Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12:1-29

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 the 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, 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 prophet, that we may be partakers of his holiness. Now, 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. 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. For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the words should not be spoken to them any more. For they could not endure what was commanded. And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.

And so terrifying was the sight, that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. "'See that you do not refuse him who speaks. "'For if they did not escape, "'who refused him who spoke on earth, "'much more shall we not escape "'if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven.

"'Whose voice then shook the earth, "'but now he has promised saying, "'Yet once more I shake not only the earth, "'but also heaven.'" Now this, yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. Amen. Well, let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Father, again, we thank you for the written word of the living and true God. We know all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. So instruct us now, Lord, help us to receive with thankful hearts these encouraging words concerning your faithfulness, your goodness, and your mercy to your church.

And Lord, fill us with your Holy Spirit, guide and direct us into all truth, and forgive us for all sin and those things which darken our minds. And we ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Introduction and Chapter Overview

Well, God willing, we'll return to our exposition of John's Gospel next Sunday morning, but it would be a good thing for us to be reminded on God's faithfulness. And that's the emphasis here, specifically in chapter 12 and verse 1. And I hope to show you that as we proceed. But first, just an overview of the chapter as a whole.

The people of God are exhorted or encouraged to run the race of faith in verses 1 to 11. They are encouraged or exhorted to renew their vitality, verses 12 to 17. They are to be reminded that they have come to Mount Zion in verses 18 to 24. And they are finally admonished to not refuse Him who speaks from heaven.

We see that in verses 25 to 29. And those themes take up an emphasis in the book of Hebrews. which is an exhortation by the Apostle Paul to exhort believing Jews to keep going forward, to persevere. The temple was still standing, the sacrificial system was still in play, and certainly these who had professed faith in Jesus as Israel's Messiah were being pressured by their fellows. whether it be family, whether it be an economy or economic trade, whatever the case may have been, they would probably have had pressure laid upon them to resist or reject the notion that Jesus was in fact the Messiah. Come back to Moses, come back to the temple, come back to that sacrificial system that you knew.

So, repetitively throughout the book, the author emphasizes the need to endure. the need to persevere, and that is precisely what we find here in chapter 12, verses 1 to 11.

The Believer's Race

So I want to look first at the believer's race, and then secondly at the believer's health. If you look specifically at verse 1, the main emphasis in this section is,

The Duty: Run the Race

let us run the race that is set before us. Let us run the race that is set before us. I know he says with endurance. We'll look at that in just a moment.

But if we were to peel out the simple sentence, the simple statement, the simple exhortation, it is that. Let us run the race that is set before us. Now, oftentimes when apostles or prophets, God, through his people, give us exhortation or give us command, they often give us incitements or enticements to comply with those commands. I might say to you, come to my house for supper later on.

We're gonna have a nice big pan of sizzling fajitas. Not just come to my house, but here's a good reason why. We just had a nice big pan of sizzling fajitas on Thursday. Can't get it quite out of my head.

But you see, there's an incitement or an enticement as to why you should comply with the exhortation. Come to my house. Why? Because you're gonna eat good. endure, persevere, press on, run the race.

Why? Because God has given you these enticements. He has given you these reasons. He has provided this rationale.

So that being the simple command, it falls after this statement concerning witnesses, but we'll take up that statement first. So we'll look at the believer's race, and then we'll look at that first sort of enticement in the second place under the believer's help. But notice the duty. Let us run the race that is set before us.

In other words, we need to persevere. We need to go forward. We're not supposed to be stagnant in the Christian life. We're supposed to be fighting, not physically necessarily, but spiritually.

We're supposed to be praying. We're supposed to be watching. We're supposed to be taking guard. We're supposed to be on the alert.

And this is an emphasis throughout, as I said, this epistle. Go back to chapter 2 at verse 1 to see the several exhortations in this vein. So chapter 2 verse 1, therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away. See, it's a problematic thing to drift away.

So how do we avoid drifting away? By taking earnest heed to the things that we have heard. Notice in chapter 3 at verse 14, same emphasis, same sort of an exhortation. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.

Now God is sovereign. God keeps us by his power, but God also employs means. And one of the means that he employs is that we, by grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit, do what he tells us to do. And then notice as well in chapter four, verse one, 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 notice in chapter 4, verse 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.

Again, they were in danger of letting go of that confession. They were in danger of defection or apostasy. They were in danger of relinquishing their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, or their professed faith in our Lord Jesus, and going back to the sacrificial system of Moses. Not that Moses' sacrificial system was bad.

It was a wonderful thing in Old Covenant religion. But the message of Hebrews is that the new covenant has come. It's a better covenant with better promises because it's grounded on a better hope, namely the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in chapter 10, verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. and then 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. So that brings us to chapter 12, verse 1. Us run the race that is set before us, but it's not simply confined to the book of Hebrews.

We know that Paul uses this imagery or this analogy elsewhere in his writings. 1 Corinthians 9, verses 24 to 27. 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. Paul is against, or at least he's not for, participation trophies.

Paul wants you to win. He wants you to run in such a way that you win, that you are victorious, that you use the resources that God himself has provided, namely the word and the spirit, so that you march forward to Zion in a manner consistent with his calling upon your life. So he says, 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. He's speaking about the athletic events that he knew of that were going on in his own generation, similar to what we call today the Olympics. He saw guys getting up at oh dark 30 and running in preparation for their meet or in preparation for their eventual race or competition. He saw the regimen with reference to food, their guiding or guarding rather, their protein, their carbon take, all that sort of thing.

This stuff was rampant in the early centuries as well. He saw their temperance and what he is saying is they do it for a perishable crown. We get over to the church with reference to spiritual needs and we're a bunch of sluggards. We're all just stagnant.

We're not temperate. We're not doing the things that God calls us to do. He says, 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 he uses the same imagery, the same analogy, the same sort of a vivid display.

Again, he's not saying run in order to be saved. He's saying run because you have been saved. Run because God's grace has conquered you. Run because you've been forgiven of your sins.

Run because you have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is the impetus for our running this race that is set before us. He says in Philippians 3 at verses 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. 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 press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

For the Apostle Paul, he didn't have this mentality. Well, you know, I'm an older man now. I've done my fighting. I've done my work.

I've extended my energy. I'm going to just sort of sit back now and settle on my knees and just glide my way into heaven. He doesn't do that. He's a fighting, watching, praying man.

He is a faithful runner. And he calls upon us to be faithful runners likewise. So back to Hebrews chapter 12, the duty is very simple. The exhortation is very simple.

Obstacles: Weights and Sin

before us, but notice that particular race has obstacles, or there are difficulties, as we can all testify, right? In your Christian race, are there ever challenges? Are there ever hardships? Are there ever difficulties?

If you say no, I will say, well, just wait. Just bide your time, because Jesus promised in this world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. That was the way he encouraged his apostles in John 16, 33.

He doesn't try to candy coat. He doesn't try to pair off the rough edges of discipleship. In fact, earlier in his ministry, he says, you need to take up your cross daily and follow me. And in that context, he's not saying whatever hardship might be in your life, take up your cross meant to go to death if necessary for your commitment and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

So there are obstacles that attend this particular run. Notice in the first place, we need to lay aside every weight. Look at what it says in verse one. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight.

Now, because he goes on to say, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, there's obviously a distinction. There are weights that we can bind on ourselves that aren't necessarily sin, but they don't necessarily help us win the race. They don't help us run the race. I think it's this that Jesus appeals to in the parable of the soils.

He says in chapter Matthew 13, 22, Now he who receives 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, riches in and of themselves are not sin. You're not a sinner because you're rich. Paul tells you in 1 Timothy 6 how you're supposed to deal as a believing man or woman who has great wealth.

But it's not necessarily a sin, but it can be a weight. It can be something that weighs us down. The cares of this world. If you are like me and you're a political junkie, you have to watch your heart because you want to see what's happening.

There's this somehow tendency to continue to look at train wrecks. That's not always a positive and helpful way to live in this present lower world. I mean, there's enough right now going on in this world to put some of us in a coma for years to come. There's so much stuff happening.

And so what the apostle says is that we need to get rid of those weights. Imagine a long-distance runner, a long-distance runner. In fact, one of my brothers just mentioned this this morning with a parallel to a real running race he just went in. But you imagine if you're going to go run a long race, 26 miles in a marathon, you don't put on a weighted vest.

You put on a weighted vest if you're 100 pounds overweight, you want to walk around your block a few times. That's a good way to get a little extra exercise. But when you're running a marathon, you don't actually add weight, you try to reduce weight. You don't go out there 50 pounds overweight.

You try to lose some weight before you slosh that around the course. And so this is what the apostle says. You're going to run this race. Don't take on unnecessary weight.

Don't make unnecessary commitments. Don't get rid of your time unnecessarily. Make sure you're focused. Make sure you hone in on.

Make sure you understand. The primary reason for which you exist as a blood-bought child of God is to run this race. And if there's anything that would detract from that, he says, get rid of it, disband it, just remove it. But then notice sin.

Sin doesn't help us run this race at all. He says, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. All sin does hinder. Not all weights necessarily are sinful, but all sin is necessarily a hindrance.

And so the Apostle says you've got to get rid of it. You've got to put to death the deeds of the body that you may live. You've got to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. You need to adopt that mindset of our blessed Savior in the Sermon on the Mount.

You need to gouge out the right eye. You need to cut off the right hand. You need to enter into heaven lame or maimed, if necessary, then enter into hell whole. You see, there is this emphasis on runners running in the way that God calls us to.

And lo and behold, he grants grace. Lo and behold, he doesn't call us to do it on our own. He gives us the Spirit. He gives us the Bible.

He gives us church. He gives us hymn singing and psalm singing. You might have seen me pause after that second hymn. I was gonna say something like, wow, isn't it wonderful to be in the house of God and getting to extol our God in praise with a lot of people like us?

Not like us exactly, but blood-bought children. This is a means of grace that God encourages runners so that when we leave here, we run with endurance the race that is set before us. We lay aside the weights, we lay aside the sin, and we pursue those things that God Most High has said we ought to be about pursuing. One commentator says, 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 are now slackening in the will to persevere.

Their effort is decreasing, sin is holding them back, they need to recover their intensity of purpose to shake off the sluggish mood into which they have fallen to regain their confidence and their competitive spirit. Brethren, it's in this vein that I bring this message. It's not to come to condemn you and say, oh, what a bunch of, you know, wretched runners in this race. God is merciful.

God is gracious. God is encouraging us to renew this vitality so that we run in a manner that is consistent with our calling in our blessed Savior. But before we leave the believer's race, notice the manner specified. So there is a duty, let us run the race that is set before us.

There are obstacles to lay aside, every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, but then the manner is specified.

The Manner: Run with Endurance

Notice, let us run with endurance. Endurance. I understand how attractive it is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and then die and go to heaven. You don't have to deal with a whole lot of hardship, right?

There's been a few in the history of the church that that happened to. The thief on the cross, he was converted in the 11th hour. He ended his day in paradise with our blessed Christ. But for most of us, we get converted and it's back to work.

We get converted, it's back to home. We get converted and it's not that society has somehow changed. It's not the case that we now have a prime minister committed to biblical law in the office. There are hardships associated with the Christian life.

There is the tribulation that Jesus promised. And so the apostle emphasizes, not only run the race, but do so with endurance. This flash-in-the-pan Christianity, this, you know, raise the hand at the tent meeting, this say the sinner's prayer with no fruit is the evidence that there was no conversion. The Apostle John says they went out from us, but they were not of us.

Because if they were of us, they would not have gone out from us. But they have manifested that they were fake. It was a fake profession. It was false.

Not all that glitters is gold, brethren. But gold does glitter, and therefore, we're supposed to run with endurance the race that is set. before us. This requires, or this is perhaps, one of the most difficult lessons in the Christian life. O'Brien says the race is not a sprint, but a long-distance race requiring resolute determination.

Now I know what I know what it is to be battle weary. I know what it is to be tired. I know what it is to have that mindset. I'm not sure we can keep taking this, but we can because God is faithful.

We can because God is gracious. We can because God has purpose to save us. And that means not just at one time in history, not just in the present, but he will bring us into future glory. That is the purpose and plan of God.

So if he has purposed that, then he will provide the means necessary so that we may run with endurance the race that is set before us. So the duty is pretty obvious. The duty is pretty simple. Run with endurance, getting rid of weights and getting rid of the sin that so easily ensnares us.

The Believer's Help

Now let's look to the believer's help. And there's three things, but I only want to focus on the first. Notice in verse 1, therefore we also sense we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. That'll be our focus.

But then the example of Christ in verses 2 to 4. Notice, after saying we need to run with endurance the race that is set before us, he points us to Christ. Now I've told you before that in the first place Christ is a substitutionary atonement for us men and for our salvation. The Incarnation was about the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ with redemptive ends, with redemptive focus to save us from our sins.

But there are passages that point us to the example of our Savior, and this is one of them. So he points us, after this cloud of witnesses, he points us to Christ. Looking unto Jesus, verse 2, 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. Great example, isn't it?

You're supposed to run with endurance the race that is set before you. And if you say, but it's so hard, it's so difficult, I don't know that I can do it. It was hard and it was difficult for Jesus. Hebrews 5a tells us the Son learned obedience through what?

Through suffering. And so the Son of Man, according to His humanity, ran with endurance the race that was set before Him. How did He do it? He despised the shame.

He despised the cross, but He looked to that glory that was to come. And then the third sort of incentive to run this race is the Father's purpose. And you see that in verses 5 to 11. So the cloud of witnesses, the example of Jesus and the Father's purpose are the three incentives, the three sort of enticements as to why we should comply with the command to run the race with endurance.

But as I said, we're gonna just focus at that cloud of witnesses. Now

The Cloud of Witnesses Explained

notice the cloud of witnesses. He says in verse one, therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Now, if we were to scratch our head and say, wow, I wonder what he's talking about here. Who could these witnesses possibly be? the men and women in chapter 11, okay?

The persons that he just told us, by faith, they did these things. By faith, they persevered. By faith, they ran the race with endurance. By faith, they went forward.

By faith, they looked to God. By faith, they resisted the temptation to sin with the people of Egypt, but counted the riches of glory much more to be preferred. So the cloud of witnesses are all the saints that have gone before us. The cloud of witnesses are all our fellows, all our fellow men and women that by grace believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and are now in heaven.

The language suggests an amphitheater. So this cloud of witnesses are up in an amphitheater. There's two ways to interpret this cloud of witnesses. Are they witnesses of us or are they witnesses to us?

Now the one is, they are witnesses of us. And then the emphasis of the text would be, run with endurance the race that is set before you. Knowing that Abraham's cheering you on. Knowing that Enoch is cheering you on.

Knowing that Sarah is cheering you on. Knowing that Abel and Jephthah and Samson and Barak and David and the prophets All of them are up in that amphitheater, they're seeing your running self, and they are cheering you on. That's the interpretation that suggests that they are witnesses of us. I don't believe that's what's in view.

They are witnesses to us. We're supposed to look outside of ourself at those men and women. As we're running with endurance the race that is set before us, as Paul says in Philippians 2, forgetting what's behind, we reach toward that upward call of God in Christ Jesus. But along the way, we look at Abraham.

Along the way, we look at Enoch. Along the way, we look at Abel. Why do I suggest that that's the way the text ought to be understood? First, the word doesn't mean spectator.

If you are in a modern court and they call the witness, the witness doesn't sit in the dock simply to watch the proceedings. The witness is there to give testimony. The witness is there to give eyewitness testimony or whatever testimony that he or she has to offer. So they're not coming to sit in the dock next to the judge simply to watch the proceedings to make sure they're going on.

As well, the witnesses are beholding the glory of Christ. I like to think, brethren, that Abraham and Enoch and Rahab the harlot, they have better things to look at than me running with endurance the race that is set before me. And I'm not going to try to trigger you here, but they probably have better things to do than look at you. They're beholding the face of Jesus.

They're in the presence of the Lamb. They're in heaven. So, what do you think they're gazing upon? They're not looking at us.

Rather, we're supposed to be looking to them. The witnesses serve on our behalf to manifest, here's the point, the faithfulness of God, and to show that God upholds faithful runners, whatever their circumstances. I think it functions beautifully, and I think the various snapshots given in chapter 11, to which we'll look in just a moment, function beautifully. What happens when we run with endurance the race that is set before us?

If you're like me, there's a lot of complaining, and then some whining, and there's some sniveling. Well, you don't really know what my life's like. I have it really tough. I've got an unconverted family, they're not very nice to me, I live in a godless age, I've got these various challenges, and you know, I'm just riddled with difficulties.

We try to wind our way out of running with endurance, the race that is set before us, as if we are the only ones that have ever faced any hardship or difficulty or woe. Brethren, the witnesses that are named in chapter 11 and through the history of the church are there to testify of this one theme. God is faithful. Whatever your circumstances, whatever your lot, whatever your trials, whatever your hardship, know this, that when you run with endurance the race that is set before you, God's got you, just like God had us.

Witnesses from Hebrews 11

Now, consider in Hebrews chapter 11 the various witnesses mentioned. We have Abel in chapter 11 at verse 4. Now, before you tell me how hard your life is because you have a family that doesn't love you or doesn't like you, which is a miserable condition and a situation, by the way. If that's your issue, I would love to pray for you in that regard.

Abel's brother murdered him. Abel's brother killed him. Abel's brother despised him to the point where he bashed his head in or some other way to dispatch him from this life. Which just goes to show you as well, you don't need a gun in order to kill somebody.

You can use your bare hands if you are so inclined to do that. So Abel testifies that even in the midst of that, God is faithful. You've got Enoch in chapter 11, verses five and six. Enoch walked with God and then he was not.

It really doesn't tell us much about Enoch in terms of the history in Genesis and what his life was like, but it does tell us he lived for 365 years. And it does tell us that in the midst of that 365 years, he had children. Now, I'm not suggesting that children are the hardest things ever to deal with, but there's a challenge to be had in rearing children. And yet Enoch, in the midst of that, was faithful to the point where he was not because God took him.

Imagine being so holy that God just reaches down from heaven and brings you up into heaven. That's the manner that Enoch was. He walked with God and then he was not. So in the life of routine, in the life of the ordinary, in the life of the mundane.

I mean, sometimes we get so romantic and we say, well, if I was out there with David on the Valley of Elah, on the Valley of Elah, sure, I'd stand up against Goliath, but my life is just normal, it's ordinary, it's routine. Do you mean like Enoch? He managed successfully to live that ordinary routine and mundane life in such a way that God brought him up right into heaven. Notice as we continue down this hall of faith, you've got Noah.

This is especially appropriate for us in our own generation. I mean, look at Europe. Look at the uprisings against governments that want to impose the Green New Deal and not learning that it just doesn't work. Sri Lanka fell.

Panama's about to fall. Why? Because they wanted to embrace anything and everything but fossil fuels. And we see this.

And people are saying, no, we don't want you to lead us down this path. There is great unrest. Think about the corruption in society, abortion. We think about the decalogue.

We think about the latter half, the second table. We don't even think about the first table anymore. We don't even begin to entertain the thought that idolatry would be a crime, or that blasphemy would be a crime, or that Sabbath-breaking would be a crime. But let's just take the second table of the law.

Murder. You shall not murder. These people rejoice in abortion. These people shout their abortion.

These people want to get rid of crisis pregnancy centers that are designed to help ladies who are pregnant. I mean, this is evil. It is a manifestation of wickedness and vileness, and it apes the father of lies and murder himself. And then you have euthanasia.

We have all kinds of ways now to get you out of this world. And so we see this world, it's exceedingly corrupt, and it's filled with violence. But that's precisely what Noah faced. And yet in the midst of it, nail after nail, he pounded that ark together, and he did what God said.

By faith, he was faithful in a faithless generation. Notice as well, Abraham. Brethren, Abraham, before he came out of Ur of the Chaldeans, was an idolater, just like his father, Terah. It wasn't like Abraham had a come to Jesus moment in Ur of the Chaldean, and then said to Terah, you know, I'm gonna go over here to Canaan.

I think this is where God's people are gonna, God drew him out. God saved him. God said that in you, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. He had been an idolater.

He had been a man committed to false gods. You see this in Joshua 24, covenant renewal at Sheka. There, Joshua tells us that Terah was an idolater. Well, Terah was a father like the rest of us.

If I'm gonna worship an idol, my son's gonna worship an idol. If I'm gonna worship the true and living God, my son, or I'm gonna exhort him to worship the true and living God. So Abraham was a sinner, saved by grace, and he becomes, in many respects, sort of the benchmark in terms of justification by faith alone. He believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.

Him and David serve as the examples of justification by faith in Paul's book of Romans, Romans chapter 4. And then you have Sarah. Sarah is mentioned in chapter 11, 11, and 12. What was her deal?

You're going to have babies, and lots of them. But God, I'm not a spring chicken. I'm 99. These people had enough knowledge of biology to know that what God was promising them was a stretch.

Come on, this is just not the way. Remember she laughed? She actually laughed at the thought or prospect that she was going to have children. I mean, that would have been a hard one for any of us, and yet what does she do?

By faith, she embraces the promises of God, and she becomes, along with Abraham, the progenitor of many, many people. It's ultimately about Christ and seed, but notice, impossible physical demands are met by our God. Chapter 11, 20 to 22, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

They didn't just sort of wander through life without any challenges. The book of Genesis is very curious, very interesting. You have these macrocosmic, you know, mind-altering events up until chapter 11. And then chapter 12, the narrative comes to almost a dead stop.

And then you start with Abraham and his family to the point where there's whole chapters given to finding a bride for Isaac, finding a bride for Jacob. The narrative crawls along at that point. And what it does is that it shows us that God's people have their challenges. They have their issues.

They have their obstacles and their hardships. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Jacob makes this observation 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 way which I have gone.

See, that's the witness you're supposed to appeal to or look to. It's not him looking at you saying, go, runner, go. It's you looking at him, hearing him say, God's faithful, keep running. Don't stop.

Don't shrink back. Don't end it. Don't throw up your hands in frustration and say, no more. And then with Joseph, Joseph, again, if you think you've got family problems, I mean, when they threw Joseph into the pit, Joseph is at the bottom of the pit and he's crying out to them while they're eating lunch.

Brethren, they're sitting at the edge and they're having a bologna sandwich. Actually, it wouldn't have been a bologna sandwich, but they were eating. They were mowing their lunch while their brother was in the bottom of a pit. Of course they wanted to kill him, but then one intervenes and says, no, let's just sell him into slavery.

That's a much better option. Well, what does Joseph learn when all is said and done? You meant this for evil, but God overruled it for good. Genesis 50, 20.

That's the point of the narrative, brethren. That's where it goes. That's the focus. That's the purpose.

Whatever hardship you face, whatever difficulty you have, God's faithful. He doesn't ever stop. He is immutable. He is impassable.

He is most loving. He is most glorious. He is most kind and gracious to his people. You've got Moses and the Exodus in chapter 11, verses 23 to 29.

Look at chapter 11, verse 23. because they saw he was a beautiful child, excuse me. They saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's command. The king commanded the extermination of every Hebrew baby born. Every male that was born should be killed.

Praise God that his parents didn't go with the policy of the state. Praise God for civil resistance and civil disobedience in that instance. Praise God that Moses' parents hid him from this oppressive regime that would cut his throat and throw him into the Nile. Notice verse 24, by faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

He had everything at his disposal. He had riches, he had wealth, he had women, he had you know, the education system, he had everything that Egypt had to offer, and yet he refuses this. Notice verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Would we do that?

Would that be our conviction? Everything is yours, every good thing, every good gift, all you got to do is bow and worship me, bow and worship the state, Or if you're the devil in Matthew 4, bow and worship the devil, Jesus, and all these things will be given to you. But notice it wasn't just mercenary on the part of Moses. It wasn't like he was of the school that pain is good, suffering good, let's just embrace it like a stoic.

No, there's greater joy, greater blessing, greater provision than the passing pleasures of sin. That's what the text goes on to say. Verse 26, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward. So when you're running, look to Moses and learn from Moses.

Hey, passing pleasures of sin? Notice, pleasures, but they're passing. Sin doesn't say, come and engage in me, because I'm going to make you miserable. We know that it does make you miserable.

But initially, why do people sin? Because it feels good, brethren. If nobody wants to admit that, I guess I'll go on record to say it. Because there are pleasures attached to it.

Now, we know the end is destruction. We know it's a bad thing. But there's greater riches to be had in our blessed Savior. So you've got Moses.

And there's an instance in Moses, or with Moses, Deuteronomy chapter 1. The book of Deuteronomy is simply a series of exhortations by Moses to prepare the children of Israel to go in to conquer the promised land. And so he gives them a history of how God dealt with them, and in chapter one he traces the wilderness. Now the children of Israel in the wilderness whined.

They grumbled. They'd say things to Moses like, we want to go back to Egypt. There were leeks, and there were onions, and there were melons. We can kind of fantasize about how good it was.

All we have is this wretched manna. All we have is this bread. All we have is this stuff. They would say on occasion to Moses, did you bring us out to the wilderness simply to kill us?

Well, in Deuteronomy 1.31, he says that Yahweh carried you through the wilderness the way that a father carries his children. What's Moses telling you as a runner today? God's faithful. God is going to see you through it.

Notice, he goes on to the shady lady of Jericho. We looked at her recently. She's in chapter 11, verse 31, but in Joshua chapter 2, Rahab the harlot. By faith, she did this.

By faith she proved, again, civil resistance to a godless king isn't necessarily wrong. Civil resistance to a godless king in that event landed her in the hall of faith. When a godless king wants to exterminate the godly people, then a godly person stands up in their defense. And that's what Rahab the harlot does.

So if we look up into that amphitheater, she's giving us a cheer, if she's looking at us, which I suggested earlier, she's not, but for the sake of an illustration. And she's saying, God's faithful. He saw us through. When the children of Israel surrounded Jericho, what happened?

Joshua chapter six tells us, there was only one family spared that day. The city was banned. The city was given to destruction. The word anathema that you find in the New Testament, great, is the Hebrew word haram, and it means devoted to destruction.

There were certain things devoted to destruction. Jericho was one of them. Don't go in there, destroy it, and then take the loot. Don't go in there and destroy it and take their stuff.

No, everything there must be destroyed, except for Rahab, the harlot, and her family. God spared them alive. So Rahab testifies that God is faithful. You've got the judges.

The judges in chapter 11, verse 32. I'm sorry, yeah, verse 32. You've got Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah. Turn to Judges 15 for one illustration.

Judges 15 for one illustration in the life of Samson. And we know that Gideon, boy, what a great lesson he gives us, right? Gideon tells us you don't need thousands and thousands of militarily armed men. You don't need battle conditioned soldiers to go out and do the bidding.

Just 300, that's all Yahweh needs. He doesn't need 300, but it's an illustration. It's an analogy. It's a description of God's power.

You've got Beric. Beric didn't want to go into battle without first. hearing the word of the Lord. That's the function of Deborah in the Barak narrative. She was not a judge.

She was not a co-judge. When it says that she judged, she was probably a judge like circuit judges. She probably heard criminal things and gave adjudication. Barak was the judge in terms of what judges did in the Book of Judges.

They were saviors of Israel. They were king-like men, and they functioned in that particular capacity. So the Barak narrative does not show us his dependence upon a woman. It shows us his dependence upon the Word of God.

He consults Deborah, who's told to us to be a prophetess. He doesn't want to go into battle without hearing the Word of God. So you've got Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah. Jephthah again, a noble character that did glorious things to advance the kingdom of God.

But let's jump into Judges 15 and just focus on Samson for a moment. It's a chapter that's filled with treachery and victory. First, Samson is betrayed by his father-in-law in verses one to eight. You can read that later.

Second, he's betrayed by his own countrymen in verses nine to 13. I'll just open that one up a little bit. Judah was the tribe of Messiah, right? Jesus will come from the tribe.

He's a lion of the tribe of Judah. Judah is the first ones addressed in the book of Joshua or Judges with reference to conquest. Judah is a warring tribe. Judah is the ones that go out and get things done in terms of breaking heads and taking stuff and dispossessing the land of the Canaanites.

Judah here is cowering in fear from the Philistines. Their problem isn't with the Philistines, their oppressors. Their problem is with Samson, their savior. They want to deliver Samson over to the Philistines so that the Philistines can get rid of their archenemy.

I mean, this is one of the saddest chapters in redemptive history. Judas should have came behind Samson, stood behind him and resisted this Philistine threat with every ounce of blood they had in them. But no, cowards that they were, babies and Nancys that they were, they give up Samson to the Philistines. Now in the province of God, that brings us to the victory at Jawbone Height.

And so we know the story, Samson finds the jawbone of an ass and he uses that to dispatch a thousand Philistines. Brethren, I'm not sure I could dispatch one Philistine. I imagine by 550, I'd be pretty tired. I can't even imagine being covered in the blood of Philistines at a thousand.

Now notice a text that I think some people don't really like because it sounds a bit offensive. Notice what happens in verse 17. And so it was when he had finished speaking that he threw the jawbone from his hand and called that place Ramath-Lehi. That was the proverbial mic drop, right?

You've just got it covered with Philistine blood. He now throws it, he drops it. Verse 18, then he became very thirsty. So he cried out to the Lord and said, you have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant.

And now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? We think that sounds a bit cheeky, doesn't it? Come on, Samson, this is the Holy God. You shouldn't talk to him that way.

But you see, God doesn't respond that way. God gives him water. God understands. He's thirsty.

He just killed a thousand Philistines. I'm going to give him a fountain. I'm going to refresh him. I'm going to bless him such that he has the cooling effects of that in his body and on his soul, and that he'll be my servant forever.

So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi. Water came out, he drank and his spirit returned and he revived. Therefore he called his name En-Hakor, which is in Lehi to this day. And he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines.

The point is simple, brethren, throughout his life, whether it was killing Philistines or whether it was a need for water, Samson is able to encourage us as one of the cloud of witnesses that God is faithful, even to the point of bodily refreshment after a wearying battle. The apostle goes on, he speaks of David, Samuel, the prophets, all of those men testify to us that God is faithful.

David's Testimony to God's Faithfulness

Consider two statements from King David, one in earlier life and one at the end of his life. Second Samuel 4.9, David says to Rechab and Baanon, his brother, the sons of Ramon the Barathite, and said to them, as the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity. David had a tough life, brethren. He was a simple shepherd that had to deal with lions and bears and those sorts of things.

I'm not suggesting that was fun. But the moment the Spirit of God comes on him in 1 Samuel chapter 16, that's when the problems really begin. That's when Saul has animus against him. That's when Saul hunts him down.

That's when Saul wants to get rid of him. But he not only has Saul to deal with, he's got Philistines to deal with. What illustration of not only internal threat, but external threat. And yet in the midst of that, David is able to say, the Lord has redeemed me from all adversity.

But at the end of his life, subsequent to the Bathsheba narrative, subsequent to that incident where he killed Uriah the Hittite to cover up his adultery with Bathsheba. Remember? He owns his sin. In 2 Samuel chapter 12, I have sinned against Yahweh.

God forgave him. And so at the end of his life, he's able to make the same statement in terms of God's faithfulness. 1 Kings 1.29, And the king took an oath and said, As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress. Again, subsequent to the Bathsheba and Uriah situation. Notice the triumphant heroes in chapter 11, 33 to 35.

Notice the suffering saints in chapter 35 to 38. History or tradition tells us the one that was sawn into was Isaiah the prophet. I've said this before, I'll say it again, that Isaiah the prophet met his end by being sawn into demonstrates how wicked this world really is. The man who penned Isaiah 53.

The man who penned Isaiah 1 to 66. That man, everybody should just say, what a guy. I mean, what a great man. What a champion.

What a beautiful human being. The most beautiful of feet are on the prophet Isaiah. And yet history tells us it was him who met his end by being sawn in two. And may I suggest the health, wealth, prosperity, gospel, or so-called gospel, has no truck in the scriptures.

This tells us the lot of God's people.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

But consider, just outside of Hebrews 11, the person's mentioned, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. We know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Turn to Daniel chapter 3. Daniel chapter 3.

We're coming to an end. We're not going to go through every human being that ever lived. that confessed faith in Christ, but if we did go through every human being that ever lived that confessed faith in Christ, you know what one message they could continue to give us? God is faithful. As much I know.

I don't know a lot. I don't know everything. I don't know many things, but this one thing I do know, God is faithful. Look at this instance in chapter three, specifically at verse 16.

They're going to be thrown into the fiery furnace for having refused to bow the knee to Nebuchadnezzar. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. You mean you're not gonna answer the civil government? No, there's no need to, there's no command in the Bible that I must, but we're gonna proffer one.

If that is the case, he's talking about being thrown into the fiery furnace, you can read that in the preceding section. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand, okay. Now, we typically stop there and go, wow, that's great. They have absolute confidence that Yahweh's gonna deliver them.

But look at what they say. This is faith, brethren, verse 18. But if not... They don't know God's providence.

They don't know the secret things. They don't know that they should die as a great example to other persons. They don't know that. They don't have the certainty that God is going to throw down a whammy and free them from the burning fiery furnace.

But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." That's faith. But if not, we only ever think that it's going to work out. Brethren, the history of the world tells us it doesn't always work out. The history of the world tells us that Isaiah the prophet was sawn in two.

The history of the world tells us that the apostle Paul was ultimately martyred under Nero. The history of the world is a providential, under God, nevertheless, difficult place. And we need to embrace that, and faith does. That is a statement that every one of us should pray would be in our hearts and mouths at crunch time.

But if not, We're not going to recant. We're not going to bend the knee to you. We're not going to shrink back from our blessed Jesus. We will go to the fire if that is what is necessary, if that is what our God calls us to.

That, brethren, is faith. And what do we find? God's faithful in the midst of that, and he does deliver them. Now, there is Micah, the prophet.

I don't want to spend too much time here. There is the prophet Habakkuk. Let's just jump into the New Testament, Acts chapter 20, the apostle Paul. Two New Testament examples, or one New Testament example, one from history, then we close.

Acts chapter 20. Look at what the Apostle Paul says. Verse 22, and see now, I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. Not sure what's going to happen, but this much I do know, there's going to be hardships.

See, brethren, lesser men would say, well, it's time to find a new job. I'll go work at Walmart. I'll go golf. I've got enough retirement saved up, don't need much.

I'll go be homeless. I mean, come on, it's a better option than every city holds chains and tribulations for me. Notice what he says in verse 24, but none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy 4, he knows he's going to die. Not because he's had absolute prognostications concerning such things, but he knows he's going to die.

Philippians 3, he sees the possibility. 2 Timothy 4, he knows he's going to die. So verse 6, 2 Timothy 4, 6. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and 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, 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 those who have loved his appearing." So when we look up as we're running that race that is set before us, we're doing it with endurance, we're laying aside the weights, we're laying aside the set, and we happen out of the periphery of our eye, we see Paul up there. What's Paul's message to us? God is faithful. The history of the church is littered with martyrs.

There was a man by the name of Polycarp. Polycarp, I only cite him typically every time I preach this sermon because what he says is pretty much representative of what the martyrs do or say when they're in such situations. So in A.D. 155, early on, In the time of the Christian church, Polycarp is going to be set ablaze for his crime of fidelity to Jesus. Again, Fox's Book of Martyrs, this is not, you know, boy, I didn't know this.

You should know this. You should read Fox's Book of Martyrs. You should read By His Blood. You should be familiar with what our brothers and sisters went through.

Why? Because we have some sick, twisted fascination in this? No, because we want to hear all of them to a man tell us that God is faithful. Polycarp said when he was asked or told, commanded, to recant.

That means don't confess Jesus anymore. If you stop confessing Jesus, we'll let you go home. There'll be no fire for you except at your hearth. You can have a nice bevy.

You can relax. You can hang out with your family. Very simple, right? I mean, you're only good.

You just renounce your faith and every good thing will come your way. Brethren, that's a temptation for the professing people of God. Renounce your faith and every good thing will come your way. So Polycarp says this, 80 and 6 years.

Kids, that means he's 86. 80 and 6 years I have served him and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior? You threaten me with a fire that burns for a season and after a little while is quenched. But you are ignorant to the fire of everlasting punishment that is prepared for the wicked.

He was burned at the stake and was pierced with a spear for refusing to burn incense to the Roman Emperor. On his farewell, he said, I bless you father for judging me worthy of this hour so that in the company of the martyrs, I may share the cup of Christ. What do you think Polycarp says when you're running that race with endurance and you catch him out of the periphery? He's gonna say, God is faithful.

Therefore, having this great cloud of witnesses, being surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight that would slow us down. Let us get rid of every sin that would ensnare us. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us and let us keep our periphery on these witnesses that continue with one refrain, your God is faithful.

Application: Run Because You Are Saved

Now to close, understand what I said before. We don't run in order to be saved. We run because we have been saved. God saves us by his grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

He causes us to be born again, regeneration. He gives us the graces of faith and repentance. We believe the gospel. We turn from our sin.

We lay hold by God's mercy of his offered salvation in Jesus Christ. We have Him, we have His righteousness, we have His blood to cleanse us. It is from that vantage point that we now run the race with endurance that is set before us. So if you are not a believer here this morning, my emphasis to you is not, go out there and run it, do it, resist it.

No, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, repent from your sins, and then, by grace, run the best race that there ever was. Now, we may whine, we may snivel, we may complain, but brethren, what's the alternative? The road that leads to destruction, the road that leads to everlasting punishment. Come to the Savior, and by grace, run with endurance that blessed race.

Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our God and our Father, we thank you for your faithfulness so vividly displayed in Hebrews 11. Just these snapshots of what you do in the Old Testament, what we see in the New Testament, what we see in Polycarp and in Thomas Hawkes, and what we see in all of the saints that suffered for the cause of God and truth. What we hear of on a regular basis as we read these prayer letters concerning churches and in other lands. Lord, you are faithful and help us all to see that.

Help us all to hold on to that and help us all by grace to run this race with endurance, with faithfulness and with great joy and with happiness and with delight. And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Let us close by standing together and singing the doxology in praise to our God.

It's found on page 568. Praise Him, all creatures dearly loved. Praise Him above the heav'nly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Thank you, Father, for your grace to us. Thank you for this benediction, and God may it be the case for each of us. And may you bless this day, cause us to call it a delight, and may we rejoice in your loving kindness and in your goodness. And we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.

Well, please be seated for a brief time of meditation.

Scripture References

• Genesis 35:3; 50:20
• Deuteronomy 1:31
• Joshua 2; 6; 24
• Judges 15:17-18
• 1 Samuel 16
• 2 Samuel 4:9; 12
• 1 Kings 1:29
• Isaiah 1-66; 53
• Daniel 3:16-18
• Matthew 4:9; 13:22
• John 16:33
• Acts 20:22-24
• Romans 4
• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
• Philippians 3:12-14
• 1 Timothy 6
• 2 Timothy 4:6
• Hebrews 2:1; 3:14; 4:1; 4:14; 5:8; 10:23; 10:35-36; 11:4; 11:5-6; 11:11-12; 11:20-22; 11:23-29; 11:31; 11:32; 11:33-38; 12:1-2