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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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 ♪