I delivered this message at Calvary Baptist Church in Findlay, Ohio in 1999.
Hebrews 12:1–3
Introduction:
Tonight I would like for us turn to the text immediately following this morning’s text. This morning we saw from Hebrews 11 that faith works. Tonight I would like for us to see from Hebrews 12:1–3 that faith perseveres.
PRAY
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You see, its not enough to have a working faith if it is not an enduring faith. We will see today that faith must continue in the life of a true believer. The problem is that it is often difficult to maintain a working faith. You may get discouraged and not feel liking continuing on. You may so its too hard, I can’t do it. If you are honest, these are feelings that you have faced, or maybe are facing right now. Many people have started well in the Christian life, but have turned away due to sin or discouragement. For example, Demas forsook Paul because he loved the present world (2Tim. 4:10).
There is one word that all three of these verses has in common. Can any tell what it is? It is translated differently in some English versions but the Greek word is the same. The word is endurance. Look in verse 1, “Let us run with patience” or endurance; verse 2 Jesus “endured the cross”; and verse 3 “consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.” Take hope this passage is filled with encouragements to endure.
- Perseverance is necessary.
And not only this passage, but the whole book of Hebrews has this as a constant theme. The book of Hebrews was written to the Jewish Christians to convince them that Christianity was the true religion. Many of these “believers” were turning back to Judaism and rejecting their faith in Jesus as the Messiah. But the author of this book makes it clear that endurance is not an option, and he fills it with warnings of what will happen if they quit (which is essentially unbelief, the opposite of faith) and encouragements to persevere. Let us look at them. This will be profitable for us in getting the overall context of the book.
Look first with me at 3:6. This is a conditional phrase: “If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.”
Look next at 3:12–14. He warns them against unbelief which results in departing from God, and gives another conditional statement: “If we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.”
Look next at 4:1,11,14. He warns against unbelief and the results of what would happen if they turned away as many were doing. They would not enter into the eternal rest.
Look next at 6:4–12. He warns of the danger of falling away and encourages them to demonstrate a living faith by their works that continue to the end.
Look next at 10:26–27. He warns them that if they turn from Jesus as the Messiah, then there is no more sacrifice for sins, but rather judgment.
Look next at 10:35–39. He makes it clear here that perseverance is necessary. “You have need of patience.”
Look finally at 11:13. These all died in faith.
Do you see what the author of Hebrews is saying. He is warning those who were thinking of turning from Jesus back to Judaism that if they did they would lose heaven. They must continue and persevere unto the end. This is what true faith does.
So after having gone through all of chapter 11 and showing the people what faith is and what it does. He begins with our text to encourage them to endure.
- Examples of past believers. 1a
The first word that he uses here is very important. The word in our KJV is wherefore. Which is pointing to the preceding context, especially chapter 11. He says, Wherefore, or for this very reason, let us endure. This is the first basis that he gives to us to take courage. Look at all the examples. You are surrounded by a great mass of witnesses.
The picture here is of a great stadium filled with people watching you as you run your race. The race is your Christian life. The people are all those who have died in faith before us. But is he saying that they are looking down from heaven at us and watching us. Some say this, but I don’t think so. Those in heaven have much better things to do than look down on us and watch. Their eyes are fixed on the beloved face of their Savior. They are preoccupied singing praise and worship to there great God.
So what does he mean when he says that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. First, we must realize that he is speaking symbolically. We are not really in a stadium with people cheering for us. Neither are there people cheering for us from heaven. Look with me a 11:4 and I think that this will help us understand what he is saying. It is the remembrance of men and women of the past that witness to us. They witness through the scripture. They testify to us, “Run, run hard, as hard as you can. I did it. I lived the life of faith and persevered to the end and God was faithful every step of the way. And it was worth every bit of the hardship and suffering and pain. The glory I am experiencing right now doesn’t even compare to the insignificant suffering I experience on earth.” This is what they are saying, and they are saying it through the pages of this book. This is the great cloud of witnesses that surround us.
And he is saying to us, “Many thousands have gone before, they have suffered much more than you probably will have to suffer, and they endured.” Look at verses 34–38.
So each one of you can take encouragement. Your situation is not to hard. You may have difficulties, but not more than you can endure. God will not give you more than you can handle by his grace. This is an encouragement, but not what we are to focus on. That he will come to later.
- Remove the hindrances. 1b
But before he moves on to the main motivation for enduring, he tells us of things that bring discouragement and weigh us down. And he tells us to take them off, as you would take off a garment.
1. Remove the weight.
In order for us to understand what he is talking about we must think like a runner. A runner wants to be as light as possible. This means he would not want to be overweight, or would not want to wear a lot of bulky, heavy clothing. He also would not want to be carrying anything heavy. No one runs a race while carrying weights.
What are the effects of these things? Well, obviously, the runner would not be able to run as fast as if he were not weighted down. Also He would not be able to run as far as he could. He would get tired and worn down much sooner and probably quit, or at least feel like quitting.
What are the weights referring to? I believe that what he means by weights are those things that are not intrinsically evil – things that it is okay to do and not be sinning. How then to these things become weights? They become weights when they take an improper place in the life of the believer. The Christian life is all about priorities. We must balance our responsibilities to our family, and our responsibilities at work, with our responsibilities to our church, and most importantly our responsibilities before God, just to name a few. When any of these things take an improper place in our life, a place of preeminence over God. It become a weight, and as a result is sin.
These things could include TV, sports, cars, money, houses, family, clothes, job, etc. The list is unending. When we give to much time to anyone of these, more than God would be pleased with, the result is that we get weighed down in our Christian lives.
Why are so many Christians discouraged and feel like quitting? I am convinced that it is because of weights in their lives. God is taking back seat to all the things that they want to do, and as a result they are like a runner who is carrying a TV on his back or weights in his hands. Obviously he will get tired and want to quit.
What is it in your life that is weighing you down? This may be the cause of your discouragement. Whatever it is cast it off, remove it and throw it aside. Get before God and align your priorities according to what please Him and brings Him glory.
2. Remove the sin.
Here the picture is a little different. It is not necessarily something that would weigh down the runner, but rather something that would restrict his movement. He author probably has in mind the long cumbersome robes that were worn in his day. I picture a woman trying to run in a straight skirt. I believe this is the mental image that is being conveyed about sin. Sin is like a straight skirt. It restricts and hinders the motion of the runner and causes him to be tripped up and stumble. Sin always hinders the effectiveness of a Christian. David was worthless before he confessed his sin to God.
Sin is like a weed that grows and grows and tangles us up. We must continually be using the pruning shears of the promise of 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The puritans were continually exhorted believers to keep short sin accounts with God. Don’t not let sin build up in your lives daily confess it and remove the tight and restricting garments that would hold you back as you run. Go after the sins in your life and remove them by the grace of God.
- Exhortation to Run. 1c
Athletic terms are probably the most common thing used to symbolize the Christian life. Paul’s writings are full of analogies of running and fighting and being a soldier and boxing. This is how Paul and the Apostles viewed the Christian life. One thing that all the terms have in common in what they communicate about the Christian life is that all these things take much effort and discipline and intensity. No one ever ran a race well without effort. No one ever fought a fight well without much discipline and intensity. The Christian life takes work and effort.
Most Christians live like they view the Christian life as a day at the beach or a day a Cedar Point. Life is just about having fun. Let’s just take it easy and enjoy the ride. Once you get saved, you just kind of coast. This mentality is totally foreign to a biblical view of life. Life is war, it’s a struggle, a continual fight to heaven. There is no taking it easy until heaven. Life is not about fun and games. Please don’t get me wrong. The Christian life is the most enjoyable, joyfully rewarding and exciting life a person could live, but it is not easy. It is anything but easy.
The exhortation here from the author is to RUN, not to walk, or to jog, but to RUN, and to keep on running. The key here is not how you start, but if you finish. So he says, run, run hard, and keep on running. Notice he says to run with patience or endurance. If you fall, get back up and keep running. Cast aside the hindrances and keep running.
Are you running with this kind of intensity and endurance? Are you going after God with all your might, or are you just walking, or maybe jogging?
Here he gives another piece of encouragement to us. Notice something with me about this race. It has been set before you. Oh, what a powerful truth this is. Knowing that we have an all-sovereign, all-wise, all-good God who has laid out our race before us. We are not treading new ground in a sense. God has gone before us and laid out the track custom designed for us individually. He has given us the race to run that is for our greatest good and His highest glory. Folks, if you have never embraced this truth of the sovereign God who loves us and works all things for our good, you are missing one of the greatest encouragements to the Christian life that is available to you. Embrace the sovereignty of God and let it comfort you as you run. There are no surprises to God as you come across sickness, and dead, and cancer, and loss of job, and financial struggles. Have faith in our all sovereign God.
We have seen the necessity of perseverance and the need to run, casting aside the hindrances. We have even seen a couple of encouragements to help motivate us to continue. But is that it. I still don’t think I can continue. I still don’t think that I can go on. The most vital and important truth is next. How can we maintain a living and working and persevering faith in the midst of discouragement and trials and struggles.
- Fix your gaze on Jesus. 2
Here lies the source of our hope and the grace to continue on. It is not in our self effort to do it. It is in the grace of Jesus. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10 that he “labored more abundantly than they all, yet not [him] but the grace of God which was with [him]”. Grace doesn’t promote passivity. Just the opposite, it provokes us to much work.
A runner must be focused. He cannot be looking around at everything that goes by. He must fix his eyes on the goal. So must the Christian runner fix his eyes on Jesus. Nevertheless, there will come distractions and things that will draw our attention off of Him. The author realized this. That is why he used the word he did here. It literally means, “Be continually looking away to.” The runner cannot look behind him, or he will fall. He cannot be looking around at the scenery, he must be continually looking away to Jesus.
You may say, “I cannot see Him.” But you must look with the eyes of faith. You say, “My faith is weak.” Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. He has created our faith and one day he will perfect our faith. Can he not sustain our faith until then?
My friend, “What are you looking at, or who are you looking to?” If it is not at Jesus you will have no hope to continue. Only those who look to Jesus finish the race. All others will drop out and quit. You must look to Jesus. You must consider His person and work for you.
1. He endured the cross.
Jesus endured the cross. He could have called angels to rescue Him, but he endured the pain and torment and suffering of the cross for you.
2. He looked to the future joy.
How, he looked to the joy or redeeming a people for Himself. Faith never look to the present conditions. It always looks to the future and makes decisions based upon the eternal rather than the temporal. This is what Moses did 11:24–27.
3. He considered the shame as a very small thing.
What does this mean that he despised the shame? Does it mean that he hated it? No. It means that he considered it a very small thing in comparison to the joy that was set before him.
4. He finished his race.
Jesus finished his race. He endured and completed His mission. So our race will one day come to an end, if we continue by fixing our gaze on Him. He also now is interceding for us. This guarantees our home with Him one day.
- Consider Him. 3
Finally, he sums it all up with these to words. You want hope to endure. You need encouragement to continue. You lack the grace you need to run. Consider Him. Meditate on Him. Daily fill your mind with your Savior.
Consider all he endured for you.
1. Consider Him and the past grace He has given you. Consider His faithfulness every step of the way. Has He once failed you? Has he once not been faithful to His Word? Has he once let you down? Not once.
2. Consider Him and the future grace He has promised you. Consider Him and prove Him to be faithful for the future. He has promised it and will do it.
But this grace comes only through Him and considering Him.
Notice the result if you fail to consider Him. You are promised to be weary. You are promised to faint and be discouraged. You are guaranteed to fail if you don’t consider Him.
What is it that you fill your mind with? What is it that occupies your thoughts? Is it Jesus?
How can we consider Him on a daily basis? Only through time spent in the Word and in prayer. Herein lies our hope and encouragement and strength.
Conclusion:
Today, do you feel discouraged and want to quit? Or maybe you just haven’t been running the race as you ought, because you are weighed down with weights and sins. Maybe it is because your focus is not on Jesus. You are looking to your own strength to sustain you, and as a result you don’t have the hope to go on. This passage is all about how to have and enduring faith. And if you are left remembering nothing else may it be this. Be continually looking away to Jesus, consider Him and all he has done for you and will do for you. Herein lies our only hope to finish the race.
PRAY