to grimace while we're doing 
it. What are you doing, you Christian men? Well, I'm enduring. No, 
it's not godly. I'm enduring. I'm persevering. 
God's grace is good. He's kind. He's merciful. He's 
gracious. I want to run this race. It's a blessing. It's a 
blessed thing. It's something that I want to 
be about. I want to do. The endurance that is enjoined 
upon us is the same endurance that is fleshed out in chapter 
11. You don't have to ask the question. 
What does he mean with endurance? Just go back to chapter 11. Look 
at, say, verse 32. What more shall I say? For the 
time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and Samson, 
and Jephthah. Did any of those brothers endure? 
Yes, every single one of them endured. Many ways we're better 
postured now to go through this particular passage in just a 
moment because of our study in the book of Judges. Also of David 
and Samuel and the prophets. Did David endure? Did David persevere? Did David go forward? You know, there were periods 
and times in his life and certainly he was sluggish spiritually, 
but as a general rule, and if you look at the tenor of his 
life, he was a man that lived in the fear of God. Now notice 
in verse 33, who through faith subdued kingdoms. worked righteousness, 
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the 
violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness 
were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to fight the 
armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised 
to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting 
deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still 
others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains 
and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn 
in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered 
about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, 
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and 
mountains and dens and caves of the earth. You see, when we 
get down to 12.1, it says, let us run with endurance the race 
that is set before us. Don't say, well, you just don't 
know what my life looks like. You don't know how hard it is 
for me to endure. Are you being sawn in two? Are 
you wandering this world clothed in sheepskins? Are you wandering 
this world living in caves? I must confess, I think that 
would be a harder situation to endure in than an air-conditioned 
car and red lights on Wellington. I really think there's a contrast 
that we ought to appreciate. So we can't say, well, you just 
don't know how hard it is. What do you mean I don't know 
how hard it is? Isaiah the prophet was sawn in two. I mean, this 
shouldn't happen to any human being ever. But to the prophet 
Isaiah, I mean, that somebody could put a saw on that man and 
cut him in half is absolutely insane in my estimation. The man who wrote Isaiah 53 was 
sawed in two, and I'm going to grumble about my endurance and 
my perseverance? Brethren, Hebrews 11 serves as 
a beautiful illustration of God's faithfulness to His people. The same word that is given to 
us in verse 1, let us run with endurance is the same word applied 
to Jesus in the next verse. Looking unto Jesus, the author 
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before 
him endured the cross. You see, the joy that was set 
before Christ was obedience to his father, the glory of his 
father, and the salvation of all those whom the father had 
given him, the bringing of many sons to glory. That was the joy 
set before the Lord Jesus. So in order to get to the joy, 
he endured the cross. He went through that shame. He 
went through that suffering. He went through all of those 
things in order to secure his father's glory and in order to 
secure the salvation of us. So if you want to know what endurance 
looks like in 12.1, look at those brothers in the Old Testament, 
and then look at the Lord Jesus Christ. And then look at your 
life and say, wow, maybe it isn't so tough to endure and to persevere 
in my situation as it was for the man of sorrows who was acquainted 
with grief. O'Brien rightly points out, the 
race is not a sprint, but a long distance race requiring resolute 
determination. Resolute determination. I think 
if we culled all these passages together, that would be an excellent 
explanation. Resolute determination. Those 
who are justified freely by the grace of God, those who by grace 
have believed on the Lord Jesus, those upon whom Jesus has laid 
hold up, will resolutely, with the resolute determination, press 
onward to that heavenly prize. So that's what's going on in 
terms of the believer's race. Now notice, the believer's incentives. I've already mentioned there 
are three. The first is the cloud of witnesses, the second is the 
example of Jesus, and the third is the purpose of the Father. 
You want to, you know, look at these other ones later, but notice 
verse one. Therefore, we also, since we 
are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." Remember, he just 
wrote chapter 11. Shouldn't scratch your head and 
say, what's he talking about? Who are these witnesses? These 
witnesses are all the men he just spoke up, and women. All 
these people in chapter 11 is this great cloud of witnesses 
that surround the believer. It's a beautiful thing. Consider 
some of the situations that we find in Hebrews chapter 11. Again, 
think about your faith in the context of your life. Sometimes 
we say, well, it's so difficult for me because my family is really 
irritated. Or, it's difficult for me because 
you don't know the kind of woman that I'm married to. Or, it's 
difficult for me because I'm married to a dead bee. It's difficult 
for me because my parents are there. You know what I mean? 
Maybe you haven't heard that. Sometimes people blame their 
lack of sanctification on circumstances. I know that sounds weird, but 
people do that. None of you, I'm sure, but some people out 
there who name the name of Christ blame other people for their 
lack of growth and grace. Did Abel have a happy home life? Did Abel have a happy home life? No, Abel did not have a happy 
home life. Hopefully Abel Butler will have 
a happy home life, but Abel I did not have a happy home life. I 
doubt on the spur of the moment, on a whim, Cain just took a rock 
and bashed Abel's head. There was probably already some 
disdain that Cain had Abelward. There was probably already a 
detestation for his brother before he went out, and I'm just guessing, 
smashed his head. Abel lived by faith and persevered. This is in Hebrews 11. Enoch, 
consider Enoch living at those days. 365 years he lived. And 
he walked with God. And the text is very specific. 
And he had sons and daughters. That's a challenge right there, 
isn't it? For any of us who are parents, isn't it hard to be 
faithful when you're constantly stressed with kids? How many 
kids do you think Enoch had in that time frame? Probably had 
a lot. You want to hear a good sermon on that, listen to Albert 
N. Martin on the life of Enoch. Enoch walked with God and was 
not. He lived a long time being a faithful man. He had no one. Have you ever heard the argument, 
it's so hard to be holy because it's such an ungodly world. Oh, 
it's just horrible out there. And I'm not suggesting it isn't. 
We murder babies, we let men marry men, and women marry women, 
snorting things up our noses, whatever. All that stuff is out 
there. But Noah managed in the midst 
of a society that is described as exceedingly corrupt and filled 
with violence. He just kept pounding away on 
that arc. being faithful, persevering in the midst of a godless society, 
you see? So all of these persons here 
in chapter 11 is the cloud of witnesses. You got a difficulty 
in your family? Hey, there's Abel. Maybe he can 
be a boon to you. You struggle with working in 
a godless place, in a difficult place? Think about Noah. I mean, there was a faithful 
man in the midst of a godless society, managed to persevere. You've got Abraham. Sometimes 
people say, you know, it's so hard to be holy because I feel 
like I constantly am meeting up with these tests and these 
trials and these difficulties. None of us have ever woken up 
and had God say, take your son, your only son, the son whom you 
love, trot him up to Mount Moriah, lay him down, tie him up, and 
put a knife in his heart. None of us have had that test. 
And none of us will get that test. You see, we can't blame 
everything else. We need to run with endurance. 
If we think that these tests or trials are somehow inhibiting 
us from being holy, we certainly misunderstood the Bible. Because 
God does these things for those whom he loves, not temptation 
to sin. Not solicitation to evil, but 
there are instances and times where God does send various trials, 
because trials produce patience, according to James, in James 
chapter 1. What about Sarah? An impossible 
physical demand. An impossible physical demand. 
You're going to have children, Sarah. God, don't you know physiology? You made me. Don't you know that 
things stop working after a certain... An impossible physical demand. 
She's faithful in the midst of it. And again, when you look 
at the characters in the Bible, they're not spotlessly faithful. 
They're not perfectly faithful. There's some, you know, hiccups 
along the way, but the tenor, the overarching description of 
their lives is one of faithfulness. That's why they're in Hebrews 
chapter 11. You got Moses in the Exodus. You think you've 
got a lot of responsibility at work, and I don't want to minimize 
that. There's business owners. It's probably tough, but you're 
not Moses leading the children of Israel across to the promised 
land. I mean, Moses himself said, Lord, 
I can't do this. This is difficult. By God's grace, 
he persevered. You got Rahab the harlot, whom 
Davis calls the shady lady of Jericho. Here she was a pagan 
living in Jericho. She proselytes into the nation 
of Israel. She ends up marrying who? Salmon, 
good. And they give birth to who? Boaz, 
the Goel, the kinsman redeemer who marries Ruth, and they have 
Obed, and Obed has Jesse, and Jesse has David, and thus we 
have the messianic line. So Rahab, in the midst of a horrible 
situation, comes out of darkness into marvelous light and experiences 
the blessing of God in tremendous ways. You've got Gideon, Gideon 
was this strong man of faith, wasn't he? No, he wasn't. He 
needed the fleece twice. He needed it tested twice. Remember 
when God told him to go and tear down that altar in his hometown? 
When did he go? Brought daylight so that he could 
tell everybody that he was here in the name of Yahweh? No, he 
went at night. But he got the job done, didn't he? You see, 
these are real people in real situations doing what God has 
called them to do, and they do it faithfully. They don't necessarily 
march in with their faces painted and say, yeah, we're here to 
just deal, you know, deal it out to you, but they get it done. 
You've got Beric. Remember Beric? He asks the prophetess, 
I want you to go with me. If you don't go with me, I'm 
not going to go. It's not an admission of cowardice. It's rather a desire for the 
presence of God Most High. He does. He leads the armies 
of Israel into victory. But God, nevertheless, gives 
victory to jail when it comes time to pound Sisera's head. 
You've got Jephthah. Jephthah was a godly man. I know 
that I explained him in the literal way. He is in the book of Hebrews. He was a man of faith. He did 
not do everything perfectly, but nevertheless he did what 
God called him to do, and he did it effectively. And then 
there's Samson. who has become a near and dear 
hero to me, certainly a man of faith." Now he is the one that 
walks down the street in broad daylight and says, I'm just going 
to take care of business here. So there are men like that that 
he uses. Then there's David. There's Samuel, 
there's prophets, there's triumphant heroes, there's suffering saints. 
You see, all of these people are the great cloud of witnesses 
that we have surrounding us. Now when we ask the question, 
what does a witness do? The wrong way to approach verse 
1 is to think that what we have here is that we are the runners 
down on the field and that there is this amphitheater type structure 
and all these witnesses are up there. You've got Abel, you've 
got Noah, you've got Enoch, you've got Samson. You've got Gideon, 
you've got Jephthah, and what they're doing is they're sort 
of cheering us on. They're sort of rooting for us. 
They're sort of encouraging us along the way. That's not the 
way the text is supposed to be understood. The function of a 
witness, you call a witness into a courtroom not to be a spectator. You call a witness into the courtroom 
to be a witness, to give evidence, to make testimony. So what the 
image is, is that we've got Abel, we've got Enoch, we've got Sarah, 
we've got Rahab, we've got Moses, and they're all witnessing that 
we have a God who's faithful, a God who is just, and a God 
who sustains his people. they're not witnessing to their 
faithfulness, they're not witnessing to their goodness, they're witnessing 
to the goodness of God Most High. The author is saying since we 
have this great cloud of witnesses, every one of them to a man, every 
one of them to a woman with the common report that God is faithful, 
He will not leave you, He will not forsake you, having that 
for your surrounding theater there, you run with endurance. The emphasis of these witnesses 
is that faithful endurance to the end is possible and that 
God himself is faithful and he will sustain you. They're not 
up there rooting for you, they're not up there cheering for you, 
they're up there testifying to you that your God is indeed the 
faithful one who sustained them, who kept them, who got them from 
point A to point Z by His grace. There's several others in the 
Bible. Jacob, Jacob in Genesis 35, 3, then let us arise and 
go up to Bethel and I will make an altar there to God who answered 
me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the day 
which I have gone. Isn't that beautiful? Those are 
witnesses you ought to listen to when you're reading your Bible. 
You're struggling with an issue. You're having difficulty in a 
situation. You're having problems resisting a temptation or sin. 
Listen to Jacob when you read Genesis 35. Yes, it's nice to 
read Genesis and learn the creation account. By all means, read Genesis 
for the creation account. But in many respects, that's 
a small portion of Genesis. The rest of it is about four 
men. And the lives of those four men witness and testify several 
great lessons concerning God and his mercy. You're dealing 
with issues and you hear Jacob say, who answered me in the day 
of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have done. 
Or Moses' statement in Deuteronomy 1.31, remember? Plains of Moab. 
Moses is preparing the children of Israel, or is preparing them 
to cross the river Jordan and go in the land of conquest, or 
land of Canaan. And God says, through Moses, 
concerning the wilderness days, the days that they thought God 
had abandoned them, by the way. If you go back and read the section 
in Deuteronomy 1, the children of Israel concluded in the wilderness 
that God left us. Or even worse, God brought us 
out here to kill us. That's how they concluded. Here's how God 
interprets the same event. And of course, we believe God's 
interpretation over grumbling Israel. God in Deuteronomy 131 
says, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God 
carried you as a man carries his son in all the way that you 
went until you came to this place. You see, they looked in the wilderness. 
They said, God left us. Or worse yet, God brought us 
out here so he could slaughter us. God said, you missed the 
point. I picked you up and I carried 
you through the wilderness the way that a father does. You see, 
these are witnesses you and I need to pay attention to. This is 
testimony we need to listen to. When we're running with endurance 
the race that is set before us, we're not just knuckling under, 
gutting it out. We're listening to faithful men 
and women all around us who are saying, run because your God 
is faithful. David in 2nd Samuel 4, 9, But 
David answered Rechab and Banna, his brother, the sons of Rimeh 
and the Barathite, and said to them, As the Lord lives, who 
has redeemed my life from all adversity." Isn't that beautiful? 
He's redeemed my life from all adversity. What about Shadrach, 
Meshach, and Abednego? We believe our God will spare 
us. But even if He doesn't, we still 
will fear Him. Isn't that great? That's not 
some charismatic, God's going to do whatever we tell him. No, 
we believe God will spare us. But if he doesn't, we still worship 
him and love him. That's faith in the furnace, 
brethren. You can't ever say, well, you 
don't know the troubles I'm having. Nobody's chucked you into a furnace 
to burn you to death. Thankfully. Micah the prophet, 
7, 1 to 7. He laments because he's it. As 
far as Micah's concerned, he's the last one. Society has completely 
disintegrated. There's no friends close to him. 
The family has disintegrated, and yet Micah finds comfort in 
his God. Habakkuk the prophet, the same 
sort of thing in chapter 3, 17 to 19. Paul the apostle. 2 Timothy chapter 4. Certainly 
when you're looking at Abel and Enoch and Rahab and all that, 
you better see Paul up there and you better listen to what 
Paul's testimony is. I have fought the good fight, 
I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally there 
is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord 
the righteous judge will give to me on that day and not to 
me only but also to all who have loved his appearing. And then 
you could go through church history subsequent to the death of the 
apostles, and look at Foxe's Book of Martyrs, for instance, 
and locate those men and those women up in those stands. We 
could think of modern-day persons that suffer for the cause of 
Christ, those who are in prison. What do they testify, typically, 
if they're faithful? They say, God sustains me. That's 
the emphasis in the text. They're not up there saying, 
run, Cam, run, Jim, run, Jonathan, do a great job. No, they're all 
saying run because God is faithful. Run because God is merciful. 
Run because God is worth running after. That's how these witnesses 
function in verse one. Well, let us close in prayer 
and ask God to help us to run with endurance. Our Father, we 
thank You for Your Word, we thank You for its clarity, and we pray 
that You would give us grace and a desire to run with endurance 
the race that is set before us. Thank You for this great cloud 
of witnesses, not only populated with the people of the Old Testament, 
but our New Testaments as well. and then 20 centuries of Christ's 
church and people who have testified consistently in life and in death 
that God is faithful. Lord, help us to always remember 
this most valuable lesson and help us always to be looking 
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We ask that you 
would go with us now and watch over us. Again, we pray for those 
who need prayer in our congregation, that you would look with favor 
upon them, and we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.