Scripture Reading

For 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 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 and not sons.

Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but he for our 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. Well, let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Our Father, we thank you again for the written word and we pray for the Holy Spirit who gave us that word now to guide, to illumine, to teach and instruct and to help us to reflect upon what you call us to in this passage in terms of running with endurance the race that is set before us. Help us as well to ponder the incentives, the blessed reasons how we are able to do that, and just guide us now. Forgive us again for all sin, help us to receive these things with thankful hearts, and we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Introduction

Now, this study, of course, is somewhat connected to John 15. Remember the function of the vinedresser with the branches in John 15 too. He cuts out the old branches, the dead branches, that represents in that passage old covenant apostate Israel, and with the new branches, what does he do? He prunes them that they bear much fruit.

That's the purpose of the Father. You see it in Romans 8, those whom He foreknew, these He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. In other words, when He saves us freely by His grace, He justifies us by faith. We believe, we're forgiven, we receive a righteousness positionally, legally, by which we're accepted by God.

We are then adopted sons and daughters in the family of God. Therefore, we need to live and image and demonstrate that we are members of that family, not so that we may be saved, but rather because we are saved. You probably, as parents, have told your kids, maybe with a shaked finger in their faces, now represent the family well as we go out today. If you lose your mind on the floor in the mall, that's going to reflect poorly on our family.

Well, that's the emphasis that we find in what we call sanctification. We're supposed to live in a manner that is consistent with our high calling. in Christ Jesus. Now, by way of context, the chapter as a whole is filled with four specific charges. First, they're to run the race of faith, our section in verses 1 to 11.

Secondly, they're called to renew their vitality in verses 12 to 17. Third, to be reminded that they have come to Mount Zion, according to verses 18 to 24. and then ultimately a warning to not refuse God who speaks from heaven in verses 25 to 29. So as I said, our section is to run the race of faith. So last Sunday night we considered first the duty, the exhortation, the responsibility placed upon us which is almost to the end of verse one.

Notice, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. And then notice that word endure throughout the context. Verse two, Jesus endured the cross. Verse three, consider him who endured such hostility.

Verse seven, if you endure chastening. So what God calls us to is not to be a flash in the pan, but to be consistent, to be steadfast, to be persevering and enduring. In other words, the Christian life isn't a hundred yard dash. It's more like a marathon.

You're in this for the long haul. And so one of the aims of the apostle is to encourage them in the long haul with these specific exhortations. So the duty is clear. We're to run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Paul uses the imagery in 1 Corinthians 9. He uses it when he's talking about his own death. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, he has finished the race. So he most likely, well, I would argue, absolutely knew about the games that were being played in terms of athletics and that sort of thing.

As a tent maker, it might have been a place for him to sell his services and his wares. So he understood athletics. He understood the race. And so he uses that imagery, brings it into a biblical context, and likens the Christian life to a race.

You don't win the race unless you run the race. You don't win the race if you bow out midway through. You don't win the race if you throw up your hands and say, well, it's just too difficult. It's just too hard.

That's simply not an option. When you confess faith in Jesus Christ, you must run with endurance the race that is set before us. He says we're to lay aside the weights that bring us down. We're to lay aside the sin that so easily entangles us.

In other words, get rid of the obstacles in your running of the race. If you're a particularly sized man, don't throw a 200 pound vest on and try to run with that to the very end. I mean, you might do sprints with that for good health and all that sort of a thing, but you don't wanna lay unnecessary weight and you certainly don't want to bring sin into that race. And then Paul gives three incentives, three helps, as it were, to runners along that way.

The first we considered last Sunday night, this cloud of witnesses. In fact, that's how the text starts in verse 1. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Now, it's connected intimately to Hebrews chapter 11.

All those great men and women of the faith that are indicated in Hebrews chapter 11, they function as the cloud of witnesses. Now, their witnessing isn't of us running with endurance the race. In other words, Abraham and Isaac and Samson and Japheth and Rahab the harlot, they're not up in the amphitheater looking at you and I running with endurance the race. That's not what a witness is.

A witness isn't a spectator. A witness provides testimony. A witness witnesses. So what is it that Abraham and Isaac and Samson and Jephthah and Rahab are witnessing to?

God is faithful. So we have this amphitheater of persons who have gone before us. Out of the periphery we see them or we hear their witness testimony that God is faithful. Whatever your circumstances, you've got a difficult family life, so did Abel.

You've got a difficult society here in modern-day Canada, so did Noah. not Canada, but he had a difficult situation. You've got difficult tests or hardships in your life? So did Abraham. You've got persecution?

So did the prophets. You've got oppression? So did the prophets. You've got trials and challenges in your own Empire, so did the Apostle Paul.

So what do these men and women all testify by way of witness testimony is that God is faithful. But then he addresses the mission of Jesus. And tonight we'll consider the purpose of the father, but the mission of Jesus. So we see them out of our periphery.

We hear their witness testimony that God is faithful, but our focus is to be on Jesus Christ. That's what Paul says here, specifically in verse two, notice. He says, therefore, verse 1, 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 is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Looking Unto Jesus: The Activity

So I want to notice two things here. First, the specific activity, looking unto Jesus. And then secondly, the particular focus. What about Jesus are we supposed to be looking unto?

In other words, it's not general and undefined, but it's concrete there in terms of what we're supposed to be looking unto when it comes to running with endurance the Christian life, specifically relative to our Lord. But in terms of the activity, notice it's a simple phrase, looking unto. Now, again, we need to qualify that. That's not physically.

It's not with the naked eye looking up to heaven all the time. Christians aren't supposed to wander around through life always like this. The looking unto means, represents, signifies faith. Faith is walking by things not seen.

And so the apostle directs us to look unto Jesus. It means to look away from one thing and concentrate on another. To look away too. And when we're looking away too, what does that help us to do?

I would suggest it helps us to get the focus off ourselves. That seems to be a perpetual enemy in the Christian life. You may have some rest from the devil, you may be on an island in the Pacific somewhere and not have the world breathing down your throat, but that perpetual, persistent enemy or foe or opponent is ourselves. We're very narcissistic, we're very self-absorbed, we're very consumed with me, myself, and I, the unholy trinity in terms of life.

And so when we're looking unto Jesus, guess what we're not focused on? My issues, my problems, my afflictions, my hardships, my difficulties. This is great admonition on the part of the apostle for runners in the race. If you're running in a race, and we're just assuming that everybody has it one time or another, maybe if you're 35 or 45 or you did it when you were four, if all you're focusing upon is, oh, this hurts, my cardiovascular system certainly isn't as developed as it ought to be, and you're obsessing with all of the enormities of the task at hand, you're probably not going to make it.

But if you're fixated on the prize, you're fixated on the win, you're fixated on the victory, and again, all biblical imagery, Paul says that in 1 Corinthians 9, I fight thus, I run thus, so that I may win the prize. So this focus upon Jesus is absolutely crucial in running the Christian race. The believer is instructed not to look specifically at Abraham and Isaac and Samson and Japheth and Rahab. Yeah, out of the periphery.

Yes, listen to their witness testimony that God is faithful, but we're to look at Jesus.

Faith, Not Mere Example

Owen says, looking in scripture when it respects God or Christ denotes an act of faith or trust with hope and expectation. And brethren, I changed up the title or the head of this point. I call it the mission of Christ, because technically it is example, but it's more than example. The pattern of Jesus is bad things run through them, get good things.

But that's not the main emphasis here. The point isn't simply, bad things run through them, get good things. It's all done by virtue of our union with Jesus Christ, our faith in Him as the object of saving faith, and He gives the power and the impetus and everything that we stand in need of to be able to run the race. So yes, he's an example, but he's more than an example.

He's the very object of our faith as we run this race with endurance. So we need to make sure we've got that. Owen again says, But as Him also in whom we place our faith, trust, and confidence, with all our expectation of success in our Christian course, without this faith and trust in Him, we shall have no benefit or advantage by His example. Bit of a subtle distinction, but you need to understand.

The emphasis of the text isn't go out and tell unconverted people to be like Jesus. Jesus had a hard life. Jesus was crucified as a criminal for crimes that he never did. But you know, in the end, Jesus was victorious.

And in the end, Jesus went to heaven to be with his father. Go be like Jesus. There's a sense where an unbeliever or a pagan could appreciate that story. There is a sense where it resonates with people.

Go through the bad and get the prize at the end. And that's certainly part of the emphasis here is that Jesus' trajectory is going to be the trajectory of the believer. But for us, it's much more. Jesus is the reason.

Jesus is the purpose. Jesus is the focus. Jesus is the sustainer. Jesus, in the language of the Apostle, is the author and finisher of our faith.

Jesus is the very rationale for the being in this Christian race to begin with. So we don't run with endurance the race that is set before us by looking at our performance, looking at our goodness, looking at our past accomplishments. No, every step that we take, it is done by faith in Jesus. So he is basically saying what Jesus says in John 15, abide in me and I in you.

When Jesus says in John 15, apart from me, you can do nothing. A good question is, well, how do we abide in Jesus? By faith. How do we strengthen that recognition?

By scripture, by prayer, by church attendance, by feeding our minds and giving our consciences that understanding of who God is and what he has done for us in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. Much of our Christian life, brethren, is very much dependent upon how much of the Bible we know. Here comes the guilt manipulation phase of the sermon. Read your Bibles more.

How do we navigate, how do we run with endurance the race that is set before us without knowing of Abraham, without knowing of Isaac, without knowing of Jephthah, without knowing of Samson? All these are just empty words. If you don't read the Old Testament, Hebrews 11 likely makes no point or makes no impact on you. It's just a collection of names that lived a long time ago and did interesting things.

These were interesting names who lived a long time ago that were attached to specific persons in specific difficulties, very much like the things that you and I go through. And so when we run this race with endurance, we see the amphitheater out there, we see it in our periphery, but we're looking unto Jesus by faith. We're going forward in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. So the specific activity is faith in Christ, and then second, the particular focus.

The particular focus, and I think the apostle says five things here. First, the person of Christ. Second, the work of Christ. Third, the mission of Christ.

Fourth, the suffering of Christ. And then finally, the exaltation of Christ. In other words, while we run with endurance the race that is set before us, we're to consider all that scripture says concerning all that Jesus is. So if we have a little truncated view of Jesus, we're probably going to have just a little bit of depth in our spiritual life.

If we have just a small fraction of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, then we'll probably just have a small fraction of help when we are destitute and down and in the dungeon. Remember when Dr. Renahan preached Psalm 88? Boy, that was a sermon that has lasted or stuck with me.

That dungeon below the dungeon. I got to think that going to the dungeon is bad enough in and of itself, but the dungeon of dungeons, the place below the dungeon where you're confined and where you can scream and where nobody hears you and where there's all kinds of bad things in a confined space, the thought of it terrifies me at the physiological level. Being confined like that, That is an absolutely horrifying thought, and the psalmist uses that to describe what? His desperate condition in this life.

As well, the psalmist uses that to prefigure the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was that Psalm 88 man in the dungeon below the dungeon. That's the Christian life, brethren. I'm not saying that to dissuade you or to tell you, well, don't come to Jesus. But I am telling you, when you come to Jesus, it's not like everything's only ever going to be good.

It is with heaven. It is with God. Justification by faith alone brings peace, brings joy, brings comfort, but it doesn't clean up your environment. And I'm not talking about bottles and cans.

I'm talking about people, and oppression, and persecution, and hardship, and loss, and sorrow, and difficulty. Psalm 88 is a reality in the Christian life. So if we're not looking unto Jesus, or we have that much information about who Jesus is, our faith in Him, our dependence upon Him, our love for Him, all those things will be skewed. It'll be deficient.

It'll be not all the way it ought to be.

The Person of Christ

So first, notice that he specifies the person of Jesus. And I think that what he does here, looking unto Jesus, I think that underscores the humanity of Jesus. We've been saying this in the Gospel according to John. John 1 in the beginning was the Word.

The Word was with God and the Word was God. We're told immediately that the one who saves us from our sins, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, has the unity of essence with the Father. The Word was with God. The Word was God.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So the Son of God assumes our humanity to Himself with all the essential properties and all the common infirmities thereof and yet without sin. And I think that when Paul says, looking unto Jesus, that's the emphasis. the humanity of our Savior, the true humanity of our blessed Lord. Look at what He went through on our behalf for us men and for our salvation.

It underscores that He is the mediator. It underscores His state of humiliation. We know the prophet announced that he would be a man of sorrows, he would be acquainted with grief, Isaiah 53, 3. We turn to the pages of the New Testament and that's precisely what we find.

He's a man of sorrows, he's acquainted with grief. He comes to his own, his own receive him not. And instead of receiving him, instead of believing on him, instead of worshiping him, what do they do? They deliver him up to Pontius Pilate.

They say, away with him, away with him, crucify him. They say regarding Barabbas, who was probably a notorious terrorist at the time, we want him to be free. Well, what do you want me to do with Jesus, your king? He's not a king.

We want him crucified on the cross to die the worst form of death that was in the then known world. So the Lord Jesus, according to his humanity, not divorced or devoid from his divinity, because you can't do that, is the particular focus here.

The Work of Christ

That brings us then to the work of Christ. Notice, it's spelled out very quickly, the author and finisher of our faith. I think that functions in two ways. He's the author and finisher of our faith in the subjective sense.

And what that means is me or you subjectively believing the gospel. The Bible teaches that we're dead in our trespasses and sins. It doesn't teach that we're a little lame, a little maimed, or a little crippled. We're dead in our trespasses and sins.

That same Bible equally teaches that faith is a gift from God. Ephesians 2, 8-10, Philippians 1, verse 29, It's an act of God's free grace. So He is the author and finisher of our subjective faith. In other words, we wouldn't have faith without Jesus having come into this world and doing what it is that He did, without the Spirit of God opening our hearts, giving us new life, and giving us the graces of faith and repentance.

But I think it focuses on the objective faith. See, when we say faith, we can mean my belief in Jesus. But when we say faith, we can mean the objective content of Christianity. Who's responsible for the objective content of Christianity?

The author and the finisher of it. The one who always did the will of his father. The one whose meat was to do the will of him who sent me. Jesus is author and finisher, not only of our faith in him, but of the faith that there is to believe in concerning him.

So that, I think, encapsulates his work as a whole. Why does Christ leave the bosom of the Father? Not locally, but we speak of that when he assumes our humanity. Why does he do that?

In order to bring about what he does and in order to found Christianity as the redemptive religion of God by which sinners enter from darkness into life.

The Mission of Christ

Notice, thirdly, his mission. And the mission is specified there, author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him. In other words, the fact that something was set before him and all that follows was necessitated by that, underscores what we call the mission. And again, we've seen that a lot in John's gospel, temporal missions.

We've got eternal processions in God. I don't want to get too far afield here. God the Father is unbegotten. The Son is begotten by the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

That is ad intra. That's God in himself. That's how God is eternally. But the temporal missions, what God does in the ad extra or outside of himself works, those reveal to us, not exhaustively, but something of those eternal processions.

So the sending of the Son by the Father corresponds to the unbegottenness of the Father, the generation or begottenness of the Son. The Day of Pentecost, the temporal mission of the Holy Spirit, demonstrates that the Spirit comes from the Father and the Son. That happens in the economy, but it's reflective of, or revelatory of, what happens in the eternal processions. Father unbegotten, Son begotten, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

So the temporal missions give us revelation concerning who God is in Himself. And that work of Jesus Christ evidences that. The Father sent Him on a particular mission. The Father sent Him to assume our humanity.

The Father sent Him to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The Father sent Him for a particular task. So this idea that Jesus really didn't know what he was doing, Jesus just kind of bumbled about through the wilderness like a hippie drinking tea and, you know, calling people to himself, that's not it. He was under prophetic demand in accordance with the covenant of redemption made with his father, and that's why he speaks resolutely throughout his gospel narratives that I must do the will of him who sent me.

So the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, or the mission rather, of the Lord Jesus Christ is where we see that work performed on behalf of people. So again, notice, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him. And that's an interesting phrase, who for the joy that was set before him. Again, the example would be, well, Jesus went through bad to get good.

You therefore be like Jesus, go through the bad to get the good. Again, that operates in this passage. But I think the bigger concept is, is that it was Jesus' joy to assume our humanity, despising the shame, enduring the cross. Why? because he had an endgame, because there was a terminus at the covenant of redemption.

And you know what that was? The glory of his father and the salvation of his people. So notice again the text, specifically with reference to mission. The author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him.

Owen says, herein is the Lord Christ, our great example, and that he was influenced and acted in all that he did and suffered by a continual respect under the glory of God and the salvation of the church. So again, if we're going to look at him as an example, we have to take into consideration the contours of that example. The joy that was set before him wasn't simply an obstacle to get to the end. The very obstacle itself was the means to get to the end.

The sufferings that you and I undergo as we consider them, obstacles, pains in the neck, things that get in our way, does it ever dawn on us that that's the means that God's ordained so that we do get to the end with a degree or modicum of conformity unto Jesus Christ? See, it's easy to complain about providence. It's easy to whine about the obstacles in the way. But then we've not followed Jesus because he considered the joy that was set before him.

He understood that the glory of God and the salvation of his people were uppermost. And that is one of the things that we should focus on as we run with endurance the race. That he loves me, that he wants me, that he's died for me, that he's raised again for me. It's a blessed and wonderful thing.

Spurgeon says, now this is the joy which Christ felt. It was the joy of feeding us with the bread of heaven. the joy of clothing poor naked sinners in his own righteousness, the joy of finding mansions in heaven for homeless souls, of delivering us from the prison of hell and giving us the eternal enjoyments of heaven. See, before he gets to the cross, He already speaks concerning the joy. In other words, Jesus was motivated, if I can use that language, concerning the Son of God, by this joy that God is gonna be glorified and that these homeless sinners are gonna be clothed.

They're gonna be brought into mansions above. There's an end game with reference to Jesus. And as we run the race with endurance, we're supposed to think about that. Why did the Son of God come into this world?

Well, it was for the likes of you and me. That when we run with endurance the race that we're running, when we face the various obstacles, when we come to the various challenges and trials, we don't just say, forget it, I can't do it. He died and rose again so that we will do it.

The Suffering and Shame of Christ

But then notice, fourthly, the suffering of Christ. We're gonna put suffering, we're gonna throw that first and then look at cross. But notice the shame. It says, that was before him, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.

So let's look at shame and then cross. I would suggest shame comes from cross, but there's other things associated with the shame there. Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We don't usually like it when people that are around us don't treat us as great as we think.

Imagine being the Son of God who takes on our humanity, comes to His own, and His own receive Him not. And let me just contextualize His own who received Him not. They had Genesis to Malachi. They had text after text after text after text that should have evoked in them an expectation for the very one who came to his own and received him not.

These weren't, you know, heathen out in the bush that had no concept whatsoever of a Messiah. These were people tutored in, schooled on, preached to, sung about the Messiah. So he comes to his own and his own receive him not? There's shame indicated there.

The mockery that he faces in his public ministry, the mockery that he faces in his trial, the mockery that he faces from the Sanhedrin when they slap him on the face. These are the religious leaders in Israel and this is where they've degenerated unto. He was wholly harmless and undefiled. Pilate three times confesses, I find no guilt in this man.

Now his testimony, unfortunately, because he's a wretch, seems to go unnoticed, but he confesses three times the holiness of Jesus, the innocency of Jesus. And yet the people to whom he came that had the prophetic word, that should have had the expectation, they slap him, they spit on him. The shame associated with the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ would be enough to bury most of us like that. Somebody doesn't smile at us, and we're put out of sorts.

Somebody doesn't greet us the way that we should or they shouldn't, and we're upset. Imagine coming to your own, who should have expected you, and who should have known what they were looking for, and they don't receive you, and it culminates with them crying out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. But then consider this, and I don't wanna get gory. There's no hint of passion, a passion play in the gospel accounts.

Ritterbos makes that observation well. Potpourri celebrates the passion and all of its gory detail. The New Testament documents don't do that. They give a shorthand.

He died, he suffered, he was raised again. It doesn't explain in detail 12 stations of the cross that you find in a Roman Catholic church. Well, we do understand the suffering and the shame. And one of the things that is interesting, I read this in Spurgeon many years ago, is that when Jesus hung on the cross, he was stripped naked.

And as Spurgeon will mention in just a moment, of course, the artists always put a cloak over him, but that's not what the text says. where the text isn't silent, we actually change it and put a cloak on him. And I'm not suggesting we even picture Jesus, that's not my game here. But in a sermon on Hebrews 12.2, here were Spurgeon's points, his shameful accusation, his shameful mockery, his shameful crucifixion. On the shameful mockery, he says, quote, The person of Christ was stripped twice.

And although our painters, for obvious reasons, cover Christ upon the cross, there he hung, the naked Savior of a naked race. He who clothed the lilies had not wherewith to clothe himself. He who had clothed the earth with jewels and made for it robes of emeralds had not so much as a rag to conceal his nakedness from a staring, gazing, mocking, hard-hearted crowd. He had made coats of skins for Adam and Eve when they were naked in the garden.

He had taken from them those poor fig leaves with which they sought to hide their nakedness, given them something wherewith they might wrap themselves from the cold. But now they part his garments among them, and for his vesture do they cast lots, while he himself, exposed to the pitiless storm of content, hath no cloak with which to cover his shame. I mean, we don't celebrate it with stations on the cross, but it's not bad to consider once in a while, because who for the joy that was set before him, despising the shame? So if we broaden out and we think about those heroes of the faith in Hebrews chapter 11, You know, bad family life, bad society, difficult tasks, oppression, persecution, governmental, false religion, all that stuff.

We have tap roots in Hebrews 11 for God-fearing people that testify the Lord is faithful. But what about the shame associated with being a believer today?

Shame and Identification With Christ Today

Brethren, if you haven't noticed, they hate us. People the other day, oh, I was so surprised what happened in France at the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. Really? Surprised?

Disgusted, sickened, and wanting to vomit, I get, but surprised? You haven't seen the trajectory? You haven't understood the plan? You don't see we're witnessing a Psalm 2 moment in our day and age?

The nations, the rulers, the kings, the authorities, they take counsel together against Yahweh and against his Christ. Brethren, it is going to get increasingly more difficult. Let me qualify, not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet. just a guy who looks around once in a while. And as guy who looks around once in a while, it kinda looks like it's gonna get a bit more difficult to own Jesus Christ.

Why are churches letting women be preachers? Why are churches letting people be homosexual? Why are churches endorsing transgenderism? Why are churches almost like extensions of the civil state?

Because it's hard. It's tough. We don't like pressure. Brethren, there is going to be shame, if not already, associated with your identification with our blessed Jesus.

Now, you can move. You can live on the moon. You can live in wherever and perhaps mitigate that to some degree. But if he came to his own and his own received him not, and if when we return to John 15, we hear his words there, do not marvel that the world hates you.

It first hated me, Jesus, and if it hated me, then it's gonna hate you. So, it's going to be increasingly difficult to identify with Jesus, to say no against those abuses of Holy Scripture that are operative in churches today. To say no, we stand upon the Word of God, our conscience is bound by God's Word, and, you know, in the language of Luther, here I stand, I can do no other. There's going to be threat, there's going to be oppression, there's going to be persecution, there's going to be all kinds of stuff.

And again, not a prophet, son of prophet, a guy who pays a little bit of attention. And it just looks kind of like it's going to go that way. Well, I was afraid to pray in Tim Hortons. Brethren, that may be a walk in the park in the distance.

Praying in Tim Hortons may be the last concern. Owning Christ before a godless tyrant? Owning Christ before the beasts of Revelation? Revelation 13 and 14.

And full disclosure, I don't think those beasts are in our future. I think they were in the future from the vantage point of the Apostle John, and I think it was the Roman Empire that was the beast from the sea, and it was the nation of Israel, Old Covenant, apostate Israel, which was the beast from the land. And that is precisely who persecuted the early church in that first century. They had the unbelieving Jews at their heels every step of the way.

When you read Acts, who's the enemy? It isn't the Roman Empire. They're there, they're signing off, they're going along with it, but initially, at the outset of Christianity, the Roman Empire treated it as a subset of Judaism and basically left them alone. In fact, when you read Paul before the civil government, They're like, we don't really know this.

Seems like a theological debate. Galileo in Acts chapter 18. Seems like an intramural debate in terms of your religion. You guys go work this out.

It's the way the civil government should function toward the church. Get out in theological debate. But increasingly, especially under Nero, who John Fox calls beast, the beast of revelation. Again, you may differ on some of the details, but I think you get the point.

What did Nero do? He got whacked out. I don't know how better to, you know, what kind of parlance to put that in. 55, when Paul writes Romans, he says, let every soul be subject to the governing authority. Nero was the emperor, but Nero was under restraint.

He had some decent, bright people around him that hedged him in from his oddities and his weirdnesses and his cruelties. By the mid 60s, When Rome burns and Nero needs a scapegoat, guess who fits the bill? It's these rotten, lousy Christians. Nero was a disgusting individual, a beastly man.

But when it comes to the reality that we see in that first century generation, we will see likewise going forward until we get to the New Jerusalem. Do you think people and pagans are going to get nicer? I don't see that at all. I see them a lot more vicious and angry and upset about any semblance of Christianity in society or even in our homes.

It's no longer the case. We just want tolerance. No, we want your submission. So when it comes push to shove, and when churches and professing believers are saying, well, we just got to go along to get along.

At some point, brethren, you're going to have to say no. Some point you're going to have to say with Luther, here I stand. Some point you're going to have to say with those three young men, but even if not, I'm not going to betray my God. Brethren, Jesus despised the shame.

He endured the cross. What does the cross entail? I've got one quote. We're going to be finished here in just a moment.

This is a quote I've quoted before, and I think it's just a good description of what the cross was. This is D.A. Carson from his commentary on John's Gospel. I mean, we say that, right?

It's a piece of jewelry in the Western world, the cross on the neck. What's the cross symbolize? Well, it symbolizes Christianity. What did the cross symbolize in the first century?

Not Christianity. Shame. Contempt. Capital punishment for the worst offenders in the empire.

Again, Roman citizens usually weren't crucified, even for a capital offense. It was too barbaric. Unless the emperor said, yes, this Roman citizen can go to the cross, most Roman citizens that were guilty of capital offenses did not die by crucifixion. It was for the worst.

The political threats which they put on Jesus, for the terrorists, for the persons that were going to bring down the empire, You'll always know which crimes governments hate the most. It's usually those that have anything to do with their power.

The Horror of Crucifixion

But with reference to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, just an explanation of what's entailed. In the ancient world, this most terrible of punishments is always associated with shame and horror. It was so brutal that no Roman citizen could be crucified without the sanction of the emperor, stripped naked and beaten to pulpy weakness. Now, brethren, it's probably the case Jesus was beaten twice.

Probably beaten twice. There was like a two-stage trial there. Pilots trying to proffer a deal. Pilate, again, in all his godless heathenism, nevertheless tried to come to bat for Jesus.

I'm not putting Pilate in heaven. I don't know. Who knows what happened to Pilate after the narrative ends, but I find no guilt in this man. Matthew's gospel, he knew they delivered him up.

Why? Because of their own envy. Remember Pilate's wife? Have nothing to do with this man.

I had a dream about him. In other words, get away from this man. Going down this path is not good. So to appease the bloodthirsty mob, he probably would have had him beat initially, but there was always a beating associated with the cross.

In other words, you just didn't go get on the cross. You had to get on the cross after you were almost put to death. So he says, stripped naked and beaten to pulpy weakness, the victim could hang in the hot for hours, even days. To breathe, it was necessary to push with the legs and pull with the arms to keep the chest cavity open and functioning.

Terrible muscle spasm wracked the entire body, but since collapse meant asphyxiation, the strain went on and on. This is also why the sedecula prolonged life and agony. That's the little block of wood. What's a sedecula, mom?

It's a little block of wood. You get the idea. He's on the cross. He's got this little block of wood to put his feet on.

That's not a mercy, brethren. That's to prolong the process. Right? If there's no little block of wood, asphyxiation happens a lot sooner.

Little block of wood, you kind of push up, you kind of maneuver, you kind of change your position a little bit, gasp a bit of air. The little block of wood is another horrific part of the whole process. He says, it partially supported the body's weight and therefore encouraged the victim to fight on.

The Exaltation of Christ

So let's just bring it back to the text. We're running with endurance the race that is set before us. We've got this great cloud of witnesses that testify God is faithful. But we're to be looking in faith unto Jesus.

That underscores His humanity. His role as mediator, prophet, priest, and king. We're to understand His work. The Father sends Him to go about the task of saving His people from their sins.

Also known as, in a comprehensive term, a mission. The mission of the Son of Man was not to come and just teach us better things about ourselves and others, but to save us people from their sins. And then we consider as well the fact that there is this great suffering that is engaged in by the Savior, but it's put in the context of joy. And that's where Paul ends.

Notice, after he endures the cross. After having despised the shame, he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. So here's the emphasis as far as Paul is concerned. On the one hand, consider this Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the objective faith, the content of Christianity, life, death, resurrection, ascension on high, current session now at the exalted status at the right hand of God Most High.

You need to think on Him. You need to look to Him in faith. But as well, there is that pattern, there is that example. What does Jesus teach us?

That in this world, you will have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. So another means by which the apostle holds out the lesson that Jesus gave to his disciples in Matthew's gospel. Remember in Matthew chapter 20, the sons of Zebedee are jockeying for position. Oh Lord, grant that we may sit on your right and your left when you come in your kingdom.

What does he say to them? You have no idea what I'm going to go through. I've got to be baptized. I've got to drink a cup.

Are you able to do this?" They say, yes, Lord, of course. He says, you will, you're gonna, but to sit at my right hand and my left is my father's to give. What does he mean when he says you will? Well, James, the son of Zebedee, is beheaded in Acts chapter 12.

John, the son of Zebedee, ends up exiled on the island of Patmos for the testimony of the Lord and the Word of God. So what is Jesus affirming to them there? Before you get to the prize, before you get to the crown, there's going to be a cross. There's going to be hardship, there's going to be ache, there's going to be affliction.

And that same lesson is held out here by Paul. You're going to go through shame, you're going to endure your crosses, but you're going to have the exaltation of God Most High in that new Jerusalem. So the exaltation of Jesus, it's not just an appendage, it's not just an add-on. This is the object, or rather the objective nature of the faith.

Life, death, resurrection, exaltation, current session, second coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. He's the author and finisher of that faith. And we're to run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto him in faith. Now, Psalm 110.1 bears often in the book of Hebrews.

I think that's the illusion here, him being exalted to the right hand of the throne of God. It comes up much in the book of Hebrews. But notice the parallel, at least in terms of theme or content, with Moses. Look at Hebrews chapter 11, specifically at verse 24.

By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Does he do this because he's a Stoic? Does he do this because he can grin and bear it? Does he do this because he reaches down deep inside and he knuckles under and takes whatever hardships this world has?

No. I mean, he does, but notice, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward. So you see a pattern. You've got Moses.

You've got Jesus. That's who we've got to be. Run with endurance the race that is set before us. Whatever difficulties are there, whatever challenges are there, whatever heartaches are there, whatever hardships are there, whatever affliction and turmoil and sorrows we face, know that at the end of it is the presence of the blessed God.

Know that at the end of it is residence in the New Jerusalem. Know that it's habitation in those many mansions that Jesus has gone on to prepare, and he has promised that he will return and receive us unto himself. So the second incentive after this cloud of witnesses is to look unto Jesus. His mission, His work, His person, His death, His suffering, His sorrows, His hardship, but His exaltation for us men and for our salvation.

He's the object of our saving faith. He is the one as well that graciously has provided for us this pattern or paradigm that the cross always precedes the crown. And it's typical for us to want the crown right now, like the sons of Zebedee, and forget that we've got to run the race, not so that we can be saved, but because by God's grace we have been saved and we're to run in the manner that Paul specifies. We'll see the discipline or the purpose of the Father in this particular pathway.

We run the race with endurance, cloud of witnesses, looking unto Jesus, and the Father's gracious purpose, which even includes discipline. Why? Because we need discipline.

Application: Entering and Running the Race

And the final thing I want to say is if anybody here is not a believer, my message to you this morning is not. I want you to start running this race. Just run through the obstacles, run through the difficulties, and charge heaven by storm. No, you don't enter this race.

I guess people, I should have probably asked Wim before, he likes to go on these races. Do you have to pay to suffer? Yeah, I want to pay this money to run this marathon. Wait a minute, it's kind of like Costco.

You got to pay for the privilege to shop there. There's more benefits at Costco, actually. I'm going to pay to suffer. But with the Christian race, it's not paying.

I'll just, you know, give a hundred bucks or a few hundred bucks and I'll enter the race and I'll run it and I'll show them all. It's not by your efforts. I can run faster than anybody. I'm going to jump into this race and off I go, stronger, more valiant, better than everybody that I know.

No, this race is entered into by God's grace. through the gospel of Jesus Christ, through belief in Him, who knew no sin, who became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. In other words, we enter the race by looking to Jesus in faith. We run the race by looking to Jesus in faith. We finish the race by looking unto Jesus in faith.

You hear a common theme here? It's all about Jesus. And Jesus is a savior for needy, guilty, damning, or hell-damning, or deserving sinners. Believe in him and you'll have everlasting life.

Closing Prayer

Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this simple command. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

We thank you for the wonderful incentives that you give us. All the Old Testament saints and the apostles in the New Testament that continually tell us that you are faithful, and then, of course, what Jesus has done on our behalf, and the fact that He is the object of saving faith. Give us grace to continually look unto Him. Give grace to sinners here to look unto Him initially to find that joy of salvation, that joy of forgiveness, that joy of acceptance with God.

And we ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. will let us stand and sing 568 doxology of praise to our triune God. ♪ All creatures living and gone ♪ ♪ Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Amen ♪

Scripture References

• Genesis 1:1
• Psalms 2; 2:2; 22:18; 88; 110:1
• Isaiah 53:3
• Matthew 20:20-23
• John 1:1; 1:14; 4:34; 15; 15:5; 15:18; 16:33
• Acts 12; 12:2; 18
• Romans 8; 8:29; 13:1
• 1 Corinthians 9; 9:26-27
• 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Ephesians 2:8-10
• Philippians 1:29
• 2 Timothy 4:7
• Hebrews 11; 11:24; 11:26; 12:1; 12:2; 12:3; 12:7
• Revelation 1:9; 13-14