← Back to sermon library

welcome to everyone for our call to worship this evening i want to read Psalm 142 Psalm 142 for our call to worship beginning in verse 1 a contemplation of David a prayer when he was in the cave I cry out to the Lord with my voice with my voice to the Lord I make supplication I pour out my complaint before him I declare before him my trouble when my spirit was overwhelmed with in me than you knew my path in the way in which I walked they have secretly set a snare for me look on my right hand and ce4 there is no one who acknowledges me refuge has failed me no one cares for my soul I cried out to you O Lord I said you are my refuge my portion in the land of the living attend to my cry for I am brought very low deliver me from my persecutors for they are stronger than I bring my soul out of prison that I may praise your name the righteous shall surround me for you shall deal bountifully with me a man will please take your Trinity Salter and turn to Psalm 1 someone will stand as we sing together and huh tonight well remember mrs. van schaik mrs. prockter phoned here and told Doug that mrs. van schaik had a fall today right on her face and went to the doctors who went to ER and they just basically sent her home but it's quite a quite an injury so we'll remember her as we go to prayer tonight so let us pray our blessed God and our Holy Father we come again on the Sabbath day to worship you Father Son and Holy Spirit we acknowledge your greatness and your majesty and your excellence in your glory we acknowledge your handiwork and creation and your government in Providence and we acknowledge as well the glorious gospel of free and sovereign grace wherein you show men your redeeming power and your ability to save to the uttermost we come to acknowledge these things and we come to respond with worship we would pray that tonight as we come to the Father through the mediation of the Sun by the spirit that God would be all in all in this place that you would be exalted and glorified and praised as the psalmist says may you be enthroned upon the praises of your people we would ask Lord God most high that in all of our thoughts in our minds and our hearts and our affections would be drawn out and love to you this evening not only in this place but as we enter into a new week may we enter so having had dealings with God and may we seek you daily in our own prayers and scripture reading and seeking to to hunger and thirst after righteousness we would pray that you would be the the chief desire in our minds and hearts and that you would be that which is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000 to each and every one of us here we pray that you would forgive us for all of our sins and our transgressions whenever we come before the thrice holy God revealed to us in Scripture we see our own sinfulness our own waywardness our own ability to blonder and to leave the God that we love so we confess those transgressions now we look at your law and it shows us your character your mind your will it shows us how far short we have fallen and so we confess that iniquity and we trust and we pray that you would apply the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to us how we thank you that there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared and may that fear of God frame our hearts are right so that as we worship you we would do so in a manner that is pleasing in your sight we ask our Father that any and all who have come here tonight that are strangers to the the grace of God strangers to the covenants of promise those who are aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and and without hope and without God in this world we pray that tonight through the power of your Holy Spirit and the Word of God you would be pleased to save sinners to the uttermost we know father that you are sovereign we know that you are able and capable and we know that you have purpose to save a great multitude that no man can number from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and our God we pray that that would be the case tonight in this place and in other churches and chill Oh acted meet now and father throughout this earth as your people gather as those who come among your people we would pray that the gospel would go forth conquering and to conquer that you would be pleased to save sinners we ask that you would look with favor upon mrs. van schaik we just commit her to you into the word of your grace and pray that you would just bless her physically and spiritually she would strengthen her and cause her to recover from this fall give her grace and aid from on high and may you use mr. van schaik as a means of encouragement and God give him compassion and love for his wife in this time watch over them both and continue to to strengthen them and continue to uphold them in the inner man we pray for others in our midst Lord God that struggle with physical challenges we know God that you are sovereign that you are the the Great Physician you are the one that does all things well so we pray that if you will not take from these people they're their maladies and their problems that you would just supply them with the grace to be able to press on in the midst of trial and suffering may they be cheered and encouraged by passages of scripture that that that point us to that eternal state that place where there will be no more sorrow no more pain no more suffering no more hunger in a more thirst ultimately God there will be no more death in that age to come god I pray this would be an encouragement to each and every one that struggles and father grant each of us grace to lay hold of these promises and to have a hope-filled life realizing that what you extend your people in and through Christ Jesus is far more excellent than anything that this world has to offer we pray for the missionary enterprise we thank you God that the gospel is going forth throughout the earth and we pray for our dear brothers and sisters in China we just commit them to you and pray that you'd uphold them that you would continue to watch over them and strengthen them and use them God to teach the truth of Holy Scripture to those with whom they come into contact we pray that you would just sustained each one and bless each one and cause them to know the nearness of God as they're good we also pray for the Middle East we know that there is a great need for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit we pray for believers that are presently there that you would uphold them and those going through persecution and trials and suffering may they do so without recanting their faith in the Lord Jesus and may you God and heaven be pleased to save many many that are steeped in that false religion of this long we pray God that these persons would hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit they would be turned from their useless idols to the true in the Living God we pray for the church in islamabad we thank you for pastor daniel in the flock there and we would ask that you'd watch over them and continue to to bless that congregation and protect them and and cause them Lord God to shine in that that perverse and crooked generation cause them to have opportunity to hold forth the word of truth and may you just continue to send forth your glorious gospel throughout the earth as we know from Scripture Christ will have dominion from sea to sea so we pray to that and Most High God continue with us now we pray and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well please turn in your Trinity hymnals to number six hundred and ninety six hundred and ninety again we'll stand as we sing together you we can turn in your Bibles to the prophet Ezekiel for our scripture reading this evening Ezekiel chapter 16 specifically we looked at the first section last week where the Lord God most high highlights His grace and his kindness in his dealings with Israel he essentially says he came upon them in their blood he came upon them in their Nativity and he said to them live live and then the Lord God cleanse them the Lord God adorned then the Lord God blessed them and so he had conveyed great privilege upon the people of Israel and then beginning in chapter 16 at verse 15 he highlights their unfaithfulness I have long believed that this is one of the most stirring descriptions of human depravity in all of the Bible's will pick up reading in verse 15 but you trusted in your own beauty played the harlot because of your fame and poured out your harlotry on every everyone passing by who would have it you took some of your garments and adorned Multi multi coloured high places for yourself and played the harlot on them such things should not happen nor be you've also taken your beautiful jewelry from my gold in my silver which I had given you and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them you took your embroidered garments and covered them and you set my oil in my incense before them also my food which I gave you the pastry of fine flour oil and honey which I fed you you set it before them as sweet incense and so it was says the Lord God moreover you took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and these you sacrifice to them to be devoured warrior acts of harlotry a small matter that you have slain my children and offered them up to them offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire and in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare struggling in your then it was so after all your wickedness woe woe to you says the Lord God that you also built for yourself a shrine and made a high place for yourself in every street you built your high places at the head of every Road and made your beauty to be aboard you offered yourself to everyone who passed by and multiplied your acts of harlotry you also committed harlotry with the Egyptians you're very fleshly neighbors and increased your acts of harlotry to provoke me to anger behold therefore I stretched out my hand against you diminished your allotment and gave you up to the will of those who hate you the daughters of the Philistines who were ashamed of your lewd behavior you also played the harlot with the Assyrians because you were insatiable indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the traitor kaldea and even then you are not satisfied how did generate as your heart says the Lord God seeing you do all these things the deeds of a brazen harlot you erected your shrine at the head of every Road and built your high place in every street yet you were not like a harlot because you scorned payment you're an adulterous wife who take strangers instead of her husband men make payment to all harlots but you made your payments to all your lovers and hired them to come to you from all around for your heart harlotry your you are the opposite of other women in your harlotry because no one solicited you to be a harlot in that you gave payment but no payment was given you therefore you are the opposite now then o harlot hear the word of the Lord thus says the Lord God because your filthiness was poured out in your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers and with all your abominable idols and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them surely therefore I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure all those you loved and all those you hate it I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your naked to them that they may see all your nakedness and I will judge you as women who break wedlock or shed blood are judged i will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy i will also give you into their hand and they shall throw down your shrines and break down your high places they shall also strip you of your clothes take your beautiful jewelry and leave you naked and bare they shall also bring up an assembly against you and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords they shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the site of many women I will make you cease playing the harlot and you shall no longer hire lovers so I will lay to rest my fury toward you and my jealousy shall depart from you I will be quiet and be angry no more because you did not remember the days of your youth but agitated me with all these things surely i will also recompense your deeds on your own head says the Lord God and you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you like mother like daughter you are your mother's daughter loathing husband and children and you are the sister of your sisters who love their husbands and children your mother was a Hittite and your father and amirite your older sister is Sumeria who dwells with their daughters to the north of you and your younger sister who dwells to the south of you it's autumn in her daughters you did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations but as if that were too little you became more corrupt than they in all your ways as I live says the Lord God neither your sister sought him nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done look this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom she and her daughter had pride fullness of food and abundance of idleness neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy and they were haughty and committed abomination before me therefore I took them away as I saw fit samaria did not commit half of your sins but you have multiplied your abominations more than they and have justified your sisters by all the abominations which you have done you who judged your sisters bear your own shame also because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs they are more righteous than you yes be disgraced also and bear your own shame because you justified your sisters when I bring back their captives the captives of Sodom and her daughters and the captain's captives of Samaria and her daughters then I will also bring back the captives of your captivity among them that you may bear your own shame and be disgraced by all that you did when you comforted them when your sisters Sodom and her daughters returned to their former state and Samaria and her daughters returned to their former state than you and your daughters will return to your former state for your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth and the days of your pride before your wickedness was uncovered it was like the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria and all those around her and of the daughters of the Philistine to despise you everywhere you've paid for your lewdness and your abomination says the Lord for thus says the Lord God I will deal with you as you have done who had who despise the oath by breaking the Covenant nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth and i will establish an everlasting covenant with you then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older and your younger sisters for I will give them to you four daughters but not because of my covenant with you and I will establish my covenant with you that you shall know that I am the lord that you may remember and be ashamed and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame when I provide you an atonement for all you have done says the Lord God amen well as you can see there the Lord God does not take idolatry lightly he condemns the people he likens it to harlotry to spiritual adultery when Israel who was in covenant with Yahweh goes after the gods of the nations around them that is an act of transgression that is unfaithful mess and it is likened to the sin of adultery thawed the Lord as well highlights just how vile and how wicked this is I'll give a plug for the new American standard they actually translate verse 25 be correctly accurately and literally I'll leave that to your own investigation later but then he highlights or indicates how there's was different than other harlots harlots accept pay for services rendered but God says you're so wicked that you as a harlot actually pays the man or pays the one that you lie down with or that you engage with there is no clearer language in all of Scripture at least in my estimation concerning the vileness and the wretchedness of Israel as they broke covenant with the Lord God most high he goes on to say that you made Sodom Sodom I mean think about it Sodom and Gomorrah the cities of the plain da drained hell from heaven upon them for their abomination for their sodomy and yet God says to the nation of Israel that you have exceeded their wickedness the finally the only truly surprising thing in all of this chapter is very 60 this nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth and i will establish an everlasting covenant with you that is our God isn't it that's that Ephesians 24 but God when the Apostle highlights what we were how we sinned how we rebelled how in the totality of our minds and our hearts we were opposed to the Lord God most high but God he says who is rich in mercy who is rich and grace with the great love that he had for us he saved us and the same sort of emphasis is here he highlights the sin of the nation but he says nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you nevertheless I will bless the nation specifically it would be achieved in our Lord Jesus and realized in the church well let us pray our Father in heaven help us to learn from these prophets how wicked and how wretched idolatry is grant us grace to be faithful to glorify and honor you as John tells us to keep ourselves from idols to guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus and and just to strive to live in pendants upon that blessed one who said apart from me you can do nothing we thank you God for your rich grace and for your mercy and for your great love certainly our Father we do not stand here sit here tonight and covenant with you because of our faithfulness because of our goodness but because of what Christ is accomplished on behalf of all those whom the father had given to him we praise you and we asked you that you would continue with us now and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well please turn in your Trinity hymnal to number 54 hymn number 54 again will stand as we sing together please turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews 12 I'll begin reading in 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 two sons my son do not despise the chase inning of the Lord nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him for whom the Lord loves he chastens and scourge 'as every son whom he receives if you endure chase inning God deals with you as with sons for what son is there whom a father does not chasin but if you are without chase inning of which we have all become of which all have become partakers then you are illegitimate not sons therefore 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 chase and assess seemed best to them but he for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness now no chase inning 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 therefore strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather be healed pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble and by this many become defiled lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau who for one morsel of food sold his birthright for you know that afterward when he wanted to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought it diligently with tears amen we'll let us pray our Father we thank you for the written word again we pray for the Ministry of the Holy Spirit and we asked that he would help us to receive with Thanksgiving your word and may these things help us on our on a Christian walk and may you encourage each and every one of us to to run with endurance the race that is set before us we thank you God that you give us resources for such things that you give us the spirit that you give us the word that you give us the Church of the Lord Jesus and all these benefits and blessings that you have provided to to provide security and help for your people we ask now that you would just help us as we look to the scripture and we pray through Christ Jesus our Lord amen well tonight I wanted to give an encouragement to each and every one of you to keep running and that's specifically what we find here in chapter 12 verse 1 the Apostle tells us that we are to run with endurance the race that is set before us in the whole context or in the larger context with reference to the chapter there is the Apostles exhortation to run the race of faith in verses 1 to 11 he then highlights their need to renew their vitality in verses 12 to 17 he reminds them that they have come to Mount Zion in verses 18 to 24 and he tells them not to refuse the God who speaks to them from heaven in verses 25 to 29 well tonight I want to just take up the encouragement or the exhortation or the command to run with endurance the race that is set before us and essentially that is the command that's what Paul wants he wants us to run with endurance the race that is set before us and to that end he provides several incentives for runners in other words he doesn't just tell us to run but he gives us incentives on why or arguments for our running in this particular race and there are at least three the first is the cloud of witnesses in verse 1 secondly is the example of Christ and verses 2 to 4 and then thirdly the purpose of the Father excuse me in verses 5 to 11 so tonight we're going to look specifically at verses 1 and 2 the cloud of witnesses and the example of Christ but note in the first place with reference to the believers race in verse 1 the duty stated the duty stated let us run with endurance the race that is set before us this is not new in the book of Hebrews up to this point look at chapter 2 and verse 1 fact the overarching theme of the book of Hebrews is to exhort the people of God not to commit apostasy not to defect not to turn away the specific historical context is that the book was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 that means that the temple was still standing the sacrificial system was still in play and so what you had is these hebrews these early jewish believers were being pressured to go back to that sacrificial system it would have cost them it would have hurt them it would have affected them if they confessed faith in Jesus as the Messiah when friends and family and business associates did not make a likewise confession they would have been outcast they would have been persecuted and that actually is what this letter is about the Apostle exhorts the Jewish believers not to turn back to run with endurance the race that is set before them and he does that in several places in the chat in the book notice in chapter 2 verse 1 therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard no lest we drift away this is a perennial problem facing the people of God this drifting away that's the first step toward full-blown apostasy apostasy is an utter enunciation of an utter dispossessing of god and christ and the gospel but the first step is this drill being away this is why we ought to be on our guard that we don't start to drift we don't start making excuses for not reading Scripture we don't start making excuses for not praying we don't start making excuses excuses for not attending to the worship of God in the public place we need to guard our hearts against the first step toward apostasy and that's one of the reasons he writes notice in chapter 3 at verse 14 314 will back up into verse 12 beware brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God but exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the act of course Paul affirmed salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ but those who have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ will persevere to the end and one of the means by which they persevere to the end is commands telling them to persevere to the end he's not saying that somehow it depends upon us he is saying that his redeemed sinners you need to run the race you need to hold fast you need to continue steadfast throughout the entirety of your sojourn here on earth notice in 41 therefore since a promise remains of entering his rest let it let us fear lest any of you seemed with comic short of it for 14 seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession what do you think the Apostle is emphasizing in this particular epistle hold fast your confession look at 10 23 10 23 this is the practical application of all that has gone before in fact you could say that 1 1 to 10 18 is doctrinal in nature and 9 10 19 and following is very practical he tells us how we are to live how we are to avoid specific sins and issues and difficulties and notice in 10 23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope with out wavering for he who promised is faith full notice in 10 35 and 36 after highlighting that they had in fact been persecuted they had in fact joyfully accepted the plundering of their goods notice in verse is 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 and then chapter 11 is a Hall of faith chapter 11 highlights faithful runners in the history of God's people so we come to chapter 12 verse 1 and the specific exhortation is let us run the race that is set before us there is similar imagery elsewhere in Paul's letters first Corinthians 9 24 to 27 do you not know that those who run in a race all run but one receives the prize but 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 so you see the apostles emphasis isn't strictly in the book of Hebrews this is something that finds place in much of the Pauline corpus and yes I accept Paul as the author of the book of Hebrews note as well Philippians 3 12 to 14 he says not that I've already attained or am already perfected but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid old of me brethren I do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead I pray I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of god in christ jesus so you've made a confession of faith in the Lord Jesus you're seeking to live according to that confession you need an encouragement to keep running I need an encouragement to keep running Paul saw that the people of God needed encouragement Stu keep running thus we have in Hebrews 12 1 now note the obstacles that the Apostle says we are to lay a sign back in 12 1 therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight let us lay aside every weight now these are things that hinder runners that aren't necessarily sins I think it's a coordinate thought here he says lay aside every weight lay aside the sin which so easily ensnares us what are the sorts of things that are weights that aren't necessarily sin not every weight is necessarily a sin but if it interferes with running the race get rid of it the Apostle says in Matthew 13 22 Jesus says now he received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word and the cares of this world that's not necessarily a sin the cares of this world it's a sin how we respond to it but all of us have cares of this world we all have some sort of concern about what are we going to do tonight what are we going to do with our children all that is the case but Jesus goes on to say and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and becomes unfruitful I think those are two examples of weights that aren't necessarily sins the cares of this world but again how we respond to it may be sinful and riches Paul doesn't say all riches are always evil in first Timothy 6 he tells Timothy to command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty don't be proud don't trust in uncertain riches but rather be benevolent be generous give to those who have need and such and so on so Paul highlights the reality that there are things in our lives that are weights that hinder us in our running take the running metaphor for a moment if a man's going to be a distant runner distance runner and he weighs 300 pounds it's going to do him a whole lot of good to drop a lot of those pounds he cannot be a distance runner when he's carrying that kind of weight man if he is going to prepare for running like that he's going to need to go to bed early not necessarily a sin to stay up late but it's a weight that he must lay aside he must get the necessary rest he's got to eat properly he's got a trained properly he's got to be to use the analogy in first Corinthians 9 he's got to be temperate in all things he's got to look after his body if he's going to run in this race and so the Apostles admonition is to lay aside every weight Christians we can make the application to those things which are not necessarily sin but they may hinder us and are running it may not necessarily be sin to sleep an extra hour in the morning but if it hinders us in our communion with God set the alarm a bit earlier deal with it get rid of those weights get rid of those things that hinder your enjoyment of God and you're running the race that is set before you but he doesn't stop there he says lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us be killing sin John Owen said or it will be killing you you cannot run the Christian race while you're entertaining sin you cannot run the Christian race while you have truck with sin while you give it vent in your own heart or in your own life for you you know and in the expression of your being Paul says lay it aside get rid of it cut off right hands pluck out right eyes do what is necessary so that you can run the race that is set before you you're not going to continue along the path while you are engaged in sin Philip you says one of the chief problems with the Hebrew Christians to who this letter is addressed is that they have set out on the race but after a good start are now slackening in the will to persevere their effort is decreasing 21 sin is holding them back 317 241 they need to recover their intensity or purpose for 11 they need to shake off the sluggish mood into which they have fallen 61 they need to regain their confidence 10 35 and 39 and their competitive spirit they need to lay aside every way but they also need to lay aside every sin which so easily entangles you it is absolutely amazing and baffling in mind blowing when persons who are running with running this Christian race find such little progress when they're looking at porn or such little progress when they're vicious to their spouses or such little progress when they're unkind to their children or such little progress when they don't use the means that God's ordained for their running race brethren you've got to be killing sin or it will be killing you you must put to death the deeds of the body by the spirit in order to run the race that is set before us so we see the duty let us run the race that is set before us the obstacles to lay aside let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us now note the manners specify we're to run with endurance if you haven't figured it out yet most likely you don't get converted and then drop dead I mean wouldn't it be easier if you you know believed on the gospel and then took your last breath I'm not saying this is what I hope for I'm not you know don't you know listen to me it's an angle well Butler has a death wish no but it would be easier in the grand scheme of things is it it fighting sins hard I mean it's hard for a day if you say well no it is it then you're not fighting sin if you've ever sought to mount up opposition against remaining corruption you know it's no easy endeavor so you do that for a day and then another day and it'll week and then a year and then a year and then a year and then a year the aren t you just keep piling it up the Christian life demands endurance the Christian life demands perseverance the Christian life is not a flash in the pan the Christian life is not a 100-yard dash the Christian life is a marathon and you need to understand that and you need to embrace it and you need to run with endurance that's the admonition run with indoor the race that is set before us and as we look elsewhere in Scripture the sort of endurance envisioned by Paul is not an endurance of just gutting it out but to do so joyfully to do so with Thanksgiving to do so in a way that does honor the Lord God most high don't be running and so I'm just going to you know deal with this and knuckle under know there's a joy involved because it's a good race it's a blessed race it's God's race for us so that's the believers race the exhortation verse 1 now note the believers incentives as I said verses 1 to 11 the cloud of witnesses the example of Christ and the purpose of the Father note in the first place this cloud of witnesses this isn't incentive for you to run with endurance this is motivation for you to run with endurance you say well what does it mean I'm glad you asked because I think we ought to unpack this therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses why do you think the Apostle says this coming out of chapter 11 because chapter 11 is a sketch of that cloud of witnesses chapter 11 highlights the many who have gone before us those who have run with endurance those who have laid aside every weight those who have laid aside the sin that so easily entangles us God Almighty has blessed them and sustained them and they were faithful runners to the very end you look at chapter 11 you see it broken down into several places you first have the pre-flood people able anak noah then you have Abraham you have Sarah you have eyes it you have Jacob you have Joseph you have the witness of Moses in verses 25 to 29 you have the conquest of Jericho will sort of tie all this in together when we get to exactly what is what he means here by this you have the shady lady Jericho and verse 31 Ralph Davis calls Rahab the harlot the Shady Lady of Jericho verse 31 you have the judges of Israel verse 32 a you have the monarchy in the prophets and verses 32 be 240 so you see what the Apostle says is since we have or are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses and I think the language suggests to us something like an amphitheater you're in the base of this particular theater and we're surrounded by all these witnesses there's Abraham there's Enoch and there's no one there's Sarah there is Rahab and there's David and there's Jeff Donn there's there's Samson and there's Barrett you see the idea being that we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses now what is their function what do they do in terms of Hebrews 12 1 the activity they ain't engage in I think I've confessed here before that I used to think that they sort of populated that amphitheater and they were cheering us on go Jim go team go Church brother Noah's up there cheering on our behalf that we run with endurance the race that is set before us old Enoch is saying get rid of those weights and get rid of those sins and run with endurance the race that is set before you father Abraham is just saying come on keep going run fast hard don't stop that's not what I think they're there for they are not simply spectators their witnesses and if they were spectators who are they spectating in the eternal state they're not looking at gem they're looking at Jesus they are in the presence of god most high so they're not you know father abraham looking down at our lot saying i want you to keep going now they are in the presence of the Lord God most high that is who they are beholding a witness witnesses right if you have a courtroom setting initial proceeding you don't bring a witness in beat to be a spectator witnesses have a specific function in the courtroom they're not just watching now there are courtrooms where there can be spectators who view the proceedings that's legit that's okay but that's not what's in view here these witnesses serve in a particular capacity and so we ask the question what is it that these witnesses are witnessing to or what is it that this great cloud of witnesses stands in that amphitheater sits in that amphitheater how does that affect runners here on earth their testimony is simple their witness is effective their witness as well is unified when we look at Enoch and we look at Abraham and we look at Jeff thon we look at Sarah and we look at at all the brethren that have gone before us what is the consistent testimony it is that God is faithful that's why they're there let that sink in for just a moment therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us run with endurance the race that is set before us look there at Enoch he tells you God is faithful look there at Abraham he tells you God is faithful look there at samson he tells you God is faithful look at David what does he testify God is faithful in other words when you as a believer run with endurance the race that is set before you you are to do so with conscious recollection of the runners who have gone on before you you're supposed to internalize the reality that these men and women tried and proved their God and that being the case when we run with endurance the race that is set before us we will indeed try and prove our God they're not cheering us on they're not spectators there are witnesses to the faithfulness of god most high there are witnesses to the reality that God will never let his people falter he we'll never let them go he will never leave them nor will he forsake that the God of Abraham the god of Isaac the God of Jacob the god of Enoch the god of jephthah the God of Samson the God of barrick is our God and those who by grace run the race with endurance will finish in like manner we're going to look at these men and women in just a moment a little bit more fully but I want you to appreciate several of the things that we see elsewhere Genesis 35 3 this is the testimony of Jacob 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 mine distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone you need an encouragement while you're running with endurance the race that is set before you listen to Jacob because Jacob says that God answered me in the day of mine distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone you need a boost in the arm when you're running with endurance the race that is set before you consider Moses words in Deuteronomy chapter one on the plains of Moab listen to the way he describes God and God's dealings with the nation of Israel it says in Deuteronomy 131 and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son think about that as you're running with endurance the race that is set before you realize that God Yahweh has this track record when his people can't make it he picks them up and he carries them just like a father when he sees his child having difficulty he picks him up and he carries him that's the language of Deuteronomy 131 consider David in second samuel chapter 4 we have seen the narrative concerning David in our studies in first and second Samuel and what David says in second samuel chapter 2 i'm sorry chapter 4 verse 9 is another testimony from one of those in the amphitheater that we ought to give heed to David answered ray cab and bana his father brother the sons of riemann the bear a fight and said to them as the Lord lives who has redeemed my life from all adversity so you see as you're running with endurance the race that is set before you should listen to David he's one in that great cloud of witnesses that has gone before he is one whose testimony is God is faithful and this is pre Bathsheba we have just been considering David's sin with Bathsheba there's a particular outline in the book of 2nd Samuel in second samuel we see David's consolidation of the kingdom both the North and the South and then we see a report positively of David's rain that goes up to about chapter 8 chapter 9 we begin to see David's downfall we see the consequences of his scent we see him going to Bathsheba we see him cover it up with Uriah with the murder of Uriah and then all manner of circumstances befall or consequences rather befall his family it's a terrible scene and yet even after that see second Samuel 49 is David having used on the fact that God spared him in his flight from Saul in his battles against Goliath and his battles against the Philistines well did God spare him after the sin with Bathsheba and the various and sundry consequences that would were attached to his home and family well in first Kings chapter 1 David is able to say in verse 29 and the king took an oath and said as the Lord lives who has redeemed my life from every distress you see runner you need to listen to David you need to get your mind in the scripture you need to listen to the consistent testimony of God's people through the ages that the Lord most high is faithful and that when men and women boys and girls by the grace of God run with endurance this race the Lord faithfully sustains the Lord faithfully preserves and the Lord will bring them on to glory just in the manner that he did with David we could go on or add the list here in Hebrews chapter 11 Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in Daniel chapter 3 verses 16 to 18 it's not you know God Almighty spares his people from a burning fiery furnace and then Daniels cast into the Lions Den I mean could these men testify that God is faithful and should we men and women listen to their testimony that God is faithful you see we get into the doldrums or we get into the dumps or we get down and we think well we've got trial and adversity and hardship that nobody ever knew and yet we look at these men in a burning fiery furnace or we look at Daniel in this Lions Den we have to realize you know probably what we're facing isn't so severe you see it Mike of the Prophet fact you can turn to micah chapter 7 just listening to the voices of those in the amphitheater and don't worry we're not going to continue on will do verses 22 for next week for the Lord's Supper it's good thing to look at Jesus in this context next Sunday for the Lord's Supper so I just want to want to draw this out with reference to the cloud of witnesses we are surrounded by because I don't think we do listen to what God's people have to tell us and it's to our peril notice in Mike is 7 verse 1 what was me for I am like those who gather summer fruits like those who glean vintage grapes there is no cluster to eat of the first ripe fruit which my soul desires the faithful man is perish from the earth and there is no one up right among man they all lie in wait for blood every man hunts his brother within that they may successfully or that they may successfully do evil with both hands the prince has asked for gifts the judge seeks a bride and the great man utters his evil desire so they schemed together the best of men is like a Brier the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge the day of your watchman and your punishment cons now shall be there perplexity do not trust and a friend do not put your confidence in a companion guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom for Sun dishonours father daughter rises against her mother daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law man's enemies in the man of his own household you know what proje micah is saying here he said lonely I'm all alone in a society that's filled with corruption at the societal level in terms of kings and authorities but as well at the famille a familial level as well there is disharmony radical breach because of sin and the Prophet is lamenting over this and note where he finds his comfort verse 7 therefore I will look to the lord I will wait for the god of my salvation my god will hear me and then the rest of chapter 70 essentially celebrates that reality you should listen to Micah you should listen to Habakkuk the Prophet you should hear how he responds to the Lord God you should hear his prayer in abeka captor 3 you should give attention to that as you run with endurance the race that is set before you you need to understand that the Lord God is faithful you need to understand that because you're told that from this pulpit you're told that from parents but ultimately you're told that by God himself through this great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us that looks upon price and that testifies to us that God the Lord is faithful now by way of application I want to follow up on something I said before we think about our circumstances and we're sort of like that that old rabbit and the cartoons who said nobody knows the trouble I've seen right nobody knows how hard I have it we tend to think that you know we're at in terms of difficulty and problem and hardship I mean you've talked to people like that before perhaps you've said that before can I give you a hand can i halt you just don't know what I'm going through that might be the case you know in certain certain details or you know little twists and the narrative of your life I I get that but we are not the only persons that have ever found ourselves with difficulty I know that's hard to understand and hard to believe but let's sketch through the Hall of faith and let's just consider the various men and women that we find in Hebrews 11 we have men described and women as having walked by do you have family problems that's a real stressor isn't it I mean that's what the prophet Micah says in Micah chapter 7 family division family lack of peace family disharmony can be a real bummer in one's life how do I respond I look at able because if ever there was a man who had family problems Abel was one of them remember what happened to Abel Cain murdered him right Abel walked by faith even though he had a murderous wretch for a brother I doubt it was the case that on that day that was the only sign the only time the only expression of Cain's anger or hatred to Abel most likely for a man to get to the point where he commits murder of a brother fratricide there's probably been some precursors or some buildup so you think you've got family troubles I don't want to minimize it I don't want to hurt you I don't want to you know disregard what you are going through but think about Abel josephs also mentioned in the narrative you think you've got family problems think about Joseph with brothers like that who wants enemies those wretches sold him into slavery those wretches treated him terribly and yet by faith Joseph marches on what about societal woes and difficulties we live under a godless regime everyone shall admit we promote abortion we promote euthanasia we promote sodomy it could probably be said of us in the Ezekiel 16 you've out Sodom to Sodom itself I mean wickedness is is is paraded wickedness is celebrated wickedness is subsidized by federal monies I mean that's the place we've gotten to well sometimes that's the expression of the Christians hard it's so hard to be a faithful runner we live in a society that's filled with this sort of sinfulness and this sort of wickedness and I'm there with you it's tough it's hard brethren when there is increasing opposition to the church increasing enmity toward the people of God a president what about Noah didn't know what do it did he run with endurance the race that was set before him even in the midst of a godless society you better believe it and in Genesis 6 how is the world described it is exceedingly corrupt and filled with violence so you see for Noah things didn't look a whole lot different than they do for us so please don't say my family problems and my society causes me to be hindered in my running toward God look at Noah look a table listen to Joseph hear their testimony god is faithful he will preserve you he will see through or see to you in the midst of those calamities and in the midst of those difficulties take Enoch Enoch unity Knox claimed a famous other than he lived 365 years he had sons and daughters that's a challenge in and of itself isn't it it was somebody camped out here the other day and I got to talking to them and said could you just please go sit out front because this isn't where you're supposed to be and this young person said well I have G ad I said I don't know what G ad is and she said general anxiety disorder I thought later and I don't want to minimize that I really don't but I thought later have five kids and pastor a church and see what kind of anxiety had at that point again she may have some serious struggles brethren we all have serious struggles and so did these people that were populating this cloud of witnesses why do we think that it's all us that has the trials and the difficulties at any rate back to Enoch the text is very specific he walked with God he had sons and daughters and he walked with God and then he was not think about that for 365 years he walked with God for 365 years he raised children I don't know if he did that the entirety of those three hundred and sixty-five years but what do we get from this in the normal and in the ordinary God sustained Enoch in the normal and in the ordinary raising children being faithful going to work coming home kissing your wife going to bed getting up the next morning feeding the children porridge going back to he was faithful so if you think my ho-hum mundane ordinary life is so boring look at Enoch up there and he'll tell you God is faithful look at the various persons in this account consider Moses I'm sorry Abraham how many times a person said yeah I'm not picking on it I'd go through my whining believe you me I've gone through a season here recently that it's just been difficult but consider Abraham who of us have ever been told to get up and take our son the son we love language that's applied to the Lord Jesus concerning his father take vine son the son whom you love take him up to Mount Moriah the future site of the temple and Abraham I want you to sacrifice him for me have we ever faced a test like that will we ever faced a test like that absolutely not Abraham does it we read the story we know what's happening we know that the angel of the Lord is going to stay his aunt but you know that Abraham didn't know that right in the tax Genesis 22 1 it tells us that God was testing Abraham we go into this knowing more than Abraham does you have to understand that when Isaac makes the observation that we have the wood and we have the fire but we don't have something to sacrifice and Abraham tells him the Lord will provide Abraham understands what is going to happen Abraham knows that he's going to have to sacrifice his son now in Hebrews 11 it tells us that he believed that God was able to raise him from the dead most certainly but if you're going through a difficult test or a difficult trial and it's hindering your run then look at Abraham because Abraham will tell you God is faithful what about Moses I just love and I think the parallels between Moses and 11 and Jesus in 12 2 are absolutely striking notice in 11 23 by faith Moses when he was born we could do this all night so if you got anywhere to be just you know text your people and tell them we're going to be here once we get to the judges I mean it's over we're going to just be there for a while just kidding by faith Moses when he was born was hid in three months by his parents because they saw it was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's command by faith Moses when he became of age refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter why he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin there's a man who was able to lay aside sin notice that the Bible doesn't lie the Bible indicates something that we all know by experience the reason we said is because we want to send the reason we sin is because it holds out at least some sort of pleasure but it's a passing pleasure it's a fleeting pleasure it's a momentary pleasure but Moses refuse those fleeting pleasures he'd rather suffer with the people of Christ why because there's virtue and suffering no because he is steamed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the reward and the treasures in Egypt for he looked to the reward there's a tactic there look beyond the passing pleasures of sin to what God the Lord has in store for you that's what we emphasize or that's what is emphasized here and as well with Jesus Jesus 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 we get to the book of Judges I'm sorry Joshua chapter 11 and verse by faith the walls of Jericho crumbled do you think you would see those guys up there and say yeah god is faithful because as you enter into the narrative if you've never read it before you ask the question how in the world is marching around a city going to beat that we all know that we were raised with that we have heard it since our youth right but if you had never read scripts you never heard the story you had never ever ever gotten any contact with the book of Joshua before and you come to Joshua say how in the world is this a fact of military strategy guns i understand helicopters I understand tanks I understand bombs i understand that marching around a city i understand that those guys in that cloud of witnesses say god is faithful by faith throughout harlot Rahab you talk about a difficult life there what is she doing when she hides the spies what is she doing she's committing an act of treason never forget that she is engaged in a capital crime now this is justifiable because she is doing it for the God of heaven and earth but in terms of the Jericho States what she is doing is treason you don't hide spies who have come to survey a city to destroy it that's giving quarter to the enemy and you're not supposed to do that but she did it because she had faith so if you ever wondered is God faithful look up at the Shady Lady of Jericho and she'll tell you God is faithful what about Gideon and barrack and Samson can God or can Samson rather testify that God is faithful I would suggest so a man who goes toe-to-toe with a thousand Philistines and all he has is the jawbone of an ass and he comes out the victor in that exchange yes he's going to tell you God is faithful we've already referenced David he references Samuel the prophets he goes through the sufferings that the people of God have endured throughout the ages they through faith subdued kingdoms work righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions clench the violence of fire escape the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong became valiant in battle turned to flight 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 markings and scourging yes and of chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn into they 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 that reference to they were sawn into most ascribed this to having occurred to the prophet Isaiah so if there is increased state persecution for the people of God and we are charged to run with endurance the race that is set before us look at brother Isaiah he will tell you that God is faithful that if they saw you and to God is faithful if they castigate you God is faithful if they stone you God is faithful if they destroy you in terms of the body God is faithful we come to the New Testament look at the life in the Ministry of the Apostle Paul I'm I am being poured out as a drink offering the time of my departure is at hand I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith finally the crown of righteousness is laid up for me not only to me but to all those who have loved disappearing the Apostle Paul joins that great cloud of witnesses Polycarp the early Christian martyr joins that great cloud of witnesses the entirety of foxes books of a book of martyrs they are part of that great cloud of witnesses persons more contemporaneous to us are part of that great cloud of witnesses what are they witnessing not our faithfulness not our running not our ability but they witness to the fact that God is faithful so this is an encouragement to keep running look to God look to his word look to his people and listen to the consistent testimony that God the Lord is going to preserve you unto the day of Christ Jesus well let us pray father we thank you for this your word and we thank you for this great cloud of witnesses and I pray that each of us would have fresh encouragement to run with endurance the race that is set before us grant us the spirit so that we may indeed identify those weights and lay them aside grant us the spirit so that we may kill sin that we may run in a manner that is pleasing to you that you would sustain us and that you would encourage our hearts and that we would serve a scripture and this cloud of witnesses and may this be an incentive to us to run this race go with us now we pray and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord amen we'll close with a brief time of meditation you