This morning, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, book of Hebrews chapter 12, that is found on page 1285 in those Bibles in front of you, Hebrews chapter 12. This is sort of a transition sermon so that next week I'd like to, Lord willing, begin the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John, so you can prepare for that. Tonight we'll come back and pick up where we left off in our study of Samuel. in 1 Samuel. But this morning, I'd like to spend some time reflecting Hebrews 12, the first 13 verses. Actually, read the first 17. This is the word of the Lord. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted in your struggle against sin. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood and you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons my son do not regard lightly the discipline of the lord nor be weary when reproved by him for the lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives it is for discipline that you have to endure god is treating you as sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline. If you are left without discipline in which you all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good so that we may share his holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore, lift up your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the lord see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of god that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like esau who sold his birthright for a single meal for you know that afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. And we'll end the reading of God's Word there. The text is for the first 13 verses this morning. The Bible does not shy away from calling us to endurance in the Christian life, endurance in this life, in what is marked out for you and the path that the Lord has given you to walk. We've been spending a lot of time in these last weeks with Dr. Godfrey considering the Reformation doctrines of grace, and we've been looking at the five points. One of those, the important one, of course, that in light of this particular text, the perseverance of the saints. At the end of the day, there's the great truth of the scriptures, the great truth that encourages us, that all of the preserving power in our lives belongs to the Lord. He is the one that will keep us. He is the one that will never let us go. He is the one who said, I'm not going to have one plucked from my hand, and all of every last one of the saints of his people will be there in glory, not one of them lost. It's a beautiful truth. It never does take away, however, that he uses means to accomplish that preserving power in your lives, that he uses certain means, and often the Bible sets that in front of us to describe it in ways that sometimes perplex us, but actually are used to motivate us to be involved in the project that God is involved in. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because it's God who wills within you to will and to do for his good pleasure. He works within you. He wants us invested in the project that he's going to complete. And that's really important because that's the kind of passage that we have this morning in Hebrews chapter 12. The author is being incredibly pastoral here in this book. He knows that erosion can happen to the believer's faith over time. He knows there are real struggles in the believer's life. He knows that many people struggle to finish well in this life. When we are constantly hit with all of the pain, when we are constantly hit with all of the struggle of it all, the frustration, the harshness of the world that we live in, and who does not disagree with me in the times that we live, what we see, what we're exposed to, it really can fundamentally change the way we look at Christianity and how we go forward in the Christian life. All of the exposure to the struggle. So this particular passage this morning is a motivating passage. This is a motivator. I hate ever thinking of a pastor as a coach. But this is one time I feel like Coach Gordon in this particular passage. This is, whoever this is, it's a motivating, and he's using athletic imagery, which I'm about to show you, to do it, to motivate you to run, to get up and run the race. This passage is a corrective to discouragement, to losing heart after the long race it feels that we're in. He's motivating us to look to Jesus, you'll notice here, and let his life become the driving motivation to run our race and our life with endurance. And to understand life is like a giant race, using the metaphor. He uses it. He applies it. So here are a few things that should guide your thinking through all of this run, this race, and all of the turns on the track. The first is to run this race with awareness, you'll notice that he's emphasizing here. That we are to run the race with real awareness in our lives. Awareness of what? I'll get there. And then he's going to say to us, you need to run with endurance in this race. And finally he's going to say you need to run with purpose. So you'll notice that there. I didn't used to give the three points like this, but Dr. Godfrey convinced me it's a much better way. So notice here the awareness, the endurance, and the purpose that the author is calling us to run with. And we pick that up right in verse 12, where he provides a sort of summary statement of what he is unpacking for us and helping us through. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. So you'll notice there that he is summarizing what he is explaining to us, and he's picturing the Christian life for you as a giant athletic event, particularly a running event, which they would have understood to take place in the arena, not uncommon to us, like an Olympic event, and this is a grand running race. Paul often picked up and described the Christian life this way, when at the end of his life, he captured it by saying, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all of those who have loved his appearing what a what a beautiful verse what an encouraging motivating verse now the imagery here which there's been much discussion and i'm sure you've heard it preached here all around us you'll notice are a cloud of witnesses those witnesses certainly are he has in mind of those who are mentioned in what we call the Hall of Faith in chapter 11. All of these great figures that we have studied their lives and we've looked at their lives carefully from the scriptures and we've seen that they overcame by faith. These are the examples. These are the witnesses for us. You think of Abel. You think of Noah. You think of Abraham. You think of the patriarchs. You think of Moses. Witnesses, he calls them. Often it's preached as if they're sort of in the stands cheering us on and rooting us on, and that's not really what's happening here. That's not really the imagery that he's giving to us. It's not that they're rooting us on to just keep going. It's that they are witnesses that God's promises are all true. In other words, they ran just like you. They were in the same struggles as you. They faced everything that you're facing. And now they've entered, they've finished the race, and they're saying everything that God said, everything that God promised is true. We can testify to that. It's a beautiful thing. It's a powerful thing that he's saying to us. Think of everything that Job faced and God put down for you to study. Job is there right now saying, all of it, all of his promises are yes and amen. That's what they're saying. All the promises are yes and amen. They ran, they overcame. And this is, they were, you know, where you are today is the message that we have here. So sure, they're saying, run. His promises are true. Run. They're true. The lives of real people. Now, this is a pastoral concern that is coming out in this book. The pastoral concern is this. The author is deeply concerned about these Hebrew Christians because they're drifting. I remember Reverend Kamega preached out of Hebrews one time from this pulpit. He used to describe the reality in Hebrews as drifters. I don't know if you remember that. Drifters. People just drifting in the Christian life. Drifting, drifting, drifting. I never could get it out of my head because that's exactly what he's describing here with the runners, that they're feeling, many of them, like giving up. Many of them are drifting. They're sluggish in their faith. They're apathetic to it all. They're caught up with all the wrong things in this life. And they are like a boat with no anchor, just drifting out and nothing to stop it. I don't think I have to say how important this calling is in our day for Christians. We live in one of the most drifting, apathetic ages in the history of the church where people seem to be dropping out left and right of the race. Now hear me. Remember what I started with. It is God who finishes the project. It is God who will not let any of his go. But how is he motivating us to that reality? Motivating us to enjoy that reality. Run. Run the race. Part of the answer here, though, with drifting and the struggle of it is that it results from misunderstanding the Christian life. it results from misunderstanding the Christian life. There seems to be little awareness in these Hebrew Christians of what their real struggle is. And think about that in light of all the stuff today that's distracting us. What is your real struggle? What is your real problem with remaining on the track and not drifting away? Well, I want you to notice what he says here so plainly. When he says in verse 1, we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. Now he's going to unpack that a little bit further in verse 3 where he says, consider him, Jesus, who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted in your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. So you see what he's doing here. He highlights your biggest hindrance to running the race of this life, this Christian life that has been marked out for you. And guess what it is? Lo and behold. Sin. Sin. You are already forgiven of them. That's what was declared today for all who believe the gospel. You are washed, you are cleansed, you are justified. But because of the weariness of everything, because of the, I suppose, mundaneness of life, because of the confusion that often disorients, because of the problems that we constantly face, we open the back door and sin comes in. When you do that, and this is what he's saying to us here, here's the effect whatever particular sins plague us whatever particular sins we are prone to it is like setting on the runner's back weights there was this uh every morning when i lived in up north in linden there was this guy who would who would run down the street and it was a sight to behold he would put weights on his back and then he would have dumbbells and he would run with this like it looked absolutely ridiculous and i remember thinking to myself i'm smart enough to know that's going to cause a lot of joint pain later this is what he was doing and this is exactly what the author is saying here sin is like doing that to yourself it's like laying weights on you when you're trying to live the christian life and run the christian life sin has a weakening effect You don't think of it this way. We dabble with sin, we do certain things, we become aware of it, but we've not realized that what it actually has done is weakened the Christian life, sin. It has a weakening effect. It has a zapping of strength effect. It leads to all kinds of problems that follow from that. I mean, think of Peter. When he had made it up in his mind that he would not deny his Lord, And he did it three times. And as soon as he was back in John, we read in John 21, I'm going fishing. He was giving up. He was giving up. His eyes were off his Savior. Sin brings weariness to you. It discourages you. It makes you feel, what does this even matter? It leads to depression at times. Not always, but it does. It can. It makes you want to quit. You know this. For the Hebrews, they may have been struggling with many things. I mean, you can fill in the blank here. Worldliness, a love of money. It's interesting that in verse 15, he says something that is striking, isn't it? Be on guard, lest a root of bitterness springs up causing trouble. i have seen bitterness a root plague people's lives isolates them makes them angry and a complaining life follows he goes on be on guard against being a fornicator if you want to run around having sex before marriage if you want to do these kinds of things you want to be involved in sexual immorality i can guarantee you won't be on the track you won't be running you won't profess your faith that is the unbelieving behavior of Esau that's what he says those things don't do them recognize that that's what's holding you back that's what he's saying here that's the stuff that is easily ensnaring you it's remarkable because God inspired this it's not that this catches God off guard He knows everything about you. He knows what he got into when he started the project. He loves you. But you hear the pastoral concern of your heavenly Father here, don't you? I mean, really. We often say, author, author, author, author. This is God's inspiration. This is the care of your Father. Saying, Proverbs, son, listen to my instruction. Listen to my instruction. This is what has a terrible effect on the life that I have given to you. So, how does he encourage us? Well, the first thing he says here, he says, being aware of this struggle, knowing the sins that ensnare us, being aware of them, he says, here's what you can do. Consider him. If you think this is too much for you, consider Jesus. What did he have to go through to deal with your sin? He had to die and shed his blood for you. You don't have to do that. You don't have to go through that. The author here is looking at the congregation of Hebrews and probably thinking of martyrdom, realizing that at least in this particular congregation, none of them had been martyred. And I can look out at this whole entire congregation right now and say, who here has been martyred for your faith? Not one. So God says, take sin seriously in your life. Take sin seriously in your life. It's what's pulling you off the track. Are you running? That's a good question. Are you running? Are you running? Well, then run with discipline. Run with awareness of what is trying to pull you away. Second thing he says here is run with endurance. Most of you will be glad to know this is not a 100-yard dash. It would be awful to watch many of you run 100, by the way. It's a marathon, isn't it? That wouldn't be so pretty either. It's a marathon. In verse 3, he specifically mentions what's really they're struggling with. He mentions that they're weary and discouraged in their souls. Why? Well, he ties together, which is interesting, their struggle with sin, which they haven't probably prioritized in the struggle, with the hardships and the sufferings that they're facing in this life. They were facing things they couldn't understand. In fact, I don't quite know what it was, but back in chapter 10, he said very plainly to them that they're facing struggles with sufferings. They haven't died for it, but it's perplexing to them, and this is where they're losing heart. This is where they're feeling like giving up. And what is his pastoral concern? He's tying together the sin and the suffering, and what he's saying here is suffering and pain and confusion and these things have a crushing effect on people in this life. They do. I'll never forget a man named John. He played for my dad on the basketball team for years. He was my, as a child, hero. He was a senior in high school. He was, I just thought, this is the guy. And he always treated me, he said, hey, CJ! And he'd come and put his arms around me and I felt like somebody, right? John was the successful guy I always wanted to be. I saw him at my father's funeral. And I wondered, how would John Scott be? He was the one I wanted to see the most. And when I saw him, I could hardly recognize him. He had had a hard life. Been through some really rough things. A divorce. And then he became a heavy drinker. And every word out of his mouth was the F word. I was so discouraged. Life had crushed him. Life had crushed him. What the author of Hebrews is saying to us is, that is not the trajectory and the path the Christian is to take. The effect of it is to say, whatever is happening to us in this life, When we are fixated on the struggles, the Bible and the Scriptures, they never view these things as that which is moving us off the track. Sin, yes, but not the hardships. In all these situations, what Hebrews is now to tell us, what the author is telling us here is that these are the very things that God is using. He's told us everywhere, His power rests upon us in the weakness of us. The thorns in the flesh. The fiery trials, Peter. He's pastorally concerned that they're losing heart and that the discouragements in life had made them to think that God abandoned them or that God was absent from them or that God was unconcerned with them. And the author's saying, you got it all wrong. You got it all wrong. See what he says in verse 5? You see, you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as son. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves and chastises every son whom He receives. what he just said to you is a big moment in the book of Hebrews in the Christian life and how we look at everything. I used to read that passage and think. I used to read that passage and think. God was saying to me that if I do something bad in my life, watch out because I'm going to get disciplined by the Lord. That this bad thing that has happened means that God is disciplining me. So I always looked at discipline, which most people do today, what we call punitively. As if God was an angry father ready to strike. In general, we don't understand discipline. You look at how it's understood in the church today, people roll their eyes at it and scoff at it because they still look at it that way. The question is, how do you understand discipline? What is discipline? What he's saying here to us is this. All of your life as a believer is under God's discipline. What do I mean by that? Every day of life, He's with you. It kind of made me think we need to stop praying God be with us. Just be with us. It's almost insulting. I've done it a lot. He is with you. He is with you. He's been with you your whole lives. And what it's saying here is, whatever we do face in this life, whatever adversity, whatever suffering, all of it does not mean that God is angry with you. But He is committed to conform, to refine, and it's a badge and pledge of His love to you. That's what He calls you to believe. That's hard. I'm not saying that's easy. But you've got it backwards. You think your hardship says God is absent from you. Where is God? God is saying, I am always with you. And if I need to correct you, if I need to keep you on the track, I will do that. I will do that. I'm not letting you off the track. This is the effect of it. I'm not letting you off the track. It's a pledge of His love. This is exactly why he tells fathers and mothers and uses this example, if you want to hate your children, take the attitude the culture takes toward discipline. Do nothing to restrain them. And then you want to see the sad consequences in our school? And then we wonder why children are so messed up. Because discipline is a mark of love. Discipline is a way of keeping children. Discipline is a way of holding on to them and straightening out their path and keeping them on the track. Spare the rod, you hate your son. So this is the emphasis that's being given here. Notice he follows up with that in verse 11 where he says, for the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but listen to the fruit. Later, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who've been trained by it. In other words, God's way of holding on to you and loving you and keeping you from the bitter spirit and keeping you content in Him is proper loving care and discipline and involvement in your life in every circumstance. That's what's being said. Romans 5 says, we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put to shame because why? Why suffering? Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to all who love him. James 1. For the light, momentary affliction is doing something. Guess what it's doing? It's preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. You have none of that? You're not sons. So see the encouragement here? And then we come to the final point. So you've run with awareness, with sin that's holding you back. You've run with endurance and how you look at the whole life of a Christian, and now you're running with real purpose. Notice it. Notice what he says here. You have to know why you get up in the morning. I saved the best for last. I want you to leave on this note. When I was a runner, and I'm not going to pat myself on the back because I'm going to tell you the failure here. I ran in North Carolina for the 800 and the Nationals, I had the fastest time in the nation, and I got last place. You know why? I kept turning around and looking back, and I got smoked. And I remember afterward, especially as these runners blazed right by me, thinking to myself, this is exactly the cardinal rule I broke of all runners. You never turn around and look at the competition and look back. You always look forward to the prize. Notice what he says here in verse 1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race set before us, to Jesus. I'm not looking to any other witness. I'm not looking anywhere else. The imagery we have here is that at the finish line is Him. He's standing there. He's already run the race for you. Notice He's not calling you to win the race. He's calling you to run the race. The race has already been won. He's won the prize. He is your prize. His life was one that led him to endure the cross. And look at what he endured for you. The humiliation, the spitting, the blows to his face, the scourging, the blood. He despised the shame. And then he faced for you the wrath of God. Body and soul. to finish the race and to open up heaven for you. This is what the point of Hebrews is. He opened it up. And here's the big moment in the book. He did it with what? Joy. I never can get over that. I struggle to know how to preach that. All the loneliness he faced. At least we run it together. At least we're a community together going through this. It gave him the utmost joy to run and finish the race because, listen, it was his father's will to give eternal life to as many as had been given to him. It gave him so much joy to save you and fulfill that will. Joy to go through all of that. Are you discouraged? Are you running? The effect is to say, keep your eyes on Him. Keep your eyes on Him. The victory in the Christian life is already certain. What He has won for you is full salvation, ready to be revealed on the last day. He is at the end of the race, waiting, ready to receive you into his kingdom forever and when you finish on that day whether he calls you tomorrow or many years from now he is your crown this is your reward jesus don't be weary and discouraged he says everything that is on the track everything that we have to go over everything that all the hurdles that are there he wants you to know everything you face there is a gracious heavenly father who loves you and promises that it will all yield fruit in its due time so get back up run the race with endurance run the race with endurance that's what he's saying to you run he finishes by saying in verse 13 therefore lift up your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed press on he's saying all the present trials are the pathway to the prize strengthen those weak hands and those knees i want to close with um the beautiful words where this was taken up in isaiah chapter 35 listen to the words of isaiah 35 and how positively it captures what the lord has for you what he's doing for you and what it will be in the end the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad the desert shall rejoice and blossom it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing they shall see the glory of the lord the majesty of our god who it's jesus strengthen the weak hands isaiah 35 3 and make firm the feeble knees. This is where he pulled it. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong and fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. And the ransom of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads and they shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away forever. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father thank you for such words. Thank you for encouraging us in the race that has been given to us and whatever it is may we take seriously the sin that holds us back in our lives. You've been so patient with us for giving all and when you come along through how we look at life and you are constantly refining and chipping away and dealing with in our lives what needs to be. All of it is a testimony that you are with us, that you love us, and that you've promised to bring us through to the end. So let us be greatly encouraged and keep our eyes on your beloved Son. May we with joy go forward and remember what our Savior has accomplished, a race that is won, a race that we are called now to run to the finish line with great confidence. Receive our thanksgiving as we praise the name of the Lord for such salvation. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.